PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 4: Empress in Training

• Over the centuries, Orchid spent all her time trying to find a way to revive her comatose brother. Eventually, she encountered a scientist named Gelimer, who agreed to help her.

• For many years, Gelimer had been conducting unethical experiments to evolve humanity by removing the concept of emotion. In order to do this, he kidnapped a young boy from Edelstein and turned him into an android named Xenon. Along with another girl named Beryl, Gelimer conditioned and trained his test subjects in order to become the ultimate beings, devoid of emotion and operating purely on logic.

• When Orchid approached Gelimer, he was amazed at the perfect body that Lotus had been given by the White Mage. Though he promised that he would revive her brother, Gelimer secretly plotted to keep Lotus for himself and turn him into the ultimate android. He convinced Orchid to approve Black Heaven, a massive airship which he planned to use in order to take over Maple World, by claiming that Lotus would enjoy the chaos and havoc that such a creation would cause.

• Orchid then founded the Black Wings to carry out her plans and recruited members by claiming that she was planning to resurrect the Black Mage, who would grant them all their wishes. The Black Wings rose to power as a militant cult and seized control of Edelstein in order to take control of its rue mines for Gelimer’s experiments.

• The Black Wings placed their own puppet leader and installed watchmen and patrol bots around the city in order to subjugate the people. Meanwhile, the Black Wings’ high-level officers used their unique powers to harvest enough energy to revive the Black Mage, unaware that they were really helping Orchid revive Louts.

• With complete access to an enormous source of energy, Gelimer moved on to the next phase in his plan. He began experiments to create an augmented clone of Lotus’ body by making copies of his genetic code and splicing it with that of other creatures, magically enhancing the bodies with alchemy.

• However, while he conducted his genetic experiments publicly in the Verne Mine, they were merely for show, as he secretly funneled Black Wings resources into his own private research, creating a secret facility from which he conducted his android experiments away from Orchid’s prying eyes, as he did not wish her to know that he planned to turn Lotus into an android and take control of him. Portions of these genetic experiments in the Verne Mine would also be incorporated into his Xenoroid project.

• Meanwhile, the Black Mage’s seal continued degrading as a result of Arkarium’s interference. As the seal began weakening, the curse on the Heroes also began fading away. Luminous was the first to awaken in Ellinia, where he met a little girl named Lania. After learning that centuries had passed and the world was at peace, Luminous decided to live with Lania and raised her over many happy years.

• Over the centuries, the pirate hero remained trapped in a space between dimensions until the Black Mage’s weakened seal - along with the convergence of Maple World and Grandis - allowed him to cross over through a dimensional crack that led to Grandis, where he saved a young fox Anima girl named Moonbeam from a tiger monster.

• Severely weakened, the hero was rescued by the Fox God, the protector of the fox Anima, who brought him to her domain, where he remained in a coma. There, she spent many years pouring her power into him in order to stabilize his existence, though at the cost of falling asleep for a long time after expending so much energy.

• On Rien, a small clan who still remembered the legend of the Heroes held faith that the lost hero, Aran, who remained frozen on the island, would one day awaken. Over the centuries, the Rien Clan continued passing down the prophecy of the Heroes’ return, though many slowly began to lose faith. One by one, the clan began to leave Rien until only two siblings, Lilin and Neinheart von Rubistein, remained.

• Eventually, even Neinheart lost faith in the prophecy and decided that he would rather take fate into his own hands by finding the lost descendent of Empress Aria, who could then become the next ruler of Maple World. However, Lilin and Neinheart got into an argument over his decision, and when Lilin refused to abandon Rien and her faith in Aran’s return, Neinheart left her behind.

• After a long and difficult search, Neinheart succeeded in finding the descendent of Aria’s niece, a young girl named Cygnus. He brought her before the Senate of Ereve, hoping that they would recognize her as the heir to Ereve. The Senate gave Cygnus a year to train and prepare herself to be judged before them.

• In order to train Cygnus, Neinheart called a wandering warrior who owed him a debt. Over the course of the year, Cygnus was trained in matters of leadership, elegance, and wisdom. Towards the end of the year, Cygnus fell ill and required medicine from Mu Lung.

• After learning from her spies that Ereve had sought out children’s medicine, Orchid realized that the Empress’ descendant had been found. The Black Wings were then sent to attack Ereve, which had no protective barrier without an Empress to wield Shinsoo’s power.

• While Cygnus was being judged by the Senate, the Black Wings sieged the island. In the crisis, Cygnus accepted the heavy burden of leadership and claimed the power of Shinsoo, restoring the protective barrier. The forces of Ereve drove the Black Wings out with the help of the wandering warrior. Following the battle, Cygnus was crowned the next Empress of Maple World.