Day 12: She blinded me with shamanism

Magic-users, concerned that scientific progress could one day overwhelm them, launch a pre-emptive strike across realities.

In the ancient world, magic and rationality co-existed. Magic was the power of unbounded human thought and desire; rationality examined reality and coldly predicted possibilities. Ancient magic-users, worried that their power could be diluted if they were polluted with a sense of limitations imposed by cause-and-effect view of the world, erected a high wall, separating the two realms.

In one, magic ruled supreme. Magic defied expectations, it surpassed classifications. Reality was subjective and tenuous; in the magical world, the limits of what is were define but what one could think. In the other, all shared a common reality; none could defy what the truth of the world was, regardless of flights of fancy.

Over time, those bound in the rational world forgot their magical brethren. Ancient truths were the fodder for stories; eventually, those stories were dismissed as myths. However, the magic-users never forgot the rational world. Their powers enabled them to peer across the veil of worlds; they watched as rational thought developed mathematics and science. Eventually, the magic-users realized that the power of technology may be greater than they ever thought. They witnessed the killing power of guns; they witnessed the locomotive energy of combustion; they witnessed the immediate communication of the Internet.

Alarmed, the magic-users convened. After much deliberation and bickering, they came to one conclusion -- that they must quash the rational world. The leading wizards, witch-doctors and shamans gathered and pooled their power. Their ritual shook the magic-using world, drawing arcane energies and directing powerful, unknowable spirits; after days of chanting and concentration, the barrier tumbled down. Magical power spilled into the rational world.

Now, the two struggle for dominance. The magic-users have the initiative, having launched the attack, but the nations of the rational world have long prepared for invasions and warfare. They may struggle to react to demons and elementals, but they're putting up a stauncher defense than the magic-users expected -- and the fate of reality hangs in the balance.