(added post-chapter 100, not necessarily the starting point of the story. That would be chapter 1.)
The forests seemed as if they'd never end. Alwyn so desperately wanted to escape from the consuming expanse of wood, yet, he simultaneously couldn't bear the thought of returning to the sun's embrace. He didn't belong in the beautifully flat plains anymore. He had lost that part of himself.
All the snow had melted by now, and springtime had officially arrived. But, rather than the image of the increasingly beautiful weather being on his mind, there was only stress and… guilt.
The invisible chains dragged the young wizard down, and each step carried the weight of his mistakes. And sins.
Birds chirped, asking him what was wrong.
'How the hell did it end up like this?'
Though the wizard continued at a meager pace, he was, truthfully, in quite the hurry. During his last stop, he had accidentally picked up some annoying pursuers. It was to be expected—actually, he was surprised it took so long.
Over and over he had ransacked and ruined the operations of those slimy and secret invaders. Over and over he had mercilessly killed their men. Over and over…
'I want a woman.'
The young wizard snickered to himself, and dropped his wooden staff to the ground. Of course, it never touched the dirt—instead, it hovered a few inches in the air, waiting to be mounted.
Alwyn stepped onto his weapon and shot into the air, defying any laws of the world that wished to pull him off the magic staff and back into the earth. He broke through the canopy, revealing the vast and rolling hills of south Caelthar. It's a relevant geographical note, considering the state of the world at the time.
It was a small part in the shrinking, 'known,' (important, perhaps, is a better word—subjectively important, of course) world that consisted of three distinct continent-nations. Though, that's in the view of the Caelth. The southern and eastern cultures may have viewed the world in a different light.
These were the thoughts that filled the wizard Alwyn's head. Politics… it was too much for a young man like him. Too boring. Foreign affairs? All the wizard cared about a few months ago were his… personal affairs.
'Am I a lecher? Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder…'
Such topics bored him. That is, until he was forced into being so deeply involved that he couldn't be allowed to be bored by them any longer. Ah, but he was still bored.
Strands of blue hair partially blocked his sight of the beautiful view. Right, he needed a haircut. That was much more important that what was happening on the coast. If his hair got too long… well, surely he'd look just as good.
'Actually, I heard women are liking longer hair, as of recent. Maybe I shouldn't cut it?'
He frowned, unsure of what to do about this pressing issue.
Wait, the state of the world, right! The relations between the Caelth and Qadithari nations had been strained for… longer than Alwyn was alive. It wasn't always like that, but when the current royal family of The Nation of Caelthar unified the continent under one banner, the sudden strength of the singular entity shook the world's balance.
As such, every single nation in the world put up defensive measures, like skunks. It wasn't a hostile time, or even an unpleasant one. Not for the Caelth, at least. No, it was the golden age of Caelthar.
The southern continent, Qadithar, responded with an uneasy and violent unification, much unlike Caelthar's. This made the new nation of The Unified Qadithar, on paper, the most powerful in the world. But no golden age came from this response, and it only fueled unrest in the already warring region.
The eastern continent, far removed from the other two, also responded with a unification. Prior to the response, Byongrae was divided into two already allied nations. The unification was a rushed, but largely inconsequential process. It was mostly in name, anyway, meant to portray the image of keeping up with the other two new nations.
What it all comes to is that, Caelthar brought the world into a new age. One that looked down on senseless war and childish land disputes. One where, under the twelve, the lands could prosper in peace. What is a 'tribe'? The Caelth couldn't tell you. Perhaps you should ask the south, ha.
See, in Qadithar's unification, countless men and women were displaced. The emperor of the south was not a benevolent or righteous man by any means, and cared, at the time, only for the unifying of his continent.
Mass migrations into Caelthar fueled a massive and unstoppable slave market, where the unfortunate Qadithari refugees were bound in chains of servitude.
Then, the next generation was born. Born into a world where enslaving other human beings was normal—something to brag about, even. Slavery was only one of the many new and depraved things that this generation was born into. One of the many new things that created a sense of superiority over the non-Caelth. Specifically, the Qaditharis.
This is where the problems began.
It's hard to imagine, now, a world where the Caelth and Qaditharis saw each other as equals—as siblings. They all came from the same people, if you went back far enough. The differences in their visual characteristics mattered little, back then.
Now, they hated each other. It was strange to see, for those who lived longer than the feud between the cultures. Imagine, for a moment, playing and trading and speaking with Qaditharis, back when you were a child. It didn't even cross your mind that they were a Qadithari. Yes, of course their family originated from the southern continent.
But… how was that any different from migrating from one of the northern kingdoms? You were from a southern Caelth kingdom—your culture was much closer to those of places in northern Qadithar. So, in fact, someone of a northern kingdom might even seem stranger than those from the southern continent despite being 'Caelth' as you were.
Now that you're old, however, there is no such thing as a northern kingdom. You are Caelth, and everywhere from the north to the south of the continent was your sovereign's domain. No, now, anyone from across the sea, from that 'barbaric' continent, was beneath you.
That southern boy you knew as a child? He was now a… a slave! His family had employed your father, and now he was a slave.
And, you start to think… 'Isn't it pathetic? You had it all, but then you lost it. If it was me… I'd never fail in such a humiliating way. Now that I think about it, hasn't the same thing happened to every southerner I've known? Either dead, ruined, or enslaved?'
And, a seed of an idea is planted in your mind. Not an ambition, but a false observation. A hypothetical, actually. Something planted there so that, when the time comes for something you wouldn't have anticipated for in a hundred thousand years, you'll simply nod and express agreement.
'If these people are so weak, shouldn't we just… take it all? They don't deserve it. They don't use it correctly. Oh, and, if we did, it's not like they could do anything about it.'
And that's the seed that grows into a large, all-encompassing tree, with roots that connect to every soul. A tree meant to be cut down and used as lumber to build a machine. The machine of war.
'Well, that's the Caelth side of things, I guess,' Alwyn thought, scratching his head. 'Oh? What's this?'
The wizard had only been expecting a small, back-water town to rest in. And destroy… that was his job. But… there was something else.
He flew down into the woods a short distance away from the town. Walking down the path, he heard the chatter of young children. From behind the tree line, he spotted him. A young boy with a presence so strong, the air around him was practically changing colors.
'Lucky… lucky lucky lucky. I didn't expect this!'
Funnily enough, he could overhear the topic of their conversation. It was about wizards!
One of them said: "I just wish a wizard would appear."
A wide grin stretched across his face as he snuck up on the small congregation of boys, and he clapped his hands together as he said:
"Wish granted!"