The Spectators

 There was a mortal man who ruled a small snowy kingdom in the mountains. It consisted of merely a couple of villages and a castle. This was before Lower Elemental magic came to this world. I met him a couple of times before the tragedy. At that time, he was serving as king and worshipped a lesser demigod whose name I don’t recall. The people also worshipped her, and in return, she promised them protection. Each year, there was a feast in honour of the demigod at the king's wooden keep. The great smell of fried meat always covered the whole village. They danced, ate, and sang in her honour. Then, one cloudy day, the enemy attacked their castle. They hoped for her help, but she did not come. During the attack, he fought to the end, hoping she was just testing them, to protect his family above all. He charged at the enemy with his last men. It was a bloody fight, but he managed to push them away. The smell of burning meat reached his nose; he rushed back to his family, only to see his family slaughtered and burned.  His faith was shattered that day, along with his will to live. He left everyone behind and went to confront the demigod. It was a demigod who told him not to raise and train an army. They didn´t need one, she told them. Only his wife tried to convince him to do so—to be independent. She was always suspicious of the demigod, but he believed in them.

I was there, chatting with the lesser demigod in this icy glass room with a pond of pure water in the middle, when he stormed in like a hurricane.  He argued with her, demanding answers. Why did she do nothing? Why did she break her promise? She had silver hair, an ice-blueish body, and an indifferent expression. She answered with a cold voice, “If you cannot even protect a small rock, why should I help a weakling?”. His face reddened, and he couldn´t believe her words. He attacked her and pierced her with his sword. He screamed his wife's name with a soft, cracking voice. The walls cracked, and the pond became dark. A strong, cold wind came out of the room, extinguishing all the light inside. Maybe she thought she was invincible, maybe she just believed no mortal could touch her. I don´t know, but I do know that he took his revenge on her, and her magic went inside him. In that moment, a mortal man died and became the first common magic user. I hid, not because I was afraid, but because I wanted to see what this person would become. I knew my master would like to see this. A good story is hard to find after all. With the eye of the god, I watched closely.

With his new powers, he destroyed the attacker's kingdom alone. Burnt it to the ground, killed every soldier he found. Proclaimed himself as the Emperor of his new Empire,later known as the First Empire. His enemies gave up when they saw his banner. There was no chance of defence against his iron-melting fires. He conquered most of the known world — not because he had to, but because he wished to, driven by a single purpose: the hunt for demigods. Hunting them and killing them, enjoying every death of their kind. Not because of revenge or hatred, but because he couldn´t stand false gods. He was not a tyrant, only to his enemies.  People were well fed and had stability, and crimes were heavily punished. Kingdoms overthrew their kings just to join his empire, not out of fear but out of prosperity. Beloved by all, hated by no one; even enemies didn´t hate him —they respected him. His mortal body couldn´t withstand that much magic for long; even gods die eventually, and at the age of 1,183, he died of old age. From his body, common magic burst out, getting inside tens of thousands of people, and the age of lower elemental magic began. With no successor to take over from him, his Empire collapsed in just 3 years. Mortals couldn´t handle so much power, and instead of using it for good, they used it as a tool of destruction. Once, loyal kingdoms rebelled for power, and 100 years of terror, war, and destruction began. After his death, they worshipped him as a god who had given them his power or as a devil who brought destruction to their world. Elements are wild weapons in mortal hands, and only a few can fully control them. Fire, Ice, Earth, Water, Dark, Lightning, Air, and Light gave thousands of people the illusion that they were the next emperor. Lower Elemental magic is easy to learn and hard to master. Playing with Elements is dangerous and can easily get out of control.