THE STORY OF MYSTIC ALEISTER OF THE HOLLOW

“When one first starts their journey with magic they don’t often understand the great cost that must be paid for power. As nature demands balance so too does magic, and there is never a way to reverse what has been done.”

There is a burning bright light that shines upon Mystic Aleister of the Hollow, from his very own Star staff, a brightness that gleams in glory, that sets aflame the greens of his robes and the yellowing emerald of his eyes. Eyes that hold eternal wisdom and a world of valuable knowledge. This light is a symbol of his hardships through life and the perils he has endured for his power and goal to save the world.

With him, a trustworthy forest frog companion named Fern, and the bright Star staff from the meteor that destroyed the Empty Forest, he continues to travel, setting his mark with every location he visits, leaving an impactful reminder of who he is despite his mysterious demeanor.

Thousands of years ago, when he was but a child and the forgotten runes had yet to fade slowly from existence, he took a liking to the nature of the world. His love for it grew with every moment he spent learning magic and its ways, how it could be manipulated to his touch, how it could react to his touch. Back then, he had only his hands to use for his powers, but his skill for magic proved to be high, and he could not reach his full potential confined to one forest, so his community in the Empty Forest agreed to let him travel for his studies.

With that he was sent away, trekking scorching deserts, meeting elder wizards who taught him the secrets hidden within the general knowledge of magic, concealed under the folds of what is known, to discover what other wizards refused to reveal. He learned how to conjure spirits and create unbreakable enchantments, but the one thing he had been pursuing that eventually gave him his power was Green Magic… and the dangers of using it. The magic of nature. He learned that nature demanded a balance. Nature always demanded balance.

That was how he was able to provide balance for Green Magic from within himself or from others and learned how to manipulate it for his benefit. However, one enchantment may mean a flower withers and dies, and a curse may mean a day of exhaustion from the energy the magic demanded. He spent years mastering the magic of balance, and soon he started to radiate power that was unmatched by other Green wizards. His name started spreading through all corners of the world and he had become successful in what he had set out to do.

Achieving his passion for nature, he journeyed home, eager to finally see his family once more. He had awaited their proud faces for many years, endured every aching magical discovery so that he would one day hear their cheers for him. But what waited for him there was nothing short of a tragedy. With very few survivors, the Empty Forest, which had once been his home, had been completely destroyed from the explosion of an oncoming meteor.

The people who survived informed him that the meteor had obliterated a large portion of the forest, starting a blazing forest fire that none of the other magic users could extinguish, they were sympathetic for his loss as he wept, his tears salting the ground where a seedling popped through the coarse dirt. A living being and a reminder of his guilt. Had he been there… perhaps he could have saved them or at least died trying. He was told that the meteor still burned bright within the forest somewhere. That the magic of the forest had been sucked into the meteor, feeding the light, making its light eternal. The magic of the forest had always been ancient, it held the power of all the forgotten runes and if that magic had somehow survived the meteor explosion then Aleister was determined to find it. If only to keep the memory of his childhood home close at heart.

He began his journey, through the Empty Forest that had started scarcely trying to rebuild itself but was still barren of all life. All life except for one. While he was travelling the forest, burnt and crisp and dead, he began to realise he was lost. The explosion had destroyed his home to the point of no recognition that when he tried to remember it, he realised there was nothing that could spark his memory. He was contemplating giving up when a quiet croak snapped his head, turning to the sound. A bright green frog, a green that resembled his eyes, stared curiously at him as if to ask What are you doing?

He stared back, struck and in awe that there was still a spark of life left within this dead forest. He inched forward to pick it up, and reluctantly the frog stepped onto his outstretched hand. Aleister had never experienced an appreciation for life the way he did when he met that frog. The way its body rose and fell with every breath, the way it stared, half with wonderment and half with fear.

“Fern,” was the only thing Aleister uttered in that moment. The word said in barely a breath, barely a whisper. The frog hopped off and Aleister felt the need to follow it. Even as every bone in his body ached and screamed for him to travel no more, to give up the search for the meteor. He still continued following the frog. The frog moved fast, hopping from stone to stone to burnt logs until they reached a clearing. https://nftz.forgottenrunes.com/wizards/alt/400-nobg/wizard-3172.pnghttps://nftz.forgottenrunes.com/wizards/alt/400-nobg/wizard-3172.png A space where the trees had been scorched to the bottom of their trunk and a hole in the ground had formed. There was no other location in the forest Aleister had travelled to that was as black and burnt as the hole that had been created from the meteor. His heart cleaved in two at the sight of it. He had never seen a clear definition for Destruction until that moment. The frog croaked, staring at him, as if it had been leading him there the whole time.

Aleister climbed down the hole; a faint glow shone brighter as he neared it. The meteor was practically the shape of a small boulder, how something so small could cause such chaos was unbelievable to Aleister. His hand reached forward to touch it and upon the movement, the meteor blazed as bright as the sun. He had to squeeze his eyes shut so he wouldn’t be blinded by its brightness.

The meteor then gave a deafening crack and revealed a starlike staff, blazing with power. The result of the death of the forest. Aleister realised then, the true balance of nature. What the meteor took from him, the life and the power of the forest all fused into one and settled within the staff. The staff held more power than most wizards could dream of, and it reacted to his touch. Because he was born from the forest, his heritage lay in the forest.

It was as if the staff was made for him. The moment he held that staff, everything changed. His dreams grew and he sought to prevent what had happened in the Empty Forest to other places. With his newfound power and his animal companion, he continued exploring the world, leaving his mark everywhere he went. More and more people started hearing his name, fearing, hating, and loving him. But never finding him. He was never in one place for too long, for the call to adventure never ended and he was always following it. He saved many kingdoms, but also led many to destruction. And he was always searching. Searching for the one quest that would quench the parasite feeding from the guilt within him.

Guilt born from his return to his home forest, from his inability to save those he loved and from his inability to save his home. For years he spent roaming the world hoping to somehow fill the void inside him that was an endless pit of regrets, he was utterly heartbroken. His return home had changed him forever and Aleister was no longer the wizard who had left the Empty Forest, he was no longer the young boy who was full of hopes and dreams.

Mystic Aleister of The Hollow became a name spoken with curiosity, he is regarded by many people as the “Man who disappears but never truly leaves”. A magical enigma who can’t be found but seems to be everywhere. And with every passing day he grows stronger, the magic of his Star staff never ending, he inches further and further into insanity despite his good intentions, as the guilt eats away at him from the inside. He is seemingly forever alone, never staying in one place and never showing his vulnerability to others, he does not trust that he can connect with people, and he is afraid that if he does they will disappear like his home forest. So, he remains a lone wolf by choice, save for the animal companion, Fern.

But he can be trailed, as the first few days after he leaves a location, there is a trace of seedlings that sprout from the ground, many believe that it is like the seedling that was born from his tears the first day he arrived at the Empty Forest when it was destroyed, and that the trace of sprouting seedlings he leaves behind is simply the tears he has wept as he recounts the memory of his loss.

Or that it is simply the traces if magic left as the bright light of his staff shines on the ground, for that measure of magic from the forest could not be trapped in a small staff without spills. Nevertheless, no one will ever know, as he refuses to reveal himself until he decides to, disappearing whenever he is known for too long. He continues bringing the memory of his home wherever he goes, and every time he has completed a quest, defeated a beast, or saved a kingdom he leaves a reminder of his presence in the form of a wild oak tree. Like the one he would laze under in his childhood and wonder about the power of nature. The oak tree would always become fully grown within a week, covered in moss no matter the location and completely immortal and undying. Leaving a piece of the magic from his forest in the oak tree.

It is said that when one waters the oak tree a leaf will fall from a branch and land on the nose of the one who watered it, showing that person their potential future and what dreams they can accomplish, but also shows what you will lose upon following those dreams as Aleister was always a firm believer in the karma of the universe.

“One cannot achieve a dream without a price, there is always a price for everything.” Despite this, he continues to give gifts to the world, giving and giving and refusing to receive. He believes that this will someday make up for what happened in the Empty Forest. That it will somehow silence the voice in his head that continues to haunt him and accuse him of being at fault for what happened in his past. And because of this voice, many people have often looked upon Mystic Aleister of The Hollow and believed him to be insane. As he rambles about the importance of balance within nature and how he must restore it so he can forgive himself.

However, even after years of saving kingdoms, bestowing blessings and destroying evil he has still not forgiven himself; he is in a constant, never ending cycle of grief and self-hatred that despite the balance being restored he does not see it that way. And that is the known story of Mystic Aleister of The Hollow.

Entered by: 0x777A…Deb5 and preserved on chain (see transaction)