The Thalion-Abraxas War was a conflict between the Order of Thalion Zenith and the remaining Malverand guardians, with Abraxas intervening against both sides. Thalion led the Order against Raphael and Eremion, whose fleets threatened its expedition into the Plains of Eternity. The fighting destroyed Maraveth, Morindel and Qarezh and killed civilians on a vast scale. The guardians lost their bodies, while Thalion forced Abraxas through a rift and disappeared with him from Valrindor.
Background and preparations
Thalion sought to end Malverand’s rule, rather than fight the Plains of Eternity or Abraxas. Raphael and Eremion nevertheless retained armies and allied to ambush Isandriel’s expedition as it returned from the plains. They intended to destroy Isandriel and then attack the Order’s base at Rimvold, where Helena lived. Eremion brought three additional shard wielders: Azarion, Koriel and Rhaeniel.
Raphael had secretly revived Eliona and hoped she could counter Helena’s abyss. She needed more time, so he gave her a second task: remain hidden, observe the enemy and recover the guardians’ Malverand hearts if they lost. Neither ordinary destruction nor the loss of their bodies would necessarily end them.
Abraxas had a different purpose. The Oracles believed prophecies identified Thalion as a destroyer and required them to protect the source from misuse of origin magic. Sephara had investigated Thalion and recommended against killing him. His massacre at Jazarel, however, led Abraxas to act. A powerful essence core had been planted as the apparent source to draw someone to it who would lead the Oracles to Thalion.
Thalion gathered more than a hundred skyships at Qarezh, with Sultan Tharezh’s permission. His soldiers dressed like the locals, while earth mages buried the ships in the surrounding sand to conceal them from enemy scouts. He urged evacuation and prepared several plans for the guardians’ attack. The Order’s strongest mages also trained near the plains to adapt to their dense essence.
Course of events
The fleet battle and the abyss
The Order intercepted the guardians over the ocean north of Ereshval. Raphael turned to fight its fleet while Eremion continued toward Isandriel’s expedition. Raphael’s golden ice age overwhelmed the Order’s defenses despite Ignatius’s heat and John’s lightning. Ships and mages froze and shattered.
Thalion killed Helena to trigger her abyss and reverse the defeat. This became a repeated contingency: those who retained their memories adjusted the battle, while Helena herself did not remember his disclosures about her future. The Order eventually divided its force. John and Ignatius pursued Raphael toward Maraveth, while Kallion and Zero fought Eremion and Azarion.
Abraxas appeared without a detectable essence signature and opened rifts that swallowed Eremion, Kallion, Zero and nearby ships. Thalion repeatedly triggered Helena’s abyss to recover them. Abraxas moved slightly within its frozen interval and increasingly interfered with the spell. The reversals grew shorter, leaving Thalion less time to save his allies or send Helena away.
Fighting in the plains
Meanwhile, Thamrielle took the object believed to be the source and refused to return it. She lost control while carrying it and believed it could restore Barachiel. Isandriel fought her with support from Viviana, Gren and Igor. Their clash destroyed the surrounding forest and drove both former guardians into a deep crater.
Myrravel’s army and traitors from Ulzathir approached to seize the source. Myrravel wanted to stop the plains consuming its land and had turned against the Oracles, who refused to let it control the source’s flow. Ulzathir’s traitors had been promised riches, and Sharuzh wanted the source’s power to become Ozaith’s next chosen. Ereshval’s forces, led by Drashir and Vashir, joined Viviana, Gren and Igor against them. Ranan and Sharuzh were captured. Viviana confronted Aurelia over her deceptions, then tortured and killed her.
Isandriel finally exhausted Thamrielle’s regeneration and prepared to destroy her. Abraxas intervened, broke his shard hand, took the core and destroyed Thamrielle. Isandriel was left badly wounded and separated from Tal’Massar.
Thalion and Abraxas
Tal’Massar sought Ozaith’s help after the Order defeated Ulzathir’s traitors. Ozaith offered Thalion his full power. Thalion accepted the pact and ordered Kira to take Helena away, then used further reversals to learn the god’s magic before Abraxas could fully stop the abyss.
With Ozaith’s power, Thalion held Abraxas’s expanding rift long enough for the fleets and his allies to escape. The two then fought across the ocean and coast with gravity, cosmic magic, void rays and prismatic attacks. Ozaith called down an asteroid, but Abraxas reversed their impending defeat. Ozaith retained his memory by retreating to the God Realm, at the cost of dwindling essence reserves.
Abraxas’s attacks hurled Thalion into Qarezh. His impact and the following void rays obliterated the city, while a tsunami swept inland. Thalion returned to the fight rather than let Abraxas pursue his surviving friends. He spoke the name Oktlix to trigger Horol’Khai’s spell and interrupt Abraxas’s casting, stabilized a rift with gravity and drove both of them through it. They entered a space without essence outside Valrindor, ending their battle.
Maraveth and Morindel
John and Ignatius broke through Maraveth’s defenses and kept Raphael from completing another ice age. They repeatedly overwhelmed his healing with lightning and plasma until his body ceased to regenerate. The opposing extremes of heat and cold left the city and its surroundings barren.
At Morindel, Kallion and Zero fought Eremion while Theia commanded their fleet. Kallion forced Eremion into Zero’s singularity and summoned a sun above the city. The fleet withdrew before the sun was consumed by the black hole and the resulting explosion destroyed Morindel and much of the surrounding region. The collapse opened the former Morindel Lake to the Calthorpe Ocean, creating the Morindel Sea.
Aftermath
Benedict’s ships rescued Isandriel and the surviving expedition ahead of the tsunami. Nuvyra and Eremion’s three shard wielders tried to intercept them but were overtaken by the flood. A healer restored Isandriel’s hand, allowing him to regain Tal’Massar’s power. Survivors and prisoners returned to Rimvold.
Sylvia ruled Rimvold and gradually let the Order recede into secrecy. Isandriel took its leadership and left to destroy remaining traces of Malverand’s history. Many weaponized skyships were dismantled or hidden. Ereshval began rebuilding Qarezh with aid from Nahm and Haverloch, on the condition that the events remain secret.
The defeated guardians’ hearts survived. Eliona eventually recovered Raphael’s and revived him centuries later; Eremion also returned. Their destruction in the war had prevented their immediate victory without ending their existence.
Thalion and Abraxas escaped their displacement onto another planet, which Thalion called Planet Dirt. Abraxas closed rifts leaking essence into the planet, but left one for a possible return. Eira later found them and used it to bring them back. During their passage through the veil between Xalmyrra and Valrindor, Abraxas lost his magic and memories of using it. Thalion returned to Rimvold in 2114 AX, five years after the war.
The Thalion-Abraxas War was a conflict between the Order of Thalion Zenith and the remaining Malverand guardians, with Abraxas intervening against both sides. Thalion led the Order against Raphael and Eremion, whose fleets threatened its expedition into the Plains of Eternity. The fighting destroyed Maraveth, Morindel and Qarezh and killed civilians on a vast scale. The guardians lost their bodies, while Thalion forced Abraxas through a rift and disappeared with him from Valrindor.
Background and preparations
Thalion sought to end Malverand’s rule, rather than fight the Plains of Eternity or Abraxas. Raphael and Eremion nevertheless retained armies and allied to ambush Isandriel’s expedition as it returned from the plains. They intended to destroy Isandriel and then attack the Order’s base at Rimvold, where Helena lived. Eremion brought three additional shard wielders: Azarion, Koriel and Rhaeniel.
Raphael had secretly revived Eliona and hoped she could counter Helena’s abyss. She needed more time, so he gave her a second task: remain hidden, observe the enemy and recover the guardians’ Malverand hearts if they lost. Neither ordinary destruction nor the loss of their bodies would necessarily end them.
Abraxas had a different purpose. The Oracles believed prophecies identified Thalion as a destroyer and required them to protect the source from misuse of origin magic. Sephara had investigated Thalion and recommended against killing him. His massacre at Jazarel, however, led Abraxas to act. A powerful essence core had been planted as the apparent source to draw someone to it who would lead the Oracles to Thalion.
Thalion gathered more than a hundred skyships at Qarezh, with Sultan Tharezh’s permission. His soldiers dressed like the locals, while earth mages buried the ships in the surrounding sand to conceal them from enemy scouts. He urged evacuation and prepared several plans for the guardians’ attack. The Order’s strongest mages also trained near the plains to adapt to their dense essence.
Course of events
The fleet battle and the abyss
The Order intercepted the guardians over the ocean north of Ereshval. Raphael turned to fight its fleet while Eremion continued toward Isandriel’s expedition. Raphael’s golden ice age overwhelmed the Order’s defenses despite Ignatius’s heat and John’s lightning. Ships and mages froze and shattered.
Thalion killed Helena to trigger her abyss and reverse the defeat. This became a repeated contingency: those who retained their memories adjusted the battle, while Helena herself did not remember his disclosures about her future. The Order eventually divided its force. John and Ignatius pursued Raphael toward Maraveth, while Kallion and Zero fought Eremion and Azarion.
Abraxas appeared without a detectable essence signature and opened rifts that swallowed Eremion, Kallion, Zero and nearby ships. Thalion repeatedly triggered Helena’s abyss to recover them. Abraxas moved slightly within its frozen interval and increasingly interfered with the spell. The reversals grew shorter, leaving Thalion less time to save his allies or send Helena away.
Fighting in the plains
Meanwhile, Thamrielle took the object believed to be the source and refused to return it. She lost control while carrying it and believed it could restore Barachiel. Isandriel fought her with support from Viviana, Gren and Igor. Their clash destroyed the surrounding forest and drove both former guardians into a deep crater.
Myrravel’s army and traitors from Ulzathir approached to seize the source. Myrravel wanted to stop the plains consuming its land and had turned against the Oracles, who refused to let it control the source’s flow. Ulzathir’s traitors had been promised riches, and Sharuzh wanted the source’s power to become Ozaith’s next chosen. Ereshval’s forces, led by Drashir and Vashir, joined Viviana, Gren and Igor against them. Ranan and Sharuzh were captured. Viviana confronted Aurelia over her deceptions, then tortured and killed her.
Isandriel finally exhausted Thamrielle’s regeneration and prepared to destroy her. Abraxas intervened, broke his shard hand, took the core and destroyed Thamrielle. Isandriel was left badly wounded and separated from Tal’Massar.
Thalion and Abraxas
Tal’Massar sought Ozaith’s help after the Order defeated Ulzathir’s traitors. Ozaith offered Thalion his full power. Thalion accepted the pact and ordered Kira to take Helena away, then used further reversals to learn the god’s magic before Abraxas could fully stop the abyss.
With Ozaith’s power, Thalion held Abraxas’s expanding rift long enough for the fleets and his allies to escape. The two then fought across the ocean and coast with gravity, cosmic magic, void rays and prismatic attacks. Ozaith called down an asteroid, but Abraxas reversed their impending defeat. Ozaith retained his memory by retreating to the God Realm, at the cost of dwindling essence reserves.
Abraxas’s attacks hurled Thalion into Qarezh. His impact and the following void rays obliterated the city, while a tsunami swept inland. Thalion returned to the fight rather than let Abraxas pursue his surviving friends. He spoke the name Oktlix to trigger Horol’Khai’s spell and interrupt Abraxas’s casting, stabilized a rift with gravity and drove both of them through it. They entered a space without essence outside Valrindor, ending their battle.
Maraveth and Morindel
John and Ignatius broke through Maraveth’s defenses and kept Raphael from completing another ice age. They repeatedly overwhelmed his healing with lightning and plasma until his body ceased to regenerate. The opposing extremes of heat and cold left the city and its surroundings barren.
At Morindel, Kallion and Zero fought Eremion while Theia commanded their fleet. Kallion forced Eremion into Zero’s singularity and summoned a sun above the city. The fleet withdrew before the sun was consumed by the black hole and the resulting explosion destroyed Morindel and much of the surrounding region. The collapse opened the former Morindel Lake to the Calthorpe Ocean, creating the Morindel Sea.
Aftermath
Benedict’s ships rescued Isandriel and the surviving expedition ahead of the tsunami. Nuvyra and Eremion’s three shard wielders tried to intercept them but were overtaken by the flood. A healer restored Isandriel’s hand, allowing him to regain Tal’Massar’s power. Survivors and prisoners returned to Rimvold.
Sylvia ruled Rimvold and gradually let the Order recede into secrecy. Isandriel took its leadership and left to destroy remaining traces of Malverand’s history. Many weaponized skyships were dismantled or hidden. Ereshval began rebuilding Qarezh with aid from Nahm and Haverloch, on the condition that the events remain secret.
The defeated guardians’ hearts survived. Eliona eventually recovered Raphael’s and revived him centuries later; Eremion also returned. Their destruction in the war had prevented their immediate victory without ending their existence.
Thalion and Abraxas escaped their displacement onto Earth, which Thalion called Planet Dirt. Abraxas closed rifts leaking essence into the planet, but left one for a possible return. Eira later found them and used it to bring them back. During their passage through the veil between Xalmyrra and Valrindor, Abraxas lost his magic and memories of using it. Thalion returned to Rimvold in 2114 AX, five years after the war.