In a world in full reconstruction after a devastating war that redefined the boundaries of civilization, humanity tries to rise from its ashes. This world, both vast and modern, is divided into several kingdoms, each governed by influential families, true pillars of the new societies. These great families, descended from the most powerful survivors of the ancient conflict, now share the territories, each imposing its laws and influence on entire regions .
Each territory is placed under the absolute domination of a Monarch, an exceptional being chosen from among the great families. These Monarchs, at once political figures, military strategists and symbols of the identity of their people, reign as absolute masters over their respective kingdoms. Their authority is uncontested, chosen for their strength and wisdom to govern the kingdom , In this reconstructed world, a captivating and formidable mystery shapes the balance of power: the presence of dungeons scattered across the globe. These enigmatic structures, with varied and often improbable architectures, seem to defy the laws of nature and reason. Their appearance remains unexplained, with some claiming that they are the remains of a vanished civilization, others considering them to be creations of the gods themselves.
Dungeons, while a source of wealth and power, are also synonymous with extreme danger. Each incursion is a risky bet, where the slightest mistake can cost one's life. Adventurers who venture there must not only face ingenious traps and hostile creatures, but also the trials imposed by the Bosses of the places. These entities, protectors of treasures, are beings of immense power, obeying no human rules.
Among the adventurers, some have forged their reputation by conquering these deadly places. They are called the Chosen of the Dungeons, individuals so skilled and fearsome that they sometimes rival the Monarchs themselves. But even for them, each new dungeon remains an enigma
"Dungeon Hunters" have become a class in their own right, respected and feared at the same time. They live on danger and daring, exploring these mysterious and deadly places to extract rare artifacts, precious materials, and priceless treasures. Each dungeon explored is a new opportunity for fortune, but also a risky bet, as many never return.
This profession, although extremely dangerous, attracts individuals from all walks of life: orphans seeking to escape their misery, warriors eager for glory, or mystics in search of forbidden knowledge, etc. The most talented climb the ranks of their profession, becoming living legends, while the less fortunate fall into oblivion, their name lost in the meanders of history
The Kingdom of Xespers, a bastion of power and tradition, rises from the ruins of what was once Japan and China, merging the cultural and warlike legacies of the two ancient nations. Its territory, vast and fertile, stretches from the isolated islands of the Pacific to the vast continental plains, passing through the mountains and valleys once witnessing the bloodiest battles in recent history.
The war that ravaged the world did not spare Xespers. Its cities were destroyed, its lands ravaged, and its inhabitants scattered or enslaved. However, under the rule of Monarch Ryuzen, the kingdom has begun an impressive resurgence. Ryuzen, nicknamed "The Dragon of the East", is known for his wisdom and formidable military strategy. Hailing from a lineage that goes back to the very origins of Xespers, he took the throne at the end of the great war, consolidating his power by unifying internal factions and repelling foreign invader .
The Kingdom of Xespers is a gigantic empire which can be difficult to navigate as it has three major Cities, each representing a critical component of both the kingdom and its past history, hence the society that comes therefrom. Xiapang, the capital, acts as the epicenter of Xespers geographically, economically and ethnically rich occupied by a multitude of power and wealth. It is an all-embryonic society where rival greatest noble houses and the one business conglomerates are fighting for the helm of the kingdom governmental and economical activities. The broad and cobbled streets of Xiapang are adorned with lavish houses and temples with golden roofs where the upper class of the kingdom resides preserving its customs and heritage. It is also a cultural center, a home for artists poets and writers and musicians making the capital a center for very high intellectual and creative activity. In the sculpture. On the markets, rare treasures and magical doing artifacts roll in showing the boundless wealth of the kingdom and its families ability to rule not just with brute strength but also with knowledge and clout. This wealth however has a bounty because the society is constantly torn apart with backstabbing and power play with the shadow of the previous wars still remains to scar the society with invisible scars
Xiu, the second major city, is located a few hundred kilometers away, and represents a nerve center of maritime trade and spiritual culture. Xiu is a cosmopolitan city, where ethnic merchants, sailors and wanderers congregate from the farthest corners of the world.
Having a vast sea port, Xiu is known to be the maritime trade center of the kingdom where commodities gathered from all parts of the world and from over the seas meet. Days and nights vessels full of the strangeness of other lands dock in the city of Xiu, making it a bustling place all the time. Yet this commercial busyness is not the only charm of Xiu. It has expansive territories with exotic ancient temples and shrines that are remnants of the old mystical era. Such edifices with lofty design and deep secrets serve as pilgrimage sites for many tourists
The temples present in this adventure house wise men and priests who keep certain long-held hidden information. Xiu is a successful city, however, it bears the marks of its past, its spiritual influences, and most of its inhabitants are middle class; they struggle to live within the old traditions and the present fast growing trade center. While its marketplaces are bustling with expensive items and exotic spices, the markets also have a more disturbing side where dealings involving magical objects and arcane knowledge are done quietly
On the other hand, the third major city, Xiertas, is completely different. While Xiapang and Xiu stand for power, wealth and spirituality, Xiertas stands for poverty and bleakness. Once a flourishing city, it struggled with internal conflicts and then a brutal war which distorted the very geography and spirit of the city forever. These days, though, Xiertas is the place where the phenomena of poverty and pain are the most widespread. As the dusty back streets and dilapidated houses bear the weight of war, orphans, refugees, criminals and the outcasts fight to exist within them in an unfriendly setting. A swamp of skeletons, a huge expanse of putrid land overrun with wild beasts, lies in wait as a lurking source of terror for the native people. It is a swamp of destruction, a geographical zone that is buried beneath mud and contains such spoiled remains of hostilities from some time ago that they are no longer cared for, along with some remains of the old war that are known to be there but hidden in protectively mud thick layers. Xiertas is battered and broken yet takes pride in the bravest of its residents. There are criminals and gangs in the city too, who look after the financial interests of the common people and terrorize them in return. The rulers of the kingdom did not pay attention to it because they were too busy with the court politics of Xiapang and the trade matters in Xiu, thus leaving the city out of reach of its inhabitants
Though they are connected by the fact that they belong to the kingdom of Xespers, the three cities contrast deeply, each containing tales of triumph and tragedy, of wealth and misery. Whereas Xiapang and Xiu appear to be the vanguard of the kingdom's future and rebirth, Xiertas is a reminder of the wounds of history, a place where war has scarred the land beyond healing, and restoration is still the stuff of dreams. Each of these three cities is different in terms of wealth and rank from the others; nevertheless, they share the same fate – that of a country aspiring to restore its greatness, glory and stability, along with internal inequalities that could very well tear it apart.
Nolan, now twenty years old, is a survivor scarred by tragedies that would have brought down many men. Hailing from the poor and desperate town of Xiertas, he has known the worst of life since elementary school. At the age of seven, he sees his world crumble in the midst of a brutal war that takes everything from him—his parents, siblings, and even the blissful innocence of childhood. In the midst of this turmoil and having lost all sense of direction, he finds solace in his grandfather, a man who has endured many tribulations but remains strong, who chooses to settle him in Xiu, a coastal town that seemed to offer a better way of life.
Nolan's life in Xiu takes on a different dimension but is just as demanding. He struggles inside and outside the grand temples and among the bustling docks as he struggles to fit into this life. At just eight years old, he learns the pain of hard work, taking on odd jobs that almost break his body and mind. His grandfather, a very calming presence, gives him the strength to continue even when circumstances are not favorable to him. But this fragile paradise does not last long: a few years later, when Nolan is only fifteen, his beloved grandfather suddenly passes away, leaving the boy facing a cruel world that has shown him only pain and struggle.
Since then, Nolan has grown up, but he has become stronger over the years thanks to the challenges he has faced and had to overcome alone. At twenty, he is a man full of determination, but the ghosts of his past still remain with him. The outline of his face shows the seriousness of a man who has seen too much and lost too much, but the sparkle in his eyes shows the struggle that inhabits him. Such difficult experiences, however, have built in him a calm and almost unbearable determination, a power that seems beyond human capacity.
However, a void continues to remain in it. Nolan experiences restless nights filled with vivid and bizarre dreams. He sees distant wars, endless fierce blood-shed and much more of power that he has no grasp of yet. Those dreams, strange in their nature, are intended to tell him something, that he cannot yet understand. While he is struggling down the busy streets of Xiu, an uneasy feeling creeps up on him 'there is more to this life; one that has been purely about survival, and that could be just an opening to something bigger.
There was something heavy in the atmosphere that night. It was as if the air itself had gained weight; he, the sleeper, was undergoing a continual movement of dreams. Standing out from the crowd, he felt a dream, nightmarish and violent in its own way, that he had dreamed countless times before: a fight full of blood and magic bursting forth in the middle of the fight, and a woman dressed in a long black cloak with only her face veiled. But this time, he felt as if it were more vivid than the other times.
He was suddenly awakened from his trance and a shiver ran down his spine. He was no longer alone. Beside his bed was a figure dressed in black. Yet it was almost like an illusion, a palpable ethereal darkness seemed to engulf him. Nolan felt how his breath was taken away from him, the furious beating of his heart in his chest. Fear rendered him immobile, meaning he couldn't act, his gaze fixed on that of the elusive figure.
The strange figure slowly raised a hand as if to comfort him. The hand made no noise to call for a voice, there was however a certain inexplicable calm emanating from it, which slightly relieved the fear Nolan felt. The outstretched hand, calm and gentle, suddenly lit up with a dark energy and in an instant, everything changed.
The four corners of the room transformed into a vortex of rapid images as the walls of the room disappeared. Nolan, held hostage by this horrible vision, witnessed battles filled with corpses, monsters with grotesque faces and, in the foreground, a name that roared deafeningly in his head: Nekroz. They were also warriors of astonishing abilities, ancient practices practiced in otherworldly light, and power so great it was awe-inspiring; chaos juxtaposed with creation.
The dark energy suddenly receded, pulling Nolan into the present. Breathless, he shifted his gaze back to the figure but this time, it appeared somewhat blurry as if the image were caught in between realities. At last, those words rang across his cranium, a syllable sharp and clear though uttered in a foreign tongue. This whisper however bore words that he felt he was able to get the meaning of without translation.
"Get ready, it won't take long. You cannot escape this war. Your blood, your will, everything in you speaks of what is to come."
Nolan, still dazed by the vision that had just passed, suddenly heard a low, deep voice as if it came from beneath the surface of the earth:
"You are the incarnation of Hades. This role has chosen you."
These words, rich with meaning, were inscribed in his mind, like a brand. Before he realized it, before he could ask for an explanation, or even contemptuously refuse to believe this statement, the strange figure raised both hands, palms turned towards him, towards him. A dark, thick and oppressive energy burst from its hands and enveloped Nolan in an unyielding embrace.
The boy felt his body lift off the ground, as if the very principles of gravity ceased to exist. The dark energy then penetrated him, igniting every part of his being. A sharp but strangely liberating pain coursed through him as if his essence was shattered into pieces with the promise of a new, more perfect whole.
That was when the memories came flooding back. Not his own, but those of dozens, hundreds of men and women before him. Each Hadus, each possessor of that divine title, paraded before his eyes, one after the other, like in a movie. He saw battles where the dead rose at his will, centuries-old ceremonies intended to subject life and death to his will, treaties written in a language long lost between him and the other celestial beings.
He felt both wisdom and power, but also a weight. He learned the art of Nekroz, that white and black magic that places disordered posts between life and death. Those strange symbols began to form in his mind, equations, spells, axioms incomprehensible to anyone else.
As if he were trying to free himself from the water, he finally straightened up and swayed gracefully as if he were a feather. Nolan was out of breath, but he no longer felt himself. A new type of blood flowed through his veins as if the very essence of a god was stirring him. He clenched his fists and felt that energy rise, a power he had never felt before.
He looked up and again – the figure had already disappeared, as if it had never existed. But couldn't one erase something? Nolan stood up slowly, his face showing an unknown resolve. His body was in the same state, not yet heavy, but there was something harder in his body, his senses were sharpened to a point beyond reason and his mind held vast amounts of information he had yet to fully comprehend.
Nolan placed a palm on his chest and felt the unorthodox force inside beat like a second heart. The boy, Nolan, was no longer a disoriented youth. He had become the incarnation of Hades burdened with the crushing burden of destiny and an even greater power. A new world was opening up to him and he knew that nothing would ever be the same again.