Once, it was said that the Animalia lived high on the floating continents far from the horrors of the GodWars. Once, it was said that the biggest and brightest of these continents hovered above the eastern lands, safe from the Godelves by the distance it kept from Ithis. It is not known as to when it happened, nor as to how it happened, but the floating continent of the Animalia no longer hovers in the sky. Some say it was the God Elves who destroyed it. They say that they rallied great magics and dark celestials to assault it and pull away the power that kept it floating. Some say the aid of the great Nephillim was what pulled down the continent. Some say it was punishment from Taeos for not helping their brothers and sisters on the lands below. Some even blame the locking away of magic for removing the spells that kept the overly large continent afloat. To be sure, no one knows the real answer. What is know n are the horrible effects of its crashing.
To the south of Pero, in the deserts, they call it the great darkening. To the west, in the lands of Ithis, it is called the horizon light. Clave calls it the Great Sky Tragedy. Even strange travelers claiming to have come from Malacant, speak of the great flood of the Eastern Shore. The Animalia stories do not speak of the reason it occurred, the history being lost as they fled the continent, but they do speak of the event in hushed tones.
The first sign, they say, was the rumbling of the floating grounds. It started at the edges and slowly moved in. It was a quiet slow movement, and a noise that grew as the rumbling moved further inland. Those who lived on the edges thought it was a great wind, which were known to sometimes harmlessly shake the edges. They were soon proven wrong. Those who failed to flee inward were taken first as chunks of the land broke away, floating downwards, splitting families, and cascading away like water flies from a shaking dog. Dropping, drifting, descending slowly through the winds, stone and ore lost power and began to fall to the earth sharply. Those on the ground looked up and scattered as they felt pebbles hit them like rain.
As the shaking continued people fled away from the edges, and tragedy seemed to follow close after. Buildings rocked loose from their foundations mere moments after alarms were sounded. A great wave of panic moved towards the center of the land as city sized pieces of the firmament crumbled and cracked. The elders in the capitol forum were called to convene, but could provide no solution. They ordered an immediate evacuation, hoping that once the tremors ended they could return. Every ship capable of air travel was to be launched, and each ship was to bear as many passengers as it could carry. They left in droves. Those who could not leave or who got left behind fled to the center, hoping the horrors would end before it reached them. They threw up great shields of magic to try to protect the land, but they were of no use. None survived, who stayed on the continent. The sky filled with airships, as many now as there were chunks of land falling away. Some were hit by falling pieces of land, some were surrounded by so much debris they could not navigate in the great dust storms which were birthed from the crashings of the pieces of the continent.
The most unlucky were those who found themselves underneath the continent. They looked up and above them saw only the dark underside of their once home. It was with horror that the bosun on the Emerald Star realized it was sinking and his ship was trapped. Entries from his journal, found in an airship ruin in the windswept wastes, describe the fear. “It broke in half before my eyes. I realized it was falling, not just the outer edges but all of it. It was moving closer and there was nothing we could do. I thought we were done for, no escape no hope. I would never see my home again. My home would never be. Then I looked up and saw it break. The strain must have cracked it. Without the outer edges it must have had too much pressure on the inside. It broke, right down the center. Each side fell and broke away. The center just crumbled and was blown away by the winds. A huge dust storm immediately created in the wake, then I couldn’t see. To my left and right the huge chucks of the land were falling. It split and our ship was directly in the center, surrounded by dust and the halves of the continent to each side of us.”
A good deal of the Animalia escaped to the west. Much of the dust and the larger piece of the continent drifted north. It crashed just beyond the mountain range and caused a great upheaval in the lands. The shockwave threw dust high into the air and engulfed all of northeastern Pero. Farther south the smaller piece of the continent continued breaking into smaller and smaller pieces. The smallest was the size of Belcraft the city. They crashed into the ground and created jagged pillars and mountains, spires of torment and valleys of death. Where they tore through the crust of the earth fire erupted and where the largest part landed a huge pile of dust, fume and fire arose. The great volcano burned and exhaled and this land became known as the Burning Lands.
To this day these lands have never healed. The northern most area was further tortured by the battle between Elos and Maingth. It is known as the Windswept Wastes for nothing grows here and nothing lives. Farther south are the Burning Lands which are alight and on fire from the piercing of the earth. The great once home of the Animalia fell, and with it their safety from the GodWars. It scarred the land, and destroyed that which it touched. Though none know why, nor exactly when it occurred, none can deny being affected by its torturous fall.
