Once Upon a Time...
Once upon a time...
Before the floating cities.
Before the Spirit Rails.
Before the Academy.
Before the world known as Vayo.
There existed an age that history no longer understood.
An age of beasts.
An age of gods.
An age of heroes.
Stories claim that the heavens once broke apart.
The stars fell from the sky.
Ancient dragons roared across shattered worlds.
And mankind stood on the brink of extinction.
The heroes of that era fought impossible battles.
They crossed dimensions.
Defied fate.
And sacrificed everything to protect the future.
Then, one day...
The war ended.
Peace returned.
The heavens healed.
And the Age of Heroes faded into legend.
One hundred and fifty years later.
Dominion had become unrecognizable.
Towering cities touched the clouds.
Spirit-powered engines illuminated entire continents.
Magical technology transformed daily life.
Knowledge flourished.
Civilizations prospered.
And for a time, the world believed it had finally escaped the darkness of its past.
The people called it...
The Age of Harmony.
But peace is a fragile thing.
As generations passed, fewer people remembered the sacrifices that had built their world.
History became myth.
Myth became rumor.
Rumor became forgotten.
And fear quietly took its place.
People feared what they could not understand.
They feared those born with gifts.
Children who could communicate with beasts.
Young mages who could command elements.
Spirit Walkers who could hear voices from beyond.
Alchemists capable of creating wonders.
At first, it was only suspicion.
Then discrimination.
Then hatred.
Entire communities turned against gifted individuals.
Magicians concealed their powers.
Families hid their abilities.
Some abandoned magic entirely.
Others disappeared.
The world had once feared monsters.
Now it feared its own people.
The cries of the gifted eventually reached the royal throne.
And the descendants of the Life Monarch listened.
Using ancient knowledge preserved through generations, they created something unprecedented.
A sanctuary.
A hidden civilization.
A second world existing alongside the first.
A place where gifted people could live without fear.
A place where magic could survive.
Its name was...
VAYO.
To protect this fragile balance, the royal family established the Ministry of Arcane Affairs.
New laws were created.
New institutions were founded.
And at the center of everything stood a single academy.
The greatest academy ever built.
A place where future leaders, inventors, warriors, scholars, and magicians would gather.
Dominion Academy.
For decades, the academy flourished.
Thousands graduated.
Generations passed.
Peace endured.
Yet some things cannot remain buried forever.
Far beneath Dominion Academy...
Hidden beneath layers of stone, magic, and forgotten seals...
An ancient chamber existed.
A chamber older than the academy itself.
Older than Vayo.
Older than the Age of Harmony.
At the center of the chamber rested a relic.
Silent.
Motionless.
Dormant.
For one hundred and fifty years, it had never moved.
Never reacted.
Never awakened.
Until tonight.
A pulse echoed through the darkness.
Once.
Then again.
Silver light spread across ancient runes.
Dust fell from forgotten walls.
The chamber trembled.
And for the first time in generations...
The relic awakened.
Not because a king had arrived.
Not because a prophecy had begun.
Not because the world was ending.
But because somewhere beneath the same night sky...
A boy was preparing to leave home.
A boy who believed he was ordinary.
A boy who knew nothing of destiny.
Nothing of ancient secrets.
Nothing of the echoes sleeping within history itself.
And as the relic's light slowly faded, a single thought seemed to linger within the darkness.
A thought no living soul could hear.
A thought carried from an age long forgotten.
"The Echo has returned."