A golden star burns with ancient force at the center of a system the ancients called Aun'El, the Eternal Flame. Around it, four habitable worlds revolve, each with its own character, history, and darkness. Their orbits, though identical in distance from the sun, have trajectories that intertwine like a cosmic dance. These orbits are not a coincidence: when the worlds approach each other, the magical portals capable of connecting them stabilize, and tensions between empires escalate. At certain specific times, every few years, the four worlds can align in what is known as the Cross of Aun'El, a phenomenon of magical resonance that increases the flow of mana between them. These alignments are as rare as they are dangerous, and the wars that have been fought during these ages are the stuff of legend.

  The four planets have been shaped by millennia of magical and technological evolution. Each boasts terraformed moons, astral observatories, and colossal cities where knowledge, politics, and fanaticism intertwine.

  Velthara, shrouded in eternal mists, is the most introspective of the worlds. Its cities are built on cliffs, and its culture venerates wisdom, strategy, and art. Here, the Council of Sages observes the universe with the same devotion as others would wield a sword.

  Aeskar stretches out like an ocean of plains and eternally windy skies. Its people learned centuries ago to soar above the land, building floating cities powered by mana crystals. It is a nomadic civilization, accustomed to scarcity but armed to the teeth with artifacts of war. Its mineral wealth makes it a key element in the balance of the system.

  Myrrial, lush and tangled, breathes magic in every leaf. Gigantic jungles intertwine with rivers of liquid light, and its arboreal cities are living temples that revere nature as mother and goddess. Its Empire is ruled by a theocracy that preaches communion with mana and forbids its destructive use—at least publicly.

  Dornath is ash, fire, and iron. Its history is a succession of endless wars, and its fortress cities are chiseled from volcanic stone. There, power is the only law, and mages are neither sages nor priests: they are weapons. Those capable of using mana are strictly controlled, like state property, and only the strongest rise to the top of its bloody hierarchy.

  In this system, mana is not a passive energy; it is an invisible current that flows through all living beings and matter, manipulated only by those who carry a spark of ancestral blood. That spark, a symbol of a forgotten heritage, has become rare. Bearers are tested from childhood, separated from the rest, molded to serve. Reaching the first level of magical sensitivity is already a rarity. Reaching the tenth... a living legend.

  But in recent centuries, the use of blood as a resource has deeply darkened the heart of empires. Low-level mages—especially those trapped in the lower castes—are taken from their homes, bought, kidnapped, or simply bred like cattle to fuel the power of a select few. The purity of their bloodline is measured like a precious metal, and many are sacrificed through secret rituals to increase the magical potential of the elite. What was once a gift has now become a cruel currency, and imperial academies remain silent about the practice out of fear or complicity.

  In the dark markets of the four worlds, the trade in pureblood has reached a level of industrial sophistication. Smugglers, renegade scientists, and mercenary clans profit by extracting every last drop of power from the weak. Entire warehouses are hidden beneath imperial cities where soulless bodies are kept alive only to slowly drain their mana. Some even speak of rudimentary cloning factories and forbidden sorcery to replicate lost bloodlines. Morality has been replaced by efficiency, and those who question this system... disappear.

  Magical power is structured on an ascending scale of ten levels. At level one, a mage possesses a superhuman body, capable of minor physical feats and simple magical abilities. From level three, they begin to master spells of great destruction and advanced defensive techniques. At level five, their influence can alter local matter, and their longevity is already measured at nearly five centuries. Level seven mages can change the weather, unleash firestorms, freeze armies, or manipulate entire energy fields. Level ten is feared even by empires: these individuals can eradicate entire cities or summon disasters of continental scale. Reaching such heights demands unspeakable sacrifices, including forbidden practices such as the ritual consumption of ancestral blood, obtained in the most terrible ways possible. Each ascent is accompanied by a physical and spiritual awakening, in which the mage's body slowly transforms into a living channel of mana.

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  The society of the four worlds is organized into rigid castes. At the top are the pure bloodlines: families whose magical blood has withstood the test of time. They are followed by lesser nobles, often former soldiers or mages promoted for exceptional merit. Below them are the common citizens, who lack mana but have access to education, work, and stability. At the bottom are the serfs and outcasts: orphans, deserters, debt slaves, and all those considered impure or useless to the empire. Mobility between castes is limited and is generally achieved only through strategic marriage, military exploits, or the awakening of blood and magical power.

  Between these worlds, individuals known as Dimensional Walkers move. They don't fly, swim, or travel in ships, but open portals. Where other mages require ritual circles, catalysts, and exact conditions, the Walkers open rifts in space with the force of their will. They are few, rare, and reckless. Sometimes they disappear in their youth, absorbed by their own portals. Other times, they are sought out and hunted. Some serve empires. Others... fade into the shadows.

  The Walkers are the echo of an ancient legend. They are said to be descendants of a lineage that existed before the formation of empires. Others believe their gift comes from a pact with entities beyond the fabric of this universe. The truth is that their power, while immense, is also unstable. Some of them have disappeared during interdimensional journeys, taking entire cities with them or causing local cataclysms. Their portals don't require physical structures, but they don't follow clear rules either. They open doors not only between worlds, but between dimensions. Places where the laws of time, gravity, or life are not constant. Therefore, the existence of a powerful walker can be seen as a miracle... or as a global threat.

  In the shadow of the empires lies the opposition to their imposed order, and the most important of these is the Twelve Cursed Cults. Clandestine organizations, radical cults, and forbidden magical cells, the Twelve are the bane of the four empires. Each operates under the symbol of a zodiac sign. These cults do not share a single vision: some want to destroy the established order, others seek to free humanity from the slavery of mana. Still others simply desire chaos. They use Dimensional Walkers to infiltrate, attack, and disappear. Their methods include ritual murder, genetic manipulation, pureblood trafficking, the kidnapping of magically gifted children, and the desecration of sacred artifacts. They lurk among imperial academies, noble courts, even religious orders. Some peoples fear them, others secretly venerate them, seeing them as the only alternative to a system that crushes the weak.

  A formal, albeit shrouded in secrecy, organization known as the Oculus of the Boundary was created by the empires millennia ago as a direct response to the threat posed by the Twelve Cursed Cults. This order is made up almost exclusively of Dimensional Walkers trained from childhood, removed from society, and hardened through a regime of obedience and forbidden knowledge. Its objective is clear: to identify, infiltrate, and eliminate cult cells wherever they may hide. Its members operate from hidden fortresses on nameless moons, and their expeditions through forbidden portals are already legend and warning. The Oculus's symbol is an open eye between two intertwined portals, and its members are feared even within the empires.

  Also related to cults and rebels, a couple of centuries ago, the Twelve Blessed Cults were born: clandestine organizations that seek to imitate the structure and versatility of the infamous Twelve Cursed Cults, but with a different goal. They preach the liberation of the oppressed and the fall of imperial tyranny. Although their intentions are noble, their power is limited. Only a few level six or seven mages make up their ranks, and each cult barely has one or two Dimension Walkers. They do not yet pose a real threat to the empires, but among the lower castes, their name is beginning to inspire hope.

  Each empire venerates or respects a dominant religion, although spirituality is expressed in diverse ways. In Velthara, the Faith of the Eight Cycles preaches the reincarnation of the soul through accumulated knowledge, and its monks are influential advisors. Aeskar worships the Primordial Wind, an impersonal deity who represents eternal movement and freedom, reflecting his nomadic nature. In Myrrial, the Church of the Deep Root worships a planetary spirit that connects all life forms, and its oracles live in symbiosis with plant creatures. Dornath, on the other hand, follows the Doctrine of the Warrior, a state religion that views conflict as a path to divinity, where shed blood strengthens the soul.

  Over the past few centuries, wars have ceased to be all-out clashes between empires. Open battles have become rarer and have been replaced by skirmishes, localized conflicts, and low-intensity warfare. Many find it suspicious that empires have become so cautious, as if something else were happening in the shadows. Some claim that an unknown threat is approaching, or that a major war is being planned for the next Cross of Aun'El, although the high command denies everything.

  In this cosmos where power is everything, and purity of blood is paid for with gold or death, the struggle for control is not fought with armies alone, but with intelligence, with betrayals, with faith... and with the desperate hope that something will change before the balance of the worlds is shattered forever.