Template:Rise of the Floodborn Storyline
The Flood Unleashed
The Great Illuminary is humming with activity. After an age of empty hallways-except for the occasional magic broom, of course-clusters of Illumineers hurry from room to room once more. New arrivals stare around in wonder, both at the marvels of the Illuminary and at the character glimmers passing by.
Shanzay, a new Illumineer, stands before an open lorebook. Her imagination has been burning steadily since she arrived, and she has an idea for a new glimmer. But as she grips her inkcaster, the floor beneath her rumbles and shakes.
Something isn't right. She sprints out from her inkcasting station and down the arched hallway. Just as she rounds a bend, she hears a loud CRASH. An Illumineer she doesn't know stumbles from a doorway. Reaching him, Shanzay glimpses the ruins of a shattered ink column beyond and magic ink spilling across the floor. The shaken Illumineer waves off her concern as more rumbles and cries pull her onward.
Just ahead, a brass-railed platform overlooks the crown jewel of the Illuminary: the Hall of Lorcana. Below, Shanzay sees an Illumineer beckon others over to a large shining sphere containing a red spellbook. Soon the group surrounds it, quickly diving into an animated discussion.
Then the wave comes.
With a thunderous crash, a mass of all six inks floods into the room from somewhere beneath her. It collides with the low, free-standing displays that hold faintly glowing items of lore-everything from magic mirrors to enchanted armor-and they tumble into the rising tide. When it slams into the spellbook sphere, the wave knocks the book loose and carries it away, leaving the admiring Illumineers struggling to regain their footing in the ink.
Shanzay spots a spiral staircase and rushes down it to help the Illumineers. Another wave of mixed ink surges into the room, and she gasps as she spies a pair of glimmers climbing atop a large bench.
When the wave sprays them, both the Cogsworth glimmer and the Belle glimmer are obscured by brief swirls of light. One fades to reveal the small walking clock aged at least a hundred years, with silver glinting on his newly serene face. The other light shimmers out, and a transformed Belle appears poised for adventure. She wears a green cloak and black breeches, with a bow slung over her shoulder and roses in her quiver. She looks down at herself and laughs in delight as Cogsworth admires his new walking stick.
Startled, Shanzay blinks in bewilderment. She's never seen anything like this. What does it mean?
She looks around for the Illumineers and sees that they've pulled themselves up onto a pedestal holding a brightly glowing gem. They're safe ... for now. Mixed ink is still spilling through the cavernous room, carrying away pieces of lore. Shanzay frowns, narrowing her eyes at a sudden thought.
Where is it all going?
She climbs over the railing to drop onto a nearby bookshelf, then leaps from bookshelf to pedestal to bookshelf, following the flowing ink until she spots a terrace that looks out from the Great Illuminary. When she finally reaches it, her friends Martin and Venturo seem to have just arrived themselves. Martin shakes his head at her in shared disbelief, while Venturo catches his breath. Once at the railing, she can only stare at the unceasing flood of mixed ink and lore that cascades from the Great Illuminary down to the Inklands far below. The damage to the Hall of Lorcana is just the beginning.
Hearing something behind her, Shanzay turns to see a group of transformed glimmers approaching, still sparkling from the flood of mixed ink and talking over each other in excitement. She recognizes them, but like Belle and Cogsworth, they've been changed into something new.
Shanzay's mind races. Did this unpredictable mixed ink affect any of the glimmers she herself cast? Did the flood carry any away? Were other Illumineers in trouble somewhere? And what could unleash such chaos and destruction?
Enough questions. Shanzay turns to her friends."We've got to figure out what happened," she says."You coming?"
The air of excitement within the Great Illuminary now carries an occasional chuckle or low, rumbling laugh as more and more transformed "floodborn" glimmers appear. Thanks to the constantly flowing ink, their numbers steadily rise.
As rumors of an escaped threat spread, apprehension shades the halls of the Illuminary and the Illumineers act with greater caution. If this seismic event was intentional, whoever-or whatever-caused it could be hiding anywhere.
One thing is certain: a massive shift has occurred- a shift Lorcana will feel for a very long time.