- Third Evening -
For the third day, Dorin and Damien feasted on fish from the undines in the river who loved to listen to their song.
“Tonight, I will tell you the third and last story that is of importance to our empire’s history.”
After the mad king, Alcione kingdom underwent a drastic change. King Remi the Pure was nothing but a puppet. His advisers opened more ports and built more cities for the prosperity of the kingdom, and since the Ravantes prefer their books and the Heiligs their freedom, the continent soon came under the Alcione house and became the Holy Alcione Empire.
Elazar, by then, a grown man, fought for the treaty with the Children of the Elements and built a wall to keep them from building inside the Dark forest, but in exchange, he gave up his right to own land and turned his kingdom into the Royal Aubrianne Imperial University.
Thus, only 2 houses were left in the continent. To keep the peace, the two houses had political marriages and several treaties, thus, peace reigned for decades to come. The Alcione house kept on developing the west, while the Heiligs treasured their pristine wilderness, and Elazar, he was happy to stay in his University.
Then, about 25 years ago, news of war spread across the land. Rumors say that the land of black sand was plotting with a foreign nation to overthrow the Empire. The Red Alcione Emperor at the time, did not believe the rumors, instead, he reached out to the black sands and travelled across the border to visit them and renew their alliances.
He was almost killed for it, if not for the Order of the Red Rose — a group of royal knights who pledged their life to the king.
Thus began the 5 year war that ended with a truce.
Since then, Alcione started growing its army. The magic classes leaned on defensive and offensive Magic, and all citizens aged 7 and above with even the slightest hint of magic, were sent to Aubrianne University to get trained.
Many went against this, but the Emperor’s word was absolute. Others saw it as a great honor to their families and came openly with dreams of grandeur and favors from the Emperor himself.
One such group in particular, pledged their life to serve the Emperor. They were a group of 5 mages who met in the University. One was a medic, another a user of arcane magic, next was an enchanter, an elementor, and an artificer.
They fought for the Empire even while they were still in the University, and at an early age, saw the true horrors of war. The youngest and bravest in the group was sent to a mission and did not return. The four who were left went after him and brought back a broken child.
He was part of a company of 80 young mages who were taken to the capital. It was then that they found out about the experiments... It was then that they began questioning their loyalties.
“What experiments?!” Dorin gasped, eyes wide.
“Many kinds of arcane magic can drastically increase a mage’s power. You can alter your body indefinitely by binding beings from the nether realms into yourself. You can even sell your soul to gain more power. But there aren’t many who are willing to do such things, particularly ‘bindings’ where the host’s body is taken over by demons from another world.”
The four remaining friends found the facility and half of the company already ‘changed’. They exposed the place, but the empire denied all knowledge of it. In frustration, they started to revolt against the Empire.
“What? Just like that?” Dorin asked again
“They were young,” replied Damien, looking annoyed. “and they were powerful too. They came from old houses and had knights of their own, thus they had the means to win the revolt. They could have won too, if not for the traitor in their ranks.”
“A traitor?”
“One of them saw the deaths and took the entire burden upon himself. He made a secret treaty with the Red Emperor and promised to hand over their leader in exchange for giving the rest immunity. The Emperor, on the other hand, promised to turn the Royal Aubrianne Imperial University into a free nation and to never interfere with it again.”
On that day, the final day of the revolt, as the 2 armies faced each other on the field, the sky went dark, and with a bright flash of lightning, the leader of the rebel group went down on his knees and surrendered.
His family, his house, was burned to the ground, and all their knights were disgraced and disbanded. There was not much left of them, anyway, most were already lost in the revolt that lasted for 5 years, and to pay for all the trouble that he had caused, he gave his life to the Empire, and was publicly executed in the capital, loosing all his lands in the east.
“The Heilig King...” Dorin stared at the sorrowful look in the game master’s eyes. “But why? Why did he surrender himself?!”
“Some say he was too good for his own sake. Some say he was too weak. Others, that he was a fool.”
Damien stared at Dorin.
“Does wishing for peace make you weak? Would a weak person choose to die for peace?”
“But you said yourself that they could win!”
“In exchange for what?”
Dorin fell silent.
“The reason for their revolt was to save lives, so what use is it, if the lives they meant to save, are wasted in the process?”
“Then what did he fight for?” Dorin asked, frustrated.
“He fought for a safe place where children like themselves can stay as children until they are ready to choose their own paths,” replied Damien. “He fought for their dreams, their happiness, their future.”
“And for that, he got himself killed?”
“And had the lives of his friends spared. Lives that are capable of change. Do you remember the story of Al Khami, Dorin?” Dorin noded. “Al Khami lost his voice, his arms and his legs, yet he forced himself to write down his teaching and gave them to his 5 children. Do you remember what his children did?”
“They... they shared the knowledge to other people...”
“And knowledge, once imparted...”
“Will spreads like wildfire...”
“Tell me, would you rather kill people to stop them from killing, or teach people not to kill?”
Dorin was silent, but Damien saw understanding dawn in the boy’s brown eyes. He raised himself and prepared to leave the hollow.
“The caladrius told me that your friend will surely wake up tomorrow.” He said as he turned to leave. “You should take your rest then, tomorrow will be another busy day.”
As soon as Damien Wolfsbane left the room, Dorin went to Sebastian’s side to check on his friend. Seb looked much better now. The pained look in his face was completely gone, and some semblance of color could be seen on his cheeks. His breathing was also stable.
“Seb? Can you hear me?” he whispered to his friend as he lay beside him. “There’s so many things I’ve learned here, and I don’t think even you know the truth behind the stories I’ve heard...”
Dorin looked at Seb again. There was still no reaction from the sleeping mage. He placed another fur blanket over the frail body which was quickly kicked aside. Dorin chuckled.
“You know, I’m beginning to understand what you were trying to tell me before...” he sighed, “I’m starting to see now, why you value life that much...”
He held his friend’s hand and squeezed it tight. Suddenly, he felt a weak twitch from Seb’s hand. He smiled.
“Tomorrow will be a good day.”
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- Thank you for Reading 'Phasma - Phase 1' Book 1 -
The story continues to PHASMA PHASE 2
See you there! ʕ∘(ᴥ)∘ʔ
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