A History Lesson for the Reality Impaired

-From the library of Jacob T. Kindle, Historian

Introduction

I know what you’re saying. “I was there,” “I remember this,” “It’s too soon to talk about!” I don’t think there is a single person in Fiore who wasn’t impacted by the war, so believe me, I understand. It is important to record the facts before they are lost to history, however, and no one knows what could happen in the future. It’s been two years since the war’s end, and five since it first started. I think everyone knows about it, so I’m going to call this writing “A History Lesson for the Reality Impaired.” Why? Because that’s what you would have to be not to realize everything that has gone on. I kind of envy you if that’s the truth.

Well, there’s no point in rambling any further, so without further ado, let’s get into the meat of what I want to write. I’d hate for all of you to stop reading before we even get to the first event. I’m going to start before the war - the first sign of trouble. One none of us gave enough thought to.

The Dragon’s Disappearance

Dragons are a popular legend. People have always talked about how there were once dragons who made their homes in Fiore. It's funny to me, because as a historian, I can tell you that they disappeared as recently as nine years ago. How quickly they've faded into legend is remarkable, to say the least.

Why is that, I wonder? Maybe it's because dragons have kept to themselves for as long as any of us can remember. Sure, there was probably a time where they did other things, like back when the dragons ruled over humanity. But dragons live for a very long time. Like... maybe even since the beginning of the world. Who knows? Very few people, if any. And they haven't shared that information with me.

So anyway, the eight dragons I have proof of existing all had lairs based around the country. I wish I had more facts to give, but there just isn't much to go on. My theory is that they've been guiding us from a distance for a long time, helping us to learn magic and to take our place as the dominant race in the world.

Regardless of what they were doing, the fact is, they're gone now. They just... vanished about nine years ago. Whether something happened to them or they went somewhere... well I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I just don't know.

During that time, I believe that at least a few of them raised humans with the fabled lost magic we call Dragon Slayer magic. One or two of them surfaced in the war, and from what I can tell, their considerable power helped quite a few people during the war. I'm not sure they know anything about the dragon's disappearance either.

But enough sounding like a broken record. It's time to move on to the war my fellow historians call the 'Refusal War.' We'll get in for the reason it's called that in my next section. For now, feel free to laugh at it. It isn't my name. Someone thought they were being poetic.

The Refusal War Begins

I said before that the Refusal War was a stupid name. Well I haven't changed my mind in the last few minutes of writing. The story behind that is that someone thought it was clever, because our small country 'refused to give in to Valland's armies and become part of their little empire.' I suppose its a little poetic. It's still a stupid name.

The Refusal War seemed to come out of nowhere to most of us. Sure, Valland's little empire had been growing for about fifteen years, but before we discovered just how dirty they played, we thought we were good friends. I bet people have blocked that out at this point. Remembering the good makes it harder to hate, after all.

About five years ago, while we were all feeling secure and happy, chasing butterflies or whatever everyone did in those more carefree days, Valland's armies marched up through Fiore, conquering parts of it alarmingly quickly. Fiore's armies have always been small. It's a pretty small country, after all. The only real reason we ever survived was because the Magic Council stepped in pretty early on and sent their own armies to reinforce Fiore's. Together, they managed to hold back the enemy's army. At least at first.

Sewing Chaos

About a year into the war, it was becoming apparent that Fiore was a lot more trouble than Valland had imagined it would be. Or at least that's what we tell ourselves. We haven't done a tone of talking to Valland since their betrayal, so I doubt many people on our side know how they thought things were going.

Valland's devious ways wouldn't cease to amaze and horrify us just yet. On the same day, Valland's assassins managed to infiltrate both the Magic Council headquarters in Era and the royal palace in Crocus. With carefully planned brutality, they managed to quickly eliminate both the head of the magic council and the entire royal family of Fiore, destroying our morale and crippling our ability to fight back.

While we were still reeling from the loss, their armies marched into Era, driving the Magic Council to near-ruin. While many soldiers survived, they retreated, unwilling to continue fighting after their loss. This was the darkest period in our nation's history. For awhile, it looked like it would be the final chapter of our history as well.

Argon the Savior

We all know this part of the story, so feel free to say it with me. Just be prepared to look stupid in front of people who see you talking to a book. Just when everyone thought we'd lost, and we were about to become the newest piece of the Valland Empire, a glimmer of hope returned to the nation of Fiore. The Magic Council's strongest agent, Cornelius Argon, appeared. Using his awesome power he had acquired during his journeys abroad and his already impressive leadership skills, he managed to rally a large amount of the scattered Magic Council, as well as a fair few wizards from other origins as well, such as guilds and even guildless wizards.

Era was in shambles after the fight. Valland's impressive power was brought to bear, severely damaging the city, and actually hurting quite a few civlians in an attempt to stamp out the remaining Magic Council forces. So Argon himself led the remaining forces to Oak Town, where the vacant guild hall of the recently disbanded Phantom Lord would serve as their new base of operations.

From there, Argon managed to lead his armies to several major victories, and even push the armies back somewhat, retaking a large chunk of Fiore. It was hard-fought, but his leadership and impressive fire magic managed to carry the day. Slowly, our nation began to regain a sense of hope that was lost months before.

I could keep talking about his exploits, and honestly I probably should, but this isn't supposed to be a detailed historical. It's supposed to remind you of the world we currently live in. So suffice to say, we continued the trend for nearly two more years. Argon's unique genius managed to save the day. The man truly is a hero. Without him, I wouldn't be writing this. I promise you that.

By then, Valland was fighting a war on multiple fronts. They'd stretched entirely too thin and we refused to relent until they finally pulled their armies out of Fiore. So, in May of the third year, they actually did that. Against everyone's expectations at the time, they actually retreated. We signed a peace treaty with them, and in a sudden and anticlimactic end... everything stopped. Fiore could finally begin to recover from the devastation of war.

Two Years Later

So, now we're back to the present day. Why should I write about this part? Frankly I'm probably wasting my time doing it, but since I did title this "A History Lesson for the Reality Impaired," I probably shouldn't leave out the most recent part of history.

It's two years later, as the title of this section suggests. The world is a very different place than it was before the war. Or at least Fiore is. It's even different compared to how it was at the war's end. Suffice to say we're mostly back to normal. Or as normal as we can be after that. Sure, the memories are still entirely too fresh, but we've got semi-normal lives. Unless you live in Era. They're still rebuilding.

Argon is the new head of the magic council, and the king of Fiore all at once. He took over both positions, combining the organization into part of Fiore itself in order to help restore power. I don't think it was his intention, but we all wanted him to lead us since he'd already done such a great job. And since there was no one else to pick up the pieces, I guess he inherited both of Fiore's most prestigious positions.

Argon's son, Mordekai, has become rather well-known in the past few years. He's led the Magic Council's Paladins on a crusade to wipe out the remaining dark guilds. It seems like he's done a pretty good job, too. You don't hear much about dark guilds these days.

There are rumors of a dark guild hidden out of sight, but there isn't much to go on there. I won't touch on it any more than to say that there are rumors.

The three major guilds, Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus, have all gone back to being the guilds they were meant to be. I hear Fairy Tail is always a hair away from the Magic Council pouncing on them, but I think their leader does a pretty good job of keeping the peace.

That's pretty much it. I'll continue to write as more goes on, but I think I've managed to cover the basics of the last nine or so years. I hope this helps someone, somewhere. The point of recording history is to learn from it. Let's pray we actually do for once.