PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 1: The Long Peace

• Before being sealed away, the Black Mage cursed all the Heroes to be frozen in ice.

• From the future, Arkarium traveled back in time to the moment after the Black Mage was sealed, hoping to get revenge on the Heroes and the Demon by killing them when they were weakened from the battle. In order to stop him, several Silent Crusade agents were dispatched to the past.

• One Crusader encountered Maha and an unconscious Aran. After they helped repair the polearm, Maha used his power to take Aran to Rien, where she was eventually frozen. The Crusader then encountered Afrien, along with an unconscious Mercedes and Freud. They helped Afrien reclaim his lost egg, which contained the last Onyx Dragon, and offered a portion of their vitality to save Mercedes’ life.

• After awakening from her injuries, Mercedes returned to Elluel and realized that as the destiny of the elves was tied to their ruler, all the elves shared Mercedes’ curse, which would freeze them all. After closing the borders of the kingdom, Mercedes and her people were frozen in ice.

• Phantom, his crew, and the Lumiere itself were all frozen and crashed beneath the waters of the Rien Archipelago.

• The Demon, severely injured from the battle, created a protective egg to hibernate in.

• After Freud awoke, he used his time magic to create a Barrier of Time, twisting time around the moment that the Black Mage was sealed. By doing so, he ensured that time could not flow backwards past that point, ensuring that no one would be able to prevent the seal from being created.

• After traveling to the past, Arkarium was unable to find the Demon in Leafre. Blinded by his short-sighted jealously and hubris, Arkarium intended to break through the barrier by stealing the powers of Rhinne, who was sealed within the Temple of Time, thereby allowing him to travel even further in the past and kill the Demon before he could weaken the Black Mage’s defenses, which would make the Heroes exhausted and easier to kill.

• However, Arkarium was defeated by the Crusader, who stopped him from breaking the seal. Nevertheless, one of the Seal Stone began to crack, causing the seal to slowly degrade over the centuries. As a result, the pirate hero momentarily flickered back into existence before falling unconscious in a space between dimensions.

• After the battle, Freud took Afrien to Turtle Island near Rien, where Afrien slowly froze the entire island. Freud then hid Afrien’s egg in order to ensure that a future Dragon Master would be able to create a new Spirit Pact with Afrien’s child.

• Meanwhile, Shinsoo led the refugees of Ossyria to Victoria Island. Though they intended to land on the southern plains, a dragon attack caused them to crash-land in Ellin Forest instead. As the refugees formed Altaire Camp and began colonizing the area, the Fairy Queen Ephenia was convinced by a mysterious sorcerer named Kirston to turn again the humans of Altaire Camp.

• From the future, a traveler arrived in Ellin Forest and began helping the settlers, eventually killing Ephenia before she could destroy the camp. During this time, Destonen - who had become a key pioneer of Altaire Camp - discovered Kirston’s tent and learned that Kirston was enamored by the Black Mage’s dangerous ideals and hoped to free him from his seal.

• After discovering Destonen in his tent, Kirston cursed Destonen’s bloodline and later released a toxin that was carried through the rainfall, resulting in the death of Destonen’s wife, Yuris, shortly after she gave birth to their second child, Kyrin. Destonen soon succumbed to the curse, which split itself between the two members of his bloodline: Tess and Kyrin. As the curse worsened in close proximity with each other, Tess left Kyrin with Athena Pierce and began a centuries-long search to break the curse.

• Over time, the people of Maple World began rebuilding after the war. Because the Demon had been a Commander, the survivors of Leafre drove out the peaceful demons back to Tynerum, including Damien, where they were subjugated to a brutal life of slavery.

• Meanwhile, Alicia visited a fallen Ryude at the Dragon Master’s Tower one final time. After taking his sword back to the Tower of Oz in his memory, Alicia retreated beneath the World Tree and planned to seal herself away in Root Abyss in order to recover her vitality after being attacked by the Black Mage during the war.

• Before she did, however, Freud sought her out in order to ask her to help him find a way to put an end to the darkness that persisted in Maple World, even after the Black Mage’s death. Alicia directed Freud to the ruins of Abraxas, an Ancient God whose consciousness was imbued into a sanctum that recorded the entire history of Maple World with the power of the gods.

• In Abraxas, Freud learned about the creation of the Abyss Crystal, as well as the fact that the Black Mage had sealed 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.

• On Maple Island, those who followed in the footsteps of the First Explorer, a legendary Adversary from eons ago, created the towns of Amherst and Southperry around the Maple Tree that the First Explorer loved dearly. Those who hoped to become Explorers began their journeys on Maple Island in honor of the First Explorer.

• On Victoria Island, the people of Altaire Camp created Henesys as their capital, build on the southern plains that they had initially been hoping to reach. In Henesys, Athena Pierce remained the only elf who escaped the Black Mage’s curse, as the elven treasure Mistelteinn, which Mercedes had entrusted her with, protected her from its effects. Settling in Henesys, Athena became the bowman instructor for Explorers.

• Lohd, a powerful thief, founded Kerning City for those who wished to become thieves and became its first Dark Lord.

• Ellin Forest - named after Ellin, a fairy ally of Altaire Camp who rose to power after Ephenia’s death - eventually developed into the city of Ellinia, a town where fairies and humans could coexist. A powerful magician named Grendel the Really Old helped foster positive relationships between the two races and became the magician instructor.

• Crawls with Balrog - an infant refugee - eventually founded the town of Perion in the barren mountains, which had once been part of the kingdom of Sharenian before its fall. Perion was filled with relics from the time of Sharenian, many of which were excavated by archeologists interested in the early history of the region.

• After Empress Aria’s death, the bloodline of the Empress was severed, as Aria had no direct descendants. Though her niece was next-in-line of succession, she had fled Ereve during the war and faded into obscurity. With no living Empress to claim the power of Shinsoo, Ereve grew weaker in power and influence. However, the Knight of Light who protected the Empress and the Seal Stone of Ereve remained, with new guardians being chosen over the ages by the Soul Shield.

• An unprecedented time of peace soon came upon Maple World and lasted for centuries, with civilizations thriving and monsters growing weaker over the ages, thus creating more safety and stability.