The
Second Umbral Era came on the heels of the
Second Umbral Calamity, when white-hot levinbolts razed fields, boiled lakes, and split the very walls of mighty fortifications. For a full twelvemoon and a day did nature's fury ring. Fearful that the gods meant to purge the land of mankind once and for all, the people abandoned their homes and towns and fled underground into caves. Awaiting them there, however, was not salvation, but death, for the caves became breeding grounds for pestilence and plague. As the people sat trapped in darkness, watching their families meet slow, painful ends, they concentrated their efforts on the one path left to them—prayer. Theologians believe it is this mixture of desperation and focused prayer that gave way to the very first magical incantations. Now fully aware of the land's boundless anger, mankind turned to the heavens for strength. Through prayer, the people of
Eorzea discovered that hidden deep within words lies magic—magic that, when fueled by faith, can empower.