--==** Romancing SaGa 3 **==--
Game created by Squaresoft
Novelization written by Lord Kyrn (lordkyrn@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer Lite: Names, places, events = ©Square / Novelization = ©me. Play the game. Now read or piss off, I don't care which.
Prologue, Part 1:
The Threat of the Death Eclipse
Black Hole Sun,
Won't you come...
--Soundgarden, "Black Hole Sun"
Somewhere, out in space, there is a small blue-and-green planet named Atheras that orbits a yellow sun. Every three hundred years, a unique type of solar eclipse occurs on this planet, having a horrifying effect on everything dwelling in, upon, or above its surface. Called the Death Eclipse by the people living on the planet, the results are devastating: All newborn life - be it fresh sprouts, day-old animal cubs, human infants barely through their first week alive, or even newly-hatched ants - dies. Many explanations have been offered, none have been fully proven. All that is known is that at the moment of totality during the eclipse, the holocaust strikes. Absolutely nothing newborn & living escapes this fate… With one exception.
But one day, 610 years ago, a child of noble birth somehow survived but to this day, his name is unknown. He grew up, but his perspective on life was twisted by his unique status as the only survivor of the Death Eclipse ever recorded, coupled with an aristocratic upbringing. He used both of these traits and more to every advantage, and his power grew. He gathered an army with seemingly impossible speed, and one day, declaring himself the Devil King, he opened the Abyss Gates, bringing forth the four Demon Lords of the Abyss, the Dragon Rulers, and the foul minions of both. Afterwards, the Devil King simply…vanished. None knew where to, and any who did carried it to their graves.
Humanity suffered under this horrible reign for nearly 300 more years, when then the Death Eclipse occurred once again. Miraculously, another child survived. He was born to merchant parents in the northern town of Lance. He grew up differently than the Devil King: not sheltered, but seeing the horror of the rule of the Abyss demons up close, and its debilitating impact on the human race as a whole. Finally, he decided to take up arms against the Demon Lords, and with the assistance of a powerful group of his friends, they started a revolution. As this new savior gathered an army to bring against the Demon Lords, he became popularly known as the Holy King. The Holy King and his forces were amazingly successful. They drove back the Demon Lords into the Abyss itself, and finally sealed the Abyss Gates, ending Abyssal rule of the planet.
10 years ago, the Death Eclipse struck again. The world is waiting, watching for the appearance of the new child of destiny, feeling both eagerness and apprehension.... Will the child be another Devil King... or a Holy King?