Amaranthine
Dreamer of Impossible Dreams
Paradigm Shift: The Octal Council
In the Golden Age of Eona, the Octal Council, a collection of the strongest and wisest heroes of their kind, governed the four regions of Boreas, Vossia, Atheon, and Dethros. This time was a period of great accomplishment and peace, unparalleled by any other civilization in the galaxy. The Council reigned for over five centuries, until the rise of Duplicity.
Some said Duplicity had always existed, since the beginning of time, while others speculated that she had been created from the two-sided nature of humanity. Regardless of her creation, Duplicity’s power was immense. She split the consciousness against itself, forming a darker entity in each person. Over time, this evil force grew greater and greater as the Octal Council began to lose their fight against the threat.
During the solar eclipse on the Vernal Equinox, Duplicity attacked the members of the Council, killing them. Though it is unknown in which order they fell, the massacre was a turning point in the history of Eona.
From that day on, a new age arose. The Time of Dissemblance was a very dark period indeed. The four regions, which once worked in harmony, split apart and became bitter rivals with each other.
Boreas remained under the control of a council, though this new entity was full of power-hungry politicians, who were not the true heirs of the original Eight.
A monarchy rose in Vossia, ruled by a king and queen who sought to retain peace in the midst of these times. The region was perhaps the most untainted one of the four, where its inhabitants lived in relative harmony.
Atheon, the most technologically advanced of the regions, came under the control of the militia. The head of Atheon was the person who had the most strength and loyalty of the soldiers. Life in this region was highly structured with a focus on maintaining a military presence.
On the other hand, Dethros was ruled with an iron fist, which belonged to no other than Duplicity. Aside from her cabinet of officials, the rest of the population lived in extreme hardship and poverty. The people existed as slaves whose only purpose was to further Duplicity’s control.
The Golden Age of Eona seemed so distant from what it was now. As the regions fought and warred with each other for complete control, peace was a thing of the past, a dream of yesteryear.
However, unbeknownst to many, the Octal Council had created a fail-safe for the future. On the event that all of them be wiped out, the eight elders would pass their powers and inheritance down their familial lines to the eighth generation. In this way, their descendant would come to inherit their place on their eighteenth birthday, eventually replacing them and restoring the Council to its former glory. That was what the Eight were discussing at the meeting before they were murdered.
Unfortunately, Duplicity had heard what the Council was planning and tried to stop the fail-safe from taking hold. When she found that she could not completely halt it, Duplicity added her own clause to keep her hold on the shifting powers: the eight descendants would gain only part of the original Elders’ inheritance. They would be born with a dark twin who would inherit the other half. The only way to gain full control over the respective Element would be to kill the twin with the second half.
Duplicity would wait for the twins to be born exactly 200 years later and steal the dark twin at their birth. They would be raised as a family under her care and be fully prepared to come into their powers at eighteen. Then, the dark twins would hunt their other half, kill them, and gain the full inheritance. Duplicity would finally be in control of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, able to expand her conquest to the surrounding planets and eventually the universe itself.
As the years passed, only the descendants of the original Eight and Duplicity knew of the fail-safe. Though the eight lines separated from each other for safety, Duplicity had double agents follow them and report their locations to her.
Finally, 200 years later on midnight of the Vernal Equinox, eight pairs of twins were born all over Eona. Half of the babies had a faint white octagon on the right wrist, while the other half had a faint black octagon in the exact same place. Duplicity’s agents were ordered to take the black-marked babies from their parents and wipe both parties memories of the event.
Only Duplicity herself would know their true destiny. All of the cards were safely in her greedy hands. The only thing she needed to do now was wait eighteen years for their powers to awaken.
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