Prologue 

Ten thousand years ago, the sky above the seven realms burned the color of bruised iron. For centuries, the relentless fury of the Mage-Lords of Arcadia clashed against the steel and stubborn resolve of the mortals of Avalar. It was a war born of arrogance and answered with blood, fought across valleys that turned to salt and mountains that melted under arcane fire. The sages of old whispered that the carnage had become perpetual, an eternal engine of destruction that would outlive the world itself.

Until one quiet morning, the mages were simply gone.

No final cataclysm marked their departure, no victorious banner waved over their abandoned citadels. The towers of Arcadia stood empty, their gates cold and locked from the inside, their masters vanished without a trace or a whisper.

The war ended, but peace did not follow in its wake. Instead, the seven realms fractured into isolated pockets of fear and suspicion. The great stone roads connecting Avalar to the outer territories crumbled into ruin, reclaimed by briars and abyssal mists. No trail was safe to walk, no merchant dared cross the border between provinces, and every shadow cast across a hearthfire carried the ghost of an ancient enemy. The world had survived the mages, but it had forgotten how to trust.

Generations bled into centuries, and the terror hardened into despair. Yet, in the darkest hour of the third age, a great prophet arose from the ash-wastes of the borderlands. Clad in garments woven from starlight and soot, the seer spoke with a voice that shook the foundations of the shattered realms.

"The silence of Arcadia is not the end," the prophet cried to the trembling crowds gathered in the ruins of the Great Plaza. "The magic has only slept, waiting for the blood to call it home. But when the wheel of ages turns once more, the salvation of the seven realms shall not be forged by armies or kings."

The prophet lifted a trembling hand toward the fractured sky, prophesying the dawn of a new era:

"One day three children will arise, one as dark as shadows, another as bright as day and one who will balance all."