Divided Nation

The War

My name is Hayden Smith and I am part of the Blue Kingdom.  Or what remained of it. The Blue kingdom was once the dominant power in Northern Gala. It was ruled over all the other kingdoms in the infamous Colour Throne in Crown's End. Then came the day. 20 years ago, King Louis assassinated my father, taking over the kingdom. He renamed the Blue Kingdom as The Regime.

      All the other kingdoms followed shortly. The Sea states were the first to declare their allegiance to the throne, though it was mainly out of fear from being invaded. The Bay Kingdom followed, then the Beige Kingdom, the Purple, White and finally the Yellow kingdom.

      The Yellow Kingdom was the biggest kingdom in Northern Gala, but it wasn't the strongest either. It was sitting on a fragile frame of land won from the Central Uprising years ago. It was ruled from the impregnable fortress of Titians Landfall, but the rule was weak. Many of the other rich merchant cities like Luxington have their own governor, but they have to pay taxes to Titan's Landfall every year.

      King Louis had set his life goal on finding and destroying the Orb, the most powerful source of magic in Gala. It was being held in a temple called the Sanctuary and guarded by an order called The Guardians.

     Years before, the Guardians were an order numbering past the thousands. Now, it only held a handful of magicians and even less magic. However, the Sanctuary was almost impossible to find or get to. It was surrounded by what the regime calls the Chaos Lands.

     Once you crossed The Jaw, you never came out. The Chaos Lands were full of horrors. Trees that strangled people, water that was acid, and scorpions as big as horses guarded the land.

      "Hayden?" Alexia said, waving her hand in front of my face, "What's going on?"

       "What?" I said, shaking myself out of my thoughts, "Nothing, nothing, wait. What's going on?"

       "Hayden, you have to pay attention," Kyxio said, "One of these days, an enemy is going stab you and you wouldn't know what's going on until your dead."

      Kyxio was a skilled swordsman, though I wouldn't go as far as calling him a friend. Alexia, on the other hand, is one of my oldest friends, and is the leader of the Guardians right now. I looked around the conference room. Sitting in the corner was Chole, who was another friend.

     "As I was saying," Kyxio continued, "We had a couple close encounters yesterday. Regime troops showed up at our steps, but we managed to fend them off. However, a couple survivors did manage to run and get away. Let's hope that they get eaten by wolves before they make it back to Crown's End."

     Murmurs started to raise around the room, but it was pretty unlikely that they were going to make it back alive. Our headquarters were situated in a mountain near the Beige Kingdom and we were surrounded by the Jaw. The Jaw itself is actually quite nice, where nobody disturbed you, but once you cross, that's when the Land starts to become Chaotic. Thus the name, Chaos Lands.

      Although we consider ourselves a Kingdom, to most other Kingdom's, we're more of a terrorist group. We do whatever we can to stop the Regime. From blowing up carriages full of weapons, to burning farms supplying the Regime, we do it all.

      I started to zone out again as Kyxio started talking about the enemies movement positions and how we can blow up another carriage tonight. Just as I was about to die of boredom, a loud boom shook the room. Pieces of stone fell from the ceiling.

      "What's going on?" Kyxio shouted over the noise

      An injured soldier stumbled into the room, holding his bleeding shoulder. His blood left a red trail along the stone floor, resembling the crimson red of the Regime flag.