Chapter 1- The Face of Death. (Edited)

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Chapter 1- The Face of Death

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The Sovereign Continent was divided into five major parts or regions, these were:

The Eastern Islands, the Northern Glaciers, the Southern Grasslands, the Western Deserts and the Central Jungles. Despite the seemingly self-descriptive names, these lands weren't particularly limited to the descriptions they gave off. For example the forest found in the Western deserts.

Each major region was in turn further divided into many sub regions, each of these sub regions could consist of many Kingdoms, very few, or only one. When one Kingdom had the complete control of a land, which was as large as a sub region, it became an Empire.

There were even a few Empires that span over multiple regions. These were called True Empires and were ruled by True Emperors. The largest and most famous True Empire, was the Coiling Dragon Empire. It was the only True Empire in recorded history that had land which was equal to one major region. That, however, was many centuries ago...

Our tale began at the core of the Great Deserts of Shandelar found in the eastern part of the Western Deserts, a dark, fragmented and unlawful region whose reputation for having a chaotic and apocalyptic air, barely illustrated its barbaric nature. Plagued with low food and water supplies as well as infertile land due to the desert climate, warfare over the little that is available has become an accepted norm in the region.

This constant state of warfare, has led to too much bloodshed and fragmentation. Therefore, there are very few Empires, let alone True Empires. As a result, the kings of these war torn countries were known as warlords, the ruler of a kingdom is a warlord, whilst the ruler of an empire is called a tyrant. The negative connotation of these titles had not stopped the people of the Sovereign Continent from accepting this type of nomenclature, including locals of the western region themselves.

Whilst the region is war torn, it is also the most pleasurable region on the continent. As long as one has wealth, nothing is impossible, be it slavery, fetishes or anything that is normally looked down upon by the majority of the world.

The slave trade is believed to be the biggest market in the western region, in the Sovereign Continent it is believed that at least eighty percent of slaves, from all around the continent, are from or had passed through the Western Deserts.

Although the lands did not bare much fruit and there was little rain, the people had somehow found a way to benefit from the most widespread activity in the region, war. Not only were the victors left with the spoils of their success but they would have power over the losers as well, usually it meant a firm grip over them and it rids them of their dignity as well as it dehumanizes them. This led to a growing need for saviors, people to help them when they were in danger, people who had high moral values and strength; those who were powerful but were willing to protect the masses, this led to the rise of vigilantes.

During times of war, these so called "heroes" were as common as sand in a dessert. One form of such "heroes" were mercenaries. As long as one had coin, these 'heroes' would lend you a helping hand. After all, desperate times call for desperate measures.

One group of such mercenaries, the Starlight Mercenary Group, had made a camp which was situated a few miles south of the city of Brom. On their flag was a star, shining on a black background. This represented one of the many regiments throughout the prosperous Kingdom of Shuria.

In one of the tents, a little boy was sleeping soundly. He was twelve years old but looked younger, due to his height. He had purple hair framing a chubby face that still radiated with the innocence of youth and spotlessly clear white skin. Just one look at how well maintained this boy was, reflected that he came from a wealthy family.

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