🎬Lore

An ancient text written by a member of clan Ignis, one of the elemental tribes. Other historians have found texts written from the other clans point of view.

Somewhere, in the lost stories of the tribes, the truth lies buried. The truth about MERGE Z…

We awoke from a dream. How long we slept, none can say. Memories from before are hazy, a collective confusion. Or was there ever a before…?

I stared out at my tribe. They burned brightly, the red aura of fire around them. They bore the mark of Ignis, a brand of ruby that shone. The same one I had. I.. I didn’t know them, our pasts lost to the Great Sleep. But I knew they were my brothers, my sisters. My kin, my clan.

But we were not alone.

Those of the Aqua clan were among us. Their blue aura, a mark of deep deceit. Like the waters of their element, they were cold and unfeeling. They held dark secrets in their hearts, hidden depths of betrayal. Their mark showed them to be different, so we pulled away from them after waking from the Great Sleep.

Then there were the brutes of the Gaia clan. Their dull brown aura was a blight, a sickness to be cast out. Their glowing earth marks showed them for the enemies they were. They would smother out the bright fire of Ignis, burying it beneath their moss and their stone.

So we separated, each clan dividing the City and claiming their territory. The strange City where we all woke, with its beautiful spires and marbled walls, held its own mysteries. Who had built it? How did we get there? Questions with no answers.

No answers, except for one. The gate. It stood tall, blocking the center of the city. Strange markings were etched on it, a message no one could read. A riddle, a lock, a question. But one for which we at Ignis had found the key. One word stood out, etched proudly. One that not only could be read, but seemed to shout out when one looked at it. Identify…the answer…

“MERGE Z”

Around the city, we began to build. To survive, at first. Then, to thrive. And with every stone we mined, and every tree we felled, our aura burned brighter. The fires of Ignis were stoked ever hotter. Our marks glowed, and with it so too did the locked gate in the City glow as well. The red mark of Ignis, clear as the sun, was there on the door. We were the key. With our collective effort, we could open the door and Ignis could find the answers!

But then, Aqua appeared on the door. Soon after, Gaia did as well. And other elements, those I did not know marked upon this gate. They were building on their side of the city, fueling their elements. They were trying to open the door. We couldn’t let the other clans find the answer before we did, they couldn’t be trusted with it.

We had taken cautious steps after awakening. The Great Sleep had left us without direction, without guidance. Before, we had walked uncertainly. But now, we ran. We sprinted with fire in our hearts, with Ignis marked on our skin, and with the drive to unlock the mysteries trapped behind the City gate. But the other clans ran as well, as the race for the City’s answers began.

So show me, stranger. Which marks do you bear?