HEXAGON: BEGINNING THE SELF

Everything starts... with a small hexagon.
All life is based and formed by this simple hexagon.
It can be bent and shaped in any way one desires.
Paths are chosen, destinies are formed and fates are decided.
This plain hexagon has been the epitome of anything beheld in the world... of Rune-Midgard.

My life began... and ended with this seemingly shallow and unimportant geometric figure.
Just what made this so special? Let us take a dip into the past. Back
when everything began.

"I... want to be the strongest."

The story starts... on a small island. A child is seen right in the middle. A young boy. With determination in his face, he makes his way through a small bridge. Beyond the bridge, a large castle is beheld.

The boy seems to know what to do. He silently walks off the bridge and into the splendor of the castle.

Whatever taught here would be of tremendous use to a person with a set future. For one with a destiny about to be written, well, one has to live through it to find out...

Two Years Later.

"No! Let go of me!"
"We will let go! Just promise us you'll join us!
"Not a chance in oblivion!"
"… Hit him."
"ARGH!"
"Now! Tell me! Join us?
"Bastard."
"Join us or perish!"
"ARGH!"
"Roku, Roku, Roku. Take it easy on yourself and say yes. What harm will joining us bring you?
"I know what your group does! You people are nothing but dirty, cheating, worthless scum! You kidnappers think you're so great! OW!"

"You are NOT to make fun of the Nogaxeh! Give me that whip!"
"ARGH! ARGH! NOO!"

NOOO!

With a big jolt, Roku woke up from his deep sleep. He looked at his hands with great exhaustment. "Not again…" he uttered. He got up from his limp position and looked around. All that was in sight was the safe interior of this room. He wasn't alone.

Lined up against the walls were dozens of bunk beds. With everyone asleep, the Izlude swordsman barracks was as silent as nothingness. So silent and still that suspicion started building up in Roku's head. This unfamiliar lull bothered him.

"Again?" A voice became audible from Roku's left.

Roku gave a small sigh as an answer. The other understood. He had been having these kinds of dreams for a long time now. He didn't know exactly why these dreams kept on recurring every night. The Gods were possibly trying to tell him something. Something of immense significance, which was probably why these wounds… Roku pulled up his shirt only to see the scars of the torture in his dream. The sight, which appeared night by night haunted him for the past few months.

"I don't understand this…" Roku lay back down to sleep.

It was early morning, a long while before sunrise. Roku, who was completely out of breath, had just finished his laps around Izlude.

He looked up at the sky. The sky… painted a dark blue hue, embedded with early morning stars and slightly tainted with the reddish orange glow of the sun, still below the horizon. Under his panting, Roku muttered under this very sky filled both with the essence of promise and loss, "Something… is coming."

His best friend Siegh, who was close by, faintly heard what Roku had just said. "What? What something?" Siegh said, trying to catch his breath because he too, ran his laps. It was too dark to see any distinction on Siegh's physical appearance.

"I can feel it. The sensation of anxiety gushes through my very veins like the great Mjolnir River. It is very close…"

"Roku, have those dreams… affected you or something? You're acting very strange." Siegh said with great concern.

After a small pause, Roku answered Siegh. "I… am fine. Sorry, Siegh. I just... felt something strange overcome me for a while."

"Oh, okay. Don't overwork yourself, Roku." Siegh set off for the training grounds.

'don't over work yourself, Roku.' How many times has Roku heard this sentece and not feel any better? Siegh... Thank you. He watched Siegh tiredly stumble across the road.

Roku sat down and saw the vast and beautiful ocean. This ocean was the pride of Izlude, as well as its fellow port city, Alberta. He watched the long stretch of deep blue extend until as far as he can see. The training grounds were in sight to his right. The rest of the tranquil community of Izlude lay behind him. Everything within mortal reach was certainly one to behold.

The sun was already up. Roku's appearance was now distinct. The early morning rays of sun lit up his messy red hair. The traditional swordsman outfit made him a typical sight among the rest of Rune-Midard.

Everything was perfect for Roku this morning. Perfect, though a bit contradictory to what was about to happen.

Anything can occur within a split second. Dreams can be made, supported or given up. Relationships can be created, saved or broken. Lives can be born, spared or destroyed. An island though, can't be easily molded, fortified or... sunken. As often as these occurences happen, none would expect an island to crack into pieces and sink. And as impossible as it sounds, it did happen. Right here in the serene island of Izlude.

A few of Roku's comrades, being watched over by the head swordsman, were still running their laps.
Merchants were selling their goods. Job classes of all kinds paced here and there, usually stooping or crouching down to see one's wares. A couple of parties readying themselves for the journey to the outside world, stood near the town exit.

Then it came.

The the ground started to vibrate. A few people stopped dead and checked if they weren't just getting dizzy. Roku thought, "Wizard?"
Slowly, the small vibration levelled up to a violent shake. The infrastructure started crumbling and cracking into pieces. This was when everyone stated to panic.

Uncoordinated, chaotic, disordered, anarchic bedlam befell the townspeople.
As Roku tried making his way to the bridge, he saw the unexplainable terror on the people's faces as their homes were levelled and their families were separated by the wide fissures.

Though it happened too fast, Roku experienced it as though time slowed down in his consciouness. He had to have every single mind-wrenching second forcefully imprinted into his memory.

He saw streets splitting under a person or two, falling walls crushing some people who stayed to far from the safe, open parts, desperate people jumping out to sea to aviod the tragedy occuring in Izlude, the muddled thronging at the bridge and the unsystematic deluge of frantic people beating down the small port.

Then, the island started to sink. Down it went, flooding everything. As Roku tried hurdling the gorges, he took a look behind him and spotted the people, who were torrented by the strong waters below. He saw their screams for help, pleading to be salvaged by a kind soul... but no one came to their rescue.

"Why is this happening?" Roku repeated this sentence in his head. Then, a thought stuck him. "W-where is Siegh!" His best friend was somewhere in the Island of Izlude. He just didn't know exactly where. "S-Siegh! Siegh!" He cried out but to no avail; everyone's hysteric panicking was already too loud to bear.

Roku wasn't one of the luckier people who made it across the bridge before Izlude had subsided. He was nearing the bottlenecked bridge.
CRACK. With a thunderous snap, the ground in front of him tore apart. He failed to stop and attempted to jump the gap.

Then a sense of fear and humiliation hit his chest and tried to suffocate him. How could he have tried to jump over a gap this broad? "No… Noooooooo!" He shouted as he plunged down. Down, into what felt like an abyss. Though fear had engulfed his psyche, a small conscious part of him was still together. He thought, 'How could a small crack have caused such a deep chasm? This isn't right…'

What was waiting for him at his landing?
It was left to surprise him and change the entire course of his nearby future.

As for Izlude, not a single person alive will ever forget what happened to it that day.

CHAPTER 1 - DEVASTATION
END.

HEXAGON: A SIX-SIDED EPITOME OF DESTINY