The records of the Elder Scribes, the oldest known men to walk our lands detail events all but passed, dating several millennia before the world was forged.
Such is a grace, a privilege afforded to those that hail from and delight in the brilliance of the Silent One.An endless space of EMPTINESS loomed before all things began.It was followed by the emergence of Seven Odd Stars that proudly showered the EMPTINESS with scintillating lights like blinding flares.Each star had a unique presence, echoing in a different pitch, rumbling as it sought to make itself known to the EMPTINESS.Thus, the EMPTINESS knew not a day without the constant primal echoes of the bright Seven Stars that fumed with power.Power they could not use in their primal state.Without an anchor for which time could be dictated, the Elder Scribes detail the second momentous event to occur in our history.The Silencing.An entity whose origins and characteristics are all but unknown bloomed within the loud EMPTINESS and brought about a deep silence, exerting its overwhelming might over the Odd Stars that could not struggle against it.The Elder Scribes gave this entity a name, fashioned by the guidance afforded by the Silent One.The name they gave, was the Unknown Eminence.This entity, its form too overbearing for the eyes of the Elder Scribes to precisely detail in writing, was vast.It held the Seven Odd Stars and harnessed their power to forge our world.To forge LEASTRIA.'Behold... rough crusts hard enough to stand on, flowing streams clear enough to drink from and enormous skies, gorgeous enough to gaze at... all from the hands of an Eminent One who remains hidden even in this cruel age...' the Elder Scribe, Beris writes.The Seven Odd stars gained sentience and intelligence after the Silencing, losing much of their strength in the formation of our world.The Unknown Eminence never showed itself in the roaming eyes of all the seers in the prevailing histories, the reins to the future being held by the Seven who took it upon themselves to scramble for our world.Each star with its own ambition.Each star with its own desire.A battle which cannot be described broke out within the borders of the EMPTINESS, causing ruptures in the skies, the lands and even the flowing seas of LEASTRIA.Seven Odd stars fought.However, only one emerged as the victor.A white star with gorgeous beauty.A pristine power than claimed the respect of the other six in the brutal battle from which each star lost a part of itself.All but the white star lost much, portions of their strength receding into the EMPTINESS that was empty no longer.This white star, lost its Voice, attaining the name, the Silent One Who Speaks In Sight, in the following ages.The white star forced its authority as the victor upon the Six Odd stars, causing them to create Odd Demesnes in the EMPTINESS where they were to reside and keep their light from LEASTRIA, the white star's prize.The fractured world that remained after the Battle of Divine Greed, as the Elder Scribes call it, spurned peculiar creations that roamed the lands, the seas and the skies.The Seven Odd stars watched them roam about aimlessly, their forms ugly and detestable.They were crooked and distorted shadows that endlessly traversed the world without goals or dreams.This was displeasing to the eyes of the Odd Stars.The white star, Victor of the Battle of Divine Greed, was the first to exercise her power on these distorted shadows.The influence from the power it held changed the form of the distorted shadows, giving them beauty.Forms which she desired to impart.Human forms.The envious eyes of the other stars in their Odd Demesnes saw this and they exerted their influence over the distorted shadows on the edges of the world, afraid of being discovered by the white star, for their Greed knew no bounds.How could they be tamed by a Star without a Voice?!From the hands of the white star, many humans were formed, roaming the world freely.As the years passed silently, the influence of the world which grew, exerted over other distorted shadows, creating beasts that the humans hunted to eat and plants to seize.This race entered change according to their placing in the world.They became Orgons, large and tall humans with immense physical strength and a deep lust for food and blood.They became Yuns, wiry men and women with an aptitude for the world's forces.They became Hormund, proud and short humans of great natural intelligence.They all grew under the watchful eyes of the white star who could not speak, but was satisfied yet.However...'The Silent One had grown reluctant to keeping her eye on the greed of her brethren. Her love and intrigue for us all was too cruel, birthing an oversight that cursed us to odd ruin...' The Elder Scribe, Lumus writes.The white star was besieged by the other Six Odd Stars. Each odd star took on a different form as they all pressed their collective might on the white star, but still... they lost in a battle that took place in one of the Odd Stars' Demesne.However, the white star did not achieve victory without a great cost. This cost was what the six Odd Stars aimed for.A cost that caused the white star to lose its luminance and retire to an unknown place.This was also the case for the Six Odd Stars who lost much, receding to their Demesnes where they concocted schemes and effected the world of LEASTRIA without showing their true selves.It remains unknown why such powerful forces never manifested in their fullness since those times of old and even until now.'Perhaps we have the Unknown Eminence to thank for such grace...' writes Aminor, the Elder Scribe.The white star before she vanished, gifted her creations with the brightest piece of her form, the Fragment of Silence which she broke into two parts.She gave one to a certain Hormund man and the other, she placed in a great mountain at the centre of the lands where her creations lived.A great mountain that was looked upon by all humans as the Dormant Peak, a symbol that was to remind them that their star lived on. A symbol that graced the lands with rich fruit of green and light.The Hormund man who received the Fragment of Silence built a great empire with his hands.This was not easily achieved, however.With the disappearance of the white star, many descended into war with one another. They succumbed to greed and malice in the name of their families and their blood.They coveted precious treasures, gaining the will to spill blood for the sake of sparkling trinkets that pleased their WITNESSING EYE.Their intellect bore naught but steel to raze each other's flesh instead of tending to themselves and building more.Those that had nothing fell or grew weaker, resorting to profane activity that allowed their existences to see through to the next day.Many evils were wrought.Yet, this paled in comparison to what all men coveted the most.The piece of the Fragment of Silence that was within one Hormund man.The entire race flooded to his doorstep to obtain what was rightfully his. All the evil of man raged against him but he was never felled.'Three nights were sufficient for the Cradler of the Fragment of Silence to brutally tear apart all that desired the brightest honour afforded to him by the white star. He showed mercy on those that repented from their greed but spared no fool. Three nights of flowing blood and rend flesh, I see... the Butchering of The Loud...' wrote Ement, the Elder Scribe.This one man brought peace and order with the powers of the Fragment.This one man created a lineage of powerful humans that inherited extraordinary power and ruled alongside him for many years.The Lineage of Thiendred, the Unfelled.18 sons and daughters were born to the line, all powerful and strong, blessed by the power of their father's Fragment.They called them gods as each of the Thiendred lived for hundreds of years and was followed by good fortune.The only constant that remained was their undying father, the one wielder of the piece of the Fragment of Silence.His rule was not perfect, however.His influence was not enough to win over all men in the lands and limited was the grace from the Dormant Peak in reaching every human soul.-Cough! COUGH! CoUgh! Pardon me...-It was not enough.For the desires and the evil of men knew no bounds after the white star vanished. Discrimination arose, pitting Orgon against Hormund and Hormund against Yun.Some of the man's children left the grace of the Silent One and traversed the world in search of something more.How could those born from the stars not desire what their creators wanted?They desired.Multitudes followed them or walked their own paths.Others carried grievances for the cruelty that still plagued them, even under this gracious rule of the first Hormund man.Even under the limited luminance of the Dormant Peak that rested in his domain, failing to reach those that still lived with distorted shadows.One man wasn't perfect.The result of this angst came bearing down when from the far unexplored lands, beasts and creatures never seen came to the lands nurtured by the Dormant Peak.'The evils that the first Cradler of Silence failed to quell brought the desperate man to make known to Odd forces that there were lands aside from their own. Blessed lands for the taking...' Rinion, the Elder Scribe documents.A war brimmed over each horizon, one titled by all men as the Ini Aga'Fet, in the first human tongue, meaning 'Our Second Fall'.Odd creatures with humanoid and unseen forms stormed the lands, wreaking havoc and bloodshed.They spread evil, darkness and desire over the lands, corrupting the waning influence of the Dormant Peak over the crust.In these warring times, humans cultivated and acquired powers to survive the onslaught.They acquired Sorcery from the practising in the energies of the world and Enlightenment from the deep understanding of the mysteries of LEASTRIA.They harnessed these to try and match the strength of the Fragment they had seen in the hands of the Hormund man.Yet, another power rose from these dark times.Nay.It wasn't proper to call it a power as it wrought more evil than good to whoever it latched on to.It came with the start of the war, as among the thousands of creatures that invaded some planted seeds of this Odd phenomenon to spread among humankind as well.There came the rise of Genuine Curses.They were rare but not unseen. Feared and fled from.The first man with the Fragment of Silence rose up again with his remaining eight offspring and fought against the odd enemies alongside his people.Nay.It wasn't enough.Many of these 'gods' fell under the hands of other Cradlers of the six Odd stars.Holders of power fashioned by the six enemies of the Silent One Who Speaks In Sight!The first human with the Fragment of Silence saw the blood of his people staining his fruitful lands and gnashed his teeth, emitting a primal roar like a rumble from a star.He wielded the Fragment of Silence and bashed it against the crust of his lands, breaking them away from the ill-formed hands of the darkness that had prevailed against them.The lands of the humans that came to be known as the Sheltered Lands were born, bound by nothing but great waters; the Vast Sea to the West and the Vaster Sea to the East.The first man to bring forth the Lineage of Thiendred perished along with a piece of the Fragment of Silence after saving us.Merely three of his spawn remained as they ruled the remaining lands, tainted by the disastrous war that had raged for four years.Some of their kin built their own kingdoms in the Sheltered Lands, away from the Dormant Peak as they believed in their own odd powers that only fell a bit short of the might of Cradlers.They established their own lines but never left the name, Unfelled.Life never remained the same in the Sheltered Lands because of the evils wrought by distorted shadows touched upon by Odd Stars.Cities were built and fell to internal strife.Grand treasures were built by those that were Enlightened and stolen by greedy Kings that did not hearken to the will of the 'gods'.Sorcery grew, abused by foul men with tainted minds after the war.Genuine Curses were born.Yet, none eclipsed the lazy evils that reached out to the desperate.Remnants planted by odd stars to pillage the beauty of the creatures made by the Silent One.Those far away from the influence of the Dormant Peak that provided peace and growth did not shy away from the evils that coerced them with promises of power and gold.They grasped onto these hands delightedly!1097 Aga'Fet.In the Inner Ring, the second portion of the Sheltered Lands outside the dominant influence of the Dormant Peak, a lone cabin nested the Free Woodlands near the village of Albir.Snow fell without pause, burying the rich red soils under its bountiful might along with the sturdy roof of the three-roomed wooden construct that housed two individuals.Or perhaps three.The trees swayed without emitting much sound other than the creaks of old wood that had stories to tell as if giving the last mourns of empathetic sorrow to the personages shielded from the frost by stacked and familiar blocks of their fallen brethren.Within the cabin, several tapestries were laid on the floor with thick weavings for the cold.A warm blanket covered a large man who wheezed while being caressed by the heat from the snug fur-made knit.Thick candles illuminated the room where one last meeting was taking place between a duo that had been bound by the mutual chain of marriage for twelve years.A
A whip made of dark hair was brought down, falling mercilessly upon a very thin, dark-haired young man who screamed when he felt it crack against the flesh on his back!He stumbled to a fall on the winding rock steps and balled his hands into fists, grinding his yellow teeth while he trembled as he held back anything more he wanted to say or do."Faster you mutt! You're getting lazier with each passing day!" a thick bearded man with a fierce make of a face barked with sprinkles of his foul saliva spraying at the downed young man.He donned a linothorax armour, complete with a polished brown leather breastplate that had the outline of robust chest pad and abs. His shoulders were free, showing the dark hairs that grew from his thick limbs, with his feet wearing brown-coloured leather greaves.The man swung his whip again which smacked the young man's back, scraping his skin as it lashed, staining the filthy tunic he donned in blood. He tried to crawl up the large stone steps but his str
A cacophony of sound blared against Trodden's mind while he simultaneously felt the raging pain from his flesh which stemmed from his right eye.Two voices battled in his head.One that yelled incomprehensible words in a hoarse and frightening tone and another which was familiar to Trodden.It spoke not with the intent to rattle him, but to remind and inform."Find....the Bringing..." it called.All but the young man knew of the sting of flesh that caused one to wince or groan.All but Trodden knew that under the skin, soft muscles yearned not to be pulled, blood vessels tearing apart as it would cause unimaginable torment.How could the eye cause a chorus of discomfort throughout the body?The short, square-faced man, a soldier in the Ruined Hold, narrowed his beady eyes.Many of the soldiers around also turned to Trodden who had felled his block with confusion, along with the other slaves.Was a scream of pain finally emerging from this numb fool?The squared-faced man walked up to
What would emerge from a mix of hunger and fear? What would triumph?Trodden's throat favoured hunger while his mind, aided by his eyes supported the fear, urging him to back away and cower like a rat.Yet, there would be no suspense, for the result was clear.That which was aided by the screeching voice that sang profanity and vanity in his head won, inducing the young 17-year-old to build up strength in his knees and thighs, gazing intently at the short man who walked briskly towards him.Hunger triumphed. A foreign concept to Trodden, but one which he yielded to in reality.He needed to feed.Like a beast, he eyed the brown-coloured ball he saw floating within the head of the short shadow that approached.He saw not the whip that was held, which was a threat to him. Just the eye that he foresaw to taste divine.The slaves wrestling over the long-dead cow paused as a thick tension built up around the soldier and slave.Aneus who had his mouth painted in blood peeked from the crow
Aneus gazed above with a forlorn expression, taking in the circular covering of darkness that focused his sight to the many stars that littered the night sky.He sat on the ground, at the very bottom of the Watering Hole while lost in thought, his mind tunnelling towards one instance where he had felt disgusted with a certain friend of his.The hundred meter stretch of distance that he and his fellow mates had to climb to reach the surface where all activity in the Ruined Hold took place was above him, the circular opening that he gazed at brimming with a limited luminance that partly shone on him and a few of the hundreds that sat along with, their faces painted red from the earlier feed at the Feeding Rite.This was the life of those that slaved away at the behest of the evils in the Rings.Aneus shook from the chilling cold of the night and retreated to the patches of hay that were sprinkled in this hole that he and his mates called home, seeking warmth in the food of hooved animal
Atop a lengthy and sturdy table that extended far beyond the seats of those currently dining over its surface, a lone man stood out as he fed elegantly on the warm and delicious food in his plate, occasionally sipping from the goblet at his side that held a crimson liquid.As for his appearance, his physical stature alone would require a ballad that sang of his lustrous, flowing burgundy hair that only halted their descent at his shoulders, a tall frame that demanded for his seat to be different from that of others even at the dining table, robust muscles that bulged like swells under beige coloured skin on every part of his body that did not taste cloth and rough little hairs with a light red hue which grew atop his flesh like grasses.Over his heart-shaped face, hooded eyes with a marble grey sheen could be seen along with a button nose below that twitched from time to time as he passed food into his mouth that was enclosed by a light stubble.Trodden's saliva slid down his throat a
The loud calls around, emboldened by adrenaline and aggressive vigour rocked Trodden as he was held by one of the soldiers. He saw the cheering, well-built men and women that shouted with their fists raised and quivered in the wake of their collective valour.The pride and joy burning in the hearts of the soldiers before him was a marvel that he had not needed while trying to fasten the remainders of his courage.The remnants of his hope.For this night was written to be his last.After the bald man had informed his soldiers of the good news, he then addressed the centrepiece of the good news, the one who sparked the early incitation of this merry, all eyes turning to stab at Trodden who shrank under."This man is the sacrifice that the lord has chosen. He shall be kept here for the night. Treat him as you would a rat at the end of its life," Derrecks said with a sneer.Raucous laughter boomed from the soldiers.For they saw Trodden as naught but one of the many anomalies in the Outer
The full moon that peeked from behind the dark clouds which traced the starry sky, announced that it was time.Desmas felt it.The time was ripe!His grip on the object in his hand tightened as he took in deep breaths as if to swallow the entire Watering Hole through his nostrils.After the feasting of the cow, he had grabbed one of the poor creature's bones and tucked it under his tunic.He shook like a leaf, not only from the cold which was barely hindered from fondling his flesh by the patches of hay he hid in but from fright.With this deed, he could never return to normalcy.Many a dead body had he seen, yet not one of them hailed from the works of his hands.All around the circular expanse that was lit up by the moonlight, the other slaves tossed and turned in their sleep while others simply could not find it within themselves to shut their eyes and retire to the singular fantasy that they had left.Desmas rose slowly, the stalks of dry grass falling from his figure.Thick veins