Prologue

"How can one define a power such as Mana? Must one create a new language to describe the essence of all that is?

"Shall one be ambitious enough to attempt to put words to the intricate cycles that put the different faces of pure power into balance?

"Shall one be arrogant enough to assume all such faces have been discovered and fully understood?

"Shall one be foolish enough to believe one being alone could possible hope to control it towards their own ends?

"Shall one be naive and innocent enough to expect otherwise from humanity..."

Eons ago, peoples harnessed the power of Mana to build a great civilization that spanned the four corners of the earth. They made many great advances that led to the creation of a virtual paradise. But this did not last for long. With the realization of such knowledge, the ultimate weapon was not far behind in the making, coming to be known simply as the Mana Fortress.

The existence of such power was but a precursor to the using of it. War ravaged the world, such that few survived and fewer remembered how it had all happened. In the end, the destruction was completed by the advent of the Mana Beast, a monster formed from all the creatures of the world. The ensuing battle spanned the skies, the Mana Fortress and the Mana Beast fighting each other, all the while furthering the annihilation of the planet. In the end, a lone warrior wielding the Mana Sword smashed the fortress and fought the Mana Beast to a standstill. And as quickly as it had been created, the Mana Beast vanished. The Mana Fortress sank into ocean, out of sight and memory.

The survivors of the holocaust accepted the lesson they had been taught. As the world was rebuilt, the lesson were passed on in full, with people being taught to seek knowledge of Mana and not the use of it. Slowly, the world began to teem with life again, at peace with itself and Mana.

But time is like a river...

...and history is doomed to repeat itself.

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