BLADES AND BONES

Chapter 6: A Beautiful Past

There was a time when the kingdoms were unified as one world and it was called Aetheria. An enormous land mass with multitudes of beautiful landscapes surrounded by vast oceans. That's how people originally imagined Aetheria a millennium ago.

The first inhabitants were unlike the present occupants. Their characteristics were simply humble spirit beings. They lived to help each other to survive. Kindness of the purest form. Living in harmony with the lesser creatures, big or small. Whereby, they were also regarded the most intelligent beings to live. Known for their great inventions and creations such as bridges, wheels and simple machines that helped generations hold better lives. But when the populace increased, the need for space became a concern. The start of territorial disputes disturbed the peace among the people of the primal civilization. Men gradually resorted to their own strengths than skills and intelligence. Using fists and raised voices to hurt each other. Talents were used for evil intentions. All that exists has transformed more physical. The battle for survival commenced. The challenge to know who's the strongest became the trend. Gentle, loving hearts were swallowed by their own power-hungry, blood-thirsty souls. Thus, the killing instinct was born. The line between man and beasts thinned over time. Centuries later, a catastrophic earthquake divided them even more. Aetheria never looked the same again. Perhaps the disaster rather brought an opportunity to heal wounds. To let people rethink what they've done and to start afresh. Henceforth, each lands grew with names like Azdamar in the northernmost part of the world. The good ones were believed to have lived in the plains now known as San Tima. But in all the books ever written, all the saints in the lands were now declared extinct. The last of them mostly have suffered the worst kind of deaths or left to die alone. In the end, the beautiful past never returned.

Then came the darkest era. Hundreds of years from the current timeline, the reign of the Dark King Olvan Imperus left an unforgettable mark in the history of Aetheria. It happened after the disastrous earthquake that reshaped the huge land mass. Legend says that there was a young foreigner who arrived in Azdamar. He was a lone wanderer. A man described to have black, long hair, dark eyes and a handsome face. He quickly grabbed the attention of Azdamarians by which he gained popularity fast. Joining as one of the king's henchmen was a cheap deal. His unmatched cleverness, skills and strength made it easy for him to rank up, eventually becoming the right hand of the monarchial leader. The higher the kills, the more he became fearsome. Not even the king he served was spared. Olvan may have chosen Azdamar as his kingdom from the start. Rumors tell that he was the embodiment of evil. A demon who came from hell and was the cause of the great catastrophe. Furthermore, the citizens of the north had no choice but to cower in fear and obey his rules. His main goal was to rule all the Aetherian countries to show that he's the most powerful of all beings. In other words, he wanted to become their God.

The Dark King awakened the madness inside every individual and destroyed their sense of right from wrong. Those who resisted him were punished with the most unforgivable methods such as being incinerated alive or seeing their loved ones die painful deaths. The other countries formed alliance as what San Tima and Kalmas forged. In the Scorched Plains of the Afreet, they built walls to prevent invaders as they pursued to fortify their armory but still, they failed to match the hardest Azdamarian metals. Mastery of camouflage or stealth was practiced in the Phantom Mountains. A few of astrays or those who doesn't belong to any groups or countries isolated themselves in the deepest part of the forest in a huge cave later named as The Underground where any outsider who dared to enter gets lost inside. The Underground dwellers were generally trap-makers and particularly famous with their use of hallucinogens. Whereby, the Unknown Forest was the common battleground between two or more opposing forces, it witnessed the bloodiest wars. It does not come as a surprise that the soil of the forest was stained red up to the present. Hence, the curse of the Dark King lives in the forested lands and feared by many.

With King Imperus' army growing ever stronger, everyone thought it was already impossible to defeat him. Then come one silent night, when the Dark King was asleep, his wife Meuda Ladrogon stabbed him in the heart with the dagger forged by her ancestors. Olvan was overconfident he'd survive all the attempts to kill him even while resting but not on the time he was betrayed by his very own lover. Meuda was a feisty blond who came from a royal bloodline of Ladrogons in the Phantom Mountains. She was an expert in witchcraft as well. King Imperus did not expect that a mere woman could score a fatal blow on him. Yet victory was not achieved at that moment. Despite the dagger was cursed with a killing spell, it only weakened the evil ruler. Olvan beheaded her wife with a sword. But it didn't end there. In nature, an injured animal attracted predators. Undying but gravely wounded, the Dark King sought for aid from priests. However, Meuda wasn't the only one who was planning revenge on Imperus. The rebels were updated on the news about Olvan's condition. A priest was part of the rebellion and worsened the curse that afflicted Olvan. Unfortunate events for the demon was burnt in his own hellfire. Imperus barely survived the assaults. His loyal supporters fought for him so he could escape. With all his remaining strength, he then retreated to the northmost Azdamar and was never heard again.