Kingdoms Fall

Chapter 1: "So they say..."

POV: Zokoso Aragami

Once, life in all parts of Kishi was full of peace, joy, and laughter. In those days, people cared more for people like me, the ones who had no home or family. People who barely knew where they came from themselves. Now, life for most common folk has changed dramatically and has become unbearable for some. For me, it's mostly the same, except for when I walk around Kishi, visiting its many vast cities and villages. The redness in the eyes of the little children and their parents, the loss of smiling faces in the local markets—I know the Vesh Empire is responsible for it all. They first started taking over Kishi when I was 5 years old, and I was staying with an old man who'd given me my name, Zokoso Aragami. I see it as my one and only true name. In the first year of the Vesh empire's control and the first year of the old man raising me, he'd found out about my abilities; I couldn't feel pain, and any wound inflicted on me would heal within a few seconds. The old man, whose true name is Gorego Aragami, said I was a warrior spirit sent by God's inhuman form to stop oppression of any kind. He called me "I'tioshon." He said it meant "Warrior of No Womb," meaning I wasn't born; I was simply made. I believed it when I was young and still do, because I don't know my parents or where I was born. The only reason I know my birthday is because it's been tattooed on my left wrist since my earliest memory, but none of those memories include parents or birthdays. I had my first birthday party at 6 years old with the old man and his son, who I haven't seen since his father, who was like a father to me, died a year ago. Unlike me who tried to stay unseen for the most part, Benji, the closest thing I had to a brother, he was well known in Rimson City, he was seen as a prince because of the old man's ancestry, Gorego was the son of The Great King Oridon, who once rules all of Kishi with humility from within the small heart of Rimson, he put much into what would make the way of life for his people easier, but even more into military preparation, his son Gorego was the opposite he barely even spoke about swords or fighting, unless he was training me and Benji, now that I think back, I can say he trained us more than any military force, and he put any of his other time into helping the people in which he ruled over, he wanted peace, not war. But the Vesh wanted war and control, not peace.