PART I: BEFORE THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 8: The White Mage

• Over 800 years ago, a boy was found in a snowstorm by the mages of El Nath, who brought him to the Mage Tower and trained him as a magician. Over time, it became clear that the boy was a once-in-a-generation magical prodigy whose talent quickly exceeded that of his masters.

• However, the mages were shaken by the boy’s disregard for their rules, as soon he became interested in light magic, whose study had been banned by the mages, believing that light and dark magic were said to be two sides of the same coin. On the day that he came of age, the boy shocked his masters by performing light magic in front of them.

• That night, the mages looked into the future and saw that if the boy were to continue his pursuit of ultimate light, he would bring about the end of Maple World. Horrified by their vision, the elders attempted to kill the boy before that future came to pass.

• However, the boy instead killed his masters and left the Mage Tower, after which he became a wanderer who saved the people of Maple World from monster attacks. Because of his platinum hair, he became known as the White Mage.

• The White Mage spent ten years wandering the world and protecting the people. During his travels, he noticed that there was great imbalance in the world, with rich aristocrats bringing about endless civil war and exploiting their people in order to line their own pockets, leaving the people helpless in the face of monster attacks and war.

• The White Mage took it upon himself to find a solution, and one day reached an epiphany: “The ultimate light can only be found in the ultimate darkness”. With these words, he took a handful of followers and sequestered himself in the Forest of Peace, where he and his organization, Aurora, began studying light magic.

• During his research, the White Mage sought to understand the nature of darkness. For this reason, he made a deal with two Spirits of Darkness, giving them human forms in exchange for them helping him understand darkness. He then gave them the names Orchid and Lotus.

• After the White Mage retreated from the world, powerful creatures of darkness called Omens began appearing and attacking the people of Maple World. A wandering mercenary was hired in order to find the White Mage and convince him to destroy the Omens, though the mercenary took the job because they were curious to meet such an enigmatic, idealistic figure and why he had abandoned the world to darkness.

• In Ellin Forest, they met Ephenia the Fairy Queen, who - despite her hatred of humans and their endless greed - was enamored by the White Mage and his promise to make the world a better place. She directed the mercenary to the Forest of Peace, where the White Mage was conducting research on light magic. Along the way, the mercenary met a girl named Arin, who was avenging the deaths of her family to the Omens.

• Eventually, they found the White Mage and were brought to the Aurora Great Temple. The mercenary learned that the White Mage was searching for the ultimate light - infinite knowledge that could complete and evolve humanity into perfect beings, replicating the Divine City of the gods - a utopia in which greed and selfishness were eradicated. Intrigued by the White Mage’s ideals, the mercenary decided to stay and help him with his research.

• (A/N: The Divine City is a reference to the City of God, a pivotal book on Christian philosophy. The main idea is that the City of God is a conceptual city, not a literal one. You can view it as a state of mind that eschews superficial, earthly pleasures in favor of the wisdom and knowledge of God. The White Mage wants to bring the City of God to humanity in order to complete them with that wisdom, which will rid the world of corruption and evil when people choose to give up their selfishness in favor of a complete existence that embraces peace and kindness.)

• Over the months, however, the mercenary and Arin came to realize that the Omens were a by-product of the White Mage’s research, and that he had deliberately chosen to do nothing about them, even while knowing that they were harming people. As the mercenary and the mages of Aurora attempted to enter the White Mage’s room, they began hearing his warped voice.

• Having completed his research, the White Mage entered the divine realm, where he sought to find the ultimate light that could complete humanity. Just then, however, the will of the world - the Overseers themselves - bound him in place with their chains of law, attempting to hold him back from changing the destiny of the world.

• Furious at the Overseers for choosing to allow humanity to suffer endlessly when they had the power to stop it, the White Mage declared that he would destroy their hold on the world and break free from their preordained destiny. Believing that being human wasn’t enough to defeat a god, the White Mage accepted the power of the Transcendents and awakened as the Transcendent of Light.

• Upon awakening, the White Mage destroyed the temple and killed nearly all the researchers of Aurora. He then approached the mercenary and attempted to recruit them to his cause, but upon realizing that he sought to destroy the world in order to save it, the mercenary declared that he was a monster, rechristening him as the Black Mage. Disappointed, the Black Mage killed the mercenary before setting out to complete his goal.

• As an awakened Transcendent of Light could only hold the power of either light or darkness, the Black Mage expelled all the light inside himself and claimed the power of destruction, leaving behind the last vestiges of his humanity in the form of a glowing orb.

• As a result of the Black Mage’s awakening, a powerful object called the Abyss Crystal was created, which held the power to devour anything with its overwhelming dark energy, including the power of divine beings, such as Transcendents and Ancient Gods.