Throne of Ashes (Fire And Blood Saga I)

Prologue: Myths and Legends

I'm not a native English speaker, so please forgive any errors I may have committed.

Also, Dear readers, I invite you to dive into this thrilling and ambitious tale, which is just starting to take shape. I appreciate in advance any comments, opinions, or feedback you may offer, as they assist and inspire me to grow

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Darkness, that was all that existed at the beginning.

A palpable darkness that surrounded the world, covering it like fog covers the valleys, enveloping everything in an impenetrable cloak full of terrors.

Under the shelter of its shadows, horrors lurked, destined to manipulate, hiding beings whose corruption seeped into the minds of mortals, spreading seeds of fear and ambition in their hearts, yearning to lead humans to a sea of despair and ruin.

Darkness was the only known horizon, a dense and oppressive cloak that seemed to have no end, but soon, like a glimmer of hope, mortals would discover the existence of a light beyond the limits of the world.

Beyond the confines of the mortal realm, inaccessible to the fleeting souls that inhabited the earth, stood a kingdom where darkness was unknown, a place where beings of divine essence had found their home, and with their arrival, light and darkness became entwined in a bloody dance that lasted for centuries under the ignorant gaze of mortals, whose lives were mere fleeting blinks for the immortal forces that clashed in duel.

[...]

At present, we will focus our attention on the Kingdom of Laurentia, home to the young Prince Cassel. Laurentia was just one of the eight Kingdoms that stood in the mortal realm, centuries after the end of the Great War.

At first glance, it seemed like an unremarkable Kingdom, as it was not the home of a magical land like Aetherea, nor the place where Deities had descended like Stonehaven or Solare, where the Gods had first set foot on mortal soil.

Nor was it the home of prolonged struggles like the conflict-ridden kingdoms of Eldore and Aetherea.

Of the eight kingdoms, Laurentia was perhaps the most peaceful, its harmony prevailing since its foundation.

Laurentia was, simply, an ordinary kingdom, but the destiny of Laurentia was written in the stars, and a time would come when peace would be a distant memory.

And fire and blood would forge a new future.

[...]

Thousands of years ago, many lives before the birth of young Casel, a cataclysm that would be known as the Great War, changing the fate of the mortal realm and marking the beginning of a new era: magic.

The earth would nourish itself with vestiges of power, sowing echoes of their light and darkness in a balance propitious. And so, thanks to the powerful light that covered the earth, the demons were stripped of their ancient dominion and were exiled to a lugubrious and desolate wasteland which mortals called the hell.

And the gods, on the other hand, beings of divine essence, ascended to the sky in a spectacle of dancing lights, leaving behind a world irreparably changed.

Far from the watchful eye of the Gods and the oppression of the shadows that once covered the world, time slid like a winding river, and soon years and decades accumulated like dry leaves in autumn, memories became tales transmitted around the fire, and myths and legends were born under the shelter of kingdoms and settlements that rose and fell in an eternal cycle.

And so, centuries had passed since the gods walked among mortals.

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Once again, English is not my native language, but I was eager to bring you this story that I have lovingly begun to craft, and share this universe with more readers. I hope you can give it a chance, and that it receives a warm welcome.

With love and appreciation,

M. Laurence.