The Tale of the Rising
In this land barren of peace, a darkness grew that was greater than the darkness that could be carried by any person. It was called the Rising, and it spread across the Outer Lands. It would take the hearts of those it found and drive them towards madness. The Outer Lands were devastated as they fought each other more viciously than ever before, and devastation ruled.
The Rising came from an age long past, before the Congregation or any living memory, a time of the Drucilar, when magic filled the skies and the sun always shone. It was the rage and despair that the end of Drucilar left behind, all of their dashed hopes for the future that they never knew wouldn't come.
The Rising reminded those it touched that, like in its own day, they would never have what they truly wanted. They would never have the power and wealth and love and respect that they desired if they lived the life that they were told that they were supposed to live. But they could take it. The Rising told them that by fighting others and taking power for themselves, they could have everything they wanted. And so the Rising spread.
But evil cannot exist without good to fight it. There was a person who lived in the Second Circle by the name of Olia Lucien. They were a studier of magic, and when they saw the darkness of the Rising on the horizon they knew that they had to do something to stop it. So they went on a journey to become strong enough to fight it.
On their journey, they met eight friends, who would become like their disciples. These too were people of magic, some more skilled even than Olia themself, and they all agreed to follow them. They followed them because Olia had the heart of a hero and the great mind of a leader, and they knew that this was the person that could bring an end to the evil of the Rising.
They also found ten lights on the journey. Like the Rising, these lights came from the distant past of the Drucilar, but they carried not its darkness but its goodness. The people of the Drucilar carried much grief about their end, but they carried joy for the all the things they had created and the knowledge that these things would come to the world again. It is these notions that made up the lights that would confront the Rising.
The final battle against the Rising was long and epic. Olia and their disciples fought with the light of the Drucilar shining upon them, and though the darkness of the Rising threatened to overwhelm them more than once, in the end they prevailed and scattered its darkness.
When the Rising was defeated, the hearts of those it had turned were once again free. The Outer Lands were able to begin developing into what we know today - by no means perfect, but far superior to its savage past.
Meanwhile, Olia and their disciples took on new tasks. They first sealed the Rising and ensured that it would never come again by sealing the grief of the Drucilar deep underground, never to be found again. Then, in case such a power ever should rise, they decided to train more disciples to fight it and created the Mystic Compendium to be guard against the darkness for all time.
So, know that when hearts stray towards darkness, this is the will of the Rising, and all should guard themselves against it, lest it be allowed to spread across the world again.
Commentary by Cerys Anteni, Library Master of the Old Gods.
This is one of the oldest tales in the Salynas Archipelago, and has been told so many times that it is impossible to tell what might be real and what is just fiction.
Let us start with what we know. We know that Olia Lucien existed, for they still live today as the First Mage of the Mystic Compendium. I have even had a chance to speak to him myself while researching a project many years ago, and he is an amicable chap. I did ask him about this story, but he says that it was so long ago that he hardly remembers the details of his own life.
Similarly, we know from the records of the Mystic Compendium that the eight other unnamed figures existed, though it is unclear if they were disciples, friends, or simply colleagues. We know that they created the Mystic Compendium together, however.
As for their mission, there is little historical evidence to support the Rising. Any texts that might have referenced it likely would have been kept in the library of Millaren, which unfortunately burned down hundreds of years ago. Nevertheless, the description of the Rising sounds rather farfetched, and many historians believe that while there may have been some beast that the group fought, it was likely not quite so nefarious.
And, lastly, I must unfortunately quash any notion of the Drucilar. I had the same boyhood fantasies of them as everyone else, the people whose grasp of technology and magic is far beyond what we have today, who all one day disappeared in a mysterious disaster. It is a great tale, but we have searched for evidence of their existence for as long as our calendar has existed, and we have yet to find any concrete evidence of their existence. As much as it pains me to say it, it seems that if they had existed we would have found some evidence by now.
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