2Book One: "Blue Skies"
Prologue
I sometimes wonder if things would have been different.
Had I told certain things at different times... my entire life
could have changed with but a mere breath. Or would it have?
Looking up into the great blue skies, I see the larger
picture, the truer meaning of life. It is not to go through it
worrying about the little things, but to have no regrets in the
end.
- Excerpt from Looking Back, by Datchas Terraform
The only thing that does not change is change itself. Galaxies swirl, stars are born, planets are formed, life-forms evolve, races develop, countries begin, nations rise, kingdoms collapse, and life continues ever onward to some unforeseen future - with the exception of a select few particularly divine oracles and seers.
Today we live in the Information Age, where technology abounds and all things modern are construed as "best" and "optimal," at least so far as technology can muster at any given moment. Always advancing, we believe this to be the golden age of progress, where the discoveries of the past fuel us onward towards better and better improvements.
Some things almost never change though. What is commonplace today was once only talked about in fantasy, and what is fantasy today will someday be commonplace. Knowledge changes hands, is lost, rediscovered, newly devised, and "times change." Today we see our medical advancement as the best in history, but history is often blurry and largely missing from our annals...
Ages come and go, and history often repeats itself, but much can be learned from what we do know. Unfortunately history does not reach back very far - accurately, rather. A long time ago there existed an age of wonder often described in fantasy today, yet then it was reality. It was the Mystic Age, where powerful forces commonly called magick were the focal point of much deliberation, study, and practice.
Yet magick has always existed. Even today, it persists in what we commonly see as technology and the utility of science. Electricity, for example, is just another form of magick we have learned to harness and utilize in our day to day lives. Different methods, yet the same principles. While surgical procedures are seen as best today, in the Mystic Age the magick of growth and regeneration was given the most acclaim. There were still "doctors" who could perform surgery to remove foreign objects and such, but to them it was so much simpler to invoke the services of someone who could focus regenerative and growth magick.
This power of growth and regeneration was mostly limited to those who practiced Druidism, for it was a magick pulled from the spirits of plants. Druids in the Mystic Age (not to be confused with those much closer in history such as the Celts) were harnessers of nature. They utilized a balance between nature and man and found the harmonies therein. It was a way of life more than just a practice such as blacksmithing. By learning the forces of nature, one could begin to control those forces. Of course, it took much dedication, practice, and skill to become even moderately adept, so most Druids did not actively use much magick of their own.
Many races existed then that do not exist today. Species come and go, just like knowledge, and kingdoms rise and fall. Many species we know of today are just merely evolved forms of species that existed in the far distant past. Lizards are just the form that Dragons of the Mystic Age eventually became. Many connections could be drawn if only history were not so incomplete...
In the time of the Mystic Age, spiritual magick and magick arcana flourished, whereas today electricity and all things derivative are flourishing. The Mystic Age was a much simpler time, as populations of any one race were dismal compared to the billions that cover the planet now. The world was much different.
But even in the face of all of these differences, people were not much different. Love, hatred, sadness, joy... these feelings were no different. Vengeance was still very much blinding and relentless. Good and Evil still existed in everything.