A trio of seemingly young women sat around a fire at the foot of an incredibly ancient and truly gigantic tree. Their eyes were hidden from the world due to the linen wraps they had, long ago, willingly wrapped around them, blinding themselves to the world and in return gaining greater senses linked to more esoteric things than the physical world. The fire was, like the women, and the tree behind them, incredibly long-lived. 

The women sat in silence, communing with the lord and creator of their home, a mysterious entity who supposedly lived atop the gargantuan tree behind them. The only sound that could be heard at the foot of the tree was the soft crackle of the fire that warmed the three druids. 

The ancient and potent magic that coursed through the three druids filled them with a specific form of immortality, one that bound them to the will of the mysterious entity who had commanded them to sit by the three and commune with the very tiny dimension their master had commanded them to safeguard. 

On the day that Nathan learned of the eventual return of the supernatural and of the restoration of the planet's magic, the world that the coven had existed within suddenly went dark. The arcane dimension, made by an ancient act of potent mysticism and seemingly granted eternal light and a still sun, was suddenly shrouded in an artificial and yet still frightening darkness. 

"Darkness so intense that even we can see it... Sisters, your thoughts?" One of the immortals uttered, curiously. She sat between the tree and the fire, safeguarding the tree from the effects of the flame. 

"It seems that at last magic may return to the ancient world. Should we ready ourselves to return?" Another stated, a smile softening her features as she spoke. She was dressed in the robes of an ancient, long-forgotten civilization, her clothes never decaying over time due to the ancient magic that granted her her family's specific form of immortality. 

"I believe that we should. I suspect that in the days to come we will be reunited. Both with the primordial one and with the world of our birth." The third member of the coven whispered, her voice unbelievably ancient even compared to those of her sisters. Unlike with the members of her coven, the witch's voice revealed how truly ancient she was, her accent harkening back to the very beginning of mankind's existence, her accent belonging to the very first human civilization to ever exist. 

"Isothein... How I've missed it." The first speaker, the druidess, uttered, referring to Earth by the name her ancient civilization gave to the world. 

"To think that the day would indeed come when we could see an end to our exile..." Another of the speakers whispered, reverentially. 

"The primordial one will be pleased." The last and the youngest member of the coven whispered, having served her master faithfully her whole life. Her sisters turned to face her, utilizing some of the magic flowing through their veins, freeing them of physical needs, to mask the sound, while they gazed at her, judgmentally. 

Far above them, at the apex of the crown of the tree that was the signature feature of their mysterious home, an ancient being stirred for the first time in hundreds of eons. In the depths of its palace, itself situated at the highest point of the impossibly large tree, sat a throne.

Atop that throne sat a lone figure, one that was seemingly a desiccated corpse, whose eyes finally moved for the first time since humans were but the newest lifeform to form civilizations and societies of their own. And then the corpse-like entity began to laugh, the sound resonating throughout the ancient palace, a building older than any existing human civilization.

In but another of the ancient dimensions created to allow magical beings fleeing Earth to do so, a group of potent beings prostrated themselves before an empty throne seemingly made of diamonds. Their heads were on the floor, and the only sounds they made were of muttered prayer. 

The "floor" underneath them appeared to be nothing but an empty, cloudless sky, despite it being as solid as any sort of stone floor on Earth would have been. They themselves wore golden robes made from the psychic energies generated by prayer. Each of them had six glorious wings and their combined prayers had the same volume and intensity as a skilled orchestra. 

Behind them, one could see a heavenly city where even the lowliest buildings were made of gold and other precious metals that humanity had long assigned value to, and distantly see angelic beings floating to and from various places throughout the city. And despite all of the glories of this strange dimension, the throne remained empty.

By the time that school ended again, on the first full day that I was aware of my true nature, I was growing increasingly aware of a subtle... change to the world around me. There was something new in the air, something that I hadn't noticed before today, that I had to chalk up to the gradual return of the supernatural to the world. 

The air around me felt fuller somehow as if it had always been missing something that was returning to it. I felt more energetic for having breathed it in, and throughout the day I was consciously aware of the fact that the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and had never stopped standing up. I wasn't sure how, this wasn't the product of any power I possessed, but I knew that something was going to occur today. Something significant. 

At the moment that I was freed from the confines of the school and found myself standing just outside of the academy grounds, invisible to everyone who was close enough to see me, I closed my eyes and relaxed. I knew that I had the freedom to pursue my own ends, and so I didn't need to rush somewhere and make mistakes. 

"I wonder if there is a way for me to be able to detect magic and other magic users..." I questioned, even as I stood at the foot of the hill that would have led me to the school, had I wanted to climb it. I was slowly but surely making my way down the hill and towards the rest of the city. It was while I was doing that that the system began to converse with me. 

"There is! There are abilities you can purchase, in exchange for attribute points, that will grant you limited sorts of arcanescience, the ability to know greater things about the arcane, as well as the power to detect magic within magic users and even to detect successful casting of spells or the activation of magical energy." The system revealed, before my mind's eye filled with a strange textbox detailing a power known as "Minor arcanescience" which cost just as much as the first physiology abilities I had access to. 

"Other magic users, at least ones at your level of innate power, tend to have this ability as well, though their methods of acquiring it differ from yours. They have to invest considerably more time and energy than you do to gain these abilities, but in turn, you have to permanently invest points to gain these powers and thus though you can acquire skills without the knowledge they have your investment is different from theirs." The voice revealed, making me think of scholars in ancient libraries studying otherworldly materials. 

As I listened to the voice I continued to draw in points and power from corpses buried beneath my feet throughout the city. As I felt their power surging into me I felt my senses gradually expanding and allowing me to draw in more energy and power from the corpses beneath me. I steadily drew power out of corpses, be they human, animal, or in some cases, other things, with ease. Animals lost points the fastest, but there were also more of them than there were human or other sorts of corpses. Humans tended to have the most points left, but were also the hardest things to draw power out of. 

The rare corpses of other lifeforms, things that weren't human or animal but could only be described as monstrous corpses, were the most powerful. I had only gained the power to feed on them, or even an awareness that they existed in the first place, while going about my school day, but in feeding on them I felt my own power increasing further.

Beneath me, I could sense the long-dead, fading presences of ancient corpses. As I grew more and more accustomed to my strange practice of feeding on the dead, like some sort of beast who fed on carrion, I began to slowly but surely gain the ability to recognize what I fed on, even remotely. This also occurred as my stats steadily grew, both a natural result of my powers coming more easily to me and thus growing with use, and my attributes increasing in potency.

Some of those corpses belonged to non-human and non-animal entities, such as the corpses of strange beings who themselves felt like they were made of stone and soil, perhaps some sort of elementals or spirits of the mountainous region where Tegucigalpa was located. As I fed on their power I sensed my own might increasing, particularly with regards to my toughness and my strength. At the same time, I felt their corpses melt away into nothingness, coming apart as I added their might to my own. 

"How... potent." I whispered, as I gazed at my hands and felt a smile creep across my face. I also didn't mind that I was depriving someone else of a handy tool in the form of undead created by these strange beings if such things could even be made into some types of undead in the first place. 

At the same time, while my senses were expanding further and further and my points were steadily climbing up, I heard the distant sound of a roaring gust of hurricane-force wind be exhaled from what should have been the depths of a mine not far from Tegucigalpa. A split second later I turned my head in the direction of the mine right to feel the mine itself be shut off from the rest of the world, as if it were suddenly closed in a sort of supernatural, nearly absolute way. 

I immediately began to levitate, willing myself upwards even as I twisted my body in the direction of the mine. I rose higher and higher into the air, and began to move in the direction of the mine, my eyes scanning the area near it and in its direction, as I attempted to get a sense of what was going on that the mine was suddenly shut off from the rest of the world. 

In the skies above Tegucigalpa, I was able to see much and see far. As I studied the area beyond the city I noticed all of the trees bending and tilting in such a way that they pointed away from the mine, and towards the city itself. It was as if something in the mine were blowing them away from itself. 

When I was high in the sky I nervously twisted my body and I began to dash towards the mine, sensing that something inexplicable was occurring. It was when I was just a few kilometers away from the mine that I got to see a real display of magic for the first time.

Ahead of me, just outside of the entrance to the distant mine, a shimmering doorway made of gold appeared and covered the entrance to the long-abandoned mine. The thing glittered and gleamed in the distance for a few moments before it opened and the first of three women stepped through it before her peers also stepped out of whatever place they had just been in and stepped onto the solid stone of the walkway into the once-prosperous mine. 

All three of the women, each of which was dressed in what I had to assume were traditional clothes for whatever culture and era they were from, turned their heads towards me and their eyes began to glow a sickly shade of brownish-red. As I neared them, and the mine, they each rose one of their hands in unison and I gritted my teeth, while making a silent move of my own.