"The Chronicle of the Floating Ages"**
No one alive remembers the world before it broke. The elders say the earth once formed a single, unbroken body—one vast continent under a single sun. Cities stood proudly on solid ground, rivers ran in unbroken lines, and the sky was a stable blue without drifting landmasses or storms shaped like spiraling beasts. But ten thousand years before the present age—long before the factions, long before mana cores and tempering—there was a cataclysm that tore existence itself apart.
Historians call this ancient tragedy The Shattering, though all true knowledge of what caused it has been swallowed by time. Some say it was war among the old gods. Others claim humanity overreached, trying to wield forces that even the heavens feared. A rare few whisper of a relic so powerful its mere presence distorted reality: the Eternity Shard.
Whatever the truth was, the consequences reshaped the laws of the world.
The land fractured into thousands of floating continents, suspended in the sky like drifting islands. Some are no larger than a courtyard; others span entire kingdoms. They vary in height, drifting on invisible currents of mana that ripple like unseen rivers. Legends say that beneath all of these islands, at the bottom of the clouds and mists, lies an endless void—dark, vast, and hungry. No expedition has ever returned from going too deep.
The sun still rises, but its light bends differently through a sky filled with mana. Weather patterns are unpredictable, storms carrying elemental energies that can strike like living creatures. Lightning storms infused with fire, frost, or shadow are not rare, and many of the lower islands are permanently sealed in cloud-darkness.
In this world, mana is not simply energy. It is the foundation on which the continents float, the breath that allows plants to glow beneath moonlight, the pulse that sustains beasts, and the force that shapes rivers, winds, and storms. It is both life and destruction.
And it all began with the Eternity Shard.
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Every culture has its own myths, but all stories agree on one truth: the Eternity Shard was not crafted by human hands.
Some call it a gift from celestial beings; others believe it was the core of the world itself. A smaller group insists it was not one artifact but a cluster of ancient stones fused together over eras. Whatever it was, its power was immeasurable. It was said to hold time, creation, and destiny within its crystalline body.
Those who touched it could reshape landscapes with a thought.
Those who drew too deeply from it lost their bodies, becoming beings of pure mana, unable to return to mortal form.
The Shard glowed with light so pure that even the stars bowed to it. Kingdoms rose around its presence, each seeking to guard it, study it, or control it. Scholars built towers that pierced the clouds just to be nearer to its radiance.
But power invites conflict, and no artifact can be coveted by all without consequence.
One day—no record remains of the exact year—the Shard broke.
Some say it shattered on its own, unable to sustain the burden placed on it. Others argue someone tried to wield more of its power than a mortal soul could endure. A few fragmented scripts claim it was struck by something… something that came from the heavens, falling like a star.
But whatever the cause, the result was devastation beyond imagination.
The artifact fractured into thousands of Shards, each flung across the world.
Each fragment carried a sliver of its power—a power too great for mortals, yet now scattered and uncontrollable.
When the Shard exploded, the force tore the continent apart. Landmasses ripped from the earth and were suspended midair by residual mana storms. Seas boiled and became airborne, forming lakes that float beside islands. Mountain ranges were uprooted and drifted into the sky like colossal spears of stone.
Even time was distorted in places, creating pockets where seasons changed in hours or rivers flowed backward.
Civilizations collapsed.
Magic changed forever.
And the world entered an age of survival and adaptation.
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In the centuries following The Shattering, humanity struggled to survive in a broken world. Food was scarce, and travel was perilous. Many perished in the early era, falling from islands that drifted unpredictably or being lost to mana storms.
But humanity is resilient.
They discovered that the energy saturating the air, soil, and water was something they could interact with. Children naturally absorbed trace amounts of dispersed mana. As years passed, this mana settled within their bodies, gathering around their hearts and forming the first primitive mana cores.
Mages of old recorded that early mana cores were chaotic and unstable—but with study and time, humans learned to temper them. This refinement process, slow and dangerous at first, eventually became a structured practice known as Mana Tempering.
Through tempering, a person's core grew:
Clearer with purity
Stronger with rank
More efficient in how it channeled mana
This new relationship with mana reshaped society. People with stronger cores lived longer, moved faster, and could manipulate the elements around them. Some could influence winds to steer islands. Others could sense the mana veins that connected the sky-seas.
Magic was no longer a myth.
It was a tool, an identity, a path.
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Before The Shattering, animals behaved like simple creatures. Afterward, mana storms infused flora and fauna with strange new energies. Some creatures grew extra limbs or crystalline patterns. Others developed elemental adaptations.
But the most extraordinary transformation occurred when beasts began forming mana bonds with humans.
The first recorded SoulPet bond happened between a child from the Cloud Valley tribes and a winged wolf pup charged with lightning mana. The two were inseparable. When one was injured, the other felt it. When one grew stronger, the other's mana increased.
Scholars called this phenomenon Soul Resonance, and the bonded beasts became known as SoulPets.
SoulPets possessed their own mana cores, capable of tempering just like humans. The shared bond strengthened both partners, allowing them to share traits, instincts, and sometimes abilities. Certain rare individuals awakened dormant traits within their SoulPets—or vice versa.
These bonds began shaping the balance of power across the continents. Entire factions rose or fell based on the number and strength of their bonded members.
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As people adapted to this new world, survival became more organized. Scattered tribes united, communities rebuilt, and families with strong mana bloodlines gained influence. Over the centuries, these groups solidified into powerful factions, each with its own identity, laws, and territory.
Some relied on military strength, others on their mastery of tempering or rare SoulPets. A handful controlled Shards—those tiny fragments of the shattered artifact—which granted them insight, power, or protection.
The most prominent early factions were:
1. The Celestine Order
Devoted to studying Shards and the ancient past. Believed the world could one day be restored.
2. The Ironbound Clans
Warriors with unmatched physiques and heavily trained SoulPets.
3. The Skyreach Dominion
Specialists in navigation across floating continents; monopolized trade routes.
4. The Silverlight Courts
Nobles whose bloodlines carried exceptionally high purity in mana cores.
5. The Obsidian Veil
A secretive collective obsessed with forbidden Shard experiments.
These factions shaped the political landscape. They battled for resources, for knowledge, and—most importantly—for Shards. The discovery of even a small fragment could tip the balance of power drastically, granting unpredictable abilities.
Yet despite centuries of conflict, no group has ever managed to gather all the Shards, nor recreate the Eternity Shard.
Some believe the fragments resist reunion.
Others think they are waiting for the right bearer.
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As mana tempering became the foundation of society, expectations developed around Awakening age. Most individuals awakened their mana cores between childhood and adolescence. Those who awakened late were rare but respected—delayed awakenings were often powerful.
But the few who never awakened at all became marginalized. Called the Unawakened, they were labeled weak, unlucky, or cursed by generations raised to value mana above everything else.
The Unawakened could not temper mana, bond with SoulPets, or use elemental abilities. Many factions refused to accept them. Some communities pushed them to the outskirts. A few were even believed to bring misfortune.
Yet legends tell of individuals who never awakened… until they encountered a Shard.
Some even say the Eternity Shard chooses its bearers from those unseen by the world.
This belief persists in hidden corners of the continents.
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For thousands of years after The Shattering, Shards remained scattered and dormant. Though powerful, they did not display unusual behavior beyond enhancing mana or granting abilities. Scholars assumed their true nature had been lost forever.
But only decades before the present age, something changed.
Shards began reacting to one another.
Their glow intensified.
Their mana signatures pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat.
Some floated in their containers.
Some whispered to their bearers' minds.
Some started resonating with individuals who had no known cultivation talent.
This era was called The Age of Silence, not because the world was peaceful—but because no one understood what the Shards were preparing for.
The Celestine Order believes the Shards are awakening consciousness.
The Ironbound Clans fear a second Shattering.
The Obsidian Veil believes the original artifact might be reforming itself.
And some individuals, scattered across the continents, began feeling a strange pull—like something calling them from far away, deep in the drifting skies.
One of them is a teenage outcast from a quiet village on the Mid-Eastern Isles.
An unawakened child with no mana rank, no SoulPet, no faction bloodline.
But destiny has always favored the unnoticed.