Red Moon 赤い月

Beginnings 開闢

Our story starts with a young boy and his father working on a farm, maybe a month after the fall of the great capital. The only place where the most magically gifted and most dedicated Followers could live together peacefully. Ideas and goods traveled freely in this great city, and so they prospered. But that was far from this boy's homestead, so he was only told stories. His home was to the east, closer to the Followers of the Almighty. His father was always faithful, and that's what he taught his son, even if he lost his wife after she gave birth to a healthy baby.
Still only eight years in age, he'd work hard for his father, and his father would work hard for him. They had plenty of farm land, as well as a forge. Many days were just like the last, and it was peaceful, even if their days were long, the boy and his father always seemed happy. Wake up, eat, tend to the animals, then the land. Eat a healthy meal before bed, that seemed to make the boy happier at the end. Before bed the boy always asked the father for a story. Although the father was big, he sat on a stool beside the child's bed. Of course the child would ask to hear his favorite story, the one about the righteous knight.
The child and his father lived happily for another four years, but these things never last, and eventually the war reached this small village, or maybe it was just raiders, the boy will never know for sure, for the boy's father sent him to the cellar and his the entrance to protect him. His father went to go protect what was theirs as the town was too small to be guarded, but he never returned. A couple of days later the boy was found, as the town was reclaimed by the Followers of the Almighty. It was a shame really, the only thing that remained of his father was a sword they made together, the others who survived noted that the boy was never really the same he always seemed to have a blank and dark expression on his face as if he was still coping with his loss but he took care of the land never the less, and continued to live on. The Followers of the Almighty continued to progress with land grabs after that, and the boy was never disturbed by raiders again, but something has been eating at him since his father's passing. He wanted the people who killed his father, he wanted them dead if they survived, most days he thought about what he was going to do about it, and couldn't forget if he tried.
At the age of fifteen he became old enough to enlist with the military, so he asked a friend of the family to take care of everything while he was away, and set off for the capital of the Followers. He still had the lust for revenge but had to come to terms that he'd never find the killers.
Four tedious years of military training went by, he trained hard to master the heavy sword, just as his father did. The blade was meant for two hands, so he'd train hard to use it with one. Although it was difficult for some time, and he was often scolded by officers, he remained persistent.
The blade wasn't very wide, but was long. His father used a special technique when he made the blade, so to keep it strong enough to use in combat.

He was still green but by the time he was nineteen, they decided he was ready for use. They marched him in the front lines of about five thousand troops to take what's left of the great capital. At the moment it was controlled by the Order of Enlightenment, they also owned eight cities on the way to the capital.
He was ordered to take the outlining city, about a quarter of a day's march away from the nearest camps.

And our story begins with John, that poor boy.