The Realms - Book 1: World of Sarfasa

Chapter 1: The Burdens of a King

Thus decrees King Xavier, ruler of the omni-elemental realm: “Lord Shaye de Yan, you have been hereby charged with numerous accounts of high treason and illegal actions. It has been reported that you made a chronological gateway, by misuse of the elements, in order to manipulate the realities from times of yet unseen occurrence, and used the instances to benefit your war plan.

If you cannot prove this otherwise, then we the Council have no choice but to consider you guilty and render the verdict as such.”

“Lock me away, your Majesty. But you will soon find that not only I am guilty of treacherous acts, but also someone else within your own kingdom. Heed my words: Time will find him out!” aggressively responded Lord Shaye.

Disregarding those words instead, Xavier condemned Shaye away to his inescapable prison cell, or so it was deemed by preventative standards, to rot his highly fallible life away. Could such a confining edifice be purely inescapable, despite the indications of no former prisoner within such a structure?

A fellow council member standing next to King Xavier, who was a rather peculiar-looking fellow, with a gray beard extending to his sternum and with age-ridden brown eyes, yet still stern, whispered to his Majesty, “Of what exactly was that sinister man hinting, by suggesting the existence of another criminal within your realm, sire?”

“Think nothing of it. I know of all activity within my kingdom, and there exists no such thing as another act of treachery.” solemnly replied King Xavier. But perhaps the King secretly, yet not distinctly, knew of what Shaye was implying. The Great Divide War ended two Ages ago, roughly 400 years, but the truths and mysteries behind it still ring as clear as they did during and immediately after that War. Too much has been hidden, and by chance too little has been made known. There shall come a day, by the Elders' judgment, when these truths shall be made known.

A few months have passed since the trial of Lord Shaye de Yan, whose name bolsters the contemporary ignominy of “the One who commands the army Shardayan,” or the Legion of Shards and Fragments.

It is the highest known shame and disgrace in all the land of Sarfasa, the known world of the realms of the elements, to bear any association with that Shardayan name. Was there not a single act that could be done to restore any reverence for that old name? Or was it the history of that name that caused it to never be able to have reverence shown to its formidable race? Perhaps its destiny is to cruelly diminish into nothingness, because of its dark purposes.

One day during the aforementioned time period, King Xavier and a select few worthy men of His Royal Guard set off an a venture into unfamiliar territory within the Realm of the element Fire, formerly known as Province Ignis, established by the Elder Digon. As they traversed the Plains of Tranquil Inferno, King Xavier and his men stumbled upon an infant, a girl, whom he named “Asa,” for she had a strange-looking wound in need of immediate medical attention on her left forearm. For whatever given reason, the infant did not seem to notice it. Xavier would have issued a search for the parents, but perchance the thought crossed his mind that this was the parents' intention for the child—for someone of better social construction to nurture her and to raise her into the fine young lady she deserved to be.

Forthwith, Xavier commanded that she be brought back to his kingdom safely, by any means necessary. Xavier stayed behind while his men went on back, as he felt it necessary to continue this trek alone. On their way back, they were hindered by a band of Shardayan rogues, who lived up to their race's disgrace.

“Where do you think you're going, intruders? Did you ever think your kind could step into Shardayan territory without being caught? Never shall it happen! Prepare yourselves!” threateningly exclaimed one of the six Shardayans, who apparently indirectly claimed to be the leader.