Author's Note: This chapter is about history like the title suggests. This might bore you so just skim through it if you want (but reading this will give you knowledge about the fantasy world )
♫ (Slaughter Beach, Dog – Acolyte) play this while reading if you want to ♫
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"The planet of Helios is a large planet made up of different circular islands of varying sizes. There is no country on the planet, just different cities on islands. Some are bigger than the others, some are inhabited by elves, some by gigantic animals and insects, some are covered in carnivorous plants, and there is still a lot more undiscovered island."
"The planet has 5 suns and 7 moons and in some magical way, the EV that is released from the earth into the air is affecting them, producing different weathers on different islands. You do know what EV is right? They are the source of our affinities; it is on your system. It is why we can conjure elements. Some islands are covered in poisonous fog, some of them are covered in ice and snow and there's also an island that submerges in water during the day."
"The Magical City of Mor is one of the largest islands on the planet. It is stationed on a large circular island with 5 kinds of terrain. It can be described as a concentric city, with the castle in the center of the island built in the highest mountain in a circular mountain range. The castle is where the king's family lives. Surrounding the mountain range is a concentric plateau. This is where the Meiths live. Their houses are built on top of different plateaus; this is also where the gate going to the academy is built, on the largest plateau in the city."
"The plateau connects to a marshland covered in fog and enormous mangroves. This is where the elves mostly live, at the edge of it are a thin layer of glowing blue lichens growing on the soil and barks of the mangroves. This acts as a boundary from the land of elves to the land of dwarves. Most of them, the dwarves, live on a storm-covered tundra. The only thing separating the tundra from the flatlands in the surrounding plantation of red flowers that can make any creature sleepy, they call these flowers, Pula."
"After the plantation of Pulas is where the flatlands lies, the largest part of the city. It is where we are right now, a bit further from the center of the flatlands. The center is where most Arleiths and halflings are. It's bustling with life from different creatures. The sky is always painted in different colors of sunlight, some parts of it are covered in gigantic trees and other areas are covered in black-grass.
The center of the flatlands is where the Seagair from different islands go, it is where they trade what they hunted, the beast cores or they sell them in markets. What remains beyond the flatlands, is a wall surrounding the island and then there's the Bocht, away from everything and everyone, that is where you lived."
Grian, with his eyes full of wonder, interrupted Kenstein and asked, "Old man, what are Seagaires?"
"Aren't you even homeschooled?" he asked to which Grian nodded no. Kenstein sighed and continued speaking, "Seagaires are hunters and explorers of islands. Most of them are well-respected because of their bravery and contribution to knowledge about the islands and the planet of Helios itself. To become one, one must first graduate from the academy. This is common knowledge among the islands. Ever since a well-known Seagaire discovered an island that is corrupted by decay and darkness a thousand years ago, the islands required every Arleith to attend an academy to learn how to fight against the darkness, they called it the Plague of Noctis."
"What happened was, that famous Seagaire was exploring some islands when he stumbled upon an island filled with flowers, it was such a beautiful island. Different kinds of poisonous and healing floras are on the island. He stayed there for quite a while, he was documenting everything he passed through and collecting samples. While exploring the island, he found out that half of it was covered in eternal darkness, even the water surrounding half the island was covered in it. That darkness was a place where the suns don't shine, and nothing exists. It was slowly eating everything on its path including light and sound. There was no sky, no water, and no land, there was only nothingness. It was moving very slowly, enveloping the island."
"And then what happened to the Seagaire?" Grian asked.
"He tried using his affinity, to see if it has an effect, and it did. He used all the EV he could gather within the island and tried to purify the darkness with his flame and for a minute, a portion of the darkness was gone, and it was back to being the flowery field it was. But after a few moments, the darkness was slowly creeping back and decayed the fields away to nothingness."
"Although he was very powerful, one man could not purify the plague on his own. With his discovery, he went back and reported to every island on the planet, he told them that it can be purified or at least stalled by the flame, and from there, he gathered Seagaires to help him fend off the plague of Noctis within that island."
"That Seagaire was a great man named Ales, he was the only known Arleith to possess the Blue flame. He was the youngest and most powerful Seagaire that was recorded ever in the history of Helios."
"Ales, with his band of Seagaires, managed to purify the plague until the edge of the island, but they just suddenly vanished. No one knows what happened to them until this day."
"At the same time Ales and the Seagaires became missing, the Meiths of the islands that were in charge of governance, discovered a way to establish a barrier, it is made of the same materials as the wall on the Bocht. But instead of absorbing EV, the one they made was releasing the flame affinity, it was producing EV. They put up this wall around the part of the island that was plagued with Noctis, it continuously produced flames to stop it from further decaying the island."
"That wall that was releasing flames, was the only one of its kind ever made. The next generation of Meiths did not know either, it was a secret they brought to their graves."
"The walls worked; the continuous supply of flames regressed the plague. For a few years, there was peace on the planet, but the decay was still growing at a speed that wasn't noticeable."
"When the Meiths found out that the plague was still moving at a slow and steady pace, even if the wall of flames were confining the plague, they were still anxious. The Meiths held a meeting with all of the islands, to establish an academy at every city island, to train Arleiths, and create more Seagaires. That was the solution they came up with, for they did not know how to make the wall of flames."
"A special unit made of flame-wielding Arlieths that finished the academy was gathered and they were called the Rogaires. This was done in all the islands, so there are different academies training Arleiths in different cities. Once an Arleith graduate they can choose to be a Sealgaire or a Rogaire."
"The Sealgaires have more freedom in exploring different islands while the Latter was solely made to protect everything and living creatures from the plague of Noctis, these Rogaires became the guards of the island. This was done because the Meiths assumed that there will come a time where the barrier won't hold anymore, and the plague will finally seep through the barrier, and they predicted right. It did happen."
"A few hundred more peaceful years came without the plague of Noctis seeping out. The old Meiths died, and their descendant governed the islands. Each generation became more powerful and corrupted in the years that passed. The Rogaires that were established to protect the cities and their inhabitants were used by the Meiths for their gratification. Over time, the Meiths made a special unit out of the Rogaires, and they were called the Letters. They were used by the Meiths for special missions."
"Those Letters were the ones that attacked the Bocht," Kenstein added. Grian should be feeling deep hatred and anger for them. He knew that this is what he should feel. But there was none, because of the system. Grian was afraid that the time the system brings back his sealed emotions and pain, he might not be able to control it.
"It was 14 years ago when the plague of Noctis finally overcame the island. It was moving downwards beneath the wall avoiding the flames. it went below the barrier and corrupted what was beneath. The Meiths became terrified and therefore wanted to make more Rogaires and Seagaires to go to the island and purify the plague."
"Before, whoever wishes to serve or be an explorer can join the academy at any age they desire. They were more lenient and were just thankful for these Arleiths that want to protect the world. But for 14 years, since the discovery that the plague had enveloped the whole island, the Meiths required every Arleith that turned 14 to attend the academy on the first day of the year. That island was now called Noctis. Since then, the plague continued to grow and is now nearing another island. Even with that many Sealgaires and Rogaires, they couldn't even manage to control it. The generation today couldn't even hold a candle against the previous Sealgaires."
"You are also an Arleith, but your parents hid that from you, to protect you. You also turned 14 a few days ago and are required to join the academy. Tomorrow is the time for you to go to the plateau and attend the academy."
"Wait let me process everything for a bit, you keep on throwing bombs at me old man." Grian still with his eyes closed, looked at the old man's flame, to see if there was any movement indicating that the old man lied. But there was none, it is smaller and weaker compared to before.
"What happened to Sir Kenstein? Now you're just calling me old man. I said call me grandpa." Kenstein said as he hit the boy's head.
"Ow! You gave me your fish so I kind of liked you but now I take it back. You're mean." Grian replied as he scratched his head, the part where the old man hit.
"My parents, they were protecting me from what? Who are my real parents?" he then asked.
"Let's talk about something else, shall we? We only have a limited time to train, tomorrow whether you like it or not you need to go."
'Even if I begged him for it, I'm sure he won't tell me anyway. I'll find it out on my own.' Grian thought.
"You said my parents hid me, no one knows I'm an Arleith yet, except you. They wouldn't care for a kid from a Bocht. Why do I have to attend the academy? They wouldn't know anyway."
"I know your emotions are in check right now because of the system, but you'll find who killed your parents there, you'll also know how to control your affinity."
"Hmm, I'm not convinced," Grian said while he crossed his arms. He knew he had to go, all his life he lived on the Bocht. He never had friends nor experienced life outside the Bocht. Even if the old man did not say that he would find out about his real parents or who killed his parents. He's still eager to attend the academy. And though his sight is made of white lines, he could still appreciate the different sounds he could hear and auras he could see. Plus, with the knowledge Kenstein imparted, and his system, he couldn't wait to attend the academy. He was just messing with the old man.
Kenstein threw another compressed fireball, but weaker than the first one, frustrated at the stubborn kid.
"Stop it old man! I'm messing with you hahaha." Grian was laughing feeling giddy while patting the flame from his burnt clothes.
"First, you need to know how to at least conjure your flames. That's the minimum requirement at the academy. Concentrate and feel the EV floating around you and gather them."
Grian with his eyes still closed, concentrated, the wireframe he could see was slowly dissipating and his vision is now filled with darkness. Little by little, small orbs with a faint white glow was showing around him. He began to exert more focus and slowly gathered this inside his chest. His breathing slow, and a few sweat drops were falling from his forehead. Then the faint white glow in his chest turned into a spark, then a flame.
[System Notification]
<1 stat point rewarded [Main Quest(s)] [Unlock all skill slots] : [Reward (500 Exp)] "Good, okay now, try feeling the flame moving from your chest to your hand, and release it." Grian ignored the notifications and continued doing what Kenstein instructed, afraid to break his concentration. He felt the flame move and felt excited. He opened his eyes and screamed. "Fireball!" Both Grian and Kenstein were stunned and speechless by what happened. Kenstein saw at the last minute before Grian released the fireball, that when Grian opened his eyes it burned with blue flames. It affected the fireball too. When the fireball was in Grian's hand, it was red with the size of a fist. But when he opened his eyes, it suddenly became yellow and grew 10x its size. When Grian released it, it was aimed at one of the gigantic trees. Now that tree has a huge burnt dent mark on its trunk. [System Notification] [Fireball] : (release a concentrated ball of flames, size, color and amount is dependent on user's EV) <1 Stat Point rewarded "Did you see that! It was yellow! And it was huge! Am I a genius or what?!" Grian was ecstatic, he was running around the tree he burnt. After a few laps around the tree, when his excitement died down, he felt weak and sluggish all of the sudden and fell. "Status screen"' he weakly said while sitting up. [Status Screen] 'I saw it right, he can use the blue flame.' Kenstein thought in amazement. He then realized something and quickly ran to Grian. "Grian listen to me carefully, take off your shirt. Tie it around your eyes, you need to bandage them." The old man was removing Grian's clothes in urgency. "Hey! Hey! Old man, what are you doing?! I don't swing that way." Grian exclaimed while stopping the old man from removing his burnt ragged top that wasn't covering his belly button. Kenstein hit the boy in the head and said, "Listen to me! I'm running out of time. No one can ever see them okay? Never remove your bandage ever. People will die if they see your eyes." Grian realized how serious the old man was based on his tone and the flame with the old man is flickering away. Keinstein outlines were slowly dissipating. "Old man! What's happening to you?" He asked while tying the shirt behind his eyes. "I'll explain everything soon, just remember what I told you, you're a smart kid. You can figure things out. Use the portal in the city and go to the plateau tomorrow to attend the academy. Use the time left to study the system and train if you don't want to be eaten alive by the students at the academy." The old man hurriedly said as he was becoming transparent. "Hey! Where are you going? What's happening?" Grian was panicking, grabbing at an empty space, where the old man used to be. "Hide your eyes-" were the last words Grian heard before the old man's flame completely vanished. ---------------------------------