We were given a visitation, then. The Draic-Kin, having lived among us for untold generations, rose to offer their guidance and assistance in preserving the Balance on our world.
Unless something was done, unless man was humbled and learned to fear the power he wrought over Cosmos, the twilight of Chaos would fall upon Earth.
It had happened before, in distant times and on distant worlds, and it would happen again. And every man, woman and child of every people and every race would be devoured by the coming apocalypse.
One world was to become two, separated by the Balance, and each world visible to the other only by way of dreams. Who was ushered into which world was not an arbitrary choice, nor one taken lightly.
For the magical creatures, the choice was simple. They had to go to Arcadia. Their kind would not survive in Stark. But for others... Families were torn apart, lovers separated, and friends lost for all eternity.
Encircled by the Twelve, and the One, and the one who would be Guardian, the disc at the base of the tower began to spin, faster and faster as more and more power flowed through it...until it was a blur.
Darkness enveloped the tower, but the disc glowed brighter and brighter. Reality turned. In one moment, a new reality had been created, and two new worlds born.
In the tower, there was silence. The original disc had disappeared, and in its place was a smaller counterpart, a similar, yet different, disc. Around and outside the tower, the world looked different...
They were now between Stark and Arcadia, between reality and dream. This was the Realm of the Balance and of the Guardian, and it would be her home for the next one thousand years.
The one who was Kin picked up the disc and said, "This disc is a counterpart to the original disc, which has now become this realm and the key to which has been split and divided in four...".
"The key is the disc, and the disc is this realm." This mystified the twelve, and the one who was Kin continued, "Know only this: The Guardian's Realm cannot be broken unless the disc is broken..."
"...but nor can it be repaired without the disc being repaired. The four pieces that is the key will be given to the six of you who are to be taken to Arcadia, for safe keeping."
"Yet the key will never be complete," he went on, "without the precious stones that adorn each piece. I will keep one, and my fellow Kin the three others..."
"Should the day come when this realm must be repaired, or the worlds reunited -- and that day will come -- you will assemble the disc and the Kin will come together one last time."
With that, six of the Thirteen went to Arcadia, and six to Stark, and the One who would be Guardian ascended to the throne -- witness the mural -- where her dreams and hopes, her very soul, were locked away in the disc.
In service of the Balance, these traits were nothing but barriers. Through new eyes, the imbalance between the worlds was as clear as the stars themselves to the Guardian, and with one thought...
...she channeled chaos from Arcadia and logic from Stark into the disc, and redistributed the power wherever it was needed. A new era had begun, the era of the Guardian.
