Book One: Fate
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Chapter SIXteen: The Times of Yggdrasil
“History records the current year as 1409CT. The CT was used in all historical documentation written or created after the year 709. The CT following dates stands for ‘Chaotic Times’. Years before 709 became known as BCT, ‘Before Chaotic Times’. The times I am about to tell you about, Tylor, start before that year and will explain everything you need to know for you to make your choice.”
“Choice?”
“Please, let me begin. Eight hundred years ago, the furthest back any historic documentation freely available to the kingdom can remember, the year 609BCT.”
In the year 609BCT the world began being charted. Explorers from all realms of the world expanded their horizons and searched out new races in regions they had never been to. The world was split into areas, which came to form the four major kingdoms eventually. Within each were many different races. The explorers sent out met with others from different places, it was the first time they had seen some races. Up till then no one had questioned what lay beyond the land they knew and were used to, they were afraid of what lay out of their reach. Eventually, the races of the world all met and made peace with one another, and although most chose to stay in their area of origin, others chose to travel the world and meet new species and see the wonders the land had to offer.
The explorers named the world ‘Pesmega’. There was no kingdoms formed for many years, there were simply areas, or realms, and all areas were parts of Pesmega. The world and its people were peaceful and content for one hundred years, until a creature known as Yggdrasil appeared in the year 709.
That was when the chaotic times began.
Yggdrasil was not like any of the other races; it was not Lis, Dau, or any other type of creature known to the world. It was said that it was nine feet tall and had horns all over its face. Its armor looked like skin and had blood red lining. It carried a huge sword that seemed to bend to its will that could cleave six men with one swipe while pulling their souls from their bodies and had enough power to make the earth open up below it.
There was no explanation as to how the creature emerged in history; much is left to speculation and question. Some believed it was the wrath of God for some wrong doing committed by the people of the Pesmega; others thought it was the apocalypse, the end of the world. The speculation goes on to this day, by those brave enough to still utter the creature’s name.
The people of the time called Yggdrasil the very devil himself, and that is accurate enough. This demon had a terrible power and the peaceful people of Pesmega had no means of fighting back. Yggdrasil went on a murderous rampage until he had all the tribe leaders of the north, man’s rulers of the south, Sarento’s Kings of the east and the west’s O’cir bowing at its feet. In a way, he enslaved the entire world.
This happened progressively. The people of Pesmega did eventually fight back, with primitive weapons and no real battle tactics. Yggdrasil brought with him into battle a huge army of tainted black armored knights which served his every whim. One historian recorded that these knights were demons dressed like men but did not need food or sleep and relentlessly followed Yggdrasil’s orders. The people, with their low quality weaponry and strategy, were no match. In the end, after many losses and hopeless fighting, all gave in to the creature and became its slaves.
Yggdrasil’s purpose was still unclear; most thought it simply lusted after power. He only butchered those who opposed him and did not level cities or towns when it was avoidable. He herded the people of Pesmega like animals and kept them within their homes (or their prisons, as they came to see it).
With the new army of slaves under his command, work began on creating a gigantic fortress in the mountain’s which would be so tall that it would look down on all other realms of the world. The year recorded for Yggdrasil’s enslavement of Pesmega’s people was 759CT.
While the construction of the fortress took place, Yggdrasil created two beings to be his generals. They would control the workers and ensure all work commanded of them would be done. If the scale of Yggdrasil’s power was considered to be god-like, then the two generals were demi-gods and also had stupendous power. The generals were called Kain, a man who commanded the dark knights and drove out any rebellion, and Seka, a woman who controlled the slaves and camps. Kain was the stronger of the two, but Seka was wiser, her knowledge of the world and its people was endless.
It was during this time that Yggdrasil bore an heir, a son, the son of the devil. The offspring was named Aseroth. It was but a child yet held power to rival his father and had a burning hatred for Pesmega’s people within it that even Yggdrasil did not posses. It killed and maimed without preference and soon became more feared than its father. Yggdrasil had no choice but to limit his offspring’s power by sealing it away within crystals carved by his very hand. He had hoped his heir would take away the need to create generals to control his domain, but he had no choice but to rely on Kain and Seka.
For many years the world remained in a perpetual darkness. Yggdrasil sat unopposed upon his throne atop his completed fortress which could be seen from almost any peak for hundreds of miles around. Seka and Kain continued to do Yggdrasil’s bidding for years, but then, during a conversation between the two, they began to plot against their master.
Kain was the one who approached Seka with an idea. He lusted after his master’s power and wanted it more than anything else. He knew he could not defeat Yggdrasil alone, but together, the two gods it created might be strong enough to defeat him. Seka refused to even speak of the treasonous plan, calling it hopeless. She deduced that together they may have been able to kill Yggdrasil, they knew their master well, and his weaknesses, but he sat in the towering fortress with a huge army of dark knights guarding it and a son with unimaginable strength. Kain was convinced that he could coax some of the knights to side with them, but it still would not be enough.
They left the conversation at that, and for some time never spoke of it again.
One day, Yggdrasil called Seka and Kain to his throne room and exploded with rage; he had discovered their talks of mutiny. Rather than kill his two most trusted generals, they were expelled to the darkest reaches of the land, where even Yggdrasil did not bother taking over. It was a barn waste land of pestilence across a savage sea and nothing could live there.
In the year 829CT, Seka and Kain left the realm of Yggdrasil, disgraced and stripped of rank, to toil in endless suffering out of their master’s sight. Since Yggdrasil’s fortress was complete and the enslaved people of Pesmega dared not try to kill him, he saw no need to replace the generals.
In the year 879CT Seka and Kain returned to the lands of Yggdrasil, with a plan that would bring about the demons eventual downfall. Kain sent word of their plot to the dark knights and many choose to side with their previous generals against Yggdrasil. They too were tempted by power. While Kain prepared the army on the western boarder of Yggdrasil’s land, Seka spoke with the surviving people of Pesmega and freed many camps. She pleaded with them to fight along side them to overthrow Yggdrasil with promise of returning the land to the once peaceful state it was in. Many refused, most were reluctant, but still they came.
An apocalyptic war broke out between Yggdrasil’s faction and Seka and Kain’s costing many millions of lives. But the demon had made a terrible mistake with giving so much power to two of its creations. They were not simply created by it, they were born from it. Seka was its mind, and thus knew all that Yggdrasil knew, its tactics and powers, its weaknesses and limits. Kain was its body and had its power and ability to command the dark knights. It was not long till the rebellious faction got the upper hand.
In the year 890CT, Kain and Seka stormed their master’s gigantic fortress with the allied armies at their side and fought their way to his throne room at its peak. Seka had planned the battle out long in advance. Yggdrasil was simple in tactics and relied on pure power and strength to win, but that would not work against its creations. Kain matched Yggdrasil’s power and gave Seka enough time to attack from behind, plunging a sword directly through the back of its neck and ripping his head from his shoulders.
During the siege on the fortress, Kain and Seka discovered the son of Yggdrasil, sealed within powerful crystal to stop the flow of its immense energy. They could not pass up such an opportunity and thrust a sword through the crystal - slaying Aseroth instantly. When the fog of war had cleared, Seka and Kain arose triumphant, Kain dangling Yggdrasil’s and Aseroth’s hideous heads from his hands. Commanding the remaining dark legions to cease their attack, Kain then sent the dark knights away from Pesmega, to the same dead region that Yggdrasil had once sent them, and they were commanded to never return.
The people of Pesmega were eternally grateful to the generals and bowed before them asking which of them would bring the world back to the state it had been in before Yggdrasil’s reign. It was then that more trouble would begin.
Kain and Seka quarreled over who would take Yggdrasil’s place. By the time they had finished arguing they demanded the people to choose one of them. However, the people had grown tired of having one ruler under one flag; they wished things to be just as it had been, with them being content within the confines of their realms. Seka and Kain were left alone, with a bitter rivalry rising between them, while the free people of Pesmega returned home, away from the dark mountains and the fortress of Yggdrasil. Seeing no end to the argument, the two split. Kain disappeared to the west of Pesmega, Seka to the east.
A time of peace followed, which lasted one hundred and nineteen years. But the world of Pesmega was then at risk again, when a new evil arose from the west with an army of dark knights at his side, demanding the world should serve them as they had Yggdrasil.
It was Kain.
Up till the year 1009CT Kain had retreated to the west and secretly traveled to find the dark knights that had been expelled there some years before. He found them and began creating a terrible army of his own, lusting after the same power that Yggdrasil had over the world. The army of knights was not even half of Yggdrasil’s however, and the people of Pesmega were battle hardened from defeating the armies of the tyrant so Kain’s progress was slow. He and his dark legions began consuming the western realms in darkness.
However, the united people did not sit back and give up as they did in the past; they fought back with all their strength. For every two steps forward Kain made, his army was forced three steps back. During these wars to the west, far from where today the Kingdom of Atra sat, Seka remained, watching from afar, watching the actions of her ‘brother’.
She condemned his actions and hated watching the people of Pesmega fight and die once again. While Kain had spent the years since Yggdrasil’s death searching the dark lands of the west for the army he had exiled there, she had become close to the people, watching over them like a deity and even had a church following, known as Katerano.
Seka loved the people of the world and was willing to give up most of the power Yggdrasil had given her to stop Kain. She did not want to force the world to fight again, not after the last world war, so instead she used her power to create a seed which would grant normal people stupendous power. She made seven enchanted seeds and implanted them in seven male children of families with long blood lines. The children who received the seed were called Destined. The Destined, once reaching adulthood and discovering their sleeping power, would fight on behalf of the people of Pesmega against her brother.
She was not as strong as Kain though, so the spell placed on the seed had limitations. Information on the Destined was past down from Seka to the Katerano churches of Pesmega, and then she vanished. Some monks of Katerano believed the creation of the Destined took too much of her power, and that she died trying to create an eighth Destined and although her spirit lived on to guide them she could no longer intervene in the worlds affairs.
The Destined were all male and for the first years of their lives were just as any other person. They would in time, with guidance from Katerano monks, learn to tap into the power of the seed within them and use it. The power gave them control over something known as Aura. By the time they reached their peak fighting age they would have exposed their true power and time would then slow for them. Seka believed this would provide them enough time to defeat Kain’s armies if they aged more than two times slower than the average man. There was another contingency in the spell she cast upon the seven babies. Should a Destined die, their child would receive his power as a part of the seed would be passed to him to.
“Wait,” Tylor said, “how can the Destined all be male? Karen is a Destined as well, is she not?”
“Yes she is. I have no answer for you, the legacy says that all Destined shall be male, as the seed carries from them and effects the child in the womb of its mother. Something must have gone wrong and this does not bode well. The seed will not pass on from Karen even if she bears a child, meaning she is the last of her star.”
“Star?”
“Allow me to carry on…”
Seka named the seeds after seven stars, whose names are mostly forgotten. Each star had its own legacy in a way; it traveled from father to son as long as is needed. One star in particular, was known as the Center Point. That star was the star of unity, that name would never be forgotten. The Center Point brings together all others to face evil together, and that was its burden. All other stars were connected to the Center Point, they are pulled to it and compelled to protect it. These stars became known as the Stars of Destiny to the monks of Katerano, for they would be the guiding light in the ever lasting darkness.
The first Destined began life as normal babies, and grow up to be normal children. Monks were sent out to find them, all the while the wars in the west continued. The children were found and trained until most stopped aging like normal people at the age of approximately twenty. They discovered their powers deep within them that Seka had planted years before and stood unified on the western boarder to face Kain’s troops. Kain did not expect to meet such beings of power and the Destined drove the hordes back, killing thousands of dark knights until Kain had no choice but to evacuate back to the uninhabited areas of the western wastelands across the sea. He disappeared for forty years.
When Kain reappeared once more, he brought with him a new breed of dark knight, stronger and much more vicious than Yggdrasil’s had been and not only that, he had created the Sect. After seeing the Destined in battle Kain knew Seka must have had something to do with their creation and discovered the spell she cast to do it. Kain then cast it as well, but without the restrictions and more advantages as he had more power at his disposal. When the people of Pesmega and the Destined met with Kain’s armies a second time the outcome was never certain. The Sect’s only command was to hunt the Destined and kill them. They often met on the field of battle, completely even in terms of strength. The war went on for years. Destined would die, as would Sect. The Destined would be reborn, as would the Sect. The dark knights were evenly matched with the newly formed kingdoms of Pesmega; Atra, Sarento, Vail and L’Carn.
“And that,” Zan’s ghost said, “is the state of things today. The war between the Kingdoms of Pesmega and Kain’s army continue, though most are ignorant of this fact. The war is in the west, in the Kingdom of L’Carn, a very strong kingdom. Over the years people forgot past companionship and abandoned one another. Atra does not assist L’Carn and Sarento can’t as it would need to pass through Atra, leaving Vail as its only ally. Because of this, L’Carn is being defeated slowly but surely. Soon the dark armies will reach Atra’s boarder and without the Destined to fight along side King Nega’s knights they will die.”
“There’s so much to take in, I need…time,” Tylor stuttered, still in darkness.
“There is no time, Tylor. The dark knights have finished their cleansing of L’Carn and they will soon march upon Atra.”
“Is this…the real face of the darkness Karen spoke of? Is it Kain spreading his influence over the land?”
“Kain’s influence has already touched this land as the darkness was always here, left over from the times of his master. Even when the world is bright we can still feel it, we who can control our Aura, itching at us. Forever looming over us… it is a sickening feeling.”
“Isn’t the king aware of this and is ready to defend?” he asked, as a million questions filled his head.
“Atra is no doubt aware of L’Carn’s plight, but it has grown arrogant and they no longer care what happens to the other kingdoms, only their own. L’Carn was strong, they held the darkness back for many years, but in the past they had help from the Destined, now they have none and have been defeated.”
“So, what can we do?”
“You and the other Destined need time to train and discover your skill. You must stay back from the darkness and avoid the Sect until that time. That may mean evacuating Atra and leaving it to fight alone, but that cannot be helped…”
Tylor’s mind was twisting and turning, forming questions and ideas then being constantly confused. So much had been said and he could not take it in all at once. He asked his father’s specter where the other Destined were and what situation they were in.
“Forty years ago, Kain disappeared again all be it briefly. The Destined broke apart. I went with Joel’s father to Samilo to raise our families in peace, the others…”
“Joel’s father was one of the Destined?!” Tylor cried.
“Yes and Joel too, now that his father is also dead, killed in that storm. I could not get to him in time and then I sensed Tai’s presence and went out to fight him. I could not believe a Sect had made it so far into Atra without being detected. Nega no doubt just ignored that as well, the ignorant bastard.”
His father cursed Nega’s name over and over, before calming himself when he noticed his son’s face had grown pale.
“I’m sorry… but you see, Nega was a Destined… well that is, his father was, he does not know the legacy, I think. His father died when he was a child and his mother knew nothing of the legacy, so it is terrible to see the type of person he has become, and that he has a sleeping power that he may or may not know about.”
“What of the other Destined?” Tylor asked, trying to ask simple things to get them out the way.
“You, Joel, Karen, and Nega are the only ones I know of. The three others I do not know where they are, they possibly ventured to other kingdoms during a period of peace and fight the dark knights on another battleground as we speak.”
Tylor counted in his head as his father read out names, himself, Joel, Karen and three others only added up to seven, where was the eighth star that was made, the one which killed Seka? He questioned his father to find out.
“…If indeed the eighth seed was created, which ultimately destroyed Seka, then I do not know what became of him, or if someone of the same bloodline even lives today. It would greatly increase the chances of victory if indeed there is an eighth Destined somewhere in the world.”
“Why did no monks from Katerano search us out? To help us unite when Kain reappeared?” he stuttered.
“We all thought Kain was a coward, attacking then retreating, then doing the same over, but all the time he was actually sneaking elite troops into the kingdoms that systematically set about destroying all Katerano churches and the knowledge of the Destined’s legacy with it. Very few remain, it is because of this that the help they can offer is now very limited and that few people even know about the Destined.”
Tylor began to ask another question, one of a million, but his father stopped him. The specter of the old man cursed again loudly and exclaimed that their time together was up. The darkness seemed to grow thicker, consuming both Tylor and the ghostly visage of his father.
“No!” Tylor cried. “Father, this it too much, I can’t do this alone! What do I do!?” he shouted.
“Tylor, you are never alone, you are the Center Point, unity. People will be drawn to you, to follow your lead, and you must be strong, but remember the choice that you have!”
“What choice?”
“To embrace your destiny as fate has commanded or live your life without direction, making your own decisions and refusing to believe that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, I know you’ll…..”
The image was gone. There was nothing but darkness around Tylor now. His body was enveloped as well, he knew his hands were in front of him but he could not see them. The air was deathly cold. Tylor began to weep quietly to himself. The answers he had hoped for had only created more questions and made clear to him the weight of the burden he now bore.
“I do not want this…” he said to the darkness, “I don’t want any of this…”
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