Prologue
Arcadia: a world of vast treasure and great unknown. People travel from place to place in airships, much resembling the ships we use today to travel by sea. These people find their homes on floating islands under the light of six moons. These moons set the tone for the lives of the people inhabiting this world. The Green Moon holds the life-giving spirit of nature; under its light lives a vast civilization of forests and jungles. The Red Moon contains the destructive power of fire, and beneath its watch lays a seemingly endless desert where half a day's journey could kill a man. The Purple Moon controls the will of ice, and the land affected by its light is covered by a giant sheet of ice. The Blue Moon holds the spirits of Wind and Water, which watches over a land with an active volcano disguised as a seemingly peaceful mountain. The Yellow Moon controls the awesome power of lightning, where the skies are covered by black storm clouds. The only thing that could be seen above these clouds was the moon itself. Finally, the Silver Moon contains the power to control life and death, and below it the continent of Soltis lays dormant, watching the rest of the world.
Ancient mages found ways to harness the powers of the moon from moonstones, chunks of rock that fall from the moons to Arcadia like meteors. Each moonstone had the properties of the moon it came from, allowing the people to concentrate them into a useable form. Whether it be fuel, weapons, or even just decorations, a moonstone rarely went to waste.
However, one day, these mages found a way to focus that energy into ways never before imagined. They concentrated the power of thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of moonstones, into a single crystal that could fit into one's hand. They named these crystals, fittingly enough, the Moon Crystals. Like the moons themselves, there was one crystal for each of the six civilizations. The crystals shined as bright as the sun, and were arguably equally as powerful.
The ancient peoples argued among themselves over how the Moon Crystals should be used, but their leaders did not pay heed. They only desired two things, power and control. Not just the power that came from ruling their own civilizations, but the power that came from ruling all of Arcadia.
They used their newfound power to create giant living weapons capable of destroying entire islands. They named these creatures "the Gigas." Only the most powerful leader in each civilization would control the Gigas, and it was by the Moon Crystals that they did so, for whoever held the Moon Crystal could bid the Gigas to do his will.
Recumen, the red Gigas, could harness the power of the Red Moon into a destructive beam that could destroy almost anything. And with its four heads, anything rarely escaped his gaze. Grendel, the green Gigas, had a punch that could create earthquakes, and enough strength to take an island from its place and hurl it at its enemy. Bluheim, the Blue Gigas, was a bird-like creature that could fly faster than any ship and create maelstroms by merely flapping its wings. Plergoth, the purple Gigas, was an archwhale into which the Purple Moon Crystal had been implanted, greatly increasing his size and strength. He could also let out a cold blast of air from his mouth that could tear apart small ships. Yeligar, the yellow Gigas, could concentrate the powers of the Yellow Moons into a stream of electricity, electrocuting anything and everything in its path. Zelos, the silver Gigas, was the most mysterious of all. No one knew exactly what he was capable of, only that he lay in Soltis, awaiting to act if his master saw fit.
Each civilization declared war against the rest of the world, and the Gigas were sent out to annihilate everything in their path, and they did. All but Zelos set out to destroy the rest of the world. Civilians desperately sought shelter, many felt safer under a tree than they did out in the open. Some took the liberty of going to other continents to discuss ceasing the wars, but many left never to return. The ones that did make it were seen as "deceivers," people that tried to get other civilizations to let their guard down while their forces launch an attack. They were often hung as examples of what would happen to traitors.
No one was going to surrender, and no one was going to let up. It seemed that all would be lost in this war, and no matter how many people had to die, one person would come to rule all.
When all hope was lost, something nearly miraculous happened. The Moons began to glow with a peculiar aura; people from all lands stopped to look at the phenomenon. Then, out of nowhere, thousands of gigantic moonstones began falling from each moon, all across Arcadia. The only things to be heard were the explosions created by the moonstones colliding with the ground and the screams of the people fleeing for their lives. These were later dubbed "the Rains of Destruction."
The Rains were said to last for days, killing millions, even sealing the fate of two of the Gigas. In the land of the Blue Moon, one of the stones collided with the opening on top of the volcano, setting off a chain reaction causing a giant eruption. Bluheim was badly injured after being nearly covered in the lava, and ended up encased in stone at the peak of the volcano. In the desert under the Red Moon, the hail of moonstones knocked Recumen unconscious, burying him under a vast layer of sand, lacking the power to escape.
But even after the Rains' end, three of the Gigas still remained. The ancients of the Silver Civilization, known as Silvites, had ascended to a point above the Rains, avoiding the fate of the many others. They themselves decided to take the responsibility of sealing away the remaining Gigas. First, they set out to the land of the Green Moon, where Grendel still raged on without anyone to control him, and the population down to very few tribes of savages. The Silvites managed to put Grendel into a slumber, and buried him beneath an ancient Shrine. Yeligar also wandered without a master in his home under the Yellow Moon. The Silvites also put him in a state of slumber and, knowing the capabilities of his power, placed a seal around him that was virtually unbreakable by man. No one knows what happened to Plergoth. It is rumored he may still wander the sky even now.
As for their own Gigas, not wanting to let its power to be used by anyone, they sealed him within Soltis, and sank Soltis itself beneath the clouds. The sinking of the continent created massive changes in weather patterns. Sky rifts, almost impassable air currents that could rip airships apart if they dare tried, were formed. These sky rifts separated people from the rest of the world, creating physical barriers between nations. There was also a strange sky rift known as the Dark Rift, a large, black sky rift where it is said to be darker than night within. This created an impassable barrier between the east and west edges of the world. Many a sailor has tried to pass through it, and few have ever returned. It is still shrouded in mystery even today.
The survivors of each land hid the Moon Crystals in what they felt was the safest and most appropriate place for them, with the exceptions of the Yellow and Purple civilizations, who had already placed their crystals within their Gigas.
After sealing away the Gigas, the Silvites returned to their shrine above the clouds, and allowed the people to rebuild their lost lands.
Much time has passed since then, and few people even know of this story. But now the Gigas threaten the world once again. Corrupted nations have begun searching for the Moon Crystals in an attempt to revive the Gigas. The fate of the world is in new hands; people that know nothing of the Gigas may now become their newest victims.
Next: Chapter 1: Beginnings, Looking to the Past