“Mister Wilhelm, sir, what was the cause of the Silencing?” A young humanoid of roughly seventeen years and of such an androgynous figure, that Wilhelm suspected the youngster would probably need to leave this village soon, given what these hick towns had a habit of doing to those who didn’t fit their archaic views
“All Be Mended, you sure know how to ask the hard questions, youngling.” Wilhelm had expected some typical ‘Oh my god, you fought in wars? Details please!!!’ style questions from this on the very edges of civilisation, middle of nowhere town, to give the youngsters a bit of a thrill in their boring lives.
Yet this youngster, all brunette curls and intense concentration on their young figure, had come out with a curveball to end all curveballs.
“I mean, for Damnation’s sake, barely anyone even remembers that the Silencing was even a thing due to the Æthereal’s mindfuckery, let alone just how close civilisation came to being controlled by that garish fool of a musician.”
Wilhelm paused, as he gathered his wits and what little he could willingly tell of that chaotic and pyrrhic battle, before he asked, “Youngling, where did you even learn about the Silencing? Æthereal be damned, even your friends have already been turned off the subject and left us alone.”
He wasn’t surprised it had happened. Most of the wars and fighting Wilhelm had witnessed as part of his punishment had been almost eerily redacted from reality, as the Æthereal claimed its treasures and locked them safely ‘away from the mortals who would abuse the gifts others were graced with’.
Proof of this was only possible because Wilhelm could vividly remember all he had seen, yet most others who survived seemingly forgot, and the histories themselves just seem to have the event fade from their pages.
The youngling pulled a small, almost unnoticeable book from their satchel. Almost, because the strange aura it radiated explained a lot about the youngster.
It was an Æthereal Grimoire, which meant the Æthereal was ready to try reintroducing that which the Grimoire contained.