In this Universe, there exists something called Magecraft. Those who are practitioners of Magecraft are called Mages. The power that Mages hold is called 'Elements'. There are the Basic Elements like Water or Air. And there are the complex ones, like Time and Electric.
Each Mage is made out of its Elements. A Water Mage is made out of Water and a Fire Mage is made out of Flames. There are a few Mages that can wield multiple Elements at once. But there's so little because they usually die from over-exhausting themselves.
Each Element is being shown off as a spell, a move that either defends, attack or heal a being or others. And to power these spells, a Mage would reqiure Elemental Energy. It could be by eating or like some beings, absorbing emotions from around them.
Even if the Mage does not have any Elemental Energy left, that Mage won't die. It is not to be confused with the Mage's lifeforce. Elemental Energy is just the supply pool for their spells. But at times, if the Mage is powerful enough, they can trade lifeforce for power.
Another thing that goes in hand with the Elemental Energy of Mages would be their Elemental Aura. It represents the damage and amount of spells that a Mage can withstand without getting hurt or dying. The larger the Aura, the more damage that the Mage can withstand.
Some Mages can control the shape of their Aura, creating different illusions with them. But mostly, it is seen outlining the user's figure. It also corresponds with the user's power. For example, a Water Element Mage would tend to have a blue Elemental Aura.
There is no such thing as having no Aura at all. It defines the Mage's physical endurance. The more Aura the person has, the stronger their defense is. If the Mage does not have an Aura, it would mean that they would be dead or their powers have been stolen from them.
But, there has to be some kind of starting point for these Elements to derive from. And those few were called the Founding Elements. The Backbone of all Elements. And they are not to be passed down by normal means, which was just teaching the next generation.
The Founding Elements can only be passed down by blood. That's why, when the generations after could not use those Elements, they invented new ones using what they could understand and master. This created the Derivative Elements, a subset of the Founding Elements.
The subsequent Elements won't be as powerful as their predecessors but the generations after did do a great job at mastering them to perfection. The term, To each of their own, applies to making Derivative Elements. But since this was based so many eons ago, this information has been lost.
The current generation runs on a new set of Elements because most of the Founding Element users all went into hiding or changed the story entirely. The Valkyries are the only ones that stuck to their roots. The Dark Mages wanted to be left alone.
They believe that the Universe runs with Five Elements, which are called the Basic Elements. Fire, Water, Life, Air, and Aether. New Mages are being taught spells based on these few Elements, except for the ones on the planets with the Founding Elements.
There were five of them, to be exact; Light, Life, Darkness, Stars, and Words. And mixing some factors from each of these Elements would eventually create new Elements. Thus, this was how Magecraft started to spread throughout the Universe.
But with power comes the need to be in order and create laws to set the Mages in line. Or else, there would be utter pandemonium throughout the Universe. Thus, the Founding Elements' users came forth to create the Universe's first-ever group. The Council.
It was also known as the Police of the Universe, the Council started with the Five Planets that housed and possessed the Founding Elements. It then branched out, evolving to create the Nine Worlds Alliance. They are solely used to declare judgment within the Universe.
At that point, the Universe started to expand at a faster rate than before. Many worlds were being created and destroyed. The existing worlds are being pulled away to other areas, making the Council expand its reach and members.
And with new worlds, came with new Elements as well. Though each planet's Element would be deriving from the Founding Elements, the current generation has no clue about this fact. Most of the new Elements would be weaker than the Founding ones but some are quite dangerous.
Lost Elements are those Elements that have not been passed down properly and have died with the generation that created them. Let's start with the Founding Elements first.