And Void loved them. Loved their little lives that were so meaningless compared to its own. The way they interacted, grew, and learned. Void was fascinated by that. Learning. That they were not created knowing of the universe, of how it worked and the vastness of it. But that as they grew and aged within the worlds of Alexios’s creation, so too did their understanding. Their love and their willingness to succeed.
But that willingness, bred stubbornness. It led to fighting amongst the players both void and Alexios loved so dearly. The fighting was centered around two kingdoms. One of building and one of technology. There fighting as ancient as the kingdoms themselves. They fought for food, for land, for people and for what they themselves thought righteous.
In his desperation to keep the people safe, Alexios himself tried to get the fighting to stop. To stop the blood being spilt in his own name.
“But my lord!” The king had exclaimed, “they know not that our cause is just! They are heathens who don't yet know of your power.”
Alexios saw through him. Saw his hate, his anger and selfishness. And knew he must do what he hated most. And punish the mortals who dared to disobey a god.
First, the wood Khalq used for its structures turned to dust, leaving a catastrophic wave of collapsing buildings. Castles went down like they were made of sand, homes like seashells on the shore. Next, the rain stopped coming. Water began to evaporate into the sky and never return. Those who were smart, fled to other lands. But there will always be the downdraught, or those too stubborn to leave.
Finally, after all the crops dried up, and the last tree lost its leaf. A deadly plague whipped through the remaining. The already sick and dying were met with an illness to terrible to name. The final blow of it all, in the eyes of the people. They had angered their god. Split blood in his name despite his refusal. And for that crime, they, themselves, would end up as not but food for the flies.
_____
The stories were old, with nothing but a few ancient and decrepit buildings to show for it. The two kingdoms had begun to recover slowly, when cries for independence started in the Southeast region of Khalq. A small farming nation, one separate from the two and away from their desolate lands, unable to produce enough for a family of five, let alone a town?
The two kings could hardly say no. Agreed that with this freedom, that trade would never be threatened between them. No one King, queen, or any royalty could safeguard food from the other. And within this agreement, Ingeneria, Khalq, and the freshly founded nation of Oars Rest, gave a section of their territories to be truly neutral. To allow for trade between the tree kingdoms without worry.
This system lasted generations. Lasted even after the kingdoms regrew, and the soil crawled its way back from the dead. As the dead trees rotted away, and more sprout up in their place. Hundreds of years of peace.
Then, without a warning. A portal was opened. Its thundering sound awakening even those who fell into the deepest of slumbers. It’s rumored that a creature crawled its way out of that portal. With gnarly, sharpened teeth, hair thick like a sheep's wool, eyes that could spot you from miles away, and a thirst of blood so grand nothing could dream to quench.
It attacked the people in the dead of night. Caring not for rank or for money. It only cared to satiate its ever-growing hunger, its lust for blood. People awoke that morning to half their towns decimated. Nothing but mutilated corpses, and a handful of very traumatized young children.
The rulers of these lands were made aware almost the second it happened. Khalq was awoken by the anguished screaming of a mother who lost their child, to this mass slaughter. Of the Queens now late son.
After this night, this monster was never seen or heard from again. Hiding somewhere within the darkest corners of this world. Ready to lash out once its hunger began again.
Due to the slaughter, and the mass hunts for this creature, came riots in the outer parts of both Ingeneria and Khlaq. Two separate groups of people wishing to be freed. So, they would be able to gather their own troops and fight for themselves, without needing to write to the capitols. The kingdoms were hesitant to grow even smaller, fearing the idea of losing their resources yet again.
After bloodied battles, and relatively peaceful demanding from either side. The Pact of the Lynx, and the Coalition of Spades was formed. One demanding the rights to expansion. The other the right to bear arms in the name of justice.
And that leads us too now. You see,” The lady sat within the walls of the S.D.N.Z. In front of her sat a group of kids, “With Glitch still in hiding. It’s only a matter of time before it rises from its slumber, to change our lands once again.”
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
amandla
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romaincrisis
2087
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