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Chapter 5 - Chapter 5: Letter

Five years passed in the blink of an eye. Everything happening the same as it was five years ago. In a few days, I would be Eighteen. But what did it matter? A man like me was always going to be lower than plebeians. It was my punishment for being alive.

But there I was, planning my escape. On the day I turned Eighteen, I would run and become a fugitive of the Kingdom of Xander. So I sat myself down, quite literally too; and reviewed everything I'd learnt in my life that would be useful during or after my escape. Everything I knew about the world and it's history.

Generally, this is what everyone knew, I think: there are five gods. Zeus is their leader, then there is Hades, Poseidon, Heracles and Cronus. Zeus is the bearer of Lightning. Hades is King of the Netherworld: which is a place where dead souls go. Poseidon is the great King of the seas. Heracles, the god of Strength. And Cronus is the god of Time.

Then there are beings, sentient beings who are known as the messengers of the gods.

These beings are referred by humans as Dragons. There are four species: Fire dragons, Earth dragons, Ice dragons and Storm dragons. There is also the Space dragon, who is the King of all Dragons. Their element is identified by their colour. Fire dragons are Red, Earth dragons are Brown, Ice dragons are Blue, Storm dragons are White, while the King of dragons, according to myth, is Black. No one knows for sure if the Space dragon exists. There are also Wyverns, one of which killed my whole family. Wyverns are demi-dragons. To know the difference, dragons have their front limbs separated from their wings, while wyverns have theirs joint to their limbs. Plus, a wyvern is generally smaller than a dragon. In Xander, nobility has a hierarchy. The King or Queen, and royal family are most noble. Directly under them are Dukes and/or Duchesses. These titles are only given to those who were once royalty, like if the King's brother were to break off from the royal family. With the permission of the King, he may be made into a Duke. Under the Dukes are the Marquess who control lesser lands and hold lesser entitlement than the former. While a Duke is not entitled to any responsibility, a Marquess takes tribute of the land and handles it according to the desires of the King or Queen. Also, the title of Duke cannot be passed down from a Duke to his heir, but titles of lower nobility are passed down. Excepting the royal family, a Duke is considered the highest level noble. There are altogether six noble statuses, excepting of course, the royal family. There is the Duke, Marquess, Earl or Count; which are High nobles. Then there are the Viscount, Baron or Lord and Baronet; which are Low nobles. A Baronet directly collects the people's tribute and pays them to a Baron. My father was one such before he died and so was I, after inheriting the title; and before said title was stripped off my name. Now, I am no more Jason Xilmoa, but Jason. A Baron pays the tribute from all the Baronets under him to a Viscount, who then pays all tribute from Barons under himself to his Earl. Said Earl collects this tribute and pays them to a Marquess. There is however, a status afforded soldiers who have distinguished themselves. They are called Knights. If a Knight were to distinguish himself among other Knights, they would be awarded the title of Baronet. My grandfather was a Knight, I heard. A Knight's title however, cannot be inherited and they are also not considered nobility. They are more like privileged soldiers. For an army of any Kingdom, there are five types of people who can join in, as soldiers, of course. There are Ranged fighters who are mostly Archers, Stealth fighters are Assassins, Brawl fighters use fists. I hear they are called Fistfighters. Cliché, right? Melee fighters are mostly Swordsmen, but also Axe users and Hammer users. Then finally, we have the Mages. These are the most privileged people because they are believed to be blessed by the gods. Any commoner who is born a mage is taken from their family and bred and trained in the Mage's guild. Mages themselves are classified into five. Whenever a child is five years old, they are tested to see if they possess the gift. If they do, they are automatically a Novice mage. Only one in a hundred people are born with the gift. From then on, they must learn to cast spells. Any Novice mage who comes under the tutelage of a Veteran mage or a higher ranked mage becomes an Apprentice mage.

An Apprentice mage who masters the use of his gift becomes a Veteran mage, and a Master mage if he or she decides to take up a disciple apprentice. Lots of mages never become Veteran mages, even till after they die. Only about one in fifty mages can boast of this feat. Ater this tier is Legendary mages, who can create storms with just a wave of their hand. A mage is naturally required to learn spellcasting, right? Well, a Legendary mage is required to acquire the skill of silent spellcasting: that is casting spells without reciting spells. These mages are extremely powerful and also very rare. On average, only around one in a hundred thousand Veteran mages become Legendary mages. The last known tier are the Divine mages. Humans believe the gods are Divine mages. They are also the only ones who can wield such power. No human can ever become a Divine mage. Contradictory talk is considered heresy. But there is a myth taught to every child born on Earth of five mythic items. It is well known that the gods lived on Earth. People just don't know why. I, myself learnt why just a few years ago. The myth tells that the gods forged five items each containing a spark of their power. Any human who found all five would be granted godhood and become the sixth god. But as far as Xanderians knew, that was all it was: a myth. Then, there was the geography of the Earth, along with its currency. There were seven Kingdoms in the world, all on one gargantuan landmass populated mostly by humans. There was the Kingdom of Xander situated right at the centre of it. It is known to be the biggest trade centre because of its geographical position and its weather. Its was always spring in Xander. Never too hot, never too cold. The coldest nation was Ichrysia. Literally founded on ice. The ice marks the nation's very borders, making it one of the biggest kingdoms in the world. Ichrysia is directly North of Xander. There was also Ladia, hardly having plains. It was a Kingdom of mountains. The people here were hunters and they relied strongly on their defences. Ladia was Northwest of Xander and South of Ichrysia. Cretia had mountains as well, but most of its mountains were dormant volcanoes. This nation harboured Fire dragons, according to myth. No dragon, though, had been seen in the last thousand years or so. In Cretia, as well as in the rest of the world. Ichrysia was known to be the habitat for Ice dragons while both Ladia and Cretia was habitat for Earth dragons. Cretia was Southwest of Xander and South of Ladia. Northeast of Xander was Astrig. It was a kingdom home to sailors and fishers. It is even rumoured the current King's grandfather was once a fisher. Storm dragons are rumoured to have lived here, as this nation had people closest to the sea, in terms of daily living.

Southeast of Cretia and South of Xander was Kreemlin. All people knew about this nation was that it was just heat, deserts and rumours. I mean, come on, how can black humans exist? Due Northeast of this nation and Southeast of Xander was the Holy country of Verillis, which had no King. It was basically a nation of worship and spirituality: everyone here worshipped the five gods, and it was where anyone went on a pilgrimage. The rulers of Verillis was the council of High Priests. The currency around the world was coins, and there was five types. There was copper coins, which was the least valuable; then silver coins. There was ten copper coins for one silver coin. The coins were classified according to their colours, so hearing gold coin ought to say so much. A Gold coin, however, was ten silvers or a hundred coppers. There was also Pewter coins and Platinum coins. A pewter was ten golds, and a platinum: ten pewters. Only nobles were given the privilege of using the two most expensive currencies, if of course, they could afford it.

10 coppers = 1 silver

100 coppers = 10 silvers = 1 gold

1000 coppers = 100 silvers = 10 golds = 1 pewter

10000 coppers = 1000 silvers = 100 golds = 10 pewters = 1 platinum

I'd gone through every important thing I could think of. Now, I decided I would escape south to Kreemlin. Since this Kingdom was generally closed to outsiders, I was somewhat certain that if I was able to get in, the Queen would be unable to get a hold of me, so I began my plans. Few days to my birthday, a letter came for me. A soldier had brought it, and it carried the royal seal. The letter was an invitation to the Queen's birthday party about a month away, which was when the Queen would turn twenty.