PROLOGUE
Once upon a time, long ago, at the very beginning of it all, there was a single spark. Small, seemingly harmless, but that little spark grew to eventually create what we all know as life today. That small light was the beginning of time, the embodiment of life.
We call her Vita, for her name meant Life, and she was the mother of the universe.
And from life, the opposite must also be created, and that was how Mors came to be of existence, the embodiment of death. One cannot exist without the other as all that will come from their separation is ruin, and so, between Vita and Mors, the first children were born.
Embodiments of everything we know today, beings that made the world to be what it is; Justice, wisdom, health, nature, beauty, greed, and so on.
The undefined beings all lived in peace for millenniums, discovering what life was, and giving it meaning, until eventually, a new branch had sprouted out of Vita, the embodiment of magic, Creatio, and with this birth, a new era began.
They called the world Ionia, a creation in which Vita and Creatio worked on together, and all the embodiments enjoyed watching history on this planet unfold.
Vita created Ionia, and Creatio infused it with her power; the sparks of their work creating the original mages, the first group of people to walk the land. And seeing their unique creation, Vita grew to love them, deciding to create more, but without the help of Creatio this time, and this is how the first humans were born, beings that were unable to harness the power of magic, but still Vita loved these beings, and watched over them with a smile.
Seeing the humans who couldn’t harness any magic, the mages believed themselves to be superior, and with their magic, they broke a part of the earth off, pulling it up to rest above the clouds where they resided for centuries, living prosperously, and looking after their own kind; They called that floating city Andreas, the most advanced civilisation that Ionia had ever seen, the first and last city of mages, the original mortals.
All the while, the humans continued to live without a hint of any magic on the surface of the earth, only being able to look up at the floating city above them, and writing stories about what they imagined it to be like.
But no story lasts forever, and the age of the mages was bound to come to an end sooner or later, and with the divine beings, as they called them, looking down at them, the mages era had abruptly come to an end.
No one knows what happens that day, but it is evident that there was a disagreement amongst the mages, and that one disagreement led to their ultimate downfall. Due to a scuffle in the areas that kept the city upright, Andreas was thrown off balance, leading to its fall.
Lives were lost that day, not a single mage survived the fall, and many humans were killed under the weight of the fallen city.
But this disaster led to the birth of a new age.
With the fall of Andreas, all of Creatio’s power had been returned to the land, and on its way, the magic hit many humans, thus creating new beings who were a mix of both mages, and humans.
These beings could control magic to a certain extent, making them stronger than humans yet weaker than the extinct mages. But with the newfound powers that they didn’t know how to control, the world was swept in catastrophe as the people panicked.
And from this panic, a hero was born. A single man, the first man to have learnt to control his power, he stepped forth, and guided humanity down a new path in which humans and magic mixed in equality.
From the ruins of Andreas, he created the first city, Lazarus, which grew into the first Kingdom, Lysandra, and that naturally made him the first King of the first Kingdom.
Seeing his example, new Kingdoms were born across the expanse of the wide earth, and-
“-And that’s how this world has come to be as it is,” The man finished his story, snapping the book in his hands shut, and grinning down at the curious young girl that sat beside him on the sand.
“Wow... So, my ancestors were one of the people that got hit by magic when Andreas fell?” She curiously asked, confirming her thoughts when the man gave a firm nod in reply.
“That’s one thing we know for certain about you,” He chuckled, ruffling her hair as he came to stand up, helping the young girl to do the same before the two walked down the sandy path, and out into the open where the crystal blue sea surrounded them on their island.
“Read me another story, John. I need to know more about my ancestry, maybe that will help to jolt my forgotten memory,” The young girl pleaded as she grabbed the man known as John’s arm, trying, and failing in her attempt to drag him back into the trees. He simply chuckled in reply, shaking his head in amusement at her antics.
“If reading stories was all it took to give a person their memories back, then I believe you would have gotten every single memory back by now, wouldn’t you say?” She puffed out her cheeks, glaring at him for all his knowledge of her, it was obvious that she wished to hear stories for the joy it brought rather than the memories they could, apparently, jolt. John knew her better than anyone else, not that there was anyone else; These two have been living alone on this deserted island for most of their lives.
“You never know, today might be the day I finally remember who I am,” She hopefully gleamed.
“You’ve said those exact same words every day for the past 8 years since you were first stranded on this island with me, and all you’ve remembered in those years is your name, and only your first name,” He kindly pointed out as she huffed once again.
“What if a first name is all I have? What if I never even had a surname? What then?” John paused in his steps as he shifted his head to meet her waiting gaze, and after a moment, a small smile stretched itself out over his lips.
“Then I will give you my surname,” He answered.
“Really?” He nodded, but a moment later, a small frown overcame her features as she put a hand to her chin, taking a moment to think about it.
“What is it?” He heard himself curiously asking.
“I don’t think Alexa Marlowe sounds right,” At the unusual reply, he couldn’t help but laugh, simply shrugging his shoulders, and rolling his eyes at her.
“We’ll think more about in the future, but for now, I will read you another story after our training session. Self-defence is a useful talent for any person to have, and I’d prefer for you to know some before going out into the world once you regain your memories,” He explained, leading her back into the forest where their self-made training ground was located.
And the young girl, whose name we learnt is Alexa, followed John with an excited laugh.
“You promised, okay?” She sang.
“I don’t remember making any promises,”
“What!?” She skidded to a halt as he chuckled, nudging his head as he looked back at her as a sign of telling her to walk beside him which she did with a little huff.
“Don’t worry, dear Alexa. No matter where you go in this world, and no matter how long it takes for you to get your memories back, I will be with you every step of the way, reading you as many stories as you wish,” He went to hold her hand, squeezing it firmly as he spoke.
“Is that just another statement you’re making?” She jokingly glared up at him.
“No. This one is a promise.”
...
To all my readers,
Welcome to Ionia; Out of all the books I've written, my Noble series holds a special place in my heart so I hope you’ll enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
P.s. This book is also available to read on Wattpad, and hopefully, regular updates should be starting soon.
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