"What was the Sundering? And what about the other eras?"
Lyle yawned.
"All right, all right. Don't get your knickers in a twist. I'll tell you what I know, but I'll warn you now, it's not much. I didn't exactly pay attention when the elders were talking. Who wants to sit and listen to old people talk right?"
Elias stared at him and he cleared his throat.
" Right. Oral tradition is how knowledge of these events is passwd down among us.It's a great way of preserving history, mind you, but it's also a problem. There's so much information that one forgets certain parts, creating loopholes, and then there's the problem of hearsay, where one person modifies a part of the story, either adding or removing some parts creating this kind of contradiction so I'd advise you,if you really wanna know more,to do your own research in history books against what I've said."
" But wouldn't that problem be solved if you just wrote stuff down?" Elias asked.
" My thoughts exactly. But tradition is tradition and you know how the old heads are too stubborn to change ways all for the sake of 'preserving purity's." Lyle said with a sigh.
" Preserving purity?" Elias repeated.
" You'll know what I mean in a bit."
" As you know,the world initially had one continent and on it was Aeridor. But then came the Third Era.It was a time of great war. The nations of men had grown arrogant with their power. They had learned to use Flow to a degree no one had ever thought possible, and they turned it on each other seeking more power than they already had. Inevitably, they met their end and most of them were destroyed in a cataclysm known as 'The Sundering'."
Elias nodded. He had so many questions he wanted to ask but decided to wait till Lyle had finished.
"No one knows exactly what caused the Sundering. Some say it was a single, powerful Artifact made for war that detonated and took the continent out. Others say it was a chain reaction, a build-up of so much raw Flow that the world just couldn't handle it anymore. The most common account, however, is that it was simply an act of Divine retribution on humans,the Earthborn for thier arrogance. The end result was destruction of unfathomable scale which is said to have wiped out more than half of all humans."
Elias' eyes widened.
" I know, crazy right." Lyle said with a smirk.
" But then at the end of the day most of the super continent is sunk and there's not enough evidence to prove either this or that." He shrugged.
"Whatever it was, the nations of men, in their foolishness, nearly destroyed the world. They ripped it apart. They destroyed their own empires, and they destroyed ours."
Lyle continued, his voice softer now.
"My people were part of the surviving percentage. They decided to spread out across the sundered world and become a nomadic tribe,serving as a testament to past events. Now,as part of the many rules to follow,one of them is to not intermarry with people from other places. It is believed that it is a duty to preserve our culture and knowledge, a purity of our own that would supposedly would be 'tainted'."
" Is that doctrine why you don't write down anything?" Elias asked. Lyle clicked his tongue and pointed at Elias in affirmation.
' So I'll have to look into it huh? I initially called this dude a bum for not paying attention and partaking in essential knowledge,but even what he said he remembers is too vague. Maybe he was right and there's a lot of chaff in history. There's also no guarantee that what Lyle is saying is credible or that he's telling the whole truth.'
He looked at Lyle, who was already yawning again. For whatever reason he had a weird feeling about him though he couldn't decipher what exactly he felt or why he felt it. Regardless ,there were more questions he wanted to ask. But then he felt the world dim a bit and looked outside. His heart sank as he realized the sun had moved far beyond the center of the sky and was almost touching the western part of the sky.
He had been so engrossed in the conversation that he had completely forgotten about the time. He had to go.
Elias got to his feet, threw some money on the table, and without another word, he ran off.
Lyle who was picking his nose watched him leave with a confused expression.
"Where are you go-" he began but Elias had already left. A waiter brought the bill and Lyke looked at the numbers and rushed out of the cafe.
"Hey!You overpaid!" But Elias was already gone, a blur of motion weaving through the bustling crowd. Lyle just looked down at the money and chuckled.
"Lucky." he said as he pocketed the change.
Elias reached the spot where the wagon was supposed to be, but it was empty. He panicked, a deep, cold fear gripping his heart. He had to get back to the estate quickly.
Using Flow Reinforcement to inforce his legs with energy,he moved with an incredible speed, racing through the crowded streets.
He finally reached the estate's gates, and he quickly used Flow Suppression to slip back inside like a silent shadow in the night.
As he entered,he saw the wagon parked a short distance away, but it seemed that no one was aware that he was just returning from an outing. He made his way through the corridors to his room, slipped inside, and locked the door.
He sighed in relief. He was safe,he had made it.
"So, you've finally returned?" he heard Aina say from behind him.
Elias's closed his eyes, knowing he was done for.
" Oh Sis,fancy seeing you here..."He said turning to face her. However all the lies he was preparing in his mind evaporated as he took in the sight
She was sitting on his bed, sipping tea with one leg placed on the other and resting casually on his shadow clone. Eli,the clone had a few marks on his body which , needless to say meant that Aina had roughed him up a bit. Their eyes met and from the apologetic look Eli gave Elias knew he had snitched. Aina on the other hand was looking at him with a casual, almost bored expression.
Elias said nothing.
He simply bowed his head, accepting his fate.
Aina casually took a sip of her tea, and a small spark of electricity flowed down her leg, through the ground and struck him, illuminating the entire room.