Part 1, Prologue.
Valentia—known by some as the "Western Continent." From the stark mountain ranges of the northwest to the lush southern forests, from the dark thickets of the northeast to the open savannahs of the midlands, Valentia was a paragon of diversity. This diversity was mirrored in its people.
As the northern lands were harsh and unsuited for farming, its inhabitants pursued trades like hunting, fishing, and mercenary work. Their fantastic work ethic led to the idealization of hard labor, physical strength, and diligence.
The midlands and the southern peninsula, on the other hand, were much more abundant in natural resources. The soil's nutrients were replenished from the yearly flooding of the Great River, and the people developed advanced agriculture and livestock-raising techniques. The southern population enjoyed their relaxed lifestyle and reaping great success from their efforts.
Two sibling gods of unknown origin, Mila and Duma, were attracted to the continent of Valentia and its people. Duma was pragmatic, fierce but fair, and he valued strength and diligence. His younger sister Mila, on the other hand, was a stubborn idealist, and she dreamed of one day building a utopia where all could live in peaceful leisure. The two gods made themselves known to the people of Valentia, offering promises of prosperity in exchange for loyalty. Naturally, the people of northern Valentia tended to side with Duma, and the southern folk with Mila.
At the beginning, the two gods lived in peace, forming a grand kingdom of Valentia that spanned the entire continent. However, the sibling gods simply could not tolerate each other forever, and they began arguing fiercely. Eager to prove the superiority of their beliefs, the two gods manipulated the human masses they had promised to protect. A great rift of animosity between the two halves of the continent. Civil war was inevitable.
The history books don't know who or what started the war, but it is known that little could stand in its way once it began. Records say that the conflict caused the greatest casualties in the history of Valentia. For decades, the relentless crusaders of the gods clashed and fell, each generation picking up the tattered, blood-soaked war standards of the last. After eighty-eight years of bloodshed, the death toll became so great that humankind began to die out; only then did the gods realize what a catastrophe their fighting had caused. Therefore, in order to preserve humanity, they made a promise to each other and to their people to never again meddle in the affairs of mankind. In addition, as part of the pact, the land of Valentia was divided in two, so that Duma had patronage of the north, and Mila of the south. This promise, which rushed in a new era of peace, marked the first year of the Valentian Calendar.
Though the two factions did remain at peace, the gods broke their promises not to involve themselves with mankind, and they helped their people build their civilization into powerful kingdoms which functioned according to each god's ideals. They gave their blessings to rulers and established them as kings. Mila's southern country became the Kingdom of Zofia, and Duma's northern country the Kingdom of Rigel. Though they began in prosperity as the gods had promised long ago, both kingdoms gradually began to worsen under their extremism. In Zofia, the desire for living in total relaxation led the royals to become indolent, and they grew corrupt and complacent while many people suffered. In Rigel, on the other hand, the nobles forgot the value of kindness and forgiveness. Exhaustion became increasingly common among the common citizens, as many were run ragged.
Nevertheless, good and just people still existed among the nobles, and thanks to their efforts, peace managed to continue between the two countries for many generations. However, this peace began to crumble from within when in the year 590, High General Dozar of Zofia machinated to seize the Zofian throne by arranging the deaths of the royal family. With King Lima IV, Queen Lipricia, and their only child, Princess Anteze, out of the way, there would be no one of royal blood left to inherit the throne, and so the right of succession would pass to Dozar, the highest-ranking and most trusted military officer. In order to assist with the coup-d'état and its aftermath, Dozar secretly asked King Rudolf of Rigel for military aid, which King Rudolf granted.
Dozar's subordinate, General Mycen, learned of Dozar's coup and attempted to defend the royal family from the traitors. However, Mycen was defeated, and the royal family was murdered. Mycen only just managed to escape with his life to the remote village of Rahm in southwestern Zofia, taking with him his infant adopted children, Alm and Celica. Dozar framed Mycen for being the mastermind of the royal family's assassination, but far away in Rahm, they remained relatively safe, just out of reach of the capital's range of influence.
With the royal family gone, Dozar successfully proclaimed himself king of Zofia. King Dozar, however, was unfit to be a leader, and under his rule, the kingdom fell into disorder. Rather than attend to his duties as king, he, in attempt to cover up his guilt, had his fellow conspirators executed, accusing them of having collaborated with Mycen. After all of his collaborators were dead, Dozar, cursing himself for not being able to prevent Mycen's escape, became obsessed with finding Mycen by any means necessary. Claiming publicly that he wanted to bring the last of the royals' murderers to justice, Dozar had armed troops scour the countryside for Mycen.
When the danger spread even to Rahm Village in the year 600, Mycen, knowing that Dozar would come for his children as well, sent ten-year-old Celica away to live on Nova, a small and relatively unimportant island off the southeastern coast of Zofia, where he hoped she would be safer. There, she was trained in fencing and the use of magic under the protection of a long-time ally of Mycen, the sage Nomah. Alm, on the other hand who was the same age, remained with Mycen in Rahm, and he was instructed in the art of swordsmanship so that he would be ready for Dozar's forces should they come to the village.
In 604, fed up with Dozar's neglect of his subjects, many people of Zofia decided to join together in order to overthrow his despotic rule. The rebels, calling themselves the Zofian Liberation Army, began gathering recruits from all over Zofia, building up strength in order to take on the military. In order to quell the rebellion, Dozar discreetly petitioned Rigel again for assistance. King Rudolf agreed to an alliance, and Rigel covertly began supplying Dozar with resources, which enabled Dozar to turn the course of the civil war in his favor. To make matters worse, the land of Zofia itself seemed to be dying-harvest dwindled, forests became graveyards of trees, and rivers that once provided fresh water were filled with all manner of algae and insects. Surrounded by a world of death after death, failure piled upon failure, the Liberation Army-and all the people of Zofia-were starting to lose hope.
Knowing that they needed to bounce back or else be condemned to continued oppression by Dozar, the Liberation Army's leaders searched for a ray of hope to bring back the confidence they once held. Their search did not go unrewarded when, examining Dozar's executions of the conspirators and his desperate manhunt for Mycen, they found evidence that indicated Dozar was trying to cover up something. Deducing that Mycen was likely the one man whom Dozar feared above all others, the Liberation Army began their own search for him. After gathering rumors from underground sources that placed Mycen in the vicinity of Rahm Village, in the spring of 606, the Liberation Army sent a young recruit named Luka to find Mycen and recruit him for the cause.