A/N: Whoever is reviewing under the name "Michael Jackson" then I have two things to say to you. First, screw you. Second, get a life. You're not impressing anyone writing that kind of crap.

VICE

Prologue: Another World

It is no mistake that you have stumbled upon this world. This world of Uniterra, where magic blends seamlessly with technology. Where magic, if not exactly commonplace, is certainly not unusual. Where angels and demons flit through the cracks between the realms, where humans build cities and live their lives.

It is a place of betrayal as well, where one became two, where corruption forced apart one of the most respected societies. It is still respected, though not for the same reasons. One rose above all, ruling Uniterra, and another was shunted to the side, faith forgotten by most, even by those who held it highest.

A place of innovation, where people not born with the blessed arcane arts can still use them, though they cost money, like everything else in most worlds. Spheres of crystal, formed from the energy of magic, mana. To be able to send waves of fire at your foes, control lightnings, heal the most grievous of wounds, and summon up creatures from Heaven or Hell, all from the little balls that people trade discs of silver and gold for.

Yet it is a place being killed by its own inhabitants, its life sucked away to make the little magic balls and the small glass bulbs from which come light. Sucked away for cars and for trains and airships, and if enough could be drawn, probably spaceships as well.

It is a world that has lost its faith, a world that cares more for its wealth than its survival. A world slowly dying, a world in the hands of one decreed from birth to continue the destruction.

Fortuna of orbis terrarum, in manus of suboles of suus pessum ire. Ego sileo suus Fortuna in manuum superum.