Prologue to a rather old fanfic I've been working on since elementary school, but has evolved from something random to something more complex and hopefully better.
I've done so many redos and such, I'm hoping this will be one of my last and enough to motivate me to get this and others done. More so after doing re-writes on a couple other fics and completing some even.
Any advice on how to improve it though if there are mistakes between spelling/grammar, use of honorifics, etc. would be great.
Far as time had been recorded, a kingdom once reigned on an island filled with purity and peace.
Each section of the island bore true purity, each being a kingdom with a single ruler watching over alongside their guardian.
Each who reigned was close to one another, maintaining peace for themselves and those dearest to them.
Where the forest was most lush, a single tree growing to its peak above all else, a child reigned, naming herself queen of all flora. Alongside her was a mysterious fairy that made plants grow rapidly, creating new trees in matter of days than years.
Where a lake was most pure, a woman reigned from within a hidden cavern underneath, naming herself queen of all aqueous. Alongside her was a beast, its power exceeding the queen's by purifying tainted water where sorrow was at its peak.
Wherever lightning struck true in high mountains, never harming life without reason, a man reigned to guide the bolts, naming himself king of all voltaic. Alongside him was a beast that was rumored to sense life in danger through the lightning, bringing its loyal master to their aid.
Among the volcanos, one constantly burned, yet never erupted, a man dwelled near its peak, naming himself king of blaze.
He would use his powers to quell any flames that burned without reason, protecting life from harm or use them to burn dying forests down for life to be reborn. Alongside him was a beast rumored to bring forth fire with a mighty roar, volcanos born when old ones are crushed and vanquished over time.
A man wandered about, testing the strength of man and beast alike, naming himself king of prowess. Alongside him was a beast rumored to change form at will, but was strongest and most pure as is.
A man tended to graves on moonless nights, burying and mourning all who pass, be it man or beast, naming himself king of mortality. Alongside him was a bird whose cries for the departed would make the darkness become thicker, where no amount of light could pierce through it.
A woman wandered about, always appearing whenever new life was renewed on brightest days, naming herself queen of vitality. Alongside her was a beast whose innocence and naiveté is told to bring smiles to children and be the cause for the sun to shine at its brightest.
A man spoke to the dead, whispering kind words to them, passing messages to the living they were safe, naming himself king of essence. Alongside him was rumored to be an insect who would speak to the departed beasts in place of its master, soothing them as much as the living.
In high mountains where the wind blew strongest, a man would send calls out to the other kingdoms, acting as their messenger, naming himself king of current. He is the only king to have no beast of any form alongside him. There were rumors that it has yet to be born or died protecting its master one day.
In other parts of mountains, where snow always fell, a man and his beast reigned, careful to make sure avalanches never occurred. He made sure that snow never fell excessive without reason, letting enough fall to entertain children whose parents worked to feed them and their animals. The man who lived in the coldest parts of the mountains named himself the king of rime.
Rumors once spread that he had once been the child or once a prodigy student of the queen of aqueous due to their similar powers. Yet, he is viewed as a king regardless, his position staying true and pure as the snow that fell daily.
Where soil was most fertile or most fragile to quakes, a woman reigned, naming herself queen of loam. Unlike the other kings and queens, she was the only one with three beasts, each helping with maintaining control over the soil.
One controlled its fertility, to ensure a bountiful harvest in later months. Another controlled the destructiveness of the ground, ensuring no life was in danger. The third beast's job was to predict the future or view the past regarding the soil's status, whether it needs to become more fertile or is at risk of falling apart.
For years the kings and queens worked in harmony, combining their strengths and weaknesses to ensure the happiness of their people.
The king of essence would hear the plights of the dead, leading information to the king of mortality if he heard of a body left unburied or its grave damaged. The king of mortality would ensure any woman, human or beast alike that carried life was truly snuffed out. If a chance it was alive, he would summon the queens and king of vitality, aqueous, and current to help save the unborn life.
If droughts plagued the land, the king of blaze would subdue any potential flames with help from the king of current and voltaic. From there, he would summon the king and queen of rime and aqueous to fill the land with water and save their people.
However, out of all the kings and queens, the king of prowess was left to wander alone most of the time.
He had little reason to help, even if summoned to help with harvests alongside the queen of flora or move rubble from a landslide alongside the queen of loam.
Instead, he brooded over his position, wondering whether he has right to be king of something so pitiful.
He was vulnerable to all elements, including his own, while the others were vulnerable to all but the element they represented. The closest to being the same as himself would be Vitality, Mortality, and Essence.
He spoke to them about their positions, only having them respond with nothing but respect of the higher elements.
They stated that they need not invulnerability towards their own element if there is no reason for it.
"Why be immune to the light and life, does that not defeat the purpose of living, being born anew after death?" the king of essence questioned with concern.
"Why be immune to the spirits, does that not defeat the purpose of communicating, given the opportunity of being reborn into a new life?" the queen of vitality asked with genuine kindness.
"Why be immune to death, does that not defeat the purpose of living full, trapped to watch those dear pass on, unable to join?" the king of mortality questioned solemnly.
The king of prowess could only grow angrier, ignoring the plights of his beast, instead decided to try and change things.
He wanted to be immortal; he had no love for these kings and queens. No love for their beasts, not even for his own.
But in order to obtain what he wanted, he made his friendship with his beast false, a trait he mastered, tricking even the other kings and queens. All but two that is, the kings of essence and current weren't fools.
One had spirits to communicate with for information to obtain or retell to others while the other used the wind to hear all around him.
He knew that they were the most threatening to his plans, so he needed to find a means to remove them first before going further.
With careful precision, he studied them, wanting to discover their weaknesses and use it against them.
When none came, he decided a new approach. A true king and queen of their element can only be strongest if they put their heart into it. To test his theory, he lured the king of essence out alone.
To ensure that nothing went wrong, he gave his beast a simple command to follow. The beast of prowess was to keep the beast of essence from following and interfering, no matter what.
Blinded with love and adoration, the pure beast obeyed, not understanding what cruel intent his master had in mind.
With careful precision, the king of prowess followed his namesake, attacking, subduing the king of essence easily. To ensure victory, the traitorous king slammed his fist into the other's heart, crushing it with ease.
As he was about to withdraw his hand, he came upon an object inside, gaining curiosity as he wrapped his fingers around it, pulling it out. What he extracted was a beautiful jewel, resonating with wondrous energy and power.
Recognizing it as the same power that belongs to the fallen king, the traitorous one discovered that this jewel is the source of all powers of essence. This meant that every one of them had the same jewel inside their hearts, giving them such bountiful power and strength.
While most who suffered such a fatal blow would die, the fallen king continued to scream and cry in agony, his wound slowly healing.
For a brief moment, the traitorous king remained confused, wondering how the fallen king still lived. He was quick to catch on, seeing that the jewel spared his life upon its removal. But being removed, meant he couldn't be spared a second time.
With callousness, he broke the fallen king's neck, pocketing the jewel within his robes. The king of essence's beast finally arrived, having sensed its master's pain and agonizing death.
However, before much could be done, the distraught beast had been subdued by the traitorous king's beast, knocking it unconscious.
Knowing he could not kill the beast, even with raw power alone, he fished through the dead king's robes for what he needed.
He pulled out was a majestic sphere used to summon the beast if they had been recalled, restoring their strength if tired. With a cruel smile, he used its mystic powers to drag the dead king's beast inside, trapping it.
Finding a possible method to taking control of the kingdoms by disabling, even killing the kings and queens, he soon took out the king of current next.
Despite having no fear of an attack, he still located the sphere to store it for the time being. He had known what happened to the beast of current…
It had died some time ago, a mysterious egg taking its place inside the sphere so that it may grow and hatch in some point in time.
The king and queen over vitality and mortality were soon attacked when they were in the middle of mourning the other two kings.
Their beasts had been subdued and captured soon after their masters had their jewels ripped from their hearts.
Once sealed, the king and queen shaking in pain filled fear were slain by the hands of someone they once trusted.
The other kings and queens heard rumors of the others dying, leaving behind chaos as the people feared for their lives and for the harmony of their island.
However, none knew who was killing their friends, forced to step forward and gather together.
The queen of aqueous attempted to bring the king of rime down, only to find his deceased body, his beast gone.
The king of blaze attempted to locate the queen of loam, only to discover her mutilated body, her beasts gone as well.
A single connection was made in relation to all the bodies, blood covered their chests where their hearts beat, yet no visible wound could be found. Any other harm to the body was either due to struggles in the fight or what appear to be animal attacks from scratches and bite marks.
Soon only three remained; aqueous, blaze, and voltaic alongside their beasts to protect them and vice versa.
Everyone else was dead, their beasts missing along with their respective spheres.
They stuck together, traveling as one, unable to maintain balance, the island falling into chaos.
A solution had to be found soon or else everything they and their ancestors worked for would be for naught.
The king of prowess stayed as far as he could away, feigning death to throw them off from finding and discovering his intentions.
He knew he would not be able to beat them, whether they were alone, in a group, or had their beast at their side or not.
These three were the strongest of the elements, the purest out of all of them, even considered the original elements before others came into existence. The traitorous king knew that the only way he could defeat them was to obtain more power and become stronger than them.
There was a problem with that plan however; the king of prowess was unable to fuse the stolen jewels into his body. He couldn't take on the powers of the dead kings and queens, meaning he couldn't manipulate and control their beasts.
After much pondering, he eventually decided to try something new, something no one would expect, not even from those he once called his friends.
The traitorous king turned to black magic. He forsakes his own strength in favor of something more, his mind growing darker and hungrier for power.
He heard the rumors of what his beast was capable of, wanting to try such methods and find out if it were true.
Some of the rumors he heard were that his beast was capable of changing form through the usage of stones. But not ordinary stones, but ones filled with mystic power, or how he could change through friendship during the peak of day or of night.
He heard of other methods, but counting them all, it would be impossible to choose only one to overpower the remaining elements.
He wanted it all, even if it meant endangering the life of his beast, the one he dared to call his friend.
He wanted his beast not only to have all forms, but wanted him to be powerful, vicious, willing to slaughter all on a simple command. The traitorous king wanted to ensure that he would remain as the only king, ruling all with no question.
By using black magic, he uncovered a forbidden method to transform his beast into what he desired.
It took years, but he was able to finally master it.
Using the sinful magic, he was able to use all the known mystic methods to transform his beast. He worked meticulously to ensure that nothing went wrong.
As he worked, he watched with insane wonder as his beast changed into what he desired most.
Word eventually reached the remaining elements, realizing what the traitor they once called friend had done, the horror he wrought upon their island.
By the time they reached the king of prowess, they were too late.
He had succeeded making the ultimate beast for his plans, leaving them to only stare in horror of what came next.
The newly changed beast, now having powers he didn't have before, discovered how cruel his master really was.
Finding he had been nothing more than a pawn in the king's plans, the once pure beast turned on his master in rage.
When he was done, all that remained was barely recognizable.
During his madness, the beast, had devoured and swallowed all the stolen jewels, including his dead master's.
Somehow, he was successful in taking their powers, making himself even stronger than what his new form gave.
The immense power overwhelmed and drove the once peaceful and intellectual beast, into complete and utter madness.
Now, instead of bringing love and joy, teaching young how to defend themselves and loved ones, brought death and chaos across the land.
The three kings and queen tried to quell the beast, fighting with their powers, their beasts fighting with all their strength, barely holding it back.
Much to their horror, the vicious beast managed to destroy their island, destroying thousands of lives.
Using its new powers, it crossed the sea, finding new life to destroy, using its powers to poison the sea wherever he went.
The queen of aqueous and her beast struggled to keep up, re-purifying the water where it had been tainted.
However, they were unable to save all by how far spread it was going and how fast it moved about so quickly.
The kings of voltaic and blaze tried to stall the insane beast with their mighty strength combined. Yet they failed each time as the powerful beast easily broke through whatever defensive wall they put up.
Every plan they tried had continuously failed, only bringing further chaos to everything around them.
Soon the fight went global, causing destructive storms at sea and land, fires burning for days, winters growing colder. Forests crumbled, volcanos erupting nonstop, landmasses suffered, islands sinking.
Death continuously rose with spirits wailing in rage and agony over such horror going on. Any chances for new life being born lessoned dramatically, putting species in danger of going extinct.
Eventually the final act of the fight landed them onto a new island with little inhabitants in the human variety.
To ensure victory, knowing they could not kill the beast without risking the safety of the world, they combined their powers as one. From there, they used that new formed strength to seal the beast away.
Once the insane beast had been subdued finally, they extracted the jewels, allowing them to find new homes.
Seeing as the jewels have a life of their own as well as being bound to a master, they were sent off to look for new hosts to take them.
The spheres that contained the captured beasts scattered about alongside the jewels, awaiting new masters to reclaim them when the time was right.
The stress from the fight sadly was too much for the kings and queen, forcing their beasts to cry in sorrow as their masters and friends died.
Knowing they will soon be sealed into the spheres belonging to their masters, they used what strength they had to move the bodies of their masters.
The beast of aqueous moved her queen to the purest shores in hopes that her spirit will be at peace, watching over children as they swim happily.
The beast of blaze moved his king to base of a fierce and fiery volcano in secret prayer that he would protect life from maddening flames.
The beast of voltaic moved his master to a mountain where thunderstorms always occurred in hopes his spirit would watch over innocent lives.
As for the kings and queens who had been murdered by their once faithful friend, their bodies were since lost due to the fall of their home. Therefore, only shrines could be built in honor of them.
Eventually, the remaining beasts were forced into their spheres, trapped inside for years, awaiting new masters to be born, praying such evil will never occur again.
Unbeknownst to them, the insane beast miraculously survived, using what little strength remained to go into a dormant sleep.
He knew the remaining elements had died, their beasts sealed, but his strength had waned too much.
Despite how insane he had become, he was no fool to his own health. Therefore, he was willing to wait as long as necessary for his strength to return.
To be more precise, he was going to wait for new elements being born, ready to take revenge on all.
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