Terrain on The Horizon

Flashback of The Lost Kingdom (Prologue)

It was a warm summer day, and all seemed well in Variblale. Queen Calamon stood in Coeff Palace, ready to hold the 280th annual Founding Day banquet, a tradition started in 1011 to honor a year of independence. Her long, purple dress flowed across the floor as she walked to the end of her dining table. There had been lots of new guests in this dining hall, and it was very lively. Everyone was partying, and it was time to serve the Royal Cake.

There were painters set up to capture the moment she blew out the candle. Instead of a joyful reference scene, they saw a horrendous sight. When the butler came to cut the cake, an unknown group of guests came ambushing him. They ran up behind him and stole the knife from his hand, whilst the others worked on blindfolding the other guests. The next second, there was a loud thud as Queen Calamon collapsed on the shiny floor after being stabbed by said knife.

A nearby servant called to the doctor, several rooms away, and she was immediately rushed to the hospital in the palace. She remained in stabilized condition, but the banquet still remained a madhouse. The attackers had held most of the other guests hostage, and the others were dead.

Miraculously, the guests that weren't hostages were able to get help, and the city's guards came to ambush the attackers. The suspects were sent to a nearby dungeon to serve their life sentences, and were all jailed in the same cell because the guards weren't that serious and there were too many prisoners. The queen recovered and local preachers at the churches and town squares started to spread news of this miracle, the attackers made plans while in jail.

The first week out of their life sentences was spent adjusting to life in the dungeon and trying to befriend guards and other people. They had a cup of water and stale bread for breakfast, no lunch, and meat scraps for dinner. They resorted to being quiet in order not to disrupt anyone, but not too quiet because they didn't want anyone to be suspicious of them.

The second week was spent planning their escape and revenge. The prisoners believed that the kingdom was falling. For almost three centuries, the kingdom has survived, but not without problems.

Now, the third week has begun and it was time for the attackers to make their move. Their dungeon cell was located partially underground, as there was a crack near the top of the wall. As the sun began to rise, sunlight poured through the crack. Being dedicated to their plans, and thinking skillfully, the prisoners waited until night came to escape.

While waiting, they surveyed their cell for anything that would be of use. They had made some tools from various rubble scattered across the stone floor. They made a map from a big leaf on the floor, and then got working on their disguises when they knew the sun would set soon. Each of them rubbed various leaves, dirt, mud, stones and other things all over themselves.

Adrenaline rushed through the veins of the escapees as they watched the light from the crack grow dimmer and dimmer until there was nothing left. With the help of a makeshift mallet, one of them broke the weak spot in the wall to create an exit. They had broken it a bit too low, and dirt, mud, and other debris poured into the cell. There was no time, and one of them had forgotten to bring the map, but giving up wasn't an option. They crawled out of the cell and were on the loose.

"Don't you think we're leaving far too early? The sun just set! What if the guards see us?" one of the escapees said.

"I have a candle I lit earlier, and it has melted around an inch. This is the right time to strike, and it's better to be early than late anyway. Don't you want the queen dead, remember?" Another escapee told him, trying to cheer him up. He got back on track and continued to stay down on the ground while crawling.

On the group's way to Coeff Palace, they raided a blacksmith's workplace and took some weapons. They had made it closer and closer to their destination, and a bright light of hope (or was it from the moon?) shone on the crew. The palace wasn't fortified—as castles were the only fortified structures royalty had—so the job wasn't impossible. The suspects crept and crept until they got to the gate. Instead of climbing it, they slid under it. They found a staircase and scurried up the steps.

On the morning of September 12th, 1291, around two and a half weeks since the attackers' arrests, Queen Calamon was found in her hospital room. She had been hung by her bed sheets the previous night, and it was too late to save her. An investigation quickly began, and various officials made their way to the queen's location.

As the door was opened, some explosives were set off. The investigation team had all died in the attack, except for the head investigator, Angeline Nik of the Mosaic Islands, who survived with minor injuries. Wisely, she got out her journal and recorded her observations from the investigation.

She carefully headed back to the gate but was stopped. Out of the blue, the group of attackers had jumped in front of her. Her instincts took charge and she threw her sack of materials out of the window. The attackers had gotten more explosives out, lit the fuses, and threw them at her.

In the little time she had left, she threw them back to the attackers, but it was too late. A series of shock waves radiated through the palace's corridors as the explosives had exploded in the air before they could hit anyone. In the explosion, the head investigator and the attackers were critically injured and died soon after.

Despite her selfless efforts, Nik didn't solve the problem by killing the attackers. Later found out by a group of GeometryLandish historians, the attackers were part of a revolutionist movement known as the Quadratic Order. As the sun rose on September 14th, 1291, a new flag waved on the palace: that of the Quadratic Order. There was no turning back.