PART I: BEFORE THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 5: Aeona and Tana

• On Grandis, two girls were brought into existence in the Radiant Temple. The girl who heard the voice of the Overseers became known as Aeona, the Transcendent of Light, while the other was known as Tana, the Transcendent-in-reserve. As the awakened Transcendent of Light could only hold one of their two powers, Aeona was given the power of darkness, while Tana was given the power of light.

• During her research into the powers of the Transcendent of Light, Tana learned that light and darkness were merely metaphors for the true power of the Transcendent: creation and destruction.

• Meanwhile, with her free will overridden by the Overseers, Aeona was forced to destroy over seven races of Grandis against her will. Unaware of the truth, Tana believed that her sister had lost her mind, for which she fought and killed Aeona, resulting in Tana awakening as the next Transcendent of Light and being given the title of Aeona. Upon feeling the chains of the Overseers forcing her to obey, Tana refused to follow her destiny and rejected the Transcendent’s fate, using her strong willpower to resist the Overseers and flee Grandis.

• Eventually, Tana traveled to Maple World and arrived in Kritias, where she pushed a boy named Jean to safety after an anti-magic stone fell and vaporized everyone in the near vicinity. After Tana rematerialized her body, she was arrested and taken to the dungeons, where the mages of Kritias experimented on her in order to bestow her immortality to King Hekaton.

• For two years, the mages of Kritias attempted to learn the secret of Tana’s immortality. Over the course of the experiments, Tana slowly began losing her memories and emotions as the mages continually inflicted wounds on her, forcing her powers to regenerate herself, to the point that she forgot everything except her name and a faint memory of wanting something.

• During this time, Jean visited Tana every night and spent time together with her in order to keep her company, eventually falling in love with her. Though Tana’s memories and emotions had been erased by the experiments, she slowly began regaining faint traces of herself by spending time with Jean.

• After the High Priest from the Temple of Time resigned in protest over the unethical experiments, Arkarium was chosen as the new High Priest and continued leading the mages of Kritias. Though Arkarium made great strides, he realized that Tana’s immense willpower was causing her to reject the power transfer. Soon after, Hekaton grew impatient and ordered for his Ascendancy ritual to take place the next day.

• That night, Tana realized that she was going to die tomorrow, causing her to realize that the faint memory of what she had wanted was to die. However, she grew terrified at the thought and lost control of her powers until Jean calmed her down and promised to keep her safe. In the shadows, Arkarium watched the exchange and realized that Jean was the key to ensuring that the ritual succeeded.

• The next day, Jean brought an anti-magic stone necklace to Tana and attempted to free her. However, Arkarium called the guards and ordered Jean to be killed in front of Tana, which successfully eroded her willpower and allowed the Ascendancy ritual to begin. However, Tana refused to die and allow Hekaton to succeed, and so she shattered the anti-magic stone and disrupted the ritual.

• As a result of this, Hekaton was fused with the castle and became an immortal golem, while many of the soldiers became disembodied monsters possessing their weapons. Tana was also caught in an endless, painful cycle of vaporization and rematerialization.