The Forgotten Magic of Usmiri

One hundred years ago a man, Athenamal Bethtora, discovered his gift early in life. But so did many others. Elementals were no more a secret than those without gifts. These gifts were taught and refined in schools, Elementals learning how to wield them with respect and responsibility. However there were always outliers the ones who chose to use their gifts in pursuit of pleasures and power of their own.

But Athenamal was the first of his kind, he wielded all five of the gifts, he was called the Dragon Elemental and anyone who followed carried that distinction as well. Athenamal honed his gifts not just so he may take what wasn’t his, but to take power. To rule, to force those without gifts to bend to his will and those with gifts to follow and join his army.

Athenamal learned that with his five gifts, water, fire, spirit, earth, and air, he could create beings. Life. Using elements of earth and fire he forged five creatures of destruction. He created dragons. These beasts were brought to life with his desire of power, destruction, and greed. His heart was black, he cared for no one, and he passed that to his dragons. They too desired power and thrived on destruction. These five beasts all with the power of their elements hated not just humanity, but Athenamal and each other.

Athenamal struggled to maintain control of his creations, but he used his spirit dragon to his advantage. As the gift of spirit was mind control. So he controlled his dragons by controlling the spirit dragon. He only had the ability to control one, but the spirit dragon could connect with the other four. When he waged war against all those who would not bend the knee, the five prominent families of the five contents, who were the strongest of their gifts stepped forward.

It was a difficult war, much loss on both sides, and the complete destruction of one continent. The five families realized the dragons could not be stopped, could not be killed they needed to find another way. With the great efforts and sacrifices of the Spirit Elementals they were able to take control of Athenamal’s spirit dragon. They gave this dragon one command to pass to the others. Sleep. And sleep they did.

The five families decided it was best to allow the knowledge of the gifts to fade through time. Believing that if the teachings stopped, the ability to use the gifts would as well. But as the years passed some families continued to practice and teach in secret. High within the government ranks a faction called the Guild was created. They were to maintain the secrecy at all costs. But the Guilds power grew and twisted as rumors of an artifact leading to creatures of great power arose.

Aptitude tests were given to all teens and young adults to determine where their greatest strengths were. Math, language, technology, medicine and the like. It would help to place the students in the proper schools to pursue those skills. But the leader of the Guild twisted the tests, found ways to discover who had gifts and who did not. Those with gifts were removed while the rest continued with their lives.

The new leaders of the Guild were building their own army now. For many of them knew the rumors of a Dragon Elemental were true.

Was this artifact real too? Can they find these creatures their hidden past speaks of?