best seller magic fantasy novel history

Long before the story of the 'Magic's Awakening', even before civilization established itself in those parts of
Europe not bordering the Mediterranean, Ba El Shebub's Magic was created.
Let me tell you how that came about, but first, if needed, start the soundtrack when ready by following the directions at the
very bottom of this page.
Enjoy!

IN THE BEGINNING

Even before the rise of the Mesopotamian Empires in the valleys of the rivers Tigris and Uphretes, many years
before the rise of the city state of Ur, shamans conjured with magic and perfected ways of dealing with the forces
of the supernatural. One of them Ba El Shebub, a lonely mystic who was also a powerful conjurer, lived around
2756 B.C. He had recurring visions of a future that depicted the downfall of humanity. In one of these visions the
entire human race had lost control over its own destiny as well as that of other living beings, due to the corruption
of a few who had the power to dictate the flow of the river of life. They also revealed to him that mankind had lost
sight of its role as part of the dynamic life force; humanity had lost its appreciation for life and living things. Some
of those visions showed him things that terrified him because they looked so alien and had unimaginable
destructive powers.
Ba El Shebub was so disturbed by these powerful precognitions that predicted what must have been the downfall
of humanity that he took refuge from the constant interruptions caused by the demands of his people. He spent
several months alone at the nearest mountaintop. When he came back, he was blind and had lost the ability to
speak. He was so emaciated that his skin hung on his bones in loose folds. Those that took care of him then
discovered that his power had increased manifold. He had gained the ability to make his thoughts be known
without speech by making words appear inside people's heads. With the wave of a finger, symbols would appear
on the dried, stretched skins they brought to him at his request. Through these symbols and his unspoken words,
he informed his young apprentices that he had decided to call for an enclave of the most powerful shamans,
conjurers, and sorcerers from as far away as his message could reach. Thus, he sent his pupils off in all the
different directions to contact other wise men and shamans with the message to gather on that same mountain top.
He would meet with them there.
After nearly a year of intermittent waiting, they came from near and far. Some came from as far away as India,
Mongolia, Africa, Europe, and one from a continent beyond Asia. Many had shared similar visions and had been
so disturbed by them that they had started traveling to share their unquiet with others like them. So it was that they
came together in the year 2688 B.C. They chose the wisest and most powerful amongst them to form a council
whose commission it was to create a magic so powerful and refined that it would be able to sustain and modify
itself until the time was right for it to influence changes that might save mankind.
After many months, their combined efforts created a magic that was capable of performing lasting magical feats
equaling in variety and subtlety the colors of the rainbow. Guarding spells woven into the silk scrolls upon which
it was written would prevent anyone, including the council's own members, from using the magic for their own
purposes. In addition, the full power of the magic would allow itself to be invoked only if conditions indicated that
humanity was on a course headed towards the cataclysms seen in the visions and a suitable candidate or
candidates had been found who could carry out its mission. Until then, it would work itself into the fabric of life;
choosing those few who would be allowed limited access to its magic and at the same time creating a separate
realm into which those chosen might hide and escape notice.
It was agreed that one spirit alone would accompany the magic over its time enduring voyage and utter the
releasing phrases, or destroy it if that was needed. So it was that Ba El Shebub sacrificed the peace of his soul,
committing his spirit to be the magic's guardian.

… As the passing centuries turned into millenniums, Ba's spirit slumbered peacefully while residing inside the bole
of an ancient tree located on a rise in a valley just north of an inland ocean we now refer to as the Black Sea.
Every once in a while the spirit stirred; awakening just enough to taste the strands of the magic as it traversed the
continents; just enough to know that the time had not yet come. ...

Now that you know how the spirit came to reside inside the bole of the tree, let me tell you about the events in
Europe up to the time of the 'Magic's Awakening'.

THE REALM OF MAGIC and THE MAGIC SCROLLS

In the thousands of years that came and went, those chosen by the magic were allowed to influence events by
being given limited access to its magic. It provided for those chosen individuals access to a magic realm safe from
worldly intrusions. Inside this realm, individuals would exist in such a reduced state that they would be invisible to
other human beings not affected by the magic. In addition, be it a curse or a blessing, aging was slowed down
dramatically; so much so, that those who chose it lived for nearly a thousand years. Unfortunately for them, most
of the individuals that existed within the realm did not have the ability to escape from it and return to the world as
we know it. In addition, they were not protected from themselves or from each other. This resulted in many taking
on the form of monsters; deformed by the corruption of their own minds.
Only those who possessed the ability to wield the magic could travel back and forth between the realm and the
world as we know it. Those individuals wielded great power within the realm and were usually very influential
beings in the world of man as well.

True to the character of its protective spells, the magic scrolls turned up at different times and in different places
throughout history. They had been lost for hundreds of years before being rediscovered in the Middle East in the
form of a goatskin bound volume of manuscripts. A priest, participating in a Crusade led by King Louis IXth of
France, found it in a Saracen tent in the year 1249 AD.
Again, until 1259 there was not a trace of the magic manuscripts' whereabouts. A young merchant named David
DeBourbon found the book that year among hundreds of other tomes in the library of the abbey at Palermo,
Sicily. He was helping his good friend Archduke Guiseppi Mephistopheles who was searching for a cure against a
deadly outbreak of smallpox.
For more than seven centuries, David and his erstwhile friend maintained control of the magic tome and through it
over the realm of magic.
David, who had changed his name to David of Rochelle outside of the magic realm and was referred to as the
Black Mage within it, soon got bored with life inside the realm. Having acquired mastery of a number of spells,
David slipped back and forth between the real world and the realm of magic; in the process acquiring incredible
wealth.
Mephistopheles, who had acquired the title of Cardinal while still in the world of man, had brought his Prussian
Guardsmen with him when he was forced to take refuge into the magic realm. Over the centuries Cardinal
Mephistopheles, his religious zeal eroded and his sense of right and wrong warped, found pleasure in playing cruel
games with the denizens of the realm. Because he had very limited control over the magic, he rarely ventured out
of the realm of magic.

Four and a half centuries later, in the middle of a Dutch winter in the year 1699, David of Rochelle escaped the
tumultuous times in France. He had decided to settle for the peaceful life in Holland. Thus, he arrived at the small
but cozy miller's house located next to a large windmill used for grinding flour. Enamored with the miller's wife,
David decided to stay at the miller's residence. It did not take very long before the miller, Burgher Jan,
mysteriously disappeared. Several months afterward, his 13 year old daughter Jenn disappeared as well.
A year after marrying the miller's widow, David decided to return to the magic realm; leaving behind the young
widow and her newborn son. All that is known of her after that is that she sold the mill and left town.
Many other young couples tried their luck at running a milling business out of the same windmill. When most of
them suffered mysterious accidents, the large windmill in its picturesque setting was tagged with the label of being
haunted. It stood there suffering silently, while time stripped it of its usefulness.

Now that you know about the magic realm and some of the main characters who will resurface during the telling of
"Ba El Shebub's Gift Awakens", I'll tell you what caused the 'Magic' to 'Awaken'.

THE AWAKENING

More than four and a half millenniums have passed since the magic's creation. All the while the spirit of Ba El
Shebub maintained its semi-dormant vigil.
... A cold mist swirled through the leaves of the gnarled tree at the top of the rise. Down in the valley farmers were
already busy preparing their fields for spring planting. The men struggled with their belching tractors pulling arrays
of plows. They were accompanied by young adults and children who occupied themselves by collecting small
and medium rocks that had come to the surface and placing them in piles. Adult women guiding mangy horses
pulling carts loaded with rocks and boulders followed in their wake.
From the top of the rise, with the sun just topping the surrounding hills, the valley looked misty and peaceful.
Feathery clumps of mist slowly drifted upwards, following the valley's gentle slope towards distant hills and
mountains.
Ba El Shebub had selected this peaceful site as the most effective, least disrupted location from where his
dormant essence could maintain contact with the magic; the very same magic now tugging at his spirit's
consciousness.
Contrary to the peacefulness of the pastoral scene, a determined feeling of unrest was tearing away at the magic
curtain that had protected his spirit from unwanted intrusions. Torn from its magic slumber within the bole of the
old tree, Ba El Shebub's essence was awakened by an urgency not felt for close to 5000 years.
Resentful at the disruption, Ba El Shebub touched the strands of magic to ascertain the need for the intrusion,
"Cursed be man's folly that hath thus torn my spirit from its rightful rest," he grumbled. Then, as the impact of the
years became clear to Ba's soul, he whispered, "The winds of change have left their mark. Time has been long in
passing."
Aided by the magic, Ba's informed spirit became aware of how rapidly mankind had drifted towards his
prophetic, cataclysmic visions. Sighing, the spirit exclaimed, "Ah, how great the outward appearance of change.
Yet, how numerous what has remained unchanged in man. This time however, I sense a strain in the ebb and flow
of power, as well as in man's respect of the truth of his being."
After a few moments, needed to digest the information acquired by it, the spirit concluded, "Powerful men and
women hold rule; some are as ruthless as those of times past. However, their impact on the river of life is far
greater. Especially disconcerting is the gathering darkness from the area near where once I called home….an evil
intent, disseminating fatalistic dogma with the purpose of gaining power through anarchy. Fortunately, I sense that
all is far from lost, for the forces of reason and compassion are still strong. Soon the time will come to release the
magic from its binds. If all goes well, there will be a powerful conduit for the magic to do its work. It will require a
spirit strong and pure, and a mind agile and receptive. Pray there is at least one."
Thus it was that the spirit of Ba El Shebub uttered the phrases that released constraints from a magic that, when
properly invoked by its intended wielder, would be more powerful than any ever unleashed, yet be so subtle no
ordinary man would be able to discern its workings; its sole purpose, to help mankind to protect it from itself.
Having completed its task, the spirit of Ba El Shebub resumed its slumber in the knoll of the ancient tree.
In the valley below, the meandering water of the stream that drew its life from the foothills of the Caucasus
Mountains continued its journey towards the blue waters of the Black Sea.