The Binding

**The Binding** refers to an event in the Afterworlds that encompasses the years of 1933–1948.

## History

The Afterworlds were initially untethered from Earth and human affairs. There were Timekeepers in both the Celestial and Infernal Realms who documented human history. They could see the entirety of human history up until 1948. Events surrounding 1933 were blurry. This, however, was brushed off as Entities having a limit like any other creation. It wasn’t until time began warping and syncing with Earth that Entities began realizing something was wrong.

At first, it was believed that the Binding was a temporary phenomenon that would pass. Timekeepers could still see past the 1930s, but the happenings were out of focus. As time passed on Earth, things in the Afterworlds grew worse. By 1945, Timekeepers were nearly blind. Things got worse in 1947 until the Afterworlds were officially bound to Earth in 1948.

During the beginning of the Binding, unexplainable things began taking place such as Jewish Entities in Afterworlder Europe coming down with strange sicknesses that eventually killed them and Palestinian Entities dying because of oddly-behaving magic. The sicknesses were eventually traced to the Holocaust, and the malfunctioning magic was traced to happenings within Earth’s Mandatory Palestine. While the sicknesses ended with the Holocaust, the magic only got worse with time until it went completely rogue.

## Causes

{quote}

The Binding encompasses two human events: the Holocaust and the Nakba.

All Entities were well aware that Earth and human affairs did not affect them. Humans were known for being violent and Entities knew that one way or another, humans would always find a way to kill, hurt, and maim each other. However, all that violence didn’t—and couldn’t—generate enough black magic to actually leave a mark on the Afterworlds.

This all changed at the Holocaust. Never before had humans committed such a uniquely horrific genocide on such a brutal scale. Matters were only made worse when, two–three years later, Zionist Jews stormed into what was then Palestine and destroyed most of it to create Earthen Israel. The back-to-back violence generated enough black magic to completely bind the Afterworlds to Earth.

## Aftermath

Millions of Entities—both Infernal and Celestial—were either killed or permanently displaced during and after the Binding.

Afterworlder Palestine became a desolate and unlivable place. The Entities that *did* stay are at constant risk of dying whenever the situation on Earth flares up, which it inevitably always does. They are mostly concentrated in the Afterworlder equivalent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with small pockets all over the rest of the land.

Most Palestinian Celestials—both Jewish and not—also gained the ability to control darker elements. Most Palestinian Entities were forced to change their names because it was a marker of their identities and would make it easier for them to summon the dark elements, which Celestial leaders wanted to avoid. However, this is a futile goal. This extra talent especially affected Palestinian angels.

For Celestial Palestinians, especially angels, a majority the light that hangs to their features detached from them. This is because the rogue magic attached to them they way their light once did, which is a main cause of why they can summon dark elements. They now share most of the dark features of their Earthen counterparts such as dark hair and eyes. Celestial Palestinians are the only known Celestials to have dark features both in and out of the Celestial Realms.

In Infernal Palestine, the situation is much worse because they’re closer to Earth than other Realms but also just because they’re Infernal. It isn’t too much of a difference from Celestial Palestine, but it’s a noticeable one. Jewish Entities are generally a bit safer in Infernal Palestine. Not by much, but enough nevertheless.

The following Arab-Israeli Wars on Earth served to worsen the Afterworlder Middle East & North Africa region. The rogue magic in Afterworlder Palestine temporarily spread to portions of Afterworlder Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. However, although the magic eventually receded due to human and Entity efforts, it stayed in Syria from events on Earth. Residue has also stuck to Afterworlder Egypt and Lebanon.

Many Palestinian Entities report feeling immense pain during flare-ups on Earth. While the flare-ups are random and unpredictable, there are four times in a year in which *all* Entities can forecast any episodes Palestinians will go through: Ramadan, Easter, Yom Kippur, and Christmas, although Ramadan has proven itself to be much worse. During these times, survivors of the Binding report higher amounts of pain with almost no relief. These episodes of pain reside after the holidays end.

## Statistics

53.6 million total Entities died in the Binding as a whole.

About 48 million Jewish Entities died during the Holocaust portion of the Binding, across all eight Afterworld Realms.

About 5.6 million Palestinian Entities died during the Nakba portion of the Binding, across all eight Afterworld Realms.

4.46 million Jewish-Palestinian Entities were displaced during the Nakba portion of the Binding.

9.79 million non-Jewish Palestinian Entities were displaced during the Nakba portion of the Binding.

Only 4.9 million Palestinian Entities—both Jewish and not—still reside in Afterworlder Palestine. This makes about 615,375 Palestinian Entities in each Afterworld Realm of Palestine.

## Timeline

January 30th, 1933: The Holocaust begins.

June 1934: Jewish Entities in Afterworlder Europe begin reporting strange sicknesses. The symptoms included coughing blood, incapacitating fatigue, nausea, fever, shortness of breath, and eventually, death. In some cases, there were unexpected magical scars that oozed blood until the Entity bled out. The extreme symptoms take a good long while to reveal themselves, so the spread is slow at first. However, these symptoms go unexplained. Healers cannot identify the what is causing the illness.

August 1934: The first Jewish Entity dies of the unexplained illness that comes to be called the Scorching Fever. It is declared not contagious, but it is totally random. No one has yet figured out why it only affects Jewish European Entities.

October 1934: Timekeepers connect Scorching Fever to the Holocaust unfolding on Earth as cases rise and symptoms become extreme.

November 9th–10th, 1938: *Kristallnacht*. Jewish homes and businesses across Afterworlder Europe begin to collapse and fall into ruin. Timekeepers and other Entities attempt to stop the destruction, but they are unsuccessful. Reports of Scorching Fever skyrocket.

May 8th, 1945: The Holocaust on Earth ends. Cases of Scorching Fever come to a halt. Reports of Jewish Entities healing and recovering from the Fever come flooding in. However, the Afterworlds are still syncing to Earth. This phenomenon goes unexplained by Timekeepers, though they assume Earth just needs to recover before the Afterworlds can move on.

July 1946: Palestinian Entities begin reporting sudden deaths and illnesses attributed to strangely-behaving magic. This occurrence goes unexplained and unnamed.

December 1947: The Nakba begins. Timekeepers are now able to connect what’s happening in Afterworlder Palestine to Earth. At the same time, 1,670 Palestinian homes across the Afterworlds are destroyed by rogue magic.

1948: More Palestinian homes are destroyed across the Afterworlds as more Palestinian Entities either die or flee into surrounding countries. Emergency relief camps are set up in Afterworlder Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia as well as in the rare few areas within Palestine that aren’t affected. Timekeepers and Realm leaders declare a state of emergency as the Afterworlds officially and permanently bind to Earth.

January 1st, 1949: All Entities present during the Binding are assigned a new official birthday—the first day of 1949. The age-measuring system is updated to fit the Binding, meaning all Entities present are declared newborn. The necessary Entity organizations move to reflect these changes in personal files. Though all Binding-era Entities have the same birthday, almost all still remember their original birthdays and choose to celebrate the original. January 1st is usually regarded as Recovery Day, when Entities all over the Afterworlds remember the horrors experienced during and after the Binding as well as start of a new era.

Rest of January 1949: Palestinian Entities are evacuated from the emergency relief camps in Palestine. As soon as they’re gone, the camps fall into ruin. Entity authorities are unable to evacuate those outside of the camps, and most are consumed by black magic.

February 17th, 1949: Leaders across the Realms hold a meeting to create a plan to find new homes for Palestinian Entities in the relief camps.

March 4th–April 26th, 1949: The plan is enacted. More and more Palestinians relocate across the Afterworlds until finally, the camps are empty. All of the relocated are given free homes to make up for the ones they lost.

April 30th–June 29th, 1949: The relief camps are taken down. Palestinians who were reported missing are now declared dead. Survivors are financially compensated and offered free counseling—physical and mental—if they ever want or need it.

June–July 1950: Palestinian Celestials report being able to summon dark elements. Celestial leaders immediately shut this down by forcing Palestinian Celestials to change their names as an attempt to shut it down. It does not get rid of their new abilities, but they are forbidden from summoning. Celestial leaders assumed these gifts will not be passed on to Palestinian children if one parent was not Palestinian or Jewish. However, they were wrong. They covered this information up from the general public by claiming all Palestinian Celestials are in danger of being consumed by rogue magic, though Palestinian Celestials knew the truth.

September–December 1950: Leaders across the Afterworlds lift the state of emergency with approval from Timekeepers. This, however, does not stop what’s happening on Earth. Entities are aware of this and, when they can, authorities carry out rescues in Afterworlder Palestine. When the rare Palestinian Entity manages to escape, they are treated with the utmost care.

1967–1973: The Blackout. Various new wars in the region cause a flare within the Afterworlds, plunging it into a crisis. Black magic had expanded and encompassed parts of Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. The whole of Palestine was also encompassed whereas before, there were pockets of surviving land. A joint effort between multiple species of Entities—as well human fighting on Earth—eventually brought the Blackout to an end, but not before the expanded magic took the lives of thousands.

October 7th, 2023: A human resistance group residing in Gaza strikes back against the ongoing oppression on Earth, which triggers a horrific response from the human Israelis. This is the mark of what becomes the Gazawi Genocide or Second Nakba. The routine deaths of Palestinian Entities skyrockets, especially in the pocket of habitability in Gaza. The already strained Afterworlds come to a halt before completely falling apart.

Rest of 2023–January 2024: Rushed evacuation procedures quickly fall apart as the situation rapidly deteriorates. Emergency camps are haphazardly put up, but eventually, Gaza is almost completely closed off due to Israelis on Earth blocking off Egypt’s Rafah Crossing. At the same time, the West Bank and Lebanon are partially engulfed in darkness. Atrocities for which words cannot describe adequately only continue, day after day, fueled by Earth’s western colonizers fueling the genocide.

## Known victims of the Binding

* Alia †
* Awad Hamdan Mansour †
* Evangeline “Evan” Reaux (product of)
* Gabriel “Gabe” Reaux (product of)
* Marwa †
* Zainab “Amelia” Reaux