Death Comes To All (Book 1)

Prologue

“It’s
time for bed Drom,” Katrina called to her son. “Go to
your room and I’ll be up to tuck you in bed in a minute.”

Katrina
listened to the quick steps of her son as he raced to his bedroom.
She understood his haste. He knew that if he went straight to his
room, without argument or stalling, she would tell him a bedtime
story. Each night she would teach him the histories she had learned
as a child, histories that few people knew. She wanted her boy to
know everything that she had to teach him. With only a moment of
hesitation, so that he would have time to get under his covers, she
quickly followed his footsteps to his room. She didn’t want to
keep her darling boy waiting.

“Can
you tell me about the dragons tonight mommy?” her boy asked as
she reached the edge of his bed and softly sat down on the corner,
her customary position.

Katrina
gave an involuntary shudder. Drom often asked about dragons. It was
the one thing that he had never learned in her bedtime stories. He
had heard a few tales about them, in all likelihood complete fiction
in her opinion, from the traders who came to buy the crops each
harvest. Like all young boys he was instantly infatuated by the
beautiful and dangerous creatures. She understood his fascination.
But no, she would never tell Drom about dragons.

“Perhaps
I tell you how the races were created instead,” she suggested
gently. “It’s been a little while since I told you that
story.”

“OK
mommy,” the young boy agreed after a moment. Katrina could hear
the disappointment registered in his tiny voice. She suspected that
he knew that she didn’t like to talk about dragons, but he
continued to hope.

Perhaps
if he knew,
she thought, but he never would.

Some
stories should never be told to children.

Katrina
gently pulled the covers up to her boy’s chest, folding them
and tucking them under his arms. Closing her eyes slightly, she
imagined another place, where once she had once caressed the soft
pages of the books in her father’s library. As she had on a day
long ago, she read the pages of that old, tattered book, as clear to
her in her mind now as they had been when she first read them. Drom
was too young to understand the words that were written there, so she
translated them for him into words he could understand.

“Thousands
of years ago the race of man lived in what would later be known as
the Age of Technology. Machines, built by the hands of men, assisted
in every aspect of daily life. Mankind grew to depend on those
machines. They had creations that flew through the air, rolled over
the land, and sailed the seas. Travel came quickly and easily to
everyone. Goods were transported everywhere. Anything that a person
could want they could get easily, from anywhere in the world.”

“Could
they really fly mommy?” the young boy asked. Katrina could
almost see the thoughts of flying on the backs of dragons floating
through his mind, shimmering phantoms glistening behind his wide,
innocent eyes.

“Yes
love, they had special machines that could fly faster than the
swiftest of birds. But that was a long time ago. Not much is left
from that time anymore. Most of what they used, most of their
technology, was destroyed in the Mage War. The few remains left
behind are nothing more than rusted pieces of metal that no one can
even recognize anymore. Even if those machines had survived it
wouldn't have mattered. In the end, no one remained who knew how to
repair them.

“In
the time shortly before its end mankind was a very superstitious
people. At some point, no one ever knew how, mankind learned that
there were some people, a rare, special few, who could use great
magic, powers that those who didn't have any magic at all couldn't
begin to understand. As man has always done with things it cannot
understand, the leaders of man attempted to destroy that magic,
killing anyone found to possess it. So the Mage War began.”

Drom
sat up straight in his bed, the covers that had been so carefully
tucked under his arms rolling off in a bundled heap at his waist. He
loved her description of the Mage War, she knew. He always became
excited when she got to that part.

“The
leaders of man attacked the mages with tremendous weapons, capable of
destroying entire nations in a single blow. They gathered mighty
armies, great multitudes of men with powerful weapons of destruction.
As powerful as they were, the mages could not hope to defeat such
numbers on their own. If only man had known the truth about magic,
that most of mankind could use magic on some level, things might have
turned out differently. But most people had no idea. With all of
humanity leveled against them, it seemed that the mages would surely
be doomed.”

“Can
anyone learn to use magic, mommy? Drom asked, not for the first time.
He would already know what her answer was going to be. He had asked
that same question on a dozen or more nights, just like this one.
Perhaps he hoped, deep down, that her answer might change. She would
never lie to her son though, so it never would.

“No
darling. Most humans can learn to use magic, and even a few of the
other races, but mostly it’s only the humans that can.”

“What
about sorvinians, mommy?” the boy pressed, hoping against all
hope that the answer she gave might someday change. “Can
sorvinians like me and daddy ever learn to use magic?”

“No
baby, sorvinians can’t use magic,” she answered softly.
She understood her son’s desire. Being a human herself, she had
magic of her own, though she never showed her ability to her husband,
nor would she ever show it to her son. She wanted to keep Drom as far
from magic, and the mages who controlled the most powerful of those
magics, as she could.

“Where
was I baby? Oh yes.

“One
of the mages, a man known as Dorian Tabernacle, attempted to create
an army to fight for him, an army of creatures that were part man,
part animal. It was his belief that the only way to defend against
such a vast host was to create one just as great, so he had gathered
together thousands of animals to become his new army. His plan had
been a simple one. He would use his magic to change those animals
into intelligent beings, like humans, who could learn to use the same
weapons that were being leveled against him and the other mages.

“Somehow
the spell went terribly wrong. Not only were the creatures his spell
targeted affected, but so were many other animals, all around the
world. Millions of creatures, nearly twenty percent of the animals
that were alive some believe, suddenly stood.”

“That
was how the races were created mommy!” The young boy said
excitedly. He knew this entire story by heart, she was certain, yet
he never seemed to tire from the hearing of it.

“Yes
darling, it was. The spell magically changed them to stand, think,
and fight like a human being, while still retaining a part of the
animals they once were. It did not, however, provide them with
knowledge. They had all the strength and speed that their new bodies
provided them with, but they knew no more about the world then they
had when they were still nothing more than animals.

“Had
he kept the spell confined to the animals he had intended to change
he might have been able to control his creations, but Dorian
Tabernacle could not hope to control so many. The newly created
races, unable to understand what had happened, went wild, attacking
anything within their reach. Very few records remain of the time just
after the war. They suggest that less than a tenth of the human
population was left within that first year. Many of those newly
created races, those unable to stand against the more aggressive or
stalwart of the new races, were also destroyed. Only the strongest
survived.”

“They
all were very mean mommy,” Drom stated unexpectedly. Unlike his
earlier responses, this was a new one she hadn’t heard before.

“No
honey, they weren’t mean. They were just scared and didn’t
understand what was going on. So because they were scared they
attacked everyone and everything around them.”

“Just
like the humans did with the mages in the Mage War mommy,” the
boy surmised, startling Katrina slightly, though she didn’t
show it. As young as he was, she wouldn’t have expected him to
comprehend such things entirely on his own already. She had known
adults that wouldn’t have been able to understand what fear
could do to a person.

“Yes
dear, exactly like that. The Mage War had ended in a most unexpected
way. Some would say it was the mages who had won the war. The few
people who had survived had been those that could use their magic to
protect themselves. Those humans without magic, who relied on
technology to survive, could not cope with the speed and power of the
new races who suddenly infested the planet.

“The
mages would say that in the wake of such destruction neither side
could claim to have won. So much of what man had become had been lost
that the world now seemed empty by comparison. Millions had survived,
between the remaining humans and the new races that had been created,
but billions had died.”

“Is
billions a lot mommy?”

“Yes
sweetie. Billions is a very big number. It's more than all the people
of all the races in the world today. A great many more. For the first
few years it seemed as if nothing could stop these magically created
beings. The mages tried fighting back with their magic, but the new
races were too strong even for them.

“In
the end a council of mages managed to end the killing, not by
destroying these new races, but instead by teaching them to speak.
They taught the new races all they could about harmonious living,
focusing on those strengths that each possessed to the benefit of
all. It took many years, but in time the killing stopped and all the
races began learning to live without killing each other. The Age of
Learning had begun.

“That’s
when the races all learned to live together and how to use tools and
stuff!” Drom announced gleefully. Katrina smiled.

Drom
will not soon forget the things he learns now.

“Yes
Drom, that’s exactly right. The mages never attempted to bring
back the machines that other humans had once used. There was little
that their magic couldn't provide them, and the new races knew
nothing about them. Survival became more important than the machines
that mankind had once depended on. Those few machines that remained
could no longer be used. The fuels that had once powered them were no
longer available, so those useless devices were discarded or
destroyed for their raw materials.

“At
the same time, those newly created races began to learn to build and
create for themselves. These creations were nothing like what mankind
had once relied on, but it was a beginning. They learned at an
alarming rate, and as quickly as they learned they evolved, each in a
different way.”

“Evolving
means to change mommy,” Drom informed her. “You told me
that the last time you told me this story. I remembered!”

“Yes
dear, I’m glad you’re remembering so well. Evolving is
more than just changing. It means to change in a way to suit your
environment.

“And
the new races had evolved, many taking on the appearance of the
humans that they had been created to resemble. Most kept only part of
the animals they had once been, while others changed in unexpected
ways, no longer resembling either humans or the animals they had once
been. Only a few dozen races had survived to populate the planet.
Those that did were only the strongest, the brightest, or simply
those that the mages found to be of the greatest use to them.

“The
mages took control completely. The technology of the ancients was
gone forever, but some things, such as the forging of steel, the
mages still knew. The races needed to know those things to thrive,
and the mages used that to their full advantage. Now that the races
were compliant it was easy for them to take control of them. Some of
the races, like the ferals or the avians, managed to keep themselves
separate from the mages rule to a point, but even they had to pay
tribute to the ruling caste. At first perhaps some of the mages
wanted to help these new people, but even then most just wanted to
rule them.

“Now,
several thousand years after the war that changed the planet forever,
each race has carved out its own place in the world. Many of the
inhabitants keep to themselves, staying closer to their own kind,
paying tribute to whichever mage rules in their land.”

“Like
Daddy and the other sorvinians mommy?”

“Yes
sweetie, exactly like us. We all live right here, growing food for
ourselves and for many more people as well. We give half of what we
grow to the mage here to pay for our land, and everything else we
don't use we send with the traders to go to market, so everyone gets
to eat some. Your father grows food for many people, so he's very
important. Now let me finish your history for tonight so you can go
to bed.”