PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 1: The Long Peace

Before he was sealed, the Black Mage cast a final curse upon the Heroes, which slowly began freezing them in ice. Centuries in the future, after the Black Mage’s seal was already broken, Arkarium used his time magic to open a crack in time, allowing him to travel back to the moment after the Black Mage’s seal was created, hoping to kill the Heroes and the Demon while they were weakened from the battle.

Though Arkarium was able to find the Heroes collapsed across Leafre, he was unable to find the Demon, whom he particularly wanted to get his revenge on. Because of this, Arkarium hoped to go back even further in time to kill the Demon before he betrayed the Black Mage, thereby making it so that the Demon wouldn’t be able to weaken the Black Mage’s defensive barrier, which would cause the Heroes to fail and be killed easily.

However, Arkarium found the he was unable to go back any further, as Freud had used his own time magic to create a powerful Barrier of Time that would make it impossible to travel back in time any further than the moment the Black Mage’s seal was made, thus preventing any of the Commanders from stopping the Black Mage from being sealed.

Though Freud’s time magic was extremely powerful, his limitations as a mortal meant that the power of a Transcendent of Time could break through the barrier that he had created. As Rhinne and her child were already in the custody of Will - a future Commander recruited by the Black Mage centuries later, tasked with imprisoning the Transcendent of Time - Arkarium hoped to take Rhinne’s powers long before she would be given over to Will in his present day.

In order to take the remainder of Rhinne’s Transcendent powers that the Black Mage hadn’t taken, Arkarium planned to break the seal on the Black Mage to reach the area where she had been sealed away, knowing that the Heroes were in no position to stop him. Soon after Arkarium traveled back in time, however, several agents of the Silent Crusade pursued him in order to prevent him from achieving his goals.

Amidst the ruins of Leafre, one Crusader began heading towards the Temple of Time when they ran into an unconscious Aran. The spirit of the polearm, Maha, explained that he was planning to transport Aran to the island of Rien in order to slow down the Black Mage’s curse. However, he told the Crusader that he was too weak to do so, as he had been damaged during the battle. After the Crusader helped repair Maha, the spirit used the last of his power to take his master to Rien.

As Aran had been gravely wounded in the battle, Maha suspected that she had not been able to shield her mind alongside her body, which would impair her memory. Because of this, Maha cast a spell to create a special mirror in Rien that could reflect one’s past, though only one with no darkness in their heart would be able to use it. After Aran was brought to Rien, the effects of her curse froze the entire island.

The Crusader then encountered Afrien, along with an unconscious Freud and Mercedes. Afrien was able to recognize that the Crusader had come from the future and explained that the Black Mage’s curse on the Heroes had also affected the Onyx Dragons, whom he had cursed after they had refused to side with him. As a result of the curse, the Onyx Dragons were destined to slowly die out and go extinct.

Afrien explained that he had taken Freud’s share of the curse in his place through the power of their Spirit Pact. He also told the Crusader that his child had been shielded from the curse within its egg, though the egg had been lost deep in the forest during the battle. The Crusader successfully returned the egg back to Afrien, who then asked for a final favor. He explained that Mercedes had been gravely injured, though she could survive with the Crusader’s help. With the Crusader’s consent, Afrien extracted a portion of their life force and created a crystal, which the Crusader then used to bring Mercedes back from the brink of death.

After helping Mercedes, the Crusader traveled to the Temple of Time, where the spirit of Rhinne asked them to stop Arkarium from breaking the Seal of Time. The Crusader proceeded through the Gate of the Present and found a clone of Arkarium conducting a magical ritual in order to destroy the seal. They successfully defeated Arkarium and forced to retreat before he could finish his task.

(A/N: This all happens during the Silent Crusade storyline when you travel back in time to stop Arkarium from breaking the seal on the Black Mage. This is also an instance of a causal loop, as the Crusader’s actions that shaped the past were what allowed for the future in which they exist to happen.)

Nevertheless, however, the Black Mage’s seal was weakened, with one of the Seal Stones cracking. As a result, the pirate hero momentarily flickered into existence, where he briefly appeared in the Black Mage’s throne room and saw both the Black Mage sealed away and the cracked Seal Stone before fading back out of existence into a space between dimensions, where he remained unconscious for centuries while the seal still held.

After the Crusader returned back to their own time, Mercedes awoke and spoke with Afrien, who warned that the Black Mage’s curse would affect her kingdom, as the destiny of the elves was tied to that of their ruler.

(A/N: This plot point was expanded on in the revamped Ellin Forest questline, eleven years later. It asserted that the destiny of any fairy ruler, regardless of their race, was tied to that of their subjects. In the game, there are three races of fairies: elves, sylphs, and nymphs. Sylphs are the fairies that you see in Ellinia, while nymphs are the long-winged fairies you see in Orbis, such as Kriel the Fairy.)

Mercedes rushed back to Elluel, where she found that her subjects were freezing in ice one by one. Before she succumbed to the Black Mage’s curse herself, Mercedes closed the borders of the kingdom to prevent the curse from spreading outside Elluel.

Meanwhile, Phantom attempted to flee the Temple of Time, though he, his staff, and the Lumiere itself were all frozen and crashed somewhere near the Rien Archipelago. Luminous, who used the last of his strength to keep the Black Mage from breaking the seal, was frozen within the Temple of Time. The Demon was severely injured from his battle with the Black Mage, and so he sealed himself away inside a protective egg in order to recover.

Soon after, Freud awoke and created the Barrier of Time to prevent time from flowing back any further than the moment the Black Mage’s seal was made. He then took Afrien to an isolated island near Rien. Having taken the curse in Freud’s place, Afrien slowly began to freeze over the years until the ice around him formed an enormous cave.

Over time, animals began to settle on the island and Afrien was forced to remain still so that he wouldn’t disturb the ecosystem developing around him. The island, far out of the way of normal sailors, would only be encountered by voyagers who had been thrown off course from storms. The few people who would encounter the island named it Turtle Island. When he was unable to move any longer, Afrien entrusted his egg to Freud, who hid it somewhere safe for the next Dragon Master to find.

Elsewhere, Shinsoo guided the way for Athena Pierce and the survivors of Leafre toward the southern plains of Victoria Island after the Heroes had left to confront the Black Mage. (A/N: The southern plains of Victoria Island are roughly where Henesys is. I wonder if Athena was hoping to take them to Elluel but just didn’t know where exactly it was since the whole area split from Ossyria.)

However, dragons attacked the airship and the refugees crashed in the middle of Ellin Forest instead. Cut off from the outside world, the refugees set up Altaire Camp and began the task of colonizing the dangerous forest. In spite of the many challenges that they faced, the refugees were able to push back the various monsters that attacked their camp and established a community. Among the refugees were Yuris and Tess, the wife and son of the great pirate Destonen. Yuris was pregnant with their second child, whom she decided to name Kyrin.

Soon after, the Fairy Queen Ephenia grew corrupted after her hatred for the humans who disrespected fairies was stoked by a mysterious black-robed man named Kirston, a follower of the Black Mage. Convinced by Kirston to follow the Black Mage and his ideals, Ephenia sought the destruction of all humans. Together, they conspired to kill the people of Altaire Camp by poisoning Ellin Forest with a toxin that contained the Black Mage’s power.

As a fairy ruler’s destiny was tied to that of their subjects, the fairies in the forest were also corrupted through their ties to the fallen Ephenia. Around this time, a mysterious traveler who claimed to have come from the future arrived in Altaire Camp. The traveler helped the refugees in their exploration of Victoria Island and managed to kill Ephenia, thus lifting the corruption in the forest.

(A/N: The lore of Ellin Forest was actually quite different before the game’s time-travel mechanics were established in the revamped storyline. In the original lore, Altaire Camp was helped by Kao, a mysterious stranger who disappeared soon after arriving on Victoria Island. Later on, Kao reappears and seemingly has no knowledge of their time in Ellin Forest. Kao is actually the player character from the future who fought the Black Mage in the Arcane River and lost. Hoping to change this future, Kao attempted to go back in time and warn their past self. This is where the Kao plotline gets messy because Kao is referenced in three places: Ellin Forest, the Temple of Time, and the original Explorer storyline.

What most people theorized was that Kao overshot and landed in Ellin Forest, where they lost their memories and became a refugee before they likely regained their memories. While attempting to go back to their own time, Kao likely lost their memories again and somehow ended up in the Temple of Time, where they became the amnesiac Temple Keeper that we know. Kao’s actions in Ellin Forest were what caused Tess in Ellin Forest to remember them, which is why Tess called the Explorer by the name “Kao” in the original Explorer storyline. Kao’s story was eventually reorganized and those references in Ellin Forest and the Explorer storyline were removed, with a precise timeline being established about Kao’s actions in the Arcane River and how they ended up going back in time through the Gate of the Past.)

Even though Altaire Camp was saved, Yuris succumbed to the poison and died shortly after giving birth to Kyrin. Meanwhile, Destonen found Kirston’s tent while exploring Victoria Island and found several research notes indicating that Kirston had grown enamored by the mystery of the Black Mage’s ideals and planned to revive him, believing that there was a chance that his sealing was not intentional.

He also learned that Kirston had uncovered a prophecy regarding the First Explorer, and that he was concerned that the power of the Adversary imbibed within the maple leaves would be an obstacle to the Black Mage’s revival. Suddenly, Kirston returned to the tent and cursed Destonen’s bloodline with a spell that would persist until the Black Mage’s death, which created a curse mark on Destonen’s face.

Destonen returned back to Altaire Camp and managed to explain what had happened to Athena Pierce and Tess before he passed away. Tess soon discovered that the blood curse had passed on to him and an infant Kyrin, with half of Destonen’s curse mark appearing on his neck and the other half manifesting on Kyrin’s hand. He also learned that the curse worsened the closer their proximity was. In order to save both their lives, Tess decided to leave Kyrin with Athena Pierce and went on a quest to find a way to break the curse.

(A/N: Destonen’s storyline diverges from his original lore here. What originally happened was that Destonen remains convinced that the Black Mage will return and leaves on a journey to find traces of him, never to return.)

During the war, Alicia had been severely damaged by the Black Mage after he had attempted to take her Transcendent powers, which had caused the World Tree to wither away. During the evacuation of Leafre, Athena Pierce secretly brought her along with the refugees. After they crashed on Victoria Island, Alicia helped the refugees set up Altaire Camp.

Soon after, she decided to keep her promise to see Ryude one last time and visited the Dragon Master’s Tower along with the Thorny Bear cub that Ryude had given her, which had grown up since then. She found Ryude’s frozen corpse still kneeling in place and told him that because of his sacrifice, brave heroes had gathered at the sight of the beacon and united together, eventually managing to seal the Black Mage.

She also told him that she herself had helped the Heroes after being moved by his bravery, though she dismissed it as merely an act of a mother protecting her children. Finally, she explained that his friend, Hazelle, had manually activated the explosives to trigger the avalanche that had held back Von Leon’s forces, which had resulted in his fiery death, and that Mylar had spent his life force in order to accelerate the beacon spell.

She gave a final farewell to Ryude and used her powers to scatter his body before setting the Thorny Bear free, telling it to live freely in the world that Ryude had given his life to save. She then brought his sword to the Tower of Oz in his memory, after which she returned to Victoria Island, where she created Root Abyss deep beneath the World Tree, hoping to seal herself away amidst the strong life energy in Sleepywood in order to recover from the Black Mage’s attack. 

Meanwhile, with his old friends cursed in frozen slumber, Freud struggled to find his place in a world that was slowly evolving without him. Determined not to let his friends’ sacrifices be forgotten, he spent his time traveling the world, saving people from monsters and spreading the word of the Heroes who had stopped the Black Mage. One day, however, Freud witnessed a man rushing forward to defend his village alone, rather than running away. This made him realize that what the people needed were heroes of today, not memories of heroes past.

He decided to create a ring called the Sylph Ring, imbibing it with some of his powers and the memories of his friends. He passed it on to the hero whom he had seen defending his home in the hope that its power would serve as a faithful companion to him as Afrien did to Freud, and to ensure that the legacy of the Heroes would remain in Maple World.

However, Freud soon faced another problem. With the extinction of the Onyx Dragons, humans began hunting lesser dragon species in the hopes of claiming their powers, no matter how fractional compared to that of the Onyx Dragons. In an effort to help the persecuted dragons, Freud imbibed some of his power into the Sylph Pendant, which Afrien had given to him after forming their Spirit Pact. He gave the pendant to the dragons, hoping that it would protect them. However, when the dragons began to use the power of the Sylph Pendant to attack the humans, Freud sealed its power away until a worthy person could claim it.

Over time, Freud soon came to realize that despite the Black Mage’s sealing, darkness still lingered throughout Maple World. Though he continued to fight evil wherever he could, Freud ultimately concluded that peace could never truly return until the balance of the world was restored. For this purpose, Freud decided to seek out Alicia in Sleepywood, hoping that she could help him spread life energy throughout Maple World in order to revitalize the land.

In Sleepywood, Freud began searching for Alicia and soon encountered a barrier which she had constructed to keep out intruders. As he attempted to find a way to slip past the barrier, Alicia detected Freud’s presence and allowed him entry. Alicia noted her impressment with Freud, who had been able to detect her presence past the barrier. Freud replied that her energy was something that couldn’t be hidden easily, adding that he had been surprised to hear that she had slipped out of Altaire Camp.

He explained that he had feared that she had fallen into a trap like Rhinne had, to which Alicia replied that she had left because she believed that it would be better not to get involved with mortals anymore. She then began to say that there was one human who she wouldn’t have minded being around, though she quickly trailed off. Freud told Alicia that though he understood her feelings, he reminded her that the world needed her.

Alicia agreed and noted that she could still hear the voices of the countless lives who had lost their lives during the Black Mage’s war, adding that new life didn’t sprout overnight, either. She explained that in order to speed up the process, she would need to recover her strength as quickly as possible, which was why she had settled amidst Sleepywood’s powerful life energy at the center of Maple World.

Freud replied that he had surmised as much, and that he had also seen that she had little time left. His astute deduction surprised Alicia, who told him that there may never be a mage like him born again. She then told him that he was right and explained that in order to recover her powers, she would need to seal herself away in a deep slumber, though she had no idea when she would wake up. She noted that it could take a hundred years, or a thousand, and that the world itself may have fallen apart before she would awaken.

Freud told her that the world was already unstable, ever since the Heroes had sealed the Black Mage away, though he then wondered whether it had actually been when the Black Mage had attacked the Temple of Time and stolen Rhinne’s powers, or perhaps even before that. However, he explained that regardless, Maple World had fallen out of balance, which was why he had sought her out.

After a pause, Alicia admitted that in the past, she would have simply pretended not to notice, adding that perhaps she was simply unqualified to be a Transcendent. Nevertheless, Alicia agreed to help him and told him to find Abraxas, the Ruins of Memory, explaining that he would find his answer there. Freud thanked Alicia for her help, to which she told him to do everything he could, as she didn’t want to see any more lives stolen away. Freud reassured her that he would, as he and the other Heroes had already risked everything to keep Maple World safe.

Freud then told her that he would leave her to rest, adding that she would be safe as long as he remained the only person who knew her location. Just as her turned to leave, Alicia stopped him and asked him whether she could ask him one more favor. She explained that there was no guarantee that she would recover her powers in time, for which she asked him to find someone qualified to come see her when the moment would come.

However, Freud smiled and told her that there would be no need to find anyone, as he was certain that his friends would come see her, adding that no matter what, there would be a new hope in the future. Freud then took his leave, leaving Alicia to wonder whether he was referring to the six Heroes before silently thinking to herself that she hoped that they would return to save the world.

Following his conversation with Alicia, Freud traveled deep into the Nihal Desert and found the Sanctum of Abraxas, where he discovered that Abraxas was an Ancient God whose consciousness embodied the ruins themselves. Though Abraxas had been sealed away ages ago, a small trace of their power nevertheless manifested in the ruins, which actively observed and recorded the complete history of Maple World, accessible through a transference of knowledge from the magic infused within ancient tablets.

By studying the records left behind in the ruins, Freud was able to learn about the creation of the Abyss Crystal, as well as the fact that the Black Mage had hidden it away in a subspace between Maple World and Friends World. Realizing that the Black Mage would one day reclaim the Abyss Crystal and take Alicia’s powers, thereby destroying the balance of the world completely, Freud began making preparations to stop him.

As the subspace barrier prevented him from crossing worlds, Freud decided to make preparations to help the Heroes stop the Black Mage in the distant future. Freud cast an encryption spell upon the ruins in order to hide the history of the Abyss Crystal from all but his successor - the future Dragon Master.

After discovering that Abraxas’ true form was a massive airship, Freud hid Abraxas away so that the Heroes could use the Ancient God to travel to Friends World, leaving behind a copy of his consciousness to tell the Heroes everything that they would need. With Abraxas secured, Freud returned to Turtle Island and applied the same recording technique within the ruins of Abraxas, infusing his memories of the ruins into Afrien’s mark of the Spirit Pact, entrusting Afrien with passing on those memories to his successor.

With hope secured for the future, Freud continued working to secure a lasting peace in the wake of the Black Mage’s destruction until his death. Over time, the people of Maple World gradually began to rebuild their homes and develop new civilizations after the near extinction of their world. Though the threat of the Black Mage had passed, monsters still hounded the survivors. Because the Demon had served as a Commander, the people of Leafre developed a hatred for the demon race. They drove out the weak, peaceful demons who had left Tynerum in search of a better life, including Damien, and forced them to return to their homeland, where the pure-bloods subjected them to a brutal life of slavery.

(A/N: The Heroes of Maple blockbuster reveals that Damien was also forced to return to Tynerum. However, this might contradict the Damien webcomic commissioned by Nexon, which confirms that Arkarium recruited Damien immediately after Damien’s family home was destroyed. It’s possible that Arkarium sent Damien to Tynerum in order to grow stronger and to raise his demon army.)

On Maple Island, the First Explorer from eons ago had become a legend, inspiring many others to follow in his footsteps and become Explorers as well. The people built the towns of Amherst and Southperry centered around the Maple Tree which the First Explorer loved dearly, and it was there that the brave and adventurous would begin their journeys to become Explorers of Maple World.

Over the next few decades, the refugees who once struggled to maintain Altaire Camp began to expand their territory by driving away the surrounding monsters. A time of growth began, with all of Victoria Island slowly becoming settled. A powerful thief named Lohd, who had been one of the pioneers of Altaire Camp, helped found Kerning City and became the first Dark Lord.

Athena, having been entrusted with the Mistelteinn, was immune to the curse that had frozen the elves. (A/N: I wonder if the Mistelteinn is a relic of an Ancient God since it has the power to withstand a Transcendent’s curse.) However, with Elluel’s borders closed, she could not return to her kingdom. Eventually, she helped found the city of Henesys and became a prominent figure in the community. Crawls with Balrog, an infant refugee from a warrior tribe, would grow up to help found Perion, a barren land at the ruins of Sharenian, becoming its first chief and gaining the name Dances with Balrog. (A/N: It’s not explicitly confirmed that Crawls with Balrog is Dances with Balrog, but it’s heavily implied enough that I consider it to be canon.)

Over time, Ellin Forest gradually developed into Ellinia, a town populated by the Sylphs - one of the three species of fairies. (A/N: I’ve mentioned it before, but the other two races of fairies are the Nymphs of Orbis and the Elves of Elluel.) The Sylphs were distrustful of human beings, although the efforts of a magician called Grendel helped improve fairy-human relations.

In his youth, Grendel had experimented with dark magic while attempting to bring a straw doll to life. When he had accidentally cursed the doll instead, he dumped it in the forest. However, the Lupins who lived in the forest had come in contact with the doll, transforming them into Zombie Lupins. Grendel deeply regretted dabbling in dark magic and swore never to use it again. Over the years, he became extremely powerful and wise. As a wizard, he was capable of extending his lifespan far beyond the capacity of normal humans, although he could not prevent the effects of aging. This earned him the moniker Grendel the Really Old.

With Empress Aria having passed away with no children, the bloodline of the Empress had been severed. Though her niece was next in the line of succession, she had fled Ereve after the Black Mage’s attack and faded into obscurity. Without an Empress to claim the power of Shinsoo, Ereve grew weaker in both power and influence. (A/N: We see in Phantom’s storyline and Cygnus’ origin story that there was a Senate of Ereve. Most likely, they continued to pass laws in the Empress’ absence while keeping it hidden from the rest of Maple World that there was no ruling Empress.)

Even in spite of the Empress’ absence, however, the Knight of Light continued guarding the Seal Stone of Ereve, with their title and the Soul Shield passing down over generations. Gradually, an unprecedented peace began in Maple World, lasting for several centuries as civilizations began to rebuild and evolve. The powerful monsters throughout the world were hunted down, and as a result, the monster population grew significantly weaker.