Night of the False Dawn

"Gods, I don't like to talk about that night. I was only just past learning to walk when the night turned to day, and the ground moved like someone was shaking out laundry. And the screaming sound, like a tea kettle left on too long - only loud enough to drown out even a yell. Even though all that died down in a minute, what happened that night... my village packed up and left. We don't like talking about it. Damn it, where's that ale?!"

— Eyewitness account

Many people accept how dangerous arcane research can be as an immutable fact of the world, and tales of arcane disasters tend to be told for generations. Those who pursue a deeper understanding of arcane magic must take ever-greater risks in order to make progress, and common knowledge says it eventually catches up to them. Sages and arcanists often angrily push back against these assertions, agreeing there is a danger but being unwilling to agree there is a reckless disregard for what might come of their experiments. Charitable chroniclers call it an "agreement to disagree" on how severe the dangers are, but the bulk of writings focus on the resulting destruction and impact.

Among these stories there are commonly-shared details, such as the use of arcane materials known to be volatile or magic which was very much unproven. An "unhinged" arcanist is almost always involved, while sometimes it is an alchemist tampering with something from beyond. The more that chroniclers study stories of events, the more they find similarities which suggest pieces of many stories are getting placed together to make a far greater variety. But inevitably, they come back to what they have agreed is the singular "best example" of an incident which can be proven to have happened. A story which has most of the hallmarks of these false narratives, but with evidence which can still be viewed today rather than having become reclaimed by nature or destroyed by the hand of mortals.

It is the story known as "the Night of the False Dawn".

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Preceding Events

Before the actual night in question, there weren't many minor events which pointed to an impending calamity. Most of the residents knew better than to encroach on Ordrayn's privacy, especially with repeated warnings about potentially becoming an unwilling and unwitting participant in any of his experiments. Residents of the village nearby were not aware of what these arcane experiments were, but the people of Myrisia are at least tangentially aware of how dangerous magic can be. And yet the only event which might have been a warning was a large delivery to the mystic's residence outside the city. The delivery was later discovered to be a significant portion of arcane Essence Crystals, the exact measure of which was unrecorded but evidence collected pointed to it being - minimally - easily mistaken for a shipment of grain.

According to villagers, Ordrayn had been trying to impress upon the elders in charge to avoid allowing anyone to hunt, forage, or explore in the woods near his home. For several weeks, the mystic would travel to the village and complain about finding either young children or careless hunters having crossed into a boundary he had marked out for his experiments. Those who had been present for these complaints noted he seemed agitated, but it was not fury or annoyance which seemed to drive Ordrayn. Rather, it seemed he was being so firm about this for the sake of others.

Very little is known about matters concerning Ordrayn directly after the morning of the final day. Divination magic has failed to provide any answers, which is not unusual when considering the nature of the calamity in question. Accounts of survivors from the village can only attest to it being "like any other day" right up until the dead of night.

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The Investigation

Myrisian Sages arrived with guards to investigate that evening, before anyone had a chance to send word. The leader of the group, Sage Mathen, stated they had been readily aware a powerful release of magical energy had happened. Due to the intensity, teleportation magics were unable to function within a half-day's travel from the village. Similarly, divination efforts were met with debilitating headaches at the least. They had come to assess the event and understand whether it had been an attack, an accident, or something worse.

Even in recent years, most information discovered by the investigation is unavailable to anyone outside the Great Library of Myrisia. But it took several weeks in order to determine the extent of the damage done, and a number of details emerged about the impact which led to many Sages attempting to determine just what had happened. Survivors who had taken shelter seemed to lack the energy they once had, even after considering the interrupted sleep of that evening and grueling cleanup they had been doing. Several of them died within the year, and no others others lived more than a dozen years afterwards. Wildlife in the region took many human generations to recover to a point where a new village could sustain itself, and plant life had similarly been affected. Magic would tend to be simultaneously more effective within a boundary around the location, while being ineffective if attempted to be cast from outside the same boundary. Furthermore, an oddly chaotic quality was found to seep into all arcane magic which was worked there. Divinely-aspected magic functioned, but then those people who wielded it were "unsettled" during the efforts of working magic. Due to all these effects, it was only twenty years ago the Sages in nearby regions stopped advising people from traveling near the area.

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Concealed Truths

Spoiler: The Discovery

The Sages and diviners who arrived to delve into the mystery discovered several things which made them agree to avoid letting the whole truth be told. Whatever experiment Ordrayn had been attempting had gone catastrophically wild, and caused a considerable disruption to the fabric of magic. Divination magic was unable to perceive anything between the sunset of the day previous of the event until noon the next day, and even then any divination which was aimed at what had been called "the point of origin" would outright fail and cause intense pain to diviners attempting to do so - with no matter to how far back attempts reach. With what little could be found, however, the outline of what the experiment had been took shape and frightened the Sages enough to declare it be sealed and known only to Master Sages at the Great Library.

Divinations and later investigations discovered Ordrayn had smuggled in essence crystals in amounts which were inconsistent with the research he claimed to be doing as an attempt to become a Sage himself. It was also discovered he had not been living alone at his home for at least seven weeks before the fateful evening, but the identity of this individual was unable to be completely verified. It is suspected they were a dragon visiting in humanoid form, based on other information discovered after the investigation had officially closed. It is also believed the experiment Ordrayn had been attempting was to either refine Quintessence - an act which would safely occur almost two centuries later - or attempt to destabilize the essence crystals and release their energy in a controlled fashion.

The effect on the local area was found to be consistent with accidental destabilization of essence crystals, which served to settle the matter for the investigators. Once it was 'solved', the opinion was presented of whether another person would hear of this and attempt to weaponize it. In fear of this thought, the Sages voted unanimously to suppress the information and discuss it with nobody outside of the Great Library once the report was filed.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane