Post by Vaati of Darkness on Dec 28, 2010 20:46:03 GMT -5
There were men who attained peace,
and their hearts were at ease.
Yet, they gained power,
and thus, the chance of peace
was lost forever.
Galquen De Phino, "War's History"
A New Way of War:
Prolouge Chapter: The Bloodstained Letter
If you are reading this...then I am long dead. You have probably heard of my studies of long forgotten lore, especially the tales of the floating land. Those tales were the focus of much of my life, and after a point where I realised my studies would never glean any new information, a wrote a book called War's History, where I looked into the wars that arose from the tales of this floating land. Yet, the document you are reading contains some details I decided not to reveal to the public...
Long before you and I were born, there was said to be humans who mysteriously learned how to use powerful abilities by attaining inner peace. I am still not sure how one attains this peace...but it seems a small community of these humans arose. They tried their hardest to hide their powers from the normal people, to avoid persecution. They did not want to use their powers on humans...they feared the damage murder would do to their souls. Even if you do not have malevolent intentions...one's life is never the same after they have killed someone. One will either feel endless guilt, or enjoy the bloodlust and go on to kill more and more. Thus, a murderer can never attain inner peace.
Sightings of these powerful people occured...and a band of normal humans began spying on the enlightened people. They eventually had a good idea of the miracles they could perform...mastery of the elements, levitation, psychic, controlling nature, etc. They seemed capable of many great things...then something happened. They disappeared one day, never to be seen again. Did they catch wind of the humans spying on them, and flee to avoid being hounded by greedy thieves? No one can say.
Yet, many years later, some of the humans who spied on the 'enlightened ones' were sailing across the sea, in the hopes of finding new and interesting relics. Then, something extraordinary happened...a floating continent came crashing into the ocean, causing huge waves to break out, and the sailors were shipwrecked many miles away. The event, depicted in numerous religious paintings, is nicknamed "The wrath of god", "The fall of destiny", "The end of another world". At the time, there was no way to go undernearth the surface of the water when it finally settled and investigate the floating land, so most people thought the sailors were hallucinating.
Until...the islands appeared. One by one, twenty six islands were discovered and named, containing ancient structures and ruins that could possibly have come from a long forgotten civilisation. These are Aberkan, Benadine, Caramathia, Duuminako, Eano, Fo-Tin, Gosbith, Hansik, Idenis, Judiso, Kalashi, Lumardi, Mo-do, Nostic, Oyaojin, Paraketu, Queela, Rustikala, Sinoman, Talelbal, Uberat, Valeny, Winchen, Xadomak, Yuminobi, and Zinol. All named and ruled by their discoverers...the islands went from a research site to an entire nation, colonised by people from all over the world. Wars once threatened to tear the fledging nation apart, and many were killed...but now the islands have attained peace. The two most interesting artifacts found were a church and a cathedral, in the first and last islands discovered respectively, that seemed to share architecture design. The gates of these buldings were supposedly sealed by magic, and thus could not be explored...
Yet, what no one in the entire world besides you and whomever is reading this letter knows is that I found a way to open the cathedral gate, and the wonders inside...I do not think words would do it justice. It is even more wondrous than what can be seen from the outside...yet even more horrifying. I fear my heart has been permanently wrecked by what I learned. The cathedral was surely built for evil purposes. More than just world domination, mass murder...even more evil than humans can be. I do not know of anyone who would not feel the dread of being in such a place, where some...deranged person declared war on what I presume is existance itself. My heart felt weak, and I suddenly entered a trance, and saw nightmarish visions I shudder to write down in ink. They showed me great hatred and emptiness...and for a split second, I thought I was feeling the very seem malignant feelings. Then...a voice whose soul contained these feelings spoke to me. It's voice was cold, cruel...it shattered my ego and my dreams. Then I felt my strength slowly but surely slipping away. The voice laughed as I awoke in the cathedral...I was cursed. My life was over...
I am writing this now on the fourth month since my discovery. It is taking me great effort to fight sleep and hold my quill...blood is dripping from my eyes and mouth onto the paper. My time has come to an end. Yet, I must tell the reader the secret...
To be able to brave the cathedral and avoid the agonising death I will endure, you must go to the Alpha Islands, where the twenty six fragments of the ancient continent fell and became a new nation, and learn...
A New Way of War.
================================================
Please please please give thoughts. This is mostly an exposition chapter, though...
and their hearts were at ease.
Yet, they gained power,
and thus, the chance of peace
was lost forever.
Galquen De Phino, "War's History"
A New Way of War:
Prolouge Chapter: The Bloodstained Letter
If you are reading this...then I am long dead. You have probably heard of my studies of long forgotten lore, especially the tales of the floating land. Those tales were the focus of much of my life, and after a point where I realised my studies would never glean any new information, a wrote a book called War's History, where I looked into the wars that arose from the tales of this floating land. Yet, the document you are reading contains some details I decided not to reveal to the public...
Long before you and I were born, there was said to be humans who mysteriously learned how to use powerful abilities by attaining inner peace. I am still not sure how one attains this peace...but it seems a small community of these humans arose. They tried their hardest to hide their powers from the normal people, to avoid persecution. They did not want to use their powers on humans...they feared the damage murder would do to their souls. Even if you do not have malevolent intentions...one's life is never the same after they have killed someone. One will either feel endless guilt, or enjoy the bloodlust and go on to kill more and more. Thus, a murderer can never attain inner peace.
Sightings of these powerful people occured...and a band of normal humans began spying on the enlightened people. They eventually had a good idea of the miracles they could perform...mastery of the elements, levitation, psychic, controlling nature, etc. They seemed capable of many great things...then something happened. They disappeared one day, never to be seen again. Did they catch wind of the humans spying on them, and flee to avoid being hounded by greedy thieves? No one can say.
Yet, many years later, some of the humans who spied on the 'enlightened ones' were sailing across the sea, in the hopes of finding new and interesting relics. Then, something extraordinary happened...a floating continent came crashing into the ocean, causing huge waves to break out, and the sailors were shipwrecked many miles away. The event, depicted in numerous religious paintings, is nicknamed "The wrath of god", "The fall of destiny", "The end of another world". At the time, there was no way to go undernearth the surface of the water when it finally settled and investigate the floating land, so most people thought the sailors were hallucinating.
Until...the islands appeared. One by one, twenty six islands were discovered and named, containing ancient structures and ruins that could possibly have come from a long forgotten civilisation. These are Aberkan, Benadine, Caramathia, Duuminako, Eano, Fo-Tin, Gosbith, Hansik, Idenis, Judiso, Kalashi, Lumardi, Mo-do, Nostic, Oyaojin, Paraketu, Queela, Rustikala, Sinoman, Talelbal, Uberat, Valeny, Winchen, Xadomak, Yuminobi, and Zinol. All named and ruled by their discoverers...the islands went from a research site to an entire nation, colonised by people from all over the world. Wars once threatened to tear the fledging nation apart, and many were killed...but now the islands have attained peace. The two most interesting artifacts found were a church and a cathedral, in the first and last islands discovered respectively, that seemed to share architecture design. The gates of these buldings were supposedly sealed by magic, and thus could not be explored...
Yet, what no one in the entire world besides you and whomever is reading this letter knows is that I found a way to open the cathedral gate, and the wonders inside...I do not think words would do it justice. It is even more wondrous than what can be seen from the outside...yet even more horrifying. I fear my heart has been permanently wrecked by what I learned. The cathedral was surely built for evil purposes. More than just world domination, mass murder...even more evil than humans can be. I do not know of anyone who would not feel the dread of being in such a place, where some...deranged person declared war on what I presume is existance itself. My heart felt weak, and I suddenly entered a trance, and saw nightmarish visions I shudder to write down in ink. They showed me great hatred and emptiness...and for a split second, I thought I was feeling the very seem malignant feelings. Then...a voice whose soul contained these feelings spoke to me. It's voice was cold, cruel...it shattered my ego and my dreams. Then I felt my strength slowly but surely slipping away. The voice laughed as I awoke in the cathedral...I was cursed. My life was over...
I am writing this now on the fourth month since my discovery. It is taking me great effort to fight sleep and hold my quill...blood is dripping from my eyes and mouth onto the paper. My time has come to an end. Yet, I must tell the reader the secret...
To be able to brave the cathedral and avoid the agonising death I will endure, you must go to the Alpha Islands, where the twenty six fragments of the ancient continent fell and became a new nation, and learn...
A New Way of War.
================================================
Please please please give thoughts. This is mostly an exposition chapter, though...