It's the year of 200 in the Brightstar Kingdom; the Royal Family inspired with the discovery of foreign lands by their Southern Neighbors The Cranks quickly arranged for an erratic group of settlers composed of petty thieves from fallen nobility to help claim the land for themselves.
The one in charge of this very honorable duty was Viscount Edward Vinz many would look upon this task as a chance for great success at least for a declining noble house such as his; but he knew otherwise if this expedition was really so beneficial as the clergy preaches daily then why would her majesty not personally lead it with her Elite Brightstar Frontier Army by her side?
The reason was quite simple her majesty, The Queen a powerful and studied Telepathic Wizard in her own right did not come to power by being an idiot; she had plotted for years to come to the forefront of Brightstar politics via producing the heirs to the throne with the former king and usurping them within the same timeframe in a civil war marking the first time a woman had sitted The Brightstar Throne.
She above everyone else knew that arrogance would easily lead to your defeat which is why she entrusted this task of securing a rich yet dangerous foreign land to a group of chess pieces she could easily throw away at anytime.
The first being Fallen Nobility none Academy trained Wizards of course they were too useful and rare, but this groups' administrative talents could come in handy within this new land. If they tried rebelling then not only would they be facing The Cranks as well as the natives but her own spies she had planted within the circle itself would act to end every traitors life.
The second group being the prisoners they are of unknown origin for the most part she could not spare the attention to a group destined to die in thousands but she entrusted her sheriff's to execute any whom were not controllable or willing to undergo the trial they would work as her sword to fight off The Cranks and cause division so that no unified group within the fallen nobles to betray her could rise up.
And the last chess piece the one acting as her head Edward Vinz a man of great character and loved by all could not be left in her kingdom he was becoming much too popular and she herself knew what would happen to the loser of a civil war which is why she swiftly put him in charge of this task if he failed that would be a pain out of her fair hair but if he succeeded them that would confirm her suspicions about him being a true threat needed to be removed.
Facing all these problems Edward could only sigh as he looked upon the group presented in front of him, a bunch of spoiled fallen nobles with few talented among themselves at contrast with the poorly dressed and smelly rowdy men shoving food down their throats with large bodies reflecting their criminal lifestyles.
What truly drew his interest though was a boy only fourteen years of age he had shoulder length loose curly raven hair covering his eyes from sight yet if you looked closely you could see dark blue eyes that held all the darkness within the world in them.
His expression was fragile and skinny appearance average if not for his uniquely colored dark skin Edward would not have given him another glance he remarked to himself that he may belong in the unspoken about fourth group The Slaves.
The Brightstar Kingdom had not engaged in slavery previously seeing it as something unique only to The Southern Kingdoms who followed an even more strict sect of Light God worship after freeing themselves from foreign as well as heretical Ishadi rule in a rebellion twenty years ago.
They justified it with all heretics who did not worship the Light God deserved to live in chains or die! The Southern Churches Clergy plead their case to The Pope and he was more than willing when he was given Slaves to do with as he pleased as an offering.
This leaves us in our current state seeing how profitable slavery was all people of power in The Brightstar Kingdom lobbied for it to be legalized and as The Queen herself was quite fond of the practice due to desiring the place of a handsome and comforting man to warm her bed it was put in place.
The slave group was not expected to do any fighting if anything their only destiny was to be used as sources of pleasure for The Prisoners and act as servants for The Haughty Fallen Nobility.
Addressing the men before him Edward Vinz loudly coughed as he received the attention of countless eyes coming in varying emotions some enraged, fearful, amused as well as numb to everything.
"I care not of your backgrounds or who you were before you joined this expediation, my only expectation of you gentleman is to follow orders. If you do then you'll gain riches freeing yourself of your sentences or even rising above that of a fallen noble into a mighty Duke of The Brightstar Kingdom."
A tall man whistled in amusement.
"As wonderful as this sounds you should stop lying to us and admit that bitch sent us on a death sentence! How does she expect a group of peasants mixed among minor knights to stand a chance against angry, zealous, Crank armies and foreign magics performed by natives by which we have not ever seen before, even the nobles among us."
"Oh yes! Lest I forget to mention if another major power decides it wants a piece of the pie too. So tell me Mr.Vinz how do you plan on keeping that pretty face of yours from leaving your honorable body?"
Many of the men noble and prisoner alike started to speak among themselves in angry voices before a giant beast of a man slammed his hands on a table.
"You bastards should do less gossiping and ready yourselves to earn your keep, If any of you dare to ruin things on the battlefield for us I'll personally tear your heads into little pieces!"
Edward only held up one hand signaling all the attention to himself as his mouth opened.
"While I thank you for quieting them down Ser Brandon I'll have to order you not to threaten these men they follow my orders on this expedition not yours.
The former commander Brandon of Brightstar only humped as he continued listening.
"I'm also letting you all know that if anyone else insults her Royal Majesty I'll personally use this honorable blade of mine to remove their tongues which they were given by The God of Light."
The tall man's amused smile disappeared off his face as he covered his mouth with his hand making sure his tongue was still there, he had seen a many of times insubordinate men had lost their tongues to the blade of a Paladin like Edward without even knowing he would prefer not to end up like they.
"Lastly, I guarantee you that if you do as I say those of you who survive will not be punished but rewarded with the love of your countrymen back home as well as written into a legacy of explorers and conquerors in not just Brightstar history but the entire world forever earning yourself glory!"
Cheers exploded from all sides; an ideal held by all men of Brightstar no matter if lowborn or noble was Glory was the most valuable thing a man could have, gold would be useless when you're dead and facing The Lord of Light. But your legacy will let you live on forever in the records printed by The Scholars of The Royal Academy all over the world.
The only one unaffected by this was a loosely curled haired boy his true name was forgotten by him long ago but he still remembers his grandmother telling him he was named after his father a powerful and feared cult leader possessing countless blessings in the Iahgnos Kingdom; it's said to be surrounded by deserts with other neighbors spread out thinly across the continent his mother would often remark in her sadness that his father went missing when seeking out a neighbor empire with uncountable amounts of legions for help back home these people worship their ruler whom they call "Safiya" as an honorable title; The Safiya is held as a messiah in the region all worshippers of The Forgotten God would seek that Empire out to pay tribute.
During that time men preaching a foreign religion and strange traditions had started to build settlements capturing the local tribes people who wandered off alone or paying poor men to do their bidding for them, alas those were things in the past he knew nothing about his beautiful home now.
He was referred to as Adrianus by his capturers due to his dark skin uncommon among the much lighter people of The Brightstar Kingdom he met few others from his home, the masters say his kind barely survive the trip back and are expensive to capture but when they do they make excellent exotic merchandise whatever that entails.
Now hearing that someone called a queen was sending him overseas again to an unknown place where even his own life wasn't ensured was frightening, keeping this in mind he picked up the dishes from an elegantly dressed man who rewarded him with scorn he quickly took them away being careful not to anger the man clearly of higher status than a slave like himself.
Passing them to another man who was in a more favorable position than him as a personal servant to one of those elegantly dressed men he sent Adrianus away with indifference alongside a bit of arrogance mixed in.
Finishing up the rest of his chores, Adrianus could only sigh at knowing he would forever be stuck like this as a servant to another with his own fate never to be in his own hands suddenly as if the fireworks of fate were lit a giant naval ship could be seen flying with banners resembling a shark with a giant castle at the bottom.
Suddenly a loud yell sounded out.
"IT'S THE CRANKS!"
Men could be seen disorderly entering their stations while brave nobles were doing their best to take command of the untrained men under them, yet one stood out above them all he had sky blue eyes and chiseled handsome facial features with short blonde hair on his head a golden aura surrounding him making his voice able to be heard by all crew members this man was Edward Vinz The Veteran of A Thousand Battles.
"Do not fear the God of Light shall protect us in this battle with those Crank bastards. Show them the might of men from Brightstar!"
The patriotic among the disorganized and unruly what could barely be called an army shouted out in union.
"FOR HER MAJESTY!"
No matter who you asked any would say that men from Brightstar are arguably one of the most loyal people to their Monarch, due to history going back since it's foundation.
Canons could be heard being shot out as blades clashed and terrifying spells casted; it was impossible to tell who was battling who but Adrianus knew he had to get away from it. These men and their battle be damned this had nothing to do with him he belonged to neither sides all he wanted was freedom and to go home.
"Is that a dirty rat trying to get away? Hahahaha! Looks like it's my lucky day free credits right in front of me."
Adrianus could hear the voice of an unknown man with an accent from behind him it resembled that of the men who had taken him captive as a slave long ago, almost like a trigger memories started flooding in.
"See ya dirty rat!"
No matter how much he wanted to move his body refused to bulge overcome by fear and countless memories he felt an edged blade slice cleanly through him as he tried jumping away with the last of his willpower.
"Ah! My credits just accept your fate and die. Don't fall into that cursed sea."
Adrianus took one last look at the man and his smug smile who had wounded him, forever engraving it in his memory even if he didn't survive this he would curse him to The Forgotten Gods for the rest of his afterlife.
A loud pop was heard as something heavy fell into the sea, neither of the two factions paid attention to the death of a mere slave as they were more busy fighting each other.
Seawater flew through his mouth, making it hard for him to breathe as he lifted up his arms with the last of his strength.
"H..o..m..e."
Quietly from deep under the seas a dark energy could be seen covering the boy causing a reaction with the snake like birthmark around his left eye.
At the same time a dark and cold voice spoke to him pulling the boy back to life.
"What's your name?"
Losing more and more energy in his body he spoke.
"A....d...r..i..a..n..u..s..."
Intense pain filled his head as he heard the dark voice shout.
"Your true name!"
Zero response came back as the dark voice growled turning demonic in nature.
"No matter, I'll take your everything and make it mine. All who had pushed you to this point will pay as I ascend to become The God of This New World!"
The wheels of fate landed on a dark path as a demonic serpent resembling the size of a dragon shadow could be seen underneath the beautiful moonlight of the cold sea.