The Humble Death of a Great Archmage
◈ Prologue ◈
Hines de Hades was a 9th Circle Mage of the Imperis Empire.
Born the second son of Count Hades, Hines was a remarkably gifted boy. He showed extraordinary talent in music and literature above all, and his curiosity about the pleasures of the table was equally insatiable.
As in any noble house, the title passed to the firstborn son—which meant Hines, the second, would inherit nothing. And so, with an eye toward making his own way in the world, he turned his attention to magic.
Having entered the Roens Magic Tower, Hines devoted himself to the study of magic even as his talents for cuisine, music, and literature bloomed in full.
The food he made was so exquisite that his fellow mages would lose themselves in it entirely, refusing to so much as glance at any other meal. His music was the same—his songs reached such a heights that everyone in the Imperis Empire delighted in hearing them—and his literature was held in such esteem that schools across the empire used his works as textbooks.
The years slipped by, and at the age of seventy, Hines at last reached the 8th Circle. From the 8th Circle onward, dimensional travel became possible, and he journeyed to worlds beyond his own, deepening his knowledge with every step.
It was during those travels that he happened upon Earth—and the shock of it struck him to his core. The level of civilization here was utterly unlike any of the other planetary worlds he had encountered. With its abundant harvests and ingenious mechanical contrivances, Earth seemed to want for nothing, even without a single spell.
Ambition stirred in him. Hines resolved to learn the civilization of Earth and carry it back to his homeland, the Imperis Empire.
Ten years came and went on Earth.
Having accumulated wisdom upon wisdom and insight upon insight, Hines attained the 9th Circle—the loftiest realm a human being could ever reach. By then he had learned all that Earth's civilization had to teach him, and homesickness tugged at his heart. He decided it was time to return home.
With every preparation complete, Hines went to the magic array and readied himself for the dimensional transit.
But—
Perhaps he had lingered too long on Earth, for the mana within the array that powered dimensional travel had dissipated entirely.
To gather sufficient mana, he would have to train—but Earth's own mana was so thin and sparse that the effort proved fruitless. He wandered far and wide in search of any place where even a trace more of it might gather, and the place he finally arrived at was here: a cave deep in the mountains of Inje, in Gangwon Province.
Twenty years of training passed in that cave, and he reached his hundredth year.
He had filled barely two-thirds of the mana needed to return home to the Imperis Empire. His body grew weaker by the day... and his will to reach his homeland faded with every passing hour...
And so the great Archmage Hines came to understand that he was slowly dying.
He could not bear the thought of perishing so emptily, so meaninglessly—and so he began pouring the whole of his knowledge into a magic ring.
Hines yearned, desperately, for someone—anyone—to recognize the achievements of his life. In the end, he left behind only a small gift and departed this world.
Such was the humble death of a great Archmage.
But the legacy he left behind gleamed with a brilliant light, waiting for a new master.