Chapter 49: The Rise of Vixia

A thin but potent energy seemed to permeate the room. The atmosphere grew denser somehow, Scarlet’s senses just slightly distorted.

Something in the air was shifting along with the Historian’s words. It was as though he was himself but not himself. Or perhaps more than himself? Past versions of him seemed to intermingle and overlap. When he spoke, there was a sense of displacement, as though history overlaid reality.

Scarlet looked into the info-layer as she took notes. She could see the effect had something about his voice, his words, was creating the phenomenon. He was clearly using mana, but it was infused with faint traces of psionic energy. Her mind effortlessly split its concentration as the Historian continued.

“Everyone imagines historians collect victories and defeats, rises and falls. And we do, some. But we are the inheritors of reality as it is remembered. The people, the patterns, their ends and ongoings. We are the custodians of reality.”

He smiled to himself as reality rippled to the cadence of his voice.

“We piece together the past from things like diaries and recipes, scandalous letters, and the occasional trade dispute that led to a peasant uprising. A civilization is remembered by the everyday things that, in hindsight, become extraordinary.”

He folded his hands.

“So let us begin with something ordinary.”

The world flooded with darkness, and suddenly Scarlet was elsewhere. Present, but not present. A silent observer to the Historian’s tale.

“The first thing you must understand is that there was nothing inherently remarkable about the first Vulpian homeworld, now known as Vixia One, or simply Vixia. Not every fallen civilization stood upon some impossible pinnacle before it collapsed. People believe the greater the height, the more devastating the fall. They forget it isn’t about the fall but about the impact, and that can be devastating no matter the height.

“We were a civilization old enough not to remember our origins. The oldest cities in living memory had been rebuilt so many times that their foundations belonged to people whose names were better known as roads and cities than as living individuals.

“Before the System came, we had what one would call civilization. Markets that opened with the sun. Scholars who wrote and thought and imagined. Lords, labourers and everyone in between. We had poverty and prosperity, greed and generosity, sadism and sacrifice.

“Truly, our civilization was much like any other. Though unlike your world, Vixia had mana. How your people survived without it,” he shook his head. “Mana, like light or air simply was. How thoroughly it shaped is something most only recognise in hindsight”

Something in his aura shifted, strengthened. The Historian smiled, and one of Scarlet’s theories was slowly being confirmed.

“Mana was simply another reality of life. Our people discovered or cultivated their gifts much like they did any other process, though back then they weren’t so well defined as ‘Affinities’. People either had talent or didn’t. Much like how some people were born muscular, while others had to work their entire lives to maintain a physique; or how some were born with perfect pitch, with an innate aptitude for song and music, while others could only hold a tune through dedicated practice and effort.

“With no System to quantify it into something more, those ‘talented’ people only discovered they had an Affinity once the System arrived. Of course, those hard workers often managed to awaken an Affinity of their own.

“Even before the system, talents on the level of Affinities were rare, however it was understood that if you wished to reach the highest of heights, such talent was a necessity. Blacksmiths often possessed talent for heat or metal. The most skilled farmers for nature, healers for life. And of course, the elements were always popular among fighters, something that hasn’t changed to this day.

“Why should someone who could wield water like an extension of themselves settle for irrigating crops when they could sail the seas or drown their enemies in battle? Why should someone who commanded flame more easily than breathing settle for lighting candles for lords, when they could raze armies to the ground or excavate riches from lands inhospitable to anyone else?

“Vixia was split into eight continents and six major powers. Borders were both fixed and fluid. Dynasties came and went, leaders rose and fell, and through it all the six major powers endured. Not because of leadership or geography, but through ways of life.

“When the System came, the powers were as such.

“The Empire of Flame. This is where those with the fire Affinity tended to congregate. They believed in peace through overwhelming force, that strength and might were justice and truth, and that the best way to defend oneself was always to be the first to attack.”

‘This tactic is known as: «a good offense is the best defense»,’ Scarlet sent to Maus, urging him to pay attention in the hope it would improve his INT.

‘Fight first, Boss. Fight fast. I will keep you safe!’

‘Keep yourself safe first.’ She shook her head and continued taking notes as the scent of ash and flame and indistinct visions of castles nestled in volcanic craters overlaid the world around her.

“Then there were the Water Clans, where, as you might guess, those with water Affinities were abundant. The clans were primarily merchant and agrarian. They were an incredibly adaptable and mercantile people. Being a global breadbasket does tend to breed competent diplomats and negotiators.

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“Then the Earthen Holds, probably the most stable of all societies. They were deeply rooted in tradition and craftsmanship. Loyalty to family and honor were the primary tenets of their people. At least publicly.”

‘A firm foundation can carry even a crumbling building,’ he intoned, as though reciting from memory rather than history.

“Then there were the Air Tribes. Those with air Affinities were primarily nomadic. They believed land, sky, and water belonged to everyone. That responsibility and burdens were meant to be shared. That the nature of life was fleeting and transient. They are perhaps the people who followed their Affinities most closely, drifting back and forth across two continents. Despite being highly nomadic, they were also incredibly insular.

“And then there were the factions that never quite fit. Those Affinities that didn’t slot neatly into the elements or their derivatives. The Esoterics, as they were called. Affinities like dreams or darkness that didn’t quite fit with the common elements. Their continent was one of small islands. Many, by necessity more than desire, became scholars both of their own Affinities and of others.

“This bent toward scholarship bred both an air of superiority and exclusivity among the Esoterics. They were governed by a Central Council, most of whom oversaw some institution of knowledge. Their vanity, while well earned, was insufferable. Truly, their insularity saved them.”

The Historian pressed his lips together before releasing them with a roll of his eyes.