Chapter One - History Passed
In the beginning, there was nothing but earth. The sky remained red and the sea a deserted wasteland were all went to die. Uninhabitable, a plague washed upon the shore and spread through the realm, claiming all it met and wiping the flesh from the bones of both the living and the deceased. Chaos reigned. Madness grew. Brotherhood broke. And through it all war flourished and became the mother of darkness, sending brother against brother in a torrent of fire and steel that saw the earth shudder and shiver as it cried openly.
From this war no good birthed. Dominance was the goal, greed the path by which man walked and ignorance the very sun that beat over them. Six races held their strength in the broken hostility that came from the six corners of the world, and in a deluded dream they came together in a clash unlike any other. From the centre of the world the White Bone Palace was stained an unyielding red, and all who tried to pass its steps found themselves dying by the Light of Radiance that was guarded within.
To guard her people and mend the bond of blood, the Goddess appeared before the White Bone Palace for the first and final time. Her beauty was divine, her wisdom unchallenged, and her grace unequal to all others. Six races dared not to defy her, and as she looked on at the battlefield by her steps of origin she called to her the six leaders of the broken realm. Her voice carried like the negligent wind and the ferocity within quelled the fighting through shame. A truce was bought for three brief days wherein trust cracked and remained fragile against the thorny undergrowth of the earth's many defeated layers.
For three days six leaders and a Goddess quarrelled over what to do about their people. No blood was shed, but tears and anguish and harsh words were exchanged. And they were never to be forgotten. Finally the Goddess was forced to bring down upon them her solution. To protect her world and to protect her people, she split the very source of light – the Light of Radiance.
Pulling it apart destroyed her, leaving nothing but her spirit to whisper across the land as she broke the very thing she had hoped would bind her children. To each race she secured a section of light to be passed on through their blood to the first born child of each King. It was not an item, rather an entity that would grant powers that could not be diluted or eroded over the breadth of time. And these pieces, these six Kings of Light, could never come together under the same sun again. If all six pieces were to unite the Light of Radiance would be completed and the Goddesses final judgement would awaken, and the world would fall into disaster once more. And this time the Goddess would not be able to save them.
To each race a different ability was granted, and the effects spread throughout the people – to remind them of their unity and their differences and enable them to stand strong against the test of time. For this reason no two Lights would ever interbreed and cross, and the six Kings of Light would never fear tainted or diluted blood.
To band them from danger, she split the specific six into two varied groups. The first three Kings of Light she named Illyrians. Together they formed the shape-shifting ability to momentarily borrow the form of some of the Goddesses most feared creatures; dragons, beasts and birds. But, as a consequence for their great gift, they sacrificed all magic, and their base form became forever locked between human and animal.
The last three Kings of Light she titled Arian's. They had no extraordinary ability like the Illyrians, however their magic and wisdom grew in strength. They found themselves able to conquer great mysteries and enhance and subdue all elements with the correct training. However, their sacrifice came in their inability to change their shape and so, in time, their people grew envious and ignorant once more.
With the Kings of Light safely protecting a piece of the Light of Radiance, and the possibility of all of them coming together proving improbable and bordering impossible, the Goddess let her spirit become one with the land. The Kings of Light named themselves the Sages of Grace, and the White Bone Palace became a forbidden place of great holy worshipping where no man of either grouping was able to tread.
For a thousand rolling and sublimely peaceful years the White Bone Palace remained undisturbed and tranquil. The six Sages of Grace never returned, and through their bloodline the Light of Radiance was spread in its split state.
But all was not well in those thousand years.
Although the six pieces never fully reunited, three became lost. Wars and plagues and famines and rebellions took their toll, and through it bloodlines were smeared and the Branded were formed. Born to be neither full Illyrians nor Arian's, they held a parent from each and found no place with either. Neither race accepted them as their responsibility, nor wanted them. They had no abilities to change their form. They could not use even the simplest of magic. They were found to be pathetic and weak and were so shunned because of it. However, the Arian's found one good use for the unwanted children of the world. And it is here that our story begins.
As the Legend of the Telling of Time began to fade from memory, the world began to awaken. And it demanded that the youth of the present remembered the ages of yesterday for the beginnings of tomorrow. Else the rivers would run red once more, and all that was lost would come back to forever claim the despondent pieces of the Light of Radiance. But this time, there could be no survivors. And judgement would be cast equally upon them all.
Prologue for my new fantasy fic. Let me know what you think!
Credit for some of the plot to this story goes to the amazingly fabulous RoseNymph. Thank you so much again!
I would strongly recommend, even though it may shorten my reviews and followers, that if you are following 'My Neko', unless you are confident in that plot line, that you do not read this story until I have finished that one. I don't want people getting muddled up with character profiles between the two fic's.
Other than that, please enjoy this story!