Dear Diary,

Today my twin sister taught me about the origins of magic!! But I kind of wished she didn’t because magic doesn’t feel as cool anymore, like when you learn about how a magician does a magic trick it doesn’t feel like magic anymore. Not knowing is part of the fun! Also she jammed a ton of history too T_T

For anyone who is reading this and wishes for magic to keep being mysterious and magical then stop reading my diary!!! I’m serious!! This is my personal stuff!! Don’t keep going, this is really bad, you’ll lose your love for magic!

Did you stop reading?

No? Ok I’m giving you time to stop reading.

Ok now put this book back underneath the floorboard where you found it. Yes, the floorboard by the bed, this is where I keep all of the very not secrets! There’s nothing in there :) Yes just like that, perfect.

…..

If you keep invading my privacy and reading you’ll know the secrets of magic my sister told me. Wait, you want to know? Fine. I’ll ruin the magical and mysterious aspect of magic for you and make it as boring as possible!! I’ll feed you everything boring about the history of Ayrum that my sister smashed into my head today! I’ll tell you so much that you’ll get bored!! Muahahahah!!!! I’ll start telling the story then,

During the periods of history where magic was only something people considered as an effective tool to rule and suppress the people, those with lethal magical powers were the most advantageous in their life. They received their powers as they learnt how to hunt and kill and therefore their magic powers developed in that direction. The hunters will gain magic power in hunting and the farmers will gain magic powers through farming continuously.

Cecilia said that this was the original way of learning magic and those who figured this method hid it from the public eye, but they couldn’t hide it for long. The people began to train and acquired new styles of magic. The rule of the tyrant king made the people angry which brought a revolution to these kingdoms, but when the tyrant king was killed a new tyrant was born. This long cycle of tyrannical king to another tyrannical king made the people frustrated that they can’t earn a peaceful life and thus they ran away to find a land of peace which they found under the sacred care of the Gods.

Determined to live a better life they took the risk of entering the holy land of the Gods where they earnestly hoped for a life where their children, wife, husband and siblings wouldn’t be subjected to the whims of a tyrant. They wished for the wars between these small pieces of land to stop because they wanted to live a peaceful life. A life where they can stop worrying.

For in the holy land of the Gods, they realized that humans strayed too far and wished for the long wars to stop. They decreed that humans are not created for constant war and thus the origin of the holy crusades began. The Gods in a single night killed all of the tyrant kings and that year the church of the Ancient Tryphants reigned over the entire island of Ayrum and decreed that magic powers beyond a lethality level of 2 was prohibited.

Over 3000 years have passed since that happened and the main Ancient Tryphants which protected us were Zeisen, the Ancient Tryphant of Darkness, Kalathos, the Ancient Tryphant of Erosion, and Aristia, the Ancient Tryphant of Balance. The nation of Ayrum began to be built and restored from the former chaos created by the holy crusades. Living under the protection of the almighty Ancient Tryphants the wars on Ayrum became a part of history and people pursued their passions such as researching magic. The research of magic led to the discovery that inside our bodies was the key to magic because our body adapted, which created magic originated from the DNA of various other creatures. For simple magic such as enhanced nocturnal vision, the gene strands of a raccoon were observed in those humans.

This hypothesis of magic started to gain more credibility as scientists began to dissect humans, eventually they noticed that there was a particular system similar to the nerves which handled systemic changes caused by magic. The layers of potential that this system brings is unprecedented and it caused a new surge of research to find how beast genes mutate with this operating system, which we now call the Tryphant’s Blessing or Blessing for short.

Under the protection of the Ancient Tryphant the research behind magic led to a market where buyers would purchase magical skills and companies would create them which created the renown trade of synthetic magical skills. The most common ones would begin as a seed before acquiring their powers depending on how one nurtured it and raised it, but it faced the problem of limits of its potential. A synthetic skill would have a low potential compared to natural skills.

One of the dangers that my sister told me was that the blackmarket sells fake skills and wariness was priority when buying skills and their seeds. Fake skills can give you claws like a leopard but will rob you of your sanity slowly making your mind closer to a leopard as well.

Regular abilities come in two forms, seeds and blossoms. Seeds take time to grow but can occasionally be very strong in the long run with much lower costs to use. The cost of using satisfactory magic below tier 3 is determined by how well the user nurtured the seed and exceptionally raised ones can have little to no cost. The appeal of the seed is their low cost.

Harder to find but much more effective is the blossoms which are expensive but extremely effective. A well-known example of a blossom is the Icethaw which is capable of accelerating time for the user and increasing their reaction speed. Blossoms often need to be recharged after every use and they’re regulated by the Ancient Tryphant churches. The tremendous power of certain blossoms comes at an enormous risk according to Cecilia but she never tells me them.

She says that it’s better for me to focus on my current seed and nurture it rather than focusing towards blossoms or other things. She said that I had one of the most powerful seed which is an Anthorious Land Strider, a mythical beast that she got her hands on. Ceci said that its body was gigantic and when it sits people often mistake it for a mountain but I’ve never seen one and everyone I’ve asked said that they’ve never heard of it either.

I think it’s actually just a savage gazelle seed which gives you augmented strength. I think Ceci is being kind and she’s trying to encourage me but I’m smarter than she thinks. I can notice that inside me, the seed has barely grown and it keeps sucking out all of the energy from my body. I very likely doubt that she gave me a fake seed but I’ve made contingencies just in case.

It’s fun having our small adventures with my Ceci and supporting the orphanage but she kept talking about these big things which I don’t really understand. She often mentioned about the future and how we can live better lives. Ever since my sister started to do business the orphanage can now eat a meal a day and the shower once a week!!! It’s a lot better than what it used to be and I’m happy being with my friends and family even if it’s dangerous. I need to support my family at the orphanage, even if it means risking my li- H-Hey! Ceci!! Give me my diary back!!! What do you mean I can’t risk my life? Life requires one to take risks!!! What? Taking reckless risks is what a fool would do? That’s ridiculous! Wait at least let me end it!! -ok I’m not risking my life. I’m risking my freedo- “Wait I can’t risk my freedom too!!! What do you mean if you don’t have freedom is life even worth living?!!!” -fine, I won’t risk anythi- “hold up, now you’re saying I need to risk things. Ceci sometimes you’re really annoying, wait don’t hit me!! Ahrghhhghhrh, argpghhdahs, ok so don’t take uncalculated risks” -I will only take calculated risks to achieve our goals.

Sincerely, Rufus