THE AWAKENING || Vol.1 From The Saga "Arcanes" written by Sofia Guapo Mendes

CHAPTER XVI - ARCANES

Tatvicc is the ancient Mexico, consisting of only three states. It is a relatively small and sparsely populated country compared to Amluk, but through its unity and team spirit, it manages to make up for its lack of manpower in war. The Ivory Goblet symbolizes exactly this—it is the emblem of unity between the three provinces and their resistance against neighboring kingdoms, which battle for their fertile lands yet never succeed in conquering any of them. As you can probably tell, this "goblet" is truly important to all Tatveccians, and they would do anything to recover it, even if it meant engaging in a bloody war between different peoples.

There was just one problem: no one knew where the "cup" was! There was no way to end the war. Neither the Tatveccians nor the Amluks knew where the "bowl" was hidden, so the only way to stop the war at that moment was to exhaust the human resources of one side. (I hope you understand the meaning of this euphemism.) The Kingdom of Tatvicc began by attacking, by sea, Elux, the smallest (and most unprotected) province of Amluk. Then, they bypassed, still by sea, Zazuc and Portel, landing in the arid lands of Eiva. From there, they traveled through the barren lands devastated by the great meteor shower and made their way to Alfin, the most important city located at the top of the highest mountains of Nitel, where the great battle I have already told you about took place. Their goal was to steal the Amlukes' Arcane, which is safeguarded in a high-security vault in one of the tallest snow-covered mountains of Nitel. This Arcane, as I understood it, is the Shield of Ambition, which, according to legend, was used by one of the sons of Universus in the conquest of this special planet that, unlike the others, could support life:

"In the beginning, there was only the Universe and its children, among them Ara (Ambition), Lacus (Discord), and Timeo (Distrust). The Universe decided that it could no longer govern the planets, which belonged to no one until then, by itself. Therefore, it gave the gift of life to all human beings and creatures, placing them on the vast Earth. The three brothers, however, were not indifferent to the arrival of new beings in their homes without receiving anything in return, so they secretly mingled among humans, whispering their talents into their ears and thus sowing chaos on the planet.

Seeing such confusion, the Universe turned against its own children, starting the most terrible war of all. So awful that humans could not even describe the atrocities they witnessed, day and night, in the skies of that era. All that is known is that there were three powerful weapons with which the brothers fought, relentlessly, against their father and some of their siblings who chose to side with him, all fighting for dominion over Earth: the inscrutable Shield of Ara, which protected all mortals from the projectiles thrown by the Universe at his discordant son; Lacus's sovereign Spear, which radiated panic over all his contending brothers, supporters of Universus; and Timeo's Bow, which slyly struck the most powerful targets with the poison of distrust, gradually eroding their faith in their allies until there was nothing and no one left worth fighting for. Universus, the great Lord of All Worlds, realizing that his three most infamous children would not give up, saw that Earth's dominion was destined for them, so he relinquished the dispute.

To this day, Discord, Ambition, and Distrust continue to rule this world of ours, turning human beings into the creatures we all know—egocentric, conflict-driven, and fearful beings, who will endure on the plains and valleys of this planet for many years to come."

— Amluk's Wikipedia, 1985

Thus, it is said that this sacred object of the Amluks, which is protected in Nitel, is Ara's Shield, gifted by him to the first human leader on planet Earth. It is unknown where the other two weapons are, nor if they even exist. However, according to Sophia, some people dedicate their entire lives to searching for them, though they have yet to succeed.