Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity and so we ask ourselves, will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone and wonder who we were? how valiantly we fought? How fiercely we loved? If they ever tell this story. Let them say those who lived walked in a time of magic. Kings rise and fall like the changing seasons, but these names will never fade. Let them say they lived in the time of Queen Autumn the wicked queen. Let them say they lived in the time of The Dark Sorceress.
A land of magic and shadow, the name of which has long since been lost with time. Five kingdoms ruled for the time being at peace with each other, but how long that would last no one can tell. Only those with the power of foresight could say. Most people you ask would say the peace would be broken by war, mainly by those who rule Credence Kingdom or Eprea Empire. Surrounding the five kingdoms was a thick forest filled with mists and large trees to block out most of the sun light. The grounds littered with twigs and other things from the trees. There the mythical creatures and monsters live. The trees are said to be able to speak to each other, anyone who dares go into the forest have an eerily feeling of being watched and followed but when they turn around not a soul can me seen. Only the tall winding trees, the cobs webs and the misty landscapes. Signs had been placed at the borders of four kingdom with the words Stick To The Path carved into the wood. The fifth however were not effected by what lies within and calls the forest home. Neither are those who camp there and live within the vast trees, they have faith the Sorceress protects them from the evils within.
The Eprea Empire, is the kingdom King Paul rules over. His is a tough but fair ruler who only wants the best for those whom he rules over and his family. Over the years since he became king he has done all in his power to make sure things are better for his people, abolishing old laws such as the poor being enslaved to the rich until a debt is paid. He had even lowed the taxes to help give those in the kingdom a better chance a living freely. Like all kings, Paul had considered war with other kingdoms, his latest was with Credence Kingdom, both had equal amount of loses and called a truce, when the princesses of both kingdoms got caught in the crossfire. But just like the other rulers, he stayed clear of the Shadow Lands and their ruler. He had heard the legends about the residents there.
Just as he had heard what the Dark Sorceress would do if anyone took war to her homeland. Although an ageing king, King Paul has no queen. He lost his own queen not long after she bore his twin daughters Princess Nikki and Princess Brie. He loved his queen dearly and missed her as much. Although strict on his girls he is only so to protect them from the horrors of the world and so he can keep what remains of his late wife close by. The only time he was considered cruel was when it come time for them to marry in which he had standards he hoped they would obey to. Princess Nikki is the next in line for the throne of Eprea, although she had stated many times she wishes only to live her life peacefully even stating she thinks her twin would make a much better queen. Princess Brie had already married, a well respected knight of the empire called Sir Daniel Bryan. Either way the great empire would be in good hands and continue to thrive.
The Helmsley Kingdom was supposed to be one of the best places to call home. But it had changed for the worst at some point, the people had a cruelish ruler in the form of Queen Stephanie and her husband King Hunter. His anger grew when his brother in law Princess Shane had gone behind his back to get the throne from his sister and tried to kidnap the Royal Prince Andy. Ever since then both king and queen had taken their anger out on the people who called their kingdom home. They had put rules in place that prevented people from leaving their boarders, had road taxes and other useless things in place. They made it so only the rich could learn to use weaponry and ride horses. They had even gone as far as trying to teach their son Prince Angry to be as cruel as they were, but could see that he was more like his grandmother Queen Linda than met the eyes. He had her kind and sweet nature and wished only to protect the people of the kingdom rather than hurt them.
Prince Andy's close friends come from the slums of the kingdom, they had lost everything and were about to be punished for stealing when Andy stopped the guards, paid the market stall owner for what was taken and allowed the four to stay in the castle with him, much to his parents displeasure. He showed everyone of the citizens who had been at the market that day, there was still hope that things would one day be better for them, even if the ruling couple were self centred and couple be considered ever more cruel than Credence Kingdom's king. Yet Prince Andy understood the people more since he spent time with them everyday. Helping older people and giving younger ones the hope the needed to carry one, giving them hope the kingdom would return to its former glory in the times of King Vince and Queen Linda.
The Bright-Blade Territories was one of the more peaceful places to live, freedom was an everyday thing and slavery hardly existed there any more, save for the few cities and villages near the outskirts of the lands. King Sheamus had done a great job in making his kingdom a better place for all who lived there and visited since taking the throne seven years prior. He had made the land what it was, he changed the way people were treated, giving them free reign to come and go as they pleased, all they had to do was inform him they were leaving and then do the same upon returning. He had trained every child both male and female to use swords bows and arrows and other weaponry so they could protect themselves. He didn't care what social class they were from. He just followed what he believed was right rather than the laws of the past.
When Sheamus became king he didn't what no one else before him had done or even considered doing. He had forged a lasting alliance with the Shadow Lands, becoming close friends with their royal family and often trading with them and learning of their culture in order to make his own better for all who came and lived in his wild kingdom. But there was one thing he was still yet to do. King Sheamus had yet to marry, for seven long years he had ruled alone but focused on his people. Most believed he had a wife but she passed on or left him, others say he hadn't found the right lass for him yet, but there are rumours suggesting he wishes to marry the princess of the Shadow Lands or he just doesn't want to marry yet. Others had said he looks for another suitable lad or lass to teach so they can rule once he's gone, it is unknown which is true. Although King Sheamus often walks the streets and helps those in need, people dare not ask why he had no queen ruling at his side, more because they do not wish to remind or upset him on something they know little about.
The Credence Kingdom is the worst of the five kingdoms, it has a long and sad history of cruel rules, the current king being worse one by far. He would execute someone for looking at him or his daughters weirdly or for asking for one of his daughter's hand in marriage. Kane was their king, he rule was full of cruelty since he lost his Queen. His kingdom was known for its farming, most of the food grown was sent away leaving barely enough for the residents to live on. The legends say King Kane killed his older brother Prince Mark in order to take the throne, the older prince being much kinder and would have made a good king, yet those who called the kingdom home are forbidden to speak of him or even wonder what happened to him. Just as it is a wonder what happened to the late queen, not even the three princesses know what happened to their mother.
Princess Autumn is next in line for the throne, like her father she is cruel, yet she is also self-centred and narcissistic. She often finds joy in punishing someone for something they haven't done, finding a thrill out of others pain. Which is what the people of the kingdom worry about most. Autumn married a dishonourable knight of the kingdom Jack Swagger, a man just as evil as she was if not worse. Those who called Credence home could only hope one of the younger two princesses would take the throne instead, but knew it was unlikely to happen, Autumn had taken after her father's cruel temper in a lot of way, neither of them good. Winter and Summer were the youngest two princesses and are often seen walking amongst the people and feeding the starving, pitying them as they suffer their father's orders and often sympathising with them as they too suffered under their sister. The two girls were often seen in their hideaway, unable to bare their father's rule and its effects on people, much like they couldn't bare to think about the future with their sister ruling as queen and her husband as the new king.
The final kingdom was that of the mysterious Shadow Lands. The mystery and unknown being the basis of many myths and legends by the creative minds of the other kingdoms. Most believed the lands population are demons, that walk the forest and attack those who go off the paths. None of that is true of course but they allow others to think it so they fear attacking the peaceful kingdom. Some of the residents are trained in witchcraft, where as others are in hand to hand combat and defence. They are a kingdom of peace but are prepared for war if it is ever brought to them. Their king, Mark has an interesting story to tell for how he ended up in the lands. As he was not born there, the only king in their history to have broken such a tradition. Like every king before him, he is fair to the people whom live in his lands and allow them to travel freely between the kingdoms. Even allowing others to cross his boards to settle down. With his late Queen Michelle, he had three children, twin sons Konnor and Viktor and a daughter Paige. They rule as a family and believe everyone is equal no matter where they come from.
King Mark has allowed his people to thrive by building their own little towns with a mayor or elder for each, all he asks is for all rules and regulations be passed through him first and all punishment be left up to him or his eldest son. Princes Konnor and Viktor are two of the greatest warriors in the army, they said since they live on the lands and believe in equality they too must fight with the men to protect the land they call home. They even went as far as saying if they die in battle then they wanted to be buried with the men that perished with them rather than as the true royals they were. Princess Paige on the other hand was the prophesied Dark Sorceress, a powerful witch and the strongest to ever walk either of the five kingdoms. She was also the last female in her bloodline since her mother's untimely death almost a decade before hand. Just as she had the burden of being the heir to the Shadow Land's Throne. Often had she graced the bandit camp with her soft singing voice and protection while they slept, hiding them from the spies of their former homes.
The Misty Forest, the only thing to separate the five kingdoms besides the vast amount of rivers which flowed through the lands. Most fear to go there mainly because of the stories, the wild creatures and terrifying monsters. The mists flow silently through the base of the trees hold secrets that others could only imagine unravelling, just as the unknown creatures roaming the dark forest floor often put off explorers and curious minds. Those who call the forest home find peacefulness within the trees and mists. The Bandits were those who left their homes to travel to another kingdom, to escape their previous lives. They often hear the soft singing voice of the sorceress and see her ravens during the night and flying above them as a sign of her protection, they have learnt to trust her guiding voice and the magic of the stories they heard. They dream of a place of peace and where cruelty is a thing of the past, a place that they believe is a lifetime away and only existed in their imaginations.
The people who call the forest home often wondered what it would be like to live in the lands the Dark Sorceress called home, even what she looked like. One who was cursed with immortality and the daughter of the man known only as the Undertaker. A sorceress cursed by an evil witch to walk the lands alone for an eternity, never to find peace or her happy end, only to suffer and watch as her loved ones fade and wither away. Or at leas that's what the legends say, just as they say although powerful she is kind and caring with a loving heart.
Plenty has happened over the years but although these kingdoms no longer exist in our world. Things they once believed in do, love, peace, power, war and death. War is something most believed should have died with them when the five kingdoms fell from history in unknown and often mysterious ways. They believed in love to bring people together and to create life, peace was the belief the kingdoms could get along at least two of them did most of the time and by the time of the great war four of them did. Only one of the kingdoms believed war was the only way, power was not so much something they believed in but something everyone had and was entitled to, everyone had a chance to change something even if it was just a little things that happened., everyone has the power of choice. And finally death, most of them knew it was inevitable, it came for young and old alike, the only thing in life that can't be avoided, some take it as a gift and believed they were going to a better place where as others knew their time was up and welcome death as an old friend coming to take to their next life, rather than something to be feared. Each of them knew it was the debt that all living things must pay.