PART I: BEFORE THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 13: The Seal of Time

• In the final days of the war, the Black Mage planned to steal the powers of Rhinne, the Transcendent of Time. As the Transcendent of Time could not change their own destiny, Rhinne hoped to circumvent this by creating a child to succeed her, thus preventing the Black Mage from taking the power of time.

• However, the Black Mage and his Commanders sieged the temple, where Arkarium blinded the Goddess and the Demon stunned her in place, allowing the Black Mage to take her Transcendent powers by absorbing them into the Abyss Crystal. He then used the power of time to freeze Rhinne in ice within the Temple of Time, while sealing her child in a different dimension.

• With the Abyss Crystal’s power depleted from stealing Rhinne’s powers, the Black Mage planned to seal it away in a safe location for centuries until it could recharge. To this end, he placed the crystal in a subspace between Maple World and a parallel world called Friends World, which existed alongside Maple World together in the same dimension.

• Having sensed Tana’s existence in Kritias as a Transcendent of Light with the power of creation, the Black Mage intended to lock her away until the Genesis Ritual. To this end, he used the power of time to pull Kritias of the past into his present, where his Commanders invaded and attacked the kingdom to erase any trace of Tana’s existence. The Black Mage then sealed Kritias into a pocket dimension where time stood still, thus sparing Tana from suffering the immense pain of disintegrating and reforming after the failed Ascendency ritual.

• Due to the laws governing Transcendent powers, the Black Mage - similar to Darmoor using Chronica’s powers - was severely weakened. Furthermore, an Interdimensional Portal appeared in Maple World, which led to Grandis.

• In order to carry out his plan of being sealed away, the Black Mage deliberately praised the Demon’s actions in the battle against Rhinne, while ignoring Arkarium’s contributions. As a result, Arkarium - who was the Demon’s rival - grew bitter and sought revenge. While the Demon rested after the battle, the Black Mage ordered the other Commanders to destroy the remainder of Ossyria.

• In revenge, Arkarium attacked the Demon’s home in southern Leafre, where he killed the Demon’s mother. This caused Damien’s latent demon powers to awaken, destroying the entire house. In order to trick Damien into servitude as revenge against his brother, Arkarium made Damien believed that his awakening had killed his mother in the chaos.

• Claiming that only a Transcendent could bring someone back from the dead, Arkarium promised to keep his mother frozen in time until the new Transcendent of Time who would succeed Rhinne in the future could rewind time on his mother’s body and revive her. For this reason, Damien swore loyalty to Arkarium and became his underling.

• Meanwhile, the Demon awoke and learned that the rest of Ossyria had been wiped out. Furious at the Black Mage breaking his promise to leave his family alone, the Demon had his servant, Mastema, deliver a letter to the Heroes outlining his betrayal, as well as key information about the defenses around the Temple of Time. The Demon then confronted the Black Mage and managed to destroy his protective shield, though he was ultimately defeated.

• Mastema delivered the letter to the Heroes, though they were quickly attacked by Arkarium. After chasing him off, the Heroes used the Demon’s attack as their best opportunity to attack the Black Mage. With Aran injured from the battle, the Heroes left Athena Pierce to evacuate the survivors of the Commanders’ attack to Victoria Island.

• Soon after, Aran awoke and rushed off to help the Heroes after helping Athena bring everyone aboard the evacuation airship. With Phantom, Luminous, and the pirate hero facing the Commanders, Mercedes and Freud rushed ahead and began clearing a path to the Black Mage’s throne room. Aran soon caught up to the other Heroes after evacuating Leafre and single-handedly took care of the ground forces, clearing a path for Mercedes and Freud.

• While Phantom dealt with Orchid and Lotus, Luminous and the pirate hero began heading to the throne room to reinforce Mercedes and Freud.

• On their way, they encountered Guwaru, who was backstabbed by Magnus. After Magnus absorbed Guwaru’s spirit powers, thereby restoring his reduced lifespan that he had sustained at Kaiser’s hand, he betrayed the Black Mage and used the Interdimensional Portal to return back to Darmoor’s side.

• Elsewhere, Phantom confronted Orchid and Lotus, nearly killing them both and putting Lotus into a coma. After Phantom disappeared, Orchid vowed to bring Lotus back and took his body away.

• At the throne room, Luminous and the pirate hero found Mercedes unconscious and Freud severely injured from the battle. As they were unable to defeat the Black Mage, Freud decided that they would need to use their contingency plan to seal him away.

• As the sealing spell required the time of a living person as a sacrifice, the pirate hero agreed to give up his existence, claiming that he had no family or worldly ties. After he sacrificed his existence into the seals, all records of his existence - including photographs and memories - were erased without a trace.

• However, the one edge case was that Freud - as the creator of the sealing spell - knew that a component of the spell was a living sacrifice, which meant that he was aware that someone must have given up their existence, though all details about that person were erased from his mind.

• With the sealing spell catalyzed, Luminous fought the Black Mage in a fierce battle. In order to draw out the power of time, Luminous forced the Black Mage to the limits of his power by pitting his light magic against the Black Mage’s dark magic, giving the Black Mage no other choice but to use the stolen power of time to get an edge.

• The instant that he did, the sealing spell absorbed that power into the Seal Stones, which created a Seal of Time with the Transcendent of Time’s power. As the Black Mage attempted to break the seal, Luminous rushed ahead and forced him back. However, the physical contact between the Black Mage and the remnant of his light caused a power transfer, resulting in Luminous absorbing a trace of the Black Mage’s dark Transcendent powers. The Black Mage was then sealed away behind the Gate of the Present, expelling the Heroes from the Temple of Time. With the power of time sealed away with the Black Mage, the Interdimensional Portal also disappeared from Maple World.