The Setting Sun
Title: The Setting Sun
Author: Guntur Kivlov
It seems to be common knowledge that this world is but one of many shards, one of many pieces that shattered with the Gem of Immortality, but what is not known is the true magnitude of different worlds, several of which are very different from the Britannia you know. I come from one of these shards. Though the land that I came from was called Solice, I and my followers refer to the shard as Ragnarak. I will attempt to explain in this text several things, for both my followers and for the natives of this shard.
Ragnarak shard was very different from your own. The land the people, the governments were all different. There was no Lord British or Blackthorn, there was only one moon, and we knew not of the Avatar. Perhaps the greatest difference between the two was the lack of magicks. Very few individuals had the ability to use magic. I fortunately could, and was thus highly regarded within my clan. I have yet to understand the reason behind the differences, but that is not important.
To tell you the story we must start from a earlier point in my life. It was in my 15th year that those around me began to see the powers that I possesed. Our current priest was ill and his time was growing short. She taught me all she could for the next 2 years before she finaly passed beyond to Valhala. Before she died, she told us of a a council that would take me in and finish my teachings. The Order Machina. With her last wishes clear, I was sent off to find the order.
My voyage from my Icelandic home was long, and in that time I became more aquainted with my gifts. It was in the city-state of Avalon that I finaly found myself. I was told that from here I would find the Order, or that they would find me. Eventually, I believe I was 18, I was brought into the order.
They showed me the true nature of magick and its relationship with the great machines, or Magnus Machina. I studied in the great temples of the order for some time before I became what they called, Engineer. I had become very powerful. I saw the machines and could turn them as i saw fit. I was the most powerful engineer the order had ever seen. When it was realised I had achieved such vison, I was put in the Order's most sacred council. It was from there that I was shown something that pierced my soul and left its mark even to this day.
The Books of the Machina. Volumes of scripture detailing every aspect of the machines. It was with my help that all of the books were decoded. But our time to rejoice was short. It was at this time the Guardian found our world. This was the begining of the end. His minions began at out southern most lands and fought their way upward. The Order assisted when they could, but as the Gaurdian took Avalon, the Order fell with it. Avalon, the greatest city we had ever seen, and I have still ever known fell. The Guardian burnt it the the ground, what did not burn was crushed. With my Order destroyed, my only choice was to flee north to my homelands.
The journey left a trail of blood, straight to my clan's lands. And the Guardian knew me. He felt my power, but more nausiating, I felt him. His power was unimaginable. I knew that we had only one hope, a device the books called the great gate. By this time most survivors had fled north as well. with the whole of out world fighting at the borders of the icelandic highlands, the Guardian's minion's advance was halted. It seemed that they could not move any further, but each day a thousand more warriors were dead. It was in the dead of a harsh blizzard that I found our salvation.
Hidden in the mountains of the northern most point of our world was a temple. Inside was a passage leading deep underground. As fighting continued, I ordered all the remaining warriors to retreat to this temple. If i was right, we would escape, if i was wrong... I could not be wrong. The passage led to a large green sea, shooting up from the water here and there were wheels and gears, large pillars of metal tubing and wooded platforms. In the center was what the now burnt books told me was the control center of the great gate. I know that very shortly the fate of millions would be decided. A great crash sounded from above my head, rocks fell
from the cavern walls into the waters below. I took the levers of the controls and shifted them up and around, following the patterns
the books had taught me. When I had completed the sequence, the waters around me began to churn and glow. Great waves began to form
and before me began to rise from the water a great wheel.
All around us machines began to rise from the water and move, spinning and pumping. The platform began to quake and the great gate appeared from the water. It was gigantic, barely fitting into the large caverns. All around it smaller gears would turn and screech, sending echos throughout the the cavern. When all the machines had risen everything stopped. I looked around, silence. I turned to the quiet gate. It was so majestic in it's magnitude. It was then that i heard the rise of something in the water behind me. I turned and facing me was a serpent. It stared at me. It lowered back into the water, keeping only it's head above the surface. I could see into its eye, cold and all-knowing. I knew it's name, Rider, and its purpose, to protect.
It judged me. I was worthy. A glow lit behind me. I turned, Four rods flew at the corners of the machine. They slowly entered the gate, and with a great turn the wheel that was the great gate lit up. It was as bright at the sun, the gate was open... to salvation. I rushed back to the surface and gave the retreat, all that were left began to flow into the inner body of ragnarak, and entered the machine. I stepped out and looked over my scorched lands. I remember the feeling of loss. This place that had bore me life, dead and drying as its children left it.
The sun was low in the sky, only partly showing over the horizon. It seemed as if the forces of the Guardian were all about me, but the lucidity of the setting sun had captured me. I felt warmth at my back... it was the gate beckoning me. My eyes were glazed with tears and I spread out my arms to embrace my solar father one last time as its light, ever-bright, was diminished and the gate took me.
With each beat of my heart one image will forever be burnt into my very essence, the last great vision of my world, the last sight of my people, our beloved, Setting Sun.
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