1717 AD
Seoul, South Korea.
The Joseon dynasty was gradually losing its power and influence after the 17th century, due to multiple reasons like Internal tension within the kingdom, Political conspiracies,Emergence of newer emperors and empires and decreasing treasure causing the lessening of soldiers in the army as well as emigration of citizens.
One of the newly emerging strong empires was the Kwon empire..
A well trained, strong and invincible army, well planned political strategies and just the right amount of competitiveness were some of the major reasons of its upliftment against the Joseon empire.
The emperor of Kwon dynasty-Kwon Sooyeol after defeating the last ruler of Seoul hailing from the Joseons,took over the crown.
Shortly after his demise, the throne was taken over by his successor.
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Seoul has always been just the Polar opposite of Caratland, a village 17 miles away from it border. The edges of Seoul and Caratland never met each other, they were never related to each other except trade relations- At least that's what people thought.
But little did anyone know that the seeds of the golden fruits of the ROSE QUARTZ and SERENITY tree were carried all the way from Caratland to Seoul, crossing several forests, streams and a few small villages.
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The seeds germinated in Seoul, the land where sun shines bright, bright enough that it's golden aura is spread all over Seoul, making it appear as if it is made up of gold.
Not to lie, Seoul indeed was made of gold; sky-high palaces with their tops plated with gold had their own charming shimmer which was visible from miles away.
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Seoul was just the antagonist of Caratland.
It was such a big kingdom, but it wasn't as peaceful and as prosperous as Caratland; at least not from the perspective of equity. The riches kept getting richer, their trunks filling up with gold coins, ornaments and various precious jewels; and the needy kept getting poorer, their conditions being more miserable than ever, as it seemed like the misery before was not enough already. Farmers, artisans, craftsmen, grocers, potters, blacksmiths and various other people with different occupations-who were the building blocks of the kingdom, were treated worse than animals. Taxes always kept increasing for them, resulting their situations to worsen day by day.
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Seoul was an aristocratic kingdom-Its status almost approaching to be a city! If anyone has lived their whole life in Caratland and if they were to visit Seoul, it wouldn't be surprising of them to think of Seoul as a topsy-turvy land.
This was the contrast between Seoul and Caratland.
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Seoul had well built concrete roads, chariots running over them from time to time.
There were various roads intersecting each other, various stalls set up on the periphary of those roads. The marketplace was a busy scene, just like Caratland; which was one of the very few similarities between these two places.
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Seoul had little to no trace of dense forests. The conifers on the slopes of hills and the evergreens of the plains; all of them were recklessly slashed down to build up sky-kissing buildings, palaces and museums etcetera. There were just a few hundred trees left: if it weren't for oxygen, they would have been cut down too!
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The palaces of aristocrats and the royal authorities of Seoul were built against the lower slope of the hills whereas those of commoners were on the plains..all of them facing the South so as to receive maximum light and warmth of the sun.
Most of the aristocrats had big palaces, not as big as the Royals, but big enough to envy. The wealthier the family, the larger the palace.
The outer wings of those palaces were supported by robust pillars, it's pastel coloured walls adorned by antique paintings and wall decorations. The outer wings had big meeting areas, with bejeweled cushion chairs for the authorities and guests to sit.
The inner wings were lined by bedrooms and other rooms, all of them decorated beautifully.
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Seoul had many archaic heritage sites, one of them being the "PALACE OF ILLUSTRIOUS VIRTUE - CHAGDEOKGUNG." They were the only places which had still managed to preserve the rich culture and history of Korea. Other than these, Seoul seemed to have lost its touch of nature and culture.
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Gardens were prevalent in Seoul too, but served for the purpose of just sight-seeing and holding royal meetings. The gardens were garnished by a large number of man made items with lesser number of flowers or plants. The liveliness and dynamism of Seoul gardens was slowly fading away with the progress of time. Every natural thing was replaced by something artificial and more attractive; though initially appearing to be engaging and interesting; but it didn't felt as real as nature.
Seoul's earthiness was evaporating slowly.
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*The seeds of the holy ROSE QUARTZ and SERENITY tree landed on the backyard soil of CHAGDEOKGUNG; receiving sunlight and sprinkles of monsoon showers, growing into anew sapling, which would bear the same flowers in near future*
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The Royal Castle 🏰 was located on the antecedent hills of the Seoul border. It's proximity touching the sky, the castle was an unbelievable sight.
The castle had sky high fortified towers bordered by strong battlements, some of them having narrow arrow slits and watch-holes which proved to be a very useful adaptation during wars. The castle was guarded by a ginormous talus on the front and in the posteriority of the castle was a large moat.
The front of the castle had green grass and a few ornamental plants surrounding it.
As beautiful as it looked from the outside, it is more than 10 times deadlier and more perilous on the inside- with gruesome murder holes and dark, stinky spiral staircases leading to cruel torture houses. The torture houses had several barbaric torture devices like the Judas Cradle, the Brazen Bull whose idea was adapted from Greek and Macedonian torture techniques, Iron Maiden and the Chinese torture chair-just to name a few.
No one could ever make a guess,
that beneath these furnished halls and marble floors;
There were floors with blood splattered on them..
There were rooms where screams of pure horror echoed..
There were walls which were cursed by the spirits of the tormented and pained.
No one could ever think of such duality.
And the finest archetype of this duality..
Was the Emperor of Seoul himself..
Kwon Ji-Yong.
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INCOMPLETE
Fantasy"We are incomplete without each other" "We'll meet again, maybe not in this life, but we'll meet again" "You can break us, but the missing pieces will find each other eventually, and we'll come back stronger than ever" "Nothing can separate us, not...
