"As I had stated in yesterday's class, today we will be going over Zodia's history." Raegar Fysma said as the students in the second classroom settled down. "Specifically we will talk about the wars that took place over the many centuries.."
Axel leaned forward in his seat. He was curious about the Reapers and wondered if he would gain any insight from this lecture.
"Before we move forward, I'd like someone to recap yesterday's lecture. It should be easy since we barely spoke about anything."
"You said that Zodia's history goes back at least 1000 years but we keep finding more evidence dating even further back."
"A god probably bestowed the powers upon us."
"The time before the Galilian era was known as The Unity because all magic was said to exist only within that god."
"Yes. Yes. That's right." Raegar said as the chorus answers flew across the room and eventually devolved into noise.
"If we're going to talk about Zodia's war history, we first need to become familiar with the enemy.
"When I say Zodia, I mostly mean the 12 heroes who risked their lives to free the rest of us from devastation. The threat, however, also came from within Zodia just like the heroes.
"The first war was waged during the dawn of the Galilian era when only a small percentage of people were able to manifest powers. Since the phenomenon was otherworldly, many thought of it as a curse. This meant that any adult who manifested the powers would be imprisoned or killed on the spot since it was believed that the magic would bring doom upon civilisation.
"Any child who manifested the power was forcefully put into recreational facilities to stop them from ever using the abilities they were naturally born with. If the kids decided to go against these teachings they were treated just like the adults I mentioned earlier."
A few gasps sounded all over the classroom, and disgusted faces were seen all around. Many students did not believe what Raegar was saying due to how far fetched it seemed, but it was all true.
"If we put ourselves in their shoes, it becomes easier to understand why they would take such drastic measures. To them, the sudden introduction of magic was far from normal. Their basic instincts told them to be cautious of this power, and to keep it in check they took the measures they felt were necessary.
"Moving on from whether their actions were justified or not, we reach the middle of the first Galilian century where the population with magical abilities is tired of the constant suppression by the non-mages. Their numbers have increased over the years, and so has their hatred.
"A large group of mages joined forces and attacked all major cities in Zodia in order to take over the country. They succeeded in killing the king and queen of that time and it seemed as though all hope was lost for Zodia.
"The group's goal was to bring equality to the mages, but the only way they thought to pull it off was to burn down those who oppressed them. Their ways were wrong, but their heart was in the right place.
"This is not to say that their actions were justified, since there were many other ways for them to go over realising their goal."
"But their reign of terror was short-lived. A group of 12 mages separated from the now large organization and proceeded with a covert operation alongside the non-magic users in an attempt to take Zodia back. The operation was a success, and the leaders of the organisation retreated.
"As many of you have realised, these 12 mages were the ones who began the 12 royal families that now look over the country.
"The kindness of the 12 royals allowed the conflicts between the mages and non mages to die down, and Zodia entered an era of peace.
"The second war on Zodia occurred in the 4th Galilian century and lasted for nearly a decade. The organisation that had gone into hiding earlier had rebranded themselves and now had a raging hatred for the royals who betrayed them. Their original purpose had been to bridge the gap between non-mages and mages, but now nearly 90% of Zodia was able to use their powers. Their goal had already been achieved by the royals, and the organization now only existed to enact revenge upon these royals.
"The organisation made a full swept return, catching the royals off guard and nearly taking over the country again. They called themselves the Reapers, a very snappy name if you ask me, and stuck to their new goal - complete mayhem."
Axel listened intently after Raegar had mentioned the Reapers. This was his chance to learn as much about them as he could.
"The Reapers freed prisoners all over the country and caused various kinds of damage to the country. While on the surface it looked like their main goal was to completely break the country, many historians suspect that they were after something far greater.
"The war lasted for a decade only because it took time for the royals to regain their composure after the devastating initial attacks by the Reapers. The conclusion of the war, though, was rather anticlimactic. The Reapers took back their troops and went into hiding 5 years after the war had begun. After this point there were smaller scaled Reaper attacks all over the country for the next 5 years before they suddenly stopped.
"Some more scattered incidents were reported for the next 3 centuries, the last one dating back 40 years. The most recent one was one of their strongest yet and Sir Roland Zephyr, who is a teacher here at Zychs, personally took part in keeping them at bay."
A few students asked questions regarding the strategies employed by Zodia and the Reapers, while others dwelled into a debate about the ethical issues surrounding the non-mages' actions.
Axel did not take part in any discussion though. He understood why Richard had scrambled away at the mention of the Reapers. The horror hit him eventually as he realised that they had already infiltrated Zychs and that anyone here could be working for them.
Their tactics of retreating when they had an advantage during the war made no sense to Axel. It was obvious that they were after something far greater than the destruction of Zodia, and Axel couldn't help but feel like this 'something' was related to the extended history of Zychs.