[It pretty much is exaggerating negativity, but considering they're all prisoners here of some kind of uncontrollable cosmic fate, maybe it is worth considering a little. Maybe it is even more sinister than anyone is giving it credit for... though honestly, it was an extreme idea, mostly born out of her utter distaste for the Bonding thing and whatever side-effects that carries.] No one would ever want to practice magic if you knew it would limit your lifespan - and thus what you can learn to practice and utilize - to only a few months. I struggle to think of any madness that would strike someone so deeply.

[And she comes from a place where people regularly either limit their own lifespans out of ignorance, or out of experimentation to see if they can then become something more powerful, and potentially eternal. Or, in the case of Annalise, it succeeding.]

I do not know. I imagine it has been here since whatever they consider "ancient" times, however. The magic here is pervasive enough - some old civilization had to have discovered and utilized it long ago. Perhaps their ways are lost now, or perhaps not, but I did not inquire that deeply.