The OP Lich is a Returnee, Book 10 Prologue

Time for some more Trade Chat! 

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Magical World Disharmony Server, General Chat)

UsualSuspect, manoutoftime, muon, MewTwo, Avariel, Chummer, Golddigger, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, MacD, Inquisitor, OrangeQueen, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, BabyShark, Lichwatcher, Not_the_Face!, Scholar, Salty, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, TheLichQueen, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, DigDug, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, BackDat@55Up and DarkAngel are in the chat.

Lichwatcher: Guys! Guys! Did you see the news out of Australia? LQ gave a big interview!

RedFox: Yes, I saw it. Didn’t understand half of what I heard, but I saw it.

Scholar: The idea that magic used to exist, actually exist, up until around 200 BCE, and that it was somehow sealed away? Boggles the mind.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Holy hell. Did you see the pictures that the reporters managed to get of Uluru before the Lich Queen did whatever she was doing? Looked like vines the size of cars were growing out of it!

Backlog: Funny thing, when doing image searches based on that, the closest thing I got to that was some screenshots and map data from an old online computer game.

Lizard: Oh, yeah, I know the one you’re talking about. Whatever happened to it?

Backlog: Didn’t survive when people cracked VR that actually worked. The whole MMO genre of the time, actually, didn’t really make it. There are still MMOs, yeah, but getting twenty to forty people around a single target, trying to dodge mechanics and all that? Games needed to be redesigned from the ground up. Most of the old MMOs needed too many fundamental changes to actually be playable in first person versus the old top-down view.

BabyShark: That’s great, and all, but can we get back to freaking out about how magic got sealed away, and is now being fully unlocked?

Scholar: Well, it would explain why, up until that time period, myths and legends often had magic involved, and in ways that mirror modern capabilities. Later myths just built upon the cultural consciousness that was already there.

Salty: But why seal away magic? Especially since it took, what, nine civilizations working together around the world, in ancient times, to do it? And setting up guardians to make sure that no one unsealed it accidentally?

GrimDark: Because they wanted to bring down some threat that relied on magic, obviously. They couldn’t fight it normally, so they went scorched earth to ensure that the threat had nowhere to go, and nothing to support it.

MightMakesRight: But, surely there would be some kind of records of that, right? Some kind of global battle couldn’t have gone unnoticed, even by ancient historians.

TheLichQueen: Histories can be erased, if those in power wish the knowledge to be lost. Records only survive if they are protected from the ravages of time, and the alterations of man.

DarkAvariel: You’re saying that there really was some global threat, and that magic was sealed away to defeat them? And then the world just forgot about them?

TheLichQueen: No, they were MADE to forget. The records are unclear, but the rituals to seal away magic either sealed the foe away as well, or brought them down, and destroyed them. Either way, one part of the ritual was designed to UnName them, tearing away a piece of their being and removing the knowledge not just from them, but from the world’s knowledge and history.

Scholar: Where did you learn this?

TheLichQueen: Versions of this story were recorded at the site of the two seals I have visited. Slightly different versions of the story, since each group had a different point of view, but the main details are the same. The UnNamed were cast out with the sealing of magic.

SemiSolidSnake: Uh, does that mean if you go and unleash all the seals, like you said you were doing in that interview, that these UnNamed might come back?

TheLichQueen: It is possible, yes.

SemiSolidSnake: Then why risk it?

TheLichQueen: Because, forty years ago, something happened which caused the seals to weaken. The result is like a leaking dam. Leaving it be will eventually result in a cataclysm.

OrangeQueen: What kind of cataclysm?

TheLichQueen: A new ice age, if you’re lucky.

Lizard: If “we’re” lucky?

TheLichQueen: Well, I would have no problems surviving a monster-filled hellscape in the midst of what is effectively a magical nuclear winter, but all of you squishy humans might have problems.

Lizard: Ah. I see.

Scholar: What about repairing the dam?

TheLichQueen: Repairing it would take time and knowledge I do not believe we have, so the only option is to release the pressure, so that the dam can be safely dismantled.

Blaze: So, part of the dismantling, does it involve changing people, like how the Emperor of China now has claws? Or like how that monster behind you during the press conference was supposedly an Australian Soldier?

BackDat@55UP: What was up with him, anyways? He looked like I see some addicts when they’re needing a fix.

TheLichQueen: Ah, yes. Lieutenant Tanner is in a bit of an interesting situation. He was transformed by an overwhelming burst of Life Mana. He is still adjusting to his new body, and its appetites.

SemiSolidSnake: What kind of appetites?

TheLichQueen: Well, one of the hallmarks of a Life Mage is that they have incredible vitality, and virility.

SemiSolidSnake: Oh.

muon: Uh, he looked like he is three meters tall. Did all of him change? Like, proportionally?

TheLichQueen: If you’re asking about his equipment, I will just say that he gives new meaning to the phrase ‘hung like a horse’.

RedFox: Oh. Oh, my! Um, just how is he supposed to deal with his ‘appetites’ then?

TheLichQueen: Well, when a man and a woman like each other a lot, they may share a ‘special hug’…

RedFox: Yeah, I got that much. But how in the hell is he going to do that without destroying some poor girl?

Anonymous9: Uh, if my research on the internet is anything to go by, I’m sure there are plenty of ladies who would be happy to get destroyed by such a weapon.

BackDat@55Up: ‘Research’. Right.

Anonymous9: Like your search history is completely clean.

BackDat@55Up: Sure, it is. I just deleted it.

TheLichQueen: At any rate, I’m sure that the Australians will be looking for volunteers to help him with his condition in the future.

LichWatcher: So, you have more seals to find, right? Which one is next?

TheLichQueen: Oh, I’ve found them already. It is just a matter of going there and releasing them. As for the next one, that would be Water. The defenses for the Life seal almost escaped. I’d rather avoid sea monsters roaming the oceans, if I can.

BabyShark: Yeah, the idea of magic-infused krakens or whatever going around sounds like a bad time.