For an eternity, the answer remained simple. Life was the pursuit of order. As Celestials, we were the rulers of Enora, masters of mana, the very energy that birth our world and the undisputed sovereign over the mortals of the Lower realm. Mana beast bowed their heads in submission when a Celestial walked neared.
But standing amidst the smoldering ruins of what was once my home, I realized that we were no different than prey.
Every being was prey to another. I watched the sky shatter, great spires that was tore through it tumbled to the ground. The vivid memory remained etched in my flesh. My arms were battered, I could feel bones grated against the other with every shallow breath.
The pain was not a dull throb but a sharp, rhythmic pounding. Each time I struggled to shift my weight, my splintered bones crushed against itself. Almost like glass shards had been sewn beneath my skin, which moved with the slightest twice of my muscle. I tried to draw in mana to enhance my body, a simple feat for a Celestial child, but I couldn't. The effort only made me feel weaker.
I was broken, having lost all sense of time in my desperate fight for survival. My legs had abandoned all strength. I collapsed, weak, my face resting against the cold temple floor.
Even in such distort, my mind remained on the harbinger of my doom.
"Demons"
The word left my mouth heavy. They were no invader, foreign to our land. No, instead they were a blasphemy of our own making. Savage creatures which knew not but to kill and lay waste to every life that breathed mana.
I remembered the lessons of the Elders. We were taught that our forms were perfect. But that very perfection twisted. I witnessed mana-shift take hold of my kin, making their eyes a frenzied, violet light as their mana erupted from their forms.
The horror unleashed upon invasion was unimaginable. Their strength now enhanced by a strange power could topple an average Celestial. One would think it only required the disrupted mana that had made them demons to be repelled. But that didn't work. The more mana burned, the more the air seemed to thicken with an ominous aura.
I witnessed these atrocities firsthand. My clan, my parents...gone. Everything I knew was reduced to rubble. The mana-shift was no clean death. It was raw mutiny. High-ranking Celestials that could command birth life into mere flesh was reduced to a sinister beast. I watched strong Celestials turn deranged. Their forms warped, lines elongating, skin morphing until they were something I could no longer call 'Celestial'. Then I a mere child, what truly was left for me.
Being told we were rulers of the world, or perhaps, we told ourselves such a lie.
The snarls of the demons grew louder, echoing off the cracked masonry of the temple I had crawled into. My heart kept pounding with each beat increasing in intensity. A fresh wave of pain running through my body. My mind raced, thinking of any chance of escape, but the strange power in the air felt like it could sniff out the air in my lungs.
'Not like this' I thought. My fingers clawing on the ground.
'I cannot end in such a misery way. If given the chance, I would stop at nothing to find an end to this grim predicament. I would work myself to the bone, find the source of this rot and cut it off. Even if it meant reaching being inflicted by the mana-shift.'
The demons appeared. The faces of my friends were distorted, unrecognizable. Barely a trace of their former Celestial self was left. The vanguard stumbled toward me, their movement rigid and unnatural. Eyes locked on mine with a hunger that was very much devoid of any soul. It was chilling.
Blood drenched their bodies, some of it theirs, I was certain. Most of it belonged to those unable to flee. I struggled backwards, goosebumps appearing across my skin, and my breath now shallow. I wanted nothing more for it to end, knowing all too well that these demons would take their time, savaging my body until the very last of my mana flickered away.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the first tear of teeth against my skin.
Instead, a cacophony of shrieks spread outward. It bounced off the temple walls. It was sudden, a piercing terror that made my ears numb. My body trembled in fear, barely holding on to the sensation I perceived and not wetting myself. It was a struggle but I held on.
Forcing my eyes open, only to see that the demons had stopped their approach. Their focus pulled away from me, and toward the center of the hall.
'Move it. I should run now. This is my only chance to live. If i survive now, I can fight another day. Please move.' I gritted my teeth forcing my body to move through the pain, but it didn't respond. 'Why? Why can't these legs move.' I thought in anger. In the heart of the horde, the air itself seemed to bleed.
Crimson red thorns, thick as ones torso, erupted from the horde. I could vividly feel it's sharpness as my eye closed in pain. I looked again. The thorns seemed to have a mind of their own, almost predatory to the demons. This was blood mana, manifesting as liquid and solid, all at once. The coagulated blood formed into spikes, solidifying into sharp points before they shot out with immense force.
The sound of flesh being impaled filled the room. The thorns shattered through the surrounding stone walls as if they were mere wood. I watched in awe, as demons fell, their blood disrupting as the came in contact with the thorns.
My fear, which came as a cold weight in my belly began to vanish. In its place was now a flicker of hope. It felt so foreign, I had barely recognized it.
The shrieks down down. The heavy ominous aura that had trailed the demons began to dissipate. But I was worried about more. My savior.
He took his time watching his destruction. I had doubted he had notice my feeble energy, as even I could barely feel my own body. He stepped over the twitching remains of the demons with a calm that was irresistible.
As he approached, his form became clearer through the haze of dust.
He was an elder. But was I had witnessed didn't show frailty. His gray ramshackle braids were adorned with beads that hummed gently. He held a wooden staff in one hand, with its head carved into the figure of a Wrym. The other hand held an artifact.
With eyes that were dim haunting red, there was no mistaking it. My savior was a Lamian, my very kind.
I struggled to hide my sense of joy. There were so many questions to ask. I was brave, I always have been. I was not going to let him leave without taking me out of my ruins.
"Forgive me, child." He said, his voice soothing my heavy laden chest. "I could not protect your home. You have seen the worst of Enora, and at such a young age. Come let us leave this place."
Those words, gave me hope. Certainly I would live to see another day. And if I could follow this great Lamian, then I too would be strong against these demons.
My parents were great scholars. Every lesson they taught me of mana will have to be practiced and put into the test. My father had often told tales of great celestials, I too will become one.
First I must heighten my knowledge on what i have already been taught. Then, I must continue further into understanding the origin of these demons. The reason my parents died, the reason my childhood faded over night.
Then one day, I will be able to correct this world.