The Zodiac Empire

Prologue - Birth and Death

"Alone with his pride scathed, the blizargwin king traveled north to Kricade. The journey took months, travelling across glaciers and deserts of snow, before he arrived at Kricade's ocean. Nircogard knew what he must do. He dived headfirst into the freezing ocean and swam down until he found it. The corpse of is blizdrawgin form. It only took seconds to fuse himself with his former body. Returned to blizargwin form, he made preparations to fly back to Drazilwalnd, but when he felt the earth rumble beneath his feet, he knew it was too late. Egitnafir made it there before him.

"Flying with the utmost haste to meet his sister, Nircogard was horrified to find that she'd brought with her a legion of her moltrogks, each wearing a necklace, strung together with the corpses of wizards. Overcome first with grief, then insatiable anger, Nircogard struck, taking Egitnafir's head off with one blow. Though he met with his demise soon after, Nircogard's pride was satisfied at taking the moltrogk's queen from them once more.

"More centuries passed. Once more, the souls of those who'd been blizargwins were reincarnated as wizards. But this time, the moltrogks had been reborn as people with no magic, known as the Illiterate. These Illiterates resided in another undiscovered region to the east, known as Maeruthan. In addition, the moltrogks that remained discovered a new region for themselves as well. Residing between Rafendile and Kricade, this region was named Nohegimat. Through all of this, neither Nircogard nor Egitnafir had been reincarnated, but it is said that their souls are reincarnated every eight generations.

"And the baby will be the eighth, right father?" Cosena asked.

Sartur chuckled, twirling the girl's blonde twin braids. "That's right, Cosena. Soon, very soon, your brother shall be born. Then, one day, he'll lead us all, as king. King of the Zodiac Empire."

"That's so cool! My baby brother, an ice-breathing blizargwin! Tell the rest of the story!" Cosena replied, clutching onto a teddy bear.

Sartur shook his head, "Sorry Cosena, but you know daddy doesn't like to talk about what happens next..." He turned his head away with a sigh, brushing his fingertips across the cold, metallic mask that covered the right side of his face.

"But why!? I wanna know what happens next!" Cosena whined, jumping up and down in her father's lap.

"Because," her father began, grabbing her gently and lifting her up, "You're far too young to understand."

"How do you know that!?"

"Because you're... ticklish!" he grinned, tickling Cosena roughly, causing the girl to fall back, giggling uncontrollably as she thrashed about.

"N-not fair!"

"Until you stop being ticklish, you're too young for that part of the story," her father let her sit back up, "Now, you need to go to bed. It's already eleven-thirty."

"But I'm not tired!" Cosena retorted, giving her father a pout before failing to suppress a yawn.

"You may not be, but someone here is," Sartur chuckled, reaching over to his other daughter and running his hand through her magenta hair. She stirred slightly at his touch before curling up, gripping a stuffed frog that was clutched tightly between her fingers.

"But Alsen is little! I'm a big girl!" Cosena pouted before picking up her little sister and carrying her to bed, "See! I'm big enough to put Alsen to bed! So I must be big enough to stay up all night until the baby is here!"

"You're a very good big sister," he smiled, kneeling down to look Cosena in the eye, "And that's why I need you to stay by Alsen's side forever. I need you to protect her in case anything bad happens."

Cosena stood silently for a moment, then nodded. She ran her finger down the soft, smooth skin of Alsen's face, then turned around to embrace her father.

"I want to see mother..." she whimpered.

"I know you do, Cosena, I know. But your mother is far too sick, you can't be around her...."

"It's not fair! She's been sick for so long... I miss her."

"Don't worry Cosena... She'll be better soon... I promise."

"Then we'll be a happy family again... right?" Cosena wiped a tear from her eye "You, me, Alsen, mother and the baby?"

"Yes, We will. Always," her father pat her on the back "Now go to bed. You'll see your brother in the morning,"

Once Cosena was in bed Sartur turned out the lights and walked off, shutting the door behind him. Walking through the castle to his office, he sauntered straight to the balcony, stepping into the cool air, staring up at the starry night sky.

Sartur remembered all too clearly when this land was it's own region known as Drazilwalnd, full of wizards like himself. Doomed to repeat itself, history brought destruction upon Drazilwalnd. Just like the moltrogks and blizargwins before them, the Illiterate outgrew Maeruthan. Overtaken by both curiosity and need, they explored the world beyond their region until they found Drazilwalnd.

Sartur could never forget the first ships. The first armies. The strategic strikes. The destruction. He remembered the mountains of corpses that lined the city streets as humanity committed genocide like the moltrogks before them.

Through it all, one young man named Sartur Raizu knew that there was only one way for them to survive. Gathering his four best friends, he dug underground and hid throughout the remainder of the war. Once over, they disguised themselves as wounded human soldiers and were carried on a boat back to Maeruthan. Moving forward, they began to create their own empire, protected and hidden from the rest of the world with magical charms and enchantments.

"Why am I thinking of this now...?" he muttered to himself, shaking the horrific memories from his head.

He sat down at his desk, staring at a picture of him, his daughters, and a beautiful woman with cerulean eyes and a swirling sea of magenta and blonde hair.

"Freylar... Soon our dream will come true... Soon we shall live in peace, just hang in there."

"MASTER SARTUR!"

Sartur looked up. A man dressed in red robes was rushing over to the desk. Skidding to a stop, the man rested his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

"Yes, High Mage Zephan?" Sartur asked, clasping his fingers together under his chin.

"Y-your son... Your son has been born!" Zephan exclaimed, coughing hard. "B-but... y-your wife, s-she's..."

Sartur blinked, looking down to his knees. His hands curled into fists as he felt rage beginning to simmer within him. He gritted his teeth, covered his ears and shut his eyes, not wanting to hear what the High Mage would say. There was just no way it could be true.

"I'm sorry, Master Sartur... B-but there's one more thing... Y-you'll have to see it to believe it! Please, come quickly!"

Sartur considered the High Mage's words for a moment before it clicked. "Wait, you couldn't possibly mean...?" He leapt from his chair, knocking it over in his haste. Leaping over his desk with amazing agility for a man his age, he followed on Zephan's heels as he dashed from the office and down the halls.

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