Somewhere out of space and time, the woman who appeared to Arthur knelt among the clouds before a gigantic blue throne. The throne was crafted from very rare and precious stones, some yet to be discovered. The figure seated upon the throne was obscured by a blinding light.
The woman, clad in snow-white robes with her golden hair loose cascading freely, bowed before the throne. – Father, is he the one you chose? – she asked, his gaze on the cloud below.
A soft yet firm voice answered her, the voice of a father. – I understand Father, but he's despicable and manipulative... – she grumbled, sighing. – Forgive me Father. May your will be done...
...
The world wasn't always like this, full of Qi, martial artists, mana, magic, Titans, monsters, elves, dwarves, giants, orcs and so many other things. It was once an ordinary world, consisting of six continents, without absolutism and tyranny, it thrived with freedoms, and democracy. But ambition, selfishness and human greed destroyed everything.
The first major change came with the asteroids, which killed billions and brought Qi, mana, and new precious metals to the world. In response, man found himself in the need to prevent future disasters, so technology advanced rapidly.
Then, with technology more profit, so, man's arrogance, greed and selfishness increased, leading to the third and fourth world wars, which marked the second great change. Millions more died, and the impact of asteroids and radiation from nuclear bombs caused the third great change: diseases. New diseases emerged, killing billions.
After the asteroids and bombs, there were no more houses or shelters. Following the diseases, the world population was drastically reduced. Life became difficult, as human diseases became infectious to plants and animals, causing food to become scarce. This marked the beginning of the fourth great change: hunger.
The hunger was so terrible that it decimated billions more. Cannibalism became something not so reprehensible, but humanity managed to develop isolated environments, protected from diseases so that they could produce food and survive. Did it stop here? No, the fifth major change came.
Nuclear bombs and asteroids made the theory of global warming a reality, making sunlight dangerous. Human beings could no longer go outside unprotected during the day. This worsened disease and hunger, further reducing the population and causing several countries and nations to vanish.
Rich? Poor? No longer mattered. It was the law of the jungle now, the strongest survived. This was when the magical and martial societies gained space and power. People who adapted to Qi and mana became world leaders, and the Murim culture spread globally.
You can already understand where kimonos, gis, cultivation, magic and martial arts come from, right? Let's continue. The sixth great change, the one that caused the earth to open up and swallow up living people, the sudden movement of the tectonic plate, causing the continent known as the New World to unite with two other continents, the Cradle of Humanity and the Old Continent, killing millions.
Man could rest now, or so it seemed. With less than fifty million inhabitants in the world, the world was nearly empty.
The survivors gathered in the Old Continent and called it Eurus, there was no more technology, houses or anything else from the old world and everything that reminded the past was burned, almost everything at least. Some in the Murim society kept several records and documents from the old world.
Only the people of Greece, the United Kingdom and Murim were left to tell the story. Other nations? Decimated! Honestly speaking? Only Murim survived and ruled over the other two peoples, but there was rebellion, and some fled to: the Asu continent, founding the Jade empire and other kingdoms.
Others fled to the Alcana continent, adapting to the icy, radiation-filled regions and founding the Anain empire. Over centuries, they turned pale, their eyes adjusted to the shadows, and their ears grew pointed, giving birth to the impure elves.
But as always, wars divided the Anain empire. Anain became the forest kingdom and Vanain the desert, becoming black elves to adapt to the sun. Others went to Apelika, forming the Indrith empire, the Surtir empire, and other kingdoms. Some took refuge on the Aqua continent, discovering a lost continent and disappearing, while many remained on Eurus, including the Pendragon family.
It was here where Tyron returned to this world, crashing his ship into Mount Everest creating the Cave of Kings. Some Titans survived, but Tyron died. He had been in this world before and had had children with a human.
Tyron chose one of his descendants to be his first herald, the herald of the Titan of Light, Adam Pendragon. Adam, Furious with Murim's domination, returned to Eurus, waging war but ultimately dying, leaving his eldest son Androel as the new herald.
At that time, Tyron passed the position of herald only to his descendants, the Pendragon. But Androel went mad, rebelled against him and claimed to be a god. Mael, Androel's youngest brother had to kill him, and he was successful and received the mantle of herald, but he then decided that the Pendragon's were no more worthy of this power.
The first Pendragons were phoenixes, half-human and half-Titan. known as Nephilim. Not that the combination of the two species would have led to phoenixes, but Tyron gave the essence of the Phoenixes to the love of his life, a human. Some Pendragons fled to Aqua, preserving their Phoenix nature, while those who stayed in Eurus lost this nature and became normal humans, okay, a little bit normal.
...
On one of the continents, Apelika, was founded the Indrithian empire, mostly a desert supplied by the great river Leo, and in Arthur's time the city of Python in the province of Gezer, was the capital and home of the royal palace of Augustus, one of the wonders of the world.
King Augustus, lying on his bed dressed in a linen robe, clearly ill, sweating intensely and shaking.
Cleopatra Aca, the princess and bastard daughter of king Augustus Aca, stood by his side. She was a stunning woman with dark skin, long voluminous black hair, her well-developed physique and amber eyes could bring any man to his knees. Recognized as the jewel of Indrith, her full pink lips added to her allure
In the list of the strongest of the new generation, she was called the Beautiful Intelligent Phoenix. She was an extremely intelligent, cunning and beautiful politician, and also very powerful.
She looked at her dying father. – The messengers say that the battle is about to begin. The absence of Indrith's soldiers is visible... – Cleopatra informed him, her face serious.
Prince Amr Aca, the heir to the throne, stood next to the princess in a white and gold linen kimono. Lighter-skinned than his sister, he had short hair and brown eyes. – If you want, I can organize the army and support the god-king... – he said, smiling at his father.
Cleopatra looked subtly at the prince out of the corner of her eyes. "You can be very dumb, this creature was not born to be intelligent..." she thought.
Looking at the prince, the king coughed. – N-No! You won't arrive on time. It will take you days to get there. Besides, if the result is not favorable to the Union, it will be very difficult to convince Treadway to ally with us... – he revealed, showing that not sending soldiers was a strategy.
With a smile, Cleopatra fixed her haughty gaze on the king. "You dying idiot! He ordered your death! It was the Treadway that put you in this bed!" she thought, her hands in the black of her gold linen dress.