Eldritch Guidance

Chapter 39 - Unfortunate "Accident"

As many already know, Gix was once the largest nation on the western continent. A militaristic empire ruled by a monarchy for thousands of years.

"A member of the ruling family at the time who was the last in line to inherit the throne, Kye Vintrox, had successfully removed all his political opponents and secured his place next in line to be emperor. This was accomplished by the suspected assassination of all his siblings and was believed to be arranged by him. While not proven that he did this, all his siblings ended up dying under mysterious circumstances and assured him the crown.

"Kye Vintrox was made emperor and ruled Gix for sixty seven days before dying from an accident that involved him falling off a horse and hitting his head. The result of his death left Gix without a ruler and no viable candidates, since he had no heirs and all his siblings were dead. This began a process within the empire to find another ruler.

"Gix was not unaccustomed to ruling dynasties dying off and being replaced by another, but in the last thirty five years to this day, no family has risen to the role. This was unprecedented and has never happened before. While the ruling family of this nation have changed throughout its history, there was always one family that would rise through civil unrest and take the crown for themselves, until now.

"No family had a strong enough claim to the throne, and the few front-runners that were vying for the throne also died under mysterious circumstances. This started a conflict between powerful noble families. Due to so many coincidental deaths, the families started accusing each other of assassinating their political opponents.

"Within a year of Kye's death, the conflict between the noble factions got so intense that the remnants of the government broke down and triggered a civil war. Each state within Gix formed alliances with different factions and noble families.

"This began thirty five years ago and the conflict has been going on since then. It's been so long that people just started referring to the Gix empire simply as 'The Warring States'."

—"A Brief History of Gix and the Warring States" By Sam Worhock

-Ten years ago.-

Alan was in a refugee camp near the border of the Union States. He was sitting on a bench waiting for his friend Cris.

Around him were tents and people with expressions of worry and despair. People were waiting for their refugee claims to be processed and to be let into the Union State proper, but until then, people from Gix like Alan were forced to wait in these camps.

Cris: "Hey Alan!" he called out as he came running past tents toward his friend.

Alan: "Hey Cris," he yelled back.

Cris came to stop in front of Alan.

Cris: "So, are you ready to go exploring that area I was talking about?"

Alan: "Oh, um, um," he said, struggling to say something.

Cris: "What's wrong? You trying to say something?"

Alan: "Yeah...Um, my family is leaving here soon, in a couple days. We got sponsored by my uncle in Graheel."

Cris: "Really?! That's great!"

Alan: "Yeah... but I don't want to leave you here—" he said as he teared up, but before he could say anything else, Cris punched him in the shoulder. "Ow" he mumbled, rubbing where he got punched.

Cris: "Don't be a crybaby. One of us has to get out of here, and if it is you, then you gotta go chase after our dream. Don't worry, me and my family, we'll probably get out of here any day now as well."