The Rapture of Theia

It took a nation, its people, animals, spirits...everything. And did it without making a sound. I do not wish to meet the being capable of a feat like that.

— Darius Kaseidis

The writings of Master Kaseidis, on what has been dubbed the "Rapture", are not to be opened to anyone below the rank of Mage. An exception is to be made for the final part of the report, which is to be closed to anyone not currently or previously of the rank of Councillor. - Order of High Councilor Sivan -

Silent Vanishing

"People often fail to realize just how common magical disasters can be. Some poor fool messes up a spell and starts a chain reaction. A mana bubble bursts at just the wrong moment. It doesn't take much to wipe out a city. Or even a county. Its why we have to change the maps every few years. And as the mana concentration rises over time, so does the chance of things going to hell.
Every few centuries the whole theater reaches its climax. And shits starts to hit the fan every other day. Hits big too. Not uncommon for entire countries to get swallowed up in Dark Ages or to be turned into gold. Medias at least looked pretty that way, heh. Result is the same. The maps need to be changed again. Thankfully, those times are rare. Only happene every few centuries at best.
Which is why Theia made the hair on my neck stand up. An entire country gone...all without anyone noticing for nearly a decade...all during a time when mana concentrations are at their lowest in centuries...I knew then and there that something was seriously wrong."

The Art of Disaster

"It didn't take long to find out just how right I had been. The true event had been hidden by a barrier, a barely visible shimmer in the air, located not even a day behind Theia's former border. Once broken, it revealed what had truly happened. Theia was no more. Its land, cities, animals and men had been ripped from the earth and fused into a titanic sphere. An uneven globe severla kilometres across, it hovered over what had once been the heartland of this cursed nation. The land below it looked as if had been shorn clean by a knife, flat earth and stone surrounding the sphere in a circle nearly ten days travel across..."
"...The worst part is the silence. Even in the lands not taken by the event are silent. Totally silent. Not even bugs seem to dare crawl across the ground. The air is still as well and no clouds seem to ever cross Theia's former borders. All that floats in the sky are clusters of dust, dirt and rock that circle the sphere... It took some days before the true danger of this realm showed itself to me. They fall from the sphere, glittering like drops of water in the sun, and aimlessly roam the area. Beings, once human and animal, that were taken by the event. Only small parts of their bodies remain, yet their outlines remain shimmering in the air..."
"...Some only have their hands and feet remaining. Others parts of their body or head. None show a face, only a small silver spot that glows within the shimmer and draws in a sort of silvery smoke. They are fast, far faster than any normal human, and will attack anything they notice. Hit hard as well. Magic can "kill" them, at least I think it does. Once lethally wounded, they will disperse into the air. I think their essence returns to the sphere, since the smoke that emanated from their "cores" seems to be sucked back in..."

Redacted Section

"...I've kept the worst for last. I do not think that Theia's vanishing was an accident or some sort of magical mallady. Something did this. The longer I was there, the stronger I felt it. Something was watching me from within the sphere. Its crust of stone, earth and even flesh seemed to shake and heave as if it was breathing..."
"...The creatures got stronger to. Not just the human versions. Other things, forms definitely not from this plain, began to appear. Villages surrounding Theia have begun to report people going missing in the woods near the border. I fear my presence here may have awakened whatever caused this rapture..."

Much as I detest agreeing with that self-serving vagabond, he is right. We need to act. The matter must be truly serious, if even Kaseidis is worried...

— Iolaidas, Council Member and Head Mage of Kugiren

Type

Metaphysical, Supernatural

Date Ocurred
ca. 321? Edean Age
Date Discovered
ca. 330 Edean Age
Cause
Extradimensional Entity
Threat Level
Severe
Status
Contained/Destroyed ca. 747 Edean Age

The Kingdom of Theia
"Theia was never much of a name in the wider world. A small kingdom, with maybe a few hundred thousand people inside, on the frontier. Colonists from Kugiren's garden zone had set it up about 300 years ago, trying to make a life in those old lands depopulated by the Dread Wars."
"It had no real luxuries or resources, barely any military forces and only a handful of mages. It simply did not matter to the wider world. Probably what the inhabitants wanted. Also why no one came looking for nearly a decade after the kingdom had fallen silent..."
A Wound in the World
Taken from the personal writings of Darius Kaseidis:
"Few people ever question why the higher circles of Magikind refer to this world as a plain. To most it is just another name for the world. Which is true, but not exactly. Existence as it turns out is not just confined to one place but consist of multiple layers, the realms we call plains."
"To explain even the basic details would fill volumes so I will leave it in short. Each plain has barriers that separate it from the others. We know they exist so we can influence them. Probe them, analyse them...even breach them. Its why we do not share that knowledge with lower ranked mages. Too dangerous to let them meddle. But even our care doesn't always work. Because sometimes the breach is made from the other side..."

by Paul Canavan