The Fantasian Canons
Citations from the journal records of "Lazarus K."
index:gaea

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Chapter 1: The Beginnings.


I did not know the time, but it has been past midnight. Trembling with the deathly coldness, my intuition tells me that it will be yet another encounter with "him". This companion of mine comes at the most unexpected of times, bringing with him the most bizarre telltales and folklores. I know not, though I dare not ask his name, but with his outlandish dialect, he would mention the word "Fantasia" to me, many many times. And so he was standing there by the fire, staring right through my watery eyes. It is to be damned to call it a "bond" but somehow we do feel at at ease in company of each other, even though his eyes are able of soul-reaping stare, or so I believe. Without salutation he shuffled over to the seat next to me and with a clearing of his throat, began another unearthly experience for me.

And so he spoke:

"Millions, billions of year before. The young earth was nurtured by the seven deities assigned by the order of the universe..."

"Cosmos?" I interrupted, oblivious to the fact that he do not tolerate even loud breathing when he is recounting his tales, and I was met with a needle-sharp eyeshot. After an awkward silence, he continued.

"The air of the earth was saturated with the magical essence of the divine beings, or so the people nominate in their ethereal state; the Totemas. The magical essences filled the seas, weaved the skies and dispersed the clouds. Lit the fire underneath, sewn the earth and land...drove the wind and sounded the thunder. And with the earth nurtured, the elements become animated beings of their own wills. These simple, animated shapes , "The Elementals" began to roam the lands and seas, consuming each other, combining and evolving...that is how we began.

And so an eon came to pass, the alchemy of the elements became more and more variant and complex. The seas, the mountains and the lands moved, split, collided, rose and sank. The "pure" elementals became creatures of vast diversities...although, blessed by the grace of the divine Totemas, seven races, each representing an individual Totema, emerged into intelligent beings and began to work their ways towards civilization.

Although, as you may evidently know, amongst the eight elements of the world are the bipolar forces, the eternal struggle between light and darkness, representing the blessings and the sins of the deities existing throughout the Cosmos. The darkness kinds were cunning...and so they amassed and reproduced, giving births to the wicked beings. And so these dark demigods seek and seized a territory for themselves and started to contaminate and corrupt the creatures. Making them the "rogue monsters" of today.

...that should be enough for this conversation."

Without further notice, he stood up from the chair and began to walk away. Many questions burned in my mind, but seemingly they melted into a mingle of wild thoughts. And before a syllable could escape from my larynx, he has gone into the feverish chills of night gales...discreet as his first, and no wonder, consecutive visits to make his statements. I strongly believe these words too precious to let go and so as soon as the dawn breaks over the marine skyline, I squandered for my quill and, as hard as I can, brought his every word into this parchment.

Praises be to you,
Lazarus K.

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Chapter 2: The Cycles of Energies

It was not until a month when the man appeared at my windowsill as I lay wide awake. The same rituals proceeded in silence as the candle is lit and the chairs are occupied. My blurry eyes squinted as I tried to catch a glimpse of his dimly-lit face...and so, in strong desire for an explanation, I opened my mouth but was intervened by his gesture.

And so he spoke:

"Hence the world was created from the amalgamation, the condensation of the magical essences where the most basic form of such essences exist as the everlasting, uncountable and intangible energy."

Thus extinguished all my doubts, and he seamlessly continued on.

"Since the creation of earth began the cycles of constant formation and disintegrations of energies...to lifeforms, it is simply life and death. From two different life blossoms or episodes of a complete life, they triggered the nature into the process of development, the process of gathering and forming and finally "birth." Although, the question is how diverse lifeforms are born with similar features and not any irregular pattern of flesh and bones?

The answer lies in death. We disintegrate into soil, into air, but it is not the pure energy form we disintegrated into...such compound of energies contained the prints of history, containing potentials to follow certain patterns of formation...this is the very concept of reincarnation. It should be highly coincidental for an essence of a life could form another in its entirety upon reincarnation, thus the reason we cannot remember any life before, as memories also disintegrates into the essences. Seldom the sentient beings leave their consciousness with strong affinity behind which sometimes can affect the material world, such phenomena is called "spirits" or "phantoms" and phantoms could disintegrate anytime the cohesion of energy falls below the threshold, therefore, they cannot be exposed to extreme elements such as daylight or Mana.

Now, "Mana" is a term coined by the primitive magi who discovered the manipulation of the Arcane, or free energies released from one's body, and also external pure elemental essences. Although the earth's essences became more and more condensed and impure, the magical essences lasted from the beginning of earth and will still be abundant in eons to come. That is unless the sentient races and beasts lose their capabilities of such manipulations. As civilizations grow, so the studies of Arcane, it is not surprising to learn that only a little amount of pure magical essence would cause dramatic effects when manipulated. That is why the capabilities of the Arcane practitioners are very limited...since mass manipulation of an element alone can destroy the whole earth, something even beyond the powers of a Totema.

And that concludes the Cycles of Energies...be very aware that everything disintegrates, but not into the purest, primeval form. The earth itself is only a part of the universe and will disintegrate in due time, one will never know when the essences of the earth extinguishes."

With his final word, the candle flickered its last and gave out as the man left me with a strife of thoughts...struggling to argue his account, I cannot deny that it all sounds far less then whimsical. And so I reach for my parchment and re-lit the candle. I hope dawn will come soon.

Sincerely,
Lazarus K.

===

Chapter 3: The Totemas and the Sentient Races.

Weeks gone by since the very secret of the world is revealed to me...although when I tried to recount the theory into discussions, my companion would be convinced that I am a lunatic. It has been a torment to be met with averted eyes and silence. I supposed subjectivity is what makes the world self-justified. I cannot avoid questioning if this is all but an elaborate scheme of mockery...but my heart insisted the opposite. And my persistence proved true when I woke up to see the man, once again sitting on the chair in is conversational position. I fumbled from the bed and, as fast as I can, sat myself onto the other chair.

And so he spoke:

"From the beginnings, through the countless cycles of energies, emerged strong from the evolution are the beings closer and closer to their respective totemas, blessed and bestowed with rational thinking and the ability to manipulate and create tools and even consciously manipulating their mana in various ways. The totemas themselves rarely reveal their true form to any, but they are also infused in each and every stream of energy carried throughout the world, being part of the births and disintegrations of lifeforms, hills and seas. But in the process, each time the totemic energy are channeled into malicious frequencies...or simply the occurrence of "sin" the dark "void" energy is release...and since the void energy can be transformed from any of the elements, light included...the dark energies grows through the myriads of millennias...exponentially, eventually consumed the most ancient habitats of earthly life.

After the formation of sentient races, or the "Greater Races" as you call your own kind, the totemas decided to make known their true forms to establish morale amongst the sentient races, but not before long they blended back into the stream of energies, leaving the intelligent creatures lead their own advancements, and thus the bond between the sentient races and the Totemas are not unilateral, but as the races evolve, so do the Totema...in fact, the world is parts of the Totemas and the Totemas are a part of Gaea, the relationship is mutual...and Totemas...they are but the crystallized form of pure earthly essences. There are seven Totemas, just as there are seven sentient races...just as there are seven elements excluding the void of darkness, just as there are seven Insignia of Sentience."

At this point, before I could lose my grasp of the story and launch into information overload, I had to break the silence with an immediate question.

"Sir, kindly tell me what is an Insignia of Sentience?"

Expecting his razor-sharp glance, he looked me in the eyes, and for the first time, included me in a human conversation.

"It is what your ancestors took pride of, only to be replaced by false beliefs and imbecile values generations later. It is the sign that you can control your decisions and courses of action, plans, life pursuits and values at will; not constantly under control of primitive instincts."

Overridden by his change of tone, I followed through with another query. Spurting out my repressed uneasiness to all these tales.

"...the crystals...Sir, I suppose your point contradicted the legacy of the ancient heroes. Have you heard the legends of the crystal-bearers who have smitten the evil and kept them concealed in primordial lands? The crystals that restored orders to nature? The savior of mankind!?"

His facial expression did not react to my verbal advances, nor to my heart thumping with rage. Simply, he got up and walked out of the room, not before turning to me with his last comments.

"Do you think the world is true as your senses perceive?"

The snapback has bitten deep into my dignity. But rather than dwelling in regrets, I went back to the table, quill in hand...will the world ever understand my deeds?

With deepest regards,
Lazarus K.