Tower of Babel

Prologue

There weren't always Dragons in the Valley. Master Jethro thought to himself as he stared at the flying creatures. He could see their majestic body all the way from where he sat. Beautiful creatures...beautiful and dangerous. The old man turned his wheelchair towards the children in the yard playing the local game known as rocks and paper. It had been two years since he got the Orphanage running again. He had repaired the building of the former Atwell Orphanage and had resumed its operations, and now he had kids that he was responsible for. He was under a patio beneath the midnight sky, the hot air of Pele city had cooled down. He felt a calmness watching the kids, a calmness that he hadn't felt for the past hundred years. He still had nightmares, dreams of the past wars that had raged on beyond this world, a war that had threatened everything he held dear to him. Years had passed, the threats were gone, peace reigning once more, and yet he was still scarred from it. His hand went down to his legs, legs that he would never be able to use again. He had made sacrifices, choices that no one should ever have to. There were times that he still wondered if he had made the right choice, but looking down at the children before him, their smiles made him feel good. One of the children ran up to him, jumping on one of the vacant seats. She picked up one of the Jambia juice from the table that he had prepared for the kids.

"Nero, don't drink too much," the old man said. The other kids ran up to the patio and began to go for the drinks.

"Master Jethro, tell us a story again," Pascal, one of the kids said. He was a little brown-haired kid, who was struggling with his Magical control and loved listening to his stories about his adventures.

"Which one do you want to listen to," Master Jethro said.

"Start with the journey to the Axis Tower," Nero said.

"No...Start with the fight against the Briarwoods," Robin said.

"Let's hear what Pascal wants," Master Jethro said. "He's the one who requested a story," The other kids turned to Pascal.

"I want to go back to the beginning," Pascal said. "Start with the First Godkiller, Uthred the Omegakiller,"

"Yeah, he's my favorite," Yama said. Master Jethro sighed. That far back, Huh. He thought. To be honest, his memory of those events was spotty. He hadn't been born then, and it wasn't like he knew the story that well. Uthred the Omega killer was the first of the Godkiller to be born, and Master Jethro was the last of the Godkiller bloodline. He had ensured their legacy to be immortalized just like he was. But it had all started with him. Started with a boy who dreamed beyond what a regular human should. Thanks to fate, he had a way to tell the story. He snapped his finger, and out of the void- a black hole of energy- a book dropped out. The Book was large and huge, big enough to contain all the events that had transpired over this Sphere's existence. The history of this universe was contained within this book, an object of great power which Master Jethro had won from his final battle. It had been a while since he had laid eyes upon the book. He checked on the kids and wasn't surprised to find them fawning over the book. Although they were Magic sensitive, they could not sense the Magic that came from the book.

"What's that," Pascal asked.

"This is the Book of Akasha," Master Jethro said. "All things are written, and nothing is hidden." He opened the book and went to the section that contained the story of the Godkillers.

"Before he was known as the OmegaKiller, Uthred went by the name of Jax Walker," Master Jethro said. "And like you all, he was an orphan boy. And he lived during the Fourth Age of Magic,"

"The return of the Golden age of Magic," Yama said.

"Yes," Master Jethro said. "And the return of the gods. Let's begin with the story of how an orphan boy climbed a tower to challenge the gods and how he conquered that tower...

".....In the First Age of Magic, known as Sep-Tephys, the gods walked free among the mages. While the Mages worshipped the gods, in exchange they were granted freedom and blessings from the source of magic itself. But then came the war between the gods and the golden age came to a cataclysmic end.

In the Second Age of Magic, the Original mages, the Homo Pan, divided the lands between the A'jinn tribe, the Jehuti tribe, and the Ife tribe. And from beyond the sea, Humankind arrived in a new land. But the enmity between the Original Mages and Humans put an end to this age.

In the Third Age of Magic, Magic has become the norm as humankind have finally conquered it. Through wars, conquests, and deaths, various nations have formed. Out of the shadows, beyond the northern lands, the last remnants of the gods have risen and have blessed one Nation to conquer all. And thus the third World War began.

In the Fourth Age of Magic, Thirteen nations came together to defeat the Accursed King and its forces from the North, and in return, a Global union was formed. In this world, Magic is everything. It has become a valuable commodity that affects the state of the world itself.

The Global Union has formed an organization of Mages whose job is to protect the world from the chaos and danger of Magic. They are the Magic Knights. And among the Magic Knights are the highest-ranked and most powerful: the Magic Kings.

29th IV 285 A.G.M (After the Great Migration)

The Arau Empire

The Jehuti Library

Eighteen years after the Hailey Incident

Alastor Kinsway stood by the door as the Casters walked past each other, brandishing their talisman around as they checked for the source of the Intrusion. Not long ago, Alastor had just returned from a year-long mission with his apprentice. Weary and tired, he had longed for peace and quietness, and now here he was, facing another crisis at home. One week of peace gone just like that. Well, Reyna would be glad to have something to do. There was broken glass on the floor that came from the glass ceiling above them, where the intruder had apparently broken through to escape. Alastor was having a hard time believing that someone had broken into one of the most secured buildings in the Empire. It definitely hadn't been anyone from the Empire or a servant of the Hollow king as they were smart enough to know that there were wards around the building that kept out unwanted guests. He was beginning to wonder why he had been summoned here. Crimes like this were something that the Arau Police force should be looking into. He stepped into the room, making sure to stay out of the way of the Caster crew. Standing by a window close to the scene, her hands in her pockets with a cigarette in her mouth was his younger sister. Alastor took the puff from her mouth and flicked it out the window. All she did was raise her eyebrows at him. She was dressed in her usual black jacket with her white shirt and black-ripped pants. She wasn't wearing the official uniform of the Magic Knight order. Both brother and sister looked totally different from one another even though they were related. Though they had the same curly black hair, Alastor was fairer than his sister with his lighter skin tone, and hazel eyes while she had golden eyes. She also had a whole lot of piercing around her nose, lips, and ears that made her look more imposing than normal.

" I hear those things kill you, Captain," Alastor said with a grin. The Iron Queen snorted bringing out more packs of smoke.

"I wish there was someone that could kill me," She said in a deprecating tone. But Alastor could see the meaning beneath the tone. "Plus, can you stop addressing me like that."

" You're a Magic King. It's called courtesy." Alastor said. "How else am I supposed to address you?"

"My actual name for one," Alexander said. " Fucking titles."

"You gave that up when Father passed on the role to you," Alastor said. " And could you not smoke that in front of me, please. I don't know when you picked up on this habit but it's not appealing. No wonder you haven't had any offers of marriage"

"Not interested in any of their offers," Alexander said. " And I'm not that interested in romantic entanglements. Being Magic King is too much of a drag. This...helps with the stress."

"Does it, now." Alastor raised his brow at her. His sister was the laziest and laid-back person he knew. She had been that way since childhood. He was normally picking up after her ever since they had been kids. He had thought going on a year-long mission in the Middle east would force her to pick up the slack, but she had simply dumped her responsibilities on her underlings.

"While you were away on your mission, I had to step up, you know." She said putting a cigarette in her mouth. Yeah, right. Alastor had received lots of complaints from various Squad captains who had grown tired of her antics but lacked the balls to say anything to her face. Half of his resting period had been placating those squad leaders with free drinks and dinner. Alastor looked around the room one more time before he asked the question.

"Why are we in the Hollow king's territory?" Alastor asked. Aaru Empire was divided into Six Major lands within the Holy land, each one fell under the rulership of the Six Great Mage families. "Shouldn't the Jehuti family be here for this,"

"The Holy Father wanted me to check up on the Investigation," Alexander said. " Apparently it seems someone has done what we couldn't do and broken into the Jehuti's family's workshop. Whoever broke in must be really skilled enough to break through those wards. Talk about bad timing. Ananya and I were just about-"

"We've found something." One of the Caster crew called out. Alastor and Alexander moved swiftly in the blink of an eye behind the Caster who was bent over, checking out some bookshelves. He shuddered a little probably out of shock at how fast they had been.

"What did you find?" Alexander said. Gone was the playfulness that had been in her voice. It had been replaced by the power and authority of a true Magic King. The Caster trembled a little but he pointed his Stone talisman at the bookshelf that was in front of him.

"I was able to pick out tiny traces of manna particles around here. The feeling of the manna was strange, enough to draw my attention." He pushed around some of the books that were on the shelf, shining his light from his stone at the side of the shelf. Written across the shelf in what was obviously human blood was the Hieroglyphics for the word: Reveal. That was odd. No Mage practiced or used Blood magic anymore. It was outdated and forbidden from being used within the Global Union. Plus Hieroglyphics was an ancient language that had died out millennium ages ago. Not many Mages knew how to read or write the words. The only conclusion that could come to mind was that it had to be one of them. Which was kind of crazy. They were incapable of setting foot within the confines of the Holy land of Lumerian.

" A spell to reveal something," Alexander said. " Is anything missing from here."

"Yes, my lady." The Caster said quietly. " It seems one of the Jehuti's family spellbooks is missing."

"Which one," Alastor asked. He could almost hear the regret in his voice for asking the question. But they had to know what was missing. Inside this building were things too dangerous to ever get into the outside lands or in the hands of someone dangerous.

"Unknown at the moment." The Caster said. " The Jehuti family had lots of Grimoires that are still unknown even to this day." Alastor frowned. That did not sound good. The Jehuti family's collections of Grimoires were the most sought after in the world. Even by them since most of their collections had been trapped within this building. The fact that someone had been able to sneak in, destroy the wards protecting the building and steal something right under our noses. That was something that could not be allowed. Something that the Central court won't be too happy to hear about.

"Talk about Radeus giving us a hard time," Alexander said. " I guess we have no choice but to track down whoever this thief is."

" I'll do it," Alastor said. Alexander raised her eyebrows at her brother.

" You just came back not too recently from a mission and you want to head out again." She asked. Alastor said nothing. For some reason, he knew that this job required delicate investigation and someone of a certain rank. "What about Reyna, what will she say when she finds out you dissed her again." Now Alastor cringed at that. " Very well, I guess I can come up with an excuse for you that'll save your ass."

" Thank you, sister," Alastor said. He loved that cold-mouthed apprentice of his but he did not want to risk bringing her into a mission with a potential of clear danger.

" Don't thank me yet. You owe me, so when you get back, I'm definitely going to delegate some of my shit to you. That and it's also kind of your job being my right-hand guy." She said as she walked away from the room. Alastor smiled and looked out the window into the peerless night sky, devoid of any stars. If only he knew that this was going to be his last night here.