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Prologue: Welcome to Chronicles

But soon everything was about to change.

The continent Vodrinth, directly west of Chronicles, had steadily been gaining power for the past few decades. No one knew much about Vodrinth or its people, as it wasn't a country that allowed outside visitors. There had been rumors that the Vodrinth people, referred to by most as the Westerners, were barbaric and sadistic, but nothing had yet been proved. It had simply been better for the other continents to sign the peace treaty with country and put the worries about the rumors on their powerful army to rest.

That time of the decade had rolled around again—the time when the peace treaty was supposed to be renewed. The other four continents had quickly given their vows of peace, but for several weeks there had been no talk about Vodrinth's leader doing the same.

Something had just seemed off. But while the the inhabitants of the other countries, who had sensed danger and were beginning to prepare for war, the people of Chronicles simply continued doing what they always did. For such well-educated people, they were also quite slow to comprehending such situations. While the people from other continents trained their soldiers and stocked supplies, the Chronicle people devoted all their time to their studies, completely oblivious to what was going on outside of their borders.

For long, my people had believed that what they had done was commendable. They had believed the fact that they had founded and kept together their nation all on their own, without the help of a ruler or tyrant, was a deed which deserved praise and admiration. But by now, this absence of a ruler had become their weakness. Without a strong leader to lead the empire, Chronicles had become a huge target for the powerful people of Vodrinth. Eventually, when these western enemies did invade, the bright but unprepared Chronicle people had no ways to defend themselves. It was only a matter of weeks before the harmonious society that had been so painstakingly put together crumbled. Chronicles then fell into the hands of a cruel, merciless dictator.

This dictator ruled under the name Drew Erebus. He brought fear and destruction everywhere he went like an ominous storm cloud, sweeping through village to village. The Chronicle citizens, terrified of him and the Vodrinth army which he'd brought along, declared their surrender within weeks.

At last, when the entire continent had been colonized, Drew Erebus began to make the first changes to the world of Chronicles. His own existence was already one change, actually, the first of the three which would emerge in this era: a change in rulers.

Erebus looked over the land several times before designating a spot as the new capital, the place which would become the heart of his reign. The captivating views and plentiful resources that could be found in Chronicles' metropolis, Scripten, caught the dictator's eye. Within the span of another month, he sent his army into the city to drive out its residents. The dispatched soldiers swept through the streets of Scripten, ransacking the homes and extinguishing any acts of rebellion with force. Eventually, every remaining resident of the city was made to flee, leaving behind all of the brilliant aspects of their past lives and taking along one new thing: a restored, burning hatred toward the dictator, the one responsible.

What may have been the most remarkable thing about the situation was that Drew Erebus was not in the slightest threatened by my people's ill feelings toward him. He did not, in fact, have any will or intention to become a benevolent or compassionate ruler. He was a man who believed that war and force could solve any problem in the world. Generosity and patience were not in the list of his many virtues.

However, although cruel, the dictator was not a foolish man. He knew threats of rebellion and upheaval would show up in the empire, sooner or later. But even that did not concern him, for he was a man of miracles—dark, terrible miracles, yes, but wonders nevertheless—and he knew he would be able to come up with a solution which would put all of his worries to rest in no time.