Elementals: A New Dawn

Chapter 2: Zoriah

With the Elementals gone, the guardians devoted themselves to continuing in upholding their divine oath. Life on Zoriah and the entire world of Asteria had changed, no matter how much they tried to manage it. The founders of civilization on Asteria, the most powerful beings on the planet, were gone for good.

The council of elders made preparations to adjust life on Zoriah, but those plans unwittingly affected all of Asteria. Powerful as they were, the elementals absence affected the entire city. The city's shields, previously fueled by the Elementals, needed another power source until their successors step in.

These details made the council to be very much active and highlighted the collective might of the second in command to all guardians. After much deliberation, 6 of the members of the council of elders on Zoriah, choose to enter a slumber, while they slept, their lifeforce would be used to keep the shields up and running.

The council of leaders of the planet which was privy to the leaders of all the races was now in a state of friction as several races were doing all they could to amass more power. They had previously been kept in check by the presence of the highly respected and feared elementals. Now that the elementals were no more, those leaders had no more reason to obey the rules and begun to stir.

10 races shared Asteria with the guardians. These 10 races all had their own locations and ruled over their empires. They were the vampires, werewolves, giants, Fae, Merfolk, humans, elves, dwarves, beast-men and dragons. At the time of leaving earth, some of these magical races were very few, completely or on the verge of extinction because of human degradation of the earth and being hunted to extinction. They were invited by the elementals to come over to Asteria.

The humans also formed a race. Human beings who had been saved by the elementals but opted to follow them without joining the guardians. Special exceptions like these formed the human race on Asteria. The dragon empire was called as such, but was made up of the mythical animal races both native to Asteria and from earth. Including but not limited to dragons, Phoenixes, Gryphons, Pegasuses, Sphinx, Kyuubi and many more. The vampires and werewolves were the same as the creatures of the night in human folklore who hated each other's guts and thrived on blood and the full moon, respectively. Beast-men otherwise known as Demi-humans were somewhat of a naturally occurring hybrid between humans and animals. Fae or Faerie are mythical creatures which are strongly related to nature, such as satyrs, dryads and many more. Merfolk comprised the mermaids, mermen and the other races of the sea. Their 10 empires were the major powers of the planet, each with some form of hereditary monarchy.

The ruling families had representatives sent to a council to govern the goings on Asteria. The representatives of the elementals chaired the council' to look after Asteria.

Asteria is a planet found in another dimension. It is about 11 times the earth in size. 4 moons and four rings circling the planet were just some exotic features differentiating Asteria from the earth.

It was a planet blessed with high levels of energy. Asteria's home dimension was a 'special existence' because of its high tendency to experience dimensional fissures. Its position around these cracks between dimensions resulted in an excess of energy depositing around the planet. This excess energy turned Asteria and her inhabitants into conduits of energy. This excess energy caused the many plants and animals to evolve in peculiar ways.

Strange though it was, the natural beauty of this planet was absolutely breathtaking.

With clouds which painted a picture of jade and sapphire on the vast canvas of its ethereal sky mixed with the occasional other colors. The of exoticness which couldn’t be seen anywhere else in the vast expanse of the entire cosmos.

A single ocean with crystal clear water, with glass reefs and mysterious sea floor. Its sky, the crown jewel of this wonder of creation, housed multiple floating islands which served as diamonds on this heavenly tiara.

At dawn, sunlight from its singular sun would break through the veil of night; dancing across the sky and illuminating the entire planet and revealing a radiance seen only at dawn. At dusk, one could see all four moons and distant planets. The many heavenly bodies of the night sky were absolutely serene and brought a sense of peace.

Stargazing is an extreme delight with Asteria's clear night sky. An ethereal sight that could even rival the gods of beauty. The night sky was as wondrous and awe-inspiring as the day. Stars of various shapes and sizes could be visible from their clear skies. In addition, you could observe other planets and the constellations that one could map out from Asteria's night sky is just breathtaking.

Land covered about sixty per-cent of the planet's surface as a single super-continent. Other small islands also dotted the planet's surface. Ice caps at the poles adorned the edges of the planet. Floating islands which were later on coined with the term 'skyland' littered the sky. Ethereal sights, such as waterfalls falling from the sky down to the land below, were nothing such of normalcy.

Mighty beasts roared on both land, sky and sea. Because of Asteria's special nature, all her beasts gradually evolved into magical beasts or mutated natural beasts. Mighty dragons and other marvelous beasts dominated Asteria's surface. The ocean depths of Asteria also contained both terrifyingly powerful and stunningly beautiful sights, with hidden beasts, and countless other natural treasures scattered throughout.

Because of its proximity to dimensional quakes, the time on Asteria was constantly changing. That phenomenon caused time to bend. Today, 1 hour on Earth may be 1 day on Asteria and tomorrow 1 hour on Earth converts to 1 year on Asteria. However, time on Asteria would always pass faster than for the Earth. So that the guardians would always be prepared.

The Elementals and the guardians were the preservers of the earth in more ways than one. Asides from preserving mankind from external threats or existential crises, they also preserved the other inhabitants of the earth. Be them flora, fauna, magical races, mythical inhabitants or even natural landmarks. This was how the races and other inhabitants on Asteria native to earth found themselves on Asteria.

Whilst coming to their new home, the Elementals brought together the various extinct, dangerous, mythical, mysterious animals they had taken to preserve throughout their travels and put them on the planet. The animals came to Asteria a few months before the exodus of the guardians to adapt to their new environment (which translated to millennia in Asterian time)

The departure from Earth was instantaneous. In a few moments, all the guardians and all other magical races disappeared off the face of the Earth. Humanity came up with theories regarding their disappearance for a while, but as time passed, the elementals entered the annals of history. Eons after humanity had grown, and the elementals were nothing but a folktale, an element of hope for humanity to used to assure itself, 'it will be alright, we will be alright. They will not forget us"

On the other side, Asteria became the official home for the guardians and all the magical races of the Earth. The elementals, upon arrival, made a treaty with the existing races and decided to peacefully share the planet. The 10 races drew lots and separated into their new homes.

That left the guardians to dedicate themselves to their city. They would uphold their duty of protecting the earth even whilst in another dimension and extend their duty toward Asteria as well. They would defend Asteria from the void creatures and any other invaders who would dare defy the sanctity of the great mother planet. The other races also agreed to come together to defend their home planet if a need arose. This was a sacred oath they all swore on their new home and their sanctuary.

At the time of the guardians inhabiting Asteria, the planet had several varieties of mythical and 'unique' flora and fauna. Phoenixes, griffons, leviathans, dinosaurs and many other species naturally populated the central continent, dwelt on the many skylands, roamed the skies and swam the oceans. The planet served as the home of the guardians and a conservative museum of nature for all citizens of the earth.

The city of Zoriah covered off a certain part of the continent within a circular wall. It covered about 10% of the central continent in a city wall. Zoriah contained the guardians while the other inhabitants of Asteria dwelt either on the central continent, the skylands or the seas. After several years spent on Asteria, the animals and plants bathed in the dimensional energy and evolved into new species or same species with an evolved intelligence and physiology closer to those of the native Asterian flora and fauna. They interbred with the native fauna and gave rise to new and even more majestic, wonderful, and even terrifying creatures.

This brought about the age of magical beasts and plants. Dryads, pegasuses, unicorns, dragon, Minotaur and other magical creatures were the evolution of the normal earth creatures. They developed so much that they could perform magic and formed an integral part of guardian society and Asterian society.

Guardians gifted with the ability of communication with plants, animals and nature were called Tamers. The Tamers lived among the animals, watching over and living together with an ecosystem suitable to them. Those animals who evolved and gained intelligence and sentience either took the oath of the guardians and aided the Tamers to oversee the other beasts. That or they formed their own clandestine kingdoms and joined the dragon empire of all the beasts. They also assisted in times of war. Some stayed in the city of Zoriah, in the various empires, islands, skylands, and some even lived under the ocean.

Skylands also provided additional living space for the millions of plants and animals. A pair of beast tamers watched each island or preserve containing animal and or plants over. Basically, they would spend their lives guarding them, maybe even settle down on their various duty posts. Beast tamers only left periodically for vacations or when they were called to the city for a gathering issued by the Elementals or the council or during the annual inauguration anniversary of Asteria.

Said festival lasts 7 days and during that time, only threats which surpassed the D. S scale would call the attention of the entire population. Any other threats would rest in the capable hands of the Elementals. The Tamers began practicing magic with the animals as well, and soon they recruited beast guardians to their cause.

 Elementals essentially ruled the guardians together with the council of the elder 12. Oracle passed on the rules and commands of the Gods to the rest of the people.

 Guardians were a race of people made for war. The Elementals structured Zoriah's entire society, with generals under their command. Each general was in charge of a certain unit or platoon of unique guardians. The generals were called 'the 24 elders'. The evolved magical beasts had their own 2 representatives among the 24 elders. There was a bigger council, made of the Elementals, the council of the elder 12, and the council of the 24 war elders. The beast elders made it their life's work to add the magical beasts to Zoriah's strength.

The presence of the dimensional rift also brought about the problem of the creatures of the void. Those creatures were beings born from the chaos energies of the void and lacked intelligence. Their most basic instinct was to cause chaos and destruction. They used their 'negative' chaos energy to erode matter and other 'positive' energies. The link between Asteria and the Bermuda triangle-another dimensional rift- further increased the problem. The guardians therefore had a special division trained to deal with the void creatures. One of the 24 elders was at the helm of that division.

The Elementals often brought children who had survived wars or other disasters. They also took all those the gods blessed under their wing and as such, they formed a place to keep these kids.

Those children grew over time into amazing warriors and legendary men and women. Over time, they choose to name the place where new comers to Asteria were kept as the orphanage. This was so that, no matter what happened, they would never forget their origins.

 The orphanage served as a haven for all these kids to connect with each other and heal the wounds of conflict and pain. Over time, all the members of the Council trained these children, and they became the elite in all the arts, which they learned. There was an energy geyser found beneath the orphanage. This led to the children basking directly in that energy and learning how to manipulate it. The orphanage had the head of the council as its den mother. 12 children were the Elementals' apprentices, while the rest were the apprentices of the rest of the council. That said, the children's training was with such harsh discipline that would put even the US marines to shame. A mountain range climb, heat resistance training in volcanoes or with phoenixes was just another Tuesday morning workout.

In the end, Zoriah was a fortress city in its own right. Walls of the impenetrable material, Hephaestus steel, though it was much commonly known as Elementium. This was the only material which possessed a memory of its own and, as a result, could memorize the textures and properties of any other material and become a replica. The city's defenses were all round. From a circular dome around the city, anti-chaos rifles and even a stealth setting. Techno-sorcery, another branch of magic taught by the Elementals, was a perfect amalgam of technology and magic and that caused the city to shine all the more. Elementium had a storage property and as such it absorbed the dimensional energy over time so much so it is said even the 'big three' of the Gods- Zeus, Hades & Poseidon wouldn't have an easy walk in the park if they were attempting to get through. The gates of Zoriah were even more dangerous, with all species of carnivorous plants acting as a last line of defense.

Teleportation gates made possible with space magic are used as a transport medium for the whole of Asteria, but even those gates used a recognition system which was monitored in real time with an artificially intelligent program so complex it made a quantum supercomputer look old-fashioned. Movement through the city was possible either with personal magic, like flying spells, magic beasts, the teleportation gates, magical vehicles or good old-fashioned feet.

The buildings in Zoriah were a mix of design from different time periods and regions of earth. Skyscrapers were absent because of the desire to keep air traffic de-congested. Aerial vehicles are seldom used unless natural beasts acting as mounts are short in supply. This situation, though, was quite... rare.

Asteria was unmatched in beauty and grandeur, Zoriah unmatched in awe-inspiring sights and defense, and the guardians unmatched in unwavering devotion to their oath.

Sometimes Asteria is referred to as the 'great mother' and often depicted as a kind and fair woman barefooted with a wreath on her head. This was a sign of appreciation for the great planet, but very few knew that Asteria is actually alive. A sentient planet who observed all her inhabitants. That, however, is a story for another day.