The Eclipse Mark

Updates

(Made way after "Hoo boy")

I've come to the realization that my updates here are going to be very slow. (Or edits, I suppose)

I'm sorry, I've lost interest in this world overall and have moved on to other works.

Right now, I'm focusing the majority of my time on my newest book "Twin Blades". Although I have a different book titled Assassins that I've had for a while. (Updates are pretty slow on that one though, so be warned.)

It's actually a co-write and we have 5-6 chapters up already! Here's the beginning chapter or introduction:

(Don't worry, regular chapters aren't this short, we've started doing 1500 - 2000)

Five clans, one war
One shall rise
When the suns move together
A child will be born from nothing
Sailing to the farthest reaches of the land
They will find the Twin Blades
And only then will the world be at peace once more

Bullshit, right?
Doesn't even rhyme!

But even then, the lives of hundreds of millions of people rest on that prophecy. Hundreds of millions of lives rest on me.

That is probably the scariest thing I've ever heard, but I'm trying my hardest everyday.

Trying every single day since my birth. The rising of the two suns, moving together along the sky. It only happens every 100 years, and it's only been a couple years since the war started. What... 43 years?

It's been 43 years since we've had peace. Isn't that frightening? Four clans all vying for the same prize, control over our lands, control over everything.

Of course, I should probably tell you who the clans are.

Nerida is often called the ocean clan. Of course, they have multiple names, like all the others, but it suits them. The clan of wisdom, they believe themselves to be the decisive ruler of everything and anything. Their clan has knowledge over anything, politics, geography, literature, history, everything. But, they are definitely not perfect. About 40% of their people are known as "serfs" but in reality they are just slaves. But, no, not the kind you're probably thinking of. First, they are either criminals or war prisoners, secondly you can't be born into being a slave. However, with that many people being forced to work continuous for hours without end, there's always going to be a risk. Nerida herself is a planet and goddess. She also controls water, although her main domain is the ocean. She is the wisest of the gods.

Anshul is called the fire clan. The clan of war, quite possibly the only people that actually want this conflict. Their people are bred from birth to be the perfect soldier. Any baby that is born sickly is thrown to the wolves. (Figuratively and literally.) Their work force is also made of the brand of "workers" you may be familiar with. Also being criminals and prisoners of war, they are watched carefully by the military. Even the slightest peep of rebellion is crushed under an iron heel. They aren't very known for being very wise, however.  They see no reason for it. Sure, they are well versed in battle strategy, but not very well versed in... reading. I mean, a lot of the population can read, but there's a large percentage that can't. Anshul himself is much like his clan, being a god of war and destruction pretty much puts you in one category.

Aharon is the nature clan. Otherwise known as the sick, the dying, the dead. Before the war had started, they had suffered a humiliating loss at the hands of Anshul. They barely had any time to recover, and now they were rushed into another tedious war. Aharon is still the largest clan here, but more land is being taken everyday. The only way they could hope to build themselves back up is to win the war, so they pool all their resources to their military. The rest of their people are starving and weak. Diseases are riddled about, mass graves are becoming horridly common. People say the god is dying with his clan, but there's no real proof to that. Nature is just nature, but the clan itself isn't doing so hot

Noelani is the wind clan. They're also known as the sneakiest bastards-
T-the stealth clan. (I have friends from there, please don't kill me with a ninja.) To call it a clan could be a stretch, it's more like thousand clans working together (for the time being). There's multiple factions and groups, but they all have a semi-similar culture. Their army is highly trained, some even say it's better than Anshul. However, all the soldiers are paid to be there. Their soldiers are mercs, assassins, ninjas, anything of that sort. If they run out of money... well they might die faster than Aharon.

The fifth and last clan is Kazumi. The neutral clan, the balance clan, the forbidden clan. It's the only one not involved in the war and the one almost no one knows about. There's been rumors, but the only member of the clan we've seen has been their ambassador. We don't know much about their magic, culture, number of people. We know they occupy only two cities, but numbers range from 20 people to a thousand. Rumors say each member has the power of ten armies. The god Kazumi is even more mysterious, the myths we have about them usually have them as a background character. Sometimes manipulating the story so that nothing really bad happens, we don't even know whether they're a god or goddess. (We usually just say they're a dual deity that's both.)
The people that come into the clan have to be powerful. We usually never see them again.

Me? I'm Anshul clan. Luckily, I was swept away the moment I was born. People can die in the training camps and many people do. The people that survive are the "perfect" soldier. Patriotism runs deep for everyone here.

Well, except for me. I'm a part of the clan, but I've been raised to accept every clan for their flaws and their strengths. I'm still a little biased though.

When you're a chosen one, your entire life revolves around the one thing you were supposedly made for.

And I'm so sick of it.