//------------------------------//
// Beginning - Lexarius 
// Story: The Void Rift Crisis 
// by Visiden Visidane 
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	I was in Bytos when the crisis began. I remember it well; I was with Conlis Corde in the Lightning Forge, discussing his plans for the next crown with the Fifteenth Cycle drawing to a close. It's an odd conversation to look back on now, because we were talking about the wind crown he was still designing for Turbo Pinnae, not the sun crown that floats above our King's brow at the present. He was talking about how time-consuming it was to create storm-forged silver, if Pinnae was the sort to like extravagant spirals that mimic tornadoes, and how annoying it was that the shipment of clearest diamonds available from the Singing Mines was late. I wonder if he still has those plans stored somewhere, or if the memory attached to them proved too painful.

I remember standing next to him, gaping at the eerie sight of a spire of metal and stone rising past the cloud cover of the Silent Storm Peaks. Him bellowing for an apprentice while I still stood there dumbfounded.

Have you been to the Lightning Forge, young one? No? But I see that all too familiar glimmer in your eyes. Every young alicorn dreams of being summoned there by Conlis Corde, to be presented weapons and armor by the First Cycle's greatest smith. It is a lonesome fortress, atop the highest of the Silent Storm Peaks, and shrouded by a perpetual, thunder-less, lightning storm of utter brilliance and violence. When one speaks of Herd-forged weapons, it is that image that springs to mind.

The Lightning Forge is not among the places you would imagine being vulnerable should we be actually invaded. Still, with that alien spire rising in the distance, we all felt vulnerable.

Being so high up in Lightning Forge allowed us quite the vantage point as the planar shadows dispersed all across Bytos. It offered some degree of safety as well, for which I will always be grateful. The planar shadows had a tendency to descend, thus affording me, Conlis, and his apprentices some time to prepare. 

Now, Bytos is no planar city, but it has no shortage of residents. Soon, we had alicorns flying in to regroup, confident that the bolts would not strike them. The pursuing planar shadows were not afforded that same courtesy, but they came at such great numbers and persistence that not even a perpetual electrical storm of titanic proportions could hold them back. They swarmed as clouds even darker than any storm's, and it was clear that high concentration of living beings was drawing them.

Faced with an increasing number of stories about what was happening throughout the rest of the Herd, and with planar shadows approaching the Lightning Forge, Conlis was forced to open up his armory to the available defenders. You may see this as a good idea, and it was in some ways. We were in danger of losing the Lightning Forge, and thus one of the Herd's best sources of armaments. The loss of already crafted tools would have been bad enough, but far worse would have been to lose the forge itself. It is the living heart of the primal storm elemental living among us, an irreplaceable friend to the Herd since the First Cycle. Its destruction would have snuffed out the Silent Storm Peaks' namesake forever, and taken from us an ancient ally.

For these reasons, Conlis thought it best to take the risk of unleashing his mightiest creations to defend the Herd, but understand that there is a reason why so few alicorns are summoned to the Lightning Forge normally. It takes Conlis time to evaluate the potential match between warrior and gear. He has to consider temperament, balance, skill, and physical ability. If these are not in harmony, his masterpiece will likely be as harmful to the wielder as to any enemy. Assigning them simply the nearest warriors available must have been a nightmare.

It is true that the Lightning Forge was spared the destruction that wracked Bytos, which includes the caving in of several mountain ranges, but a brief reading into the Void Rift Crisis' records will show you that Bytos suffered a lot of untimely diminishings. 

Many of those were not from being overwhelmed by planar shadows. I could only watch as some of our warriors fell to errant strikes from unfamiliar weapons and overzealous swings. Many of the defenders that found themselves in Bytos during the crisis were young warriors, not even an Ida tournament or two in them, all too dazzled by the prospect of wielding a masterpiece outside Ida. Tragic that such a chance cost them their first diminishing. 

And the tragedy was not limited to alicorns. Many of Conlis' masterpieces were destroyed, some in incredible explosions that wracked the mountains. I tell you, he spent the entire battle for Bytos weeping. The Lightning Forge at the present now has a great deal of space in its armory. For the first time since the First Cycle, Conlis Corde might diminish with fewer works than what he began with.

I was grievously injured myself because of these accidents. Tellus Ped lost control of his weapon in the middle of his charge, and crushed one of my wings with a panicked swing of that warhammer; a stark reminder that valor must always be tempered with knowledge. I would chastise Tellus for his folly, but I will likely encounter him during the Eighteenth Cycle, if I haven't diminished by then.

As if the chaos from Conlis' weapons wasn't enough, we faced two dilemmas: while the peaks of Bytos were to our advantage, the deep valleys and cavern complexes swarmed with the enemy. There are stories that there are still planar shadows lurking the depths of Bytos. Rubbish, of course, but born of the very real fear of having to fight your way out of those caves.

Conlis' best works were also not enough to shatter the shields around the spire; proving that the greatest of his creations cannot make up for innate strength.