THE RUINATION

"Only the weak truly desire boundless power and perceiving such a level of cognizance of one's self weakness could only be achieved by those who are constantly pummeled in the face by their own defeats."

"Petty" thought Balendon about himself. He felt yet another form of suffering as he was crying. His tears froze as soon as they formed, adding to the intolerable strain on his body.

He felt as though his frost bitten skin would peel away like the burnt crust from bread if he scratched it. He had been fatigued for last five days and had been in constant run in last nine hours from some hunters who wanted to 'devour his essence.'

He could feel his primitive armor was amplifying the cold into his body instead of insulating it.

He entered the blizzard to shake off his demise. Another bad choice! He was successful in shaking off his hunters yet not his demise.

There was a reason people called these lands "uncharted" as nobody could venture beyond this blizzard that despoiled one from his life.

He could still move forward since his feeling of regret, grief and self hatred towards his weakness was stronger than his flesh pain.

Just like a puppet of some level of lich, he threw his body further with every step. At that point, he forgot his desire to survive and started watching his life while still moving out of rage.

Again, his failures were pummeling him in the face, making him feel even more petty and desperate at every frame.

He cried out, "How could someone's life mock him so much!? Where is the fairness in that" or he thought.

He couldn't feel or hear anything.

Then, the scenery changed from his life to a diminishing light. From his frostbitten eyes, he could barely see some ancient pathway around a pit that he was soaring downwards to warmth... and darkness.

THE WORLD OF ELISYSA

According to ancient records unearthed in northern library of Kornar Empire, world of Elisysa was considered a young world which contained the life on it for 1 billion years at max where 'space mana' were flowing into it from the only pole it had at north.

Then space mana would be shaped by the magic core of the planet to gain identity as its magic thus giving birth to its unique planetary life. Some called this process god, some called it nature and some just considered it as law of creation.

Elisysa had many civilizations that rose to pinnacles of their own cultures, only to fall, unable to escape the paradox of advancament leading to destruction.

The planet held countless ancient secrets along with primordial dangers both belonging to the planet and are extraterrestial. Knowledge in such matters is long forgotten to the science of more recent civilizations thus people could only guess.

For example in current civilization, one would feel their mana channels evolving faster by absorbing more mana as they move northward and make a primitive guess of "magic comes from north" like a monkey which thinks banana tree is good after receiving benefits of banana tree.

But reaching to banana tree is not always easy since as the monkey gets closer to it, it has to contest with others which also seek benefits from banana tree.

The most recent records of the common civilization tells us a little about one great northern civilization prospered in northern continent. Most of their memories and records got destroyed during great devastation 300 years ago caused by infighting of 10 major gods and their believers.

This resulted in few of the each races barely surviving and throwing themselves to lesser western and eastern continents.

After unity of survival between intellectual species settled, jealousy starts and with the old grudges brought upon the surface, ancient wars start once again.

Current political diversity on the planet according to Elisyson historian Cadmin is like this:

On the eastern continent, lives the inferior race called Celestons who were living there way before the great devastation, thus their evolution was malnourished of mana over generations due to lack of mana absorption.

The reason they could survive the influx of strong refugees caused by the great devastation is their mighty technology where they combined magic and material to defend against dangers posing threats to their empire.

Under their merciful welcome and strong leadership, they united the three gentle races of the north:

1. Half-animal, half-Celeston looking: Beastmen. Beastmen had the characteristics of Elisysons and the animal genes they inherited, which varied from dog to cat or fox to even turtle, with the average height of 170 cm.

2. With strong nature and witchcraft affinity: Lizardmen. The only thing Lizardmen had in common with Elisysons was standing on two legs instead of four.

3. The tallest, with an average of 3 meters in height, and the most muscular race on Elisysa: Ogres.

They entered into a prosperous era with the union of four races under the name of the Eastern Dukedom.

On the western continent:

1. The proud Elisysons, who claim themselves to be saviors of northern race remnants (which is partly true).

2. The slowest aging yet fastest dying race: Elves. It is said that an elf can live hundreds of years, yet the oldest known one died at 127.

3. Stout warriors, proud of their engineering: Dwarves.

4. Another race with strong affinity towards magic (they say one does not need to eat or drink and still survive just by inhaling magic): Daemons.

The Daemons, who consider themselves excluded from worldly affairs, live at the Ancient Graveyard, the most desolate and magic-rich zone of the western continent.

The rest of the three races are united under the name of the Elisysa Empire.

The recent discovery of a magically attuned land in the western continent, which can yield crops three times faster than usual, and the famine striking the Eastern Dukedom, broke a ferocious all-out war between the two.

This affected the colonies in the northern continent as well. Countries forgot the scars of the great devastation and were now in yet another devastation.

The should-be-crop-filled lands of the Tarala region were being watered with blood more than rain, and fallen bodies of warriors were being planted in the soil instead of crops.

If the soil were to be farmed properly and crops traded, it could be more than enough to feed two continents.

The hostility between nations was already so tense that Celestons did not even bother asking Elisysons, who also despised them at every occasion.

Seeing the chance, the long-forgotten great necromancer Zakon, who was hiding and seeking a way to find and free his master Zeke the god of war, descended from the abyss to rebuild the glory of the Blood Army.

With the world population being around a million, all races combined, raising an army of ten thousand blood elites quickly caught the attention of both nations.

It wasn't enough to ceasefire but softened the pressure on the fronts to focus also on the third front: the Blood Army.

The world was in chaos with civilizations fighting, old threats waiting for revenge, and ancient dangers about to wake up from their slumbers.

THE DOWNFALL

Balendon was an orphan born in the newly discovered magical lands of the north. He was an Elisyson as he could be with his humanoid body and dark hair along with white skin without too much complexity. An average Elisyson would grow up to two meters, which would make them the second tallest race after ogres, who on average stood three meters high.

Along with the plenty of other orphans in the north, he was raised and trained as pioneers of the north—people who are dedicated and expended to explore further onto the north—by the landlords who were appointed by the king every two years. His parents were some of the first pioneers of the north to resettle after the great devastation and died without leaving him any heritage, not even a distant family relative or a friend. His childhood was rash, where a small act of mistake could shape one's life course.

Even though different landlords had different temperaments, Balendon was the person who was always given the short end of the stick, wronged because of a stupid fight over a stupid pillow with the wrong person. He had not been given the option to reject the bullying done by other orphans or defend against slanders done towards him, which resulted in him being the 'unwanted.'

He was always tasked with the hardest and most inhuman tasks. He did the heavy jobs in the territory such as building or working in the farms, cleaning dung in dungeons, dissecting magical creatures of the northern continent (even hunting them sometimes without proper gear), to going on lone patrols on the border against the eastern dukedom. Being vigilant against injustice towards him and always getting the worst treatment while not being different than others made him a shining target of bullying even after he was grown.

He was an outcast, an eyesore everyone despised yet relied on for their dirty work. He constantly sought out a new identity to run away from his misery for a fresh start, saying, "I could win my life with my strong arms if it were not for these cursed shackles of community," yet the cruelty of a small community was not easy to overcome. He did all sorts of tasks to improve himself in all sorts of ways until one day, he met the one woman who maybe changed his course of life for the second time in his life.

Lennya was a fellow orphan of the castle, born in the same year as Balendon yet raised under different circumstances. She was one of the hunters tasked with hunting for the food. Lennya always admired and respected the unyielding nature of Balendon and fell in love once she saw him singing alone away from the castle walls under a starry night. She could not believe a person who was facing such horrendous treatment from his kinsmen still did not succumb to the path of darkness and still had the spirit to sing a song about the future and chivalry.

Of course, it wasn't easy to win the heart of someone like Balendon, who grew up without love from his fellow kinsmen. She managed to prove herself once after she saved Balendon from losing his arm against the Galenar (the name of their home territory) Behemoth when he was used as a meat shield for no reason during a hunting raid. Anybody else would have been glad to see Balendon dead, yet she proved her care for him at that point. Thus, the two agreed to marry at the age of 17.

Balendon changed after meeting her. Feeling accomplished after finding his other half, he started caring less for the bullying done to him. People started to get tired of tormenting Balendon after several attempts without getting an 'amusing' response. Lennya, and thanks to her reputation, improved his reputation over time as well.

Things were getting better over the last two years, and Balendon was heralded with the good news of their upcoming child. It is a grave mistake to forget old enmities, for as the saying goes, "Hesitate not to aid allies fully while hesitate not to destroy enemies completely."

His childhood nemesis and bully, Shou, was jealous of Balendon's happiness, which he could not achieve himself. He gathered his buddies to "bully" the happiness and life out of Balendon one last time. The idea might sound funny to a person who enjoys cruelty but not to the victim who comes home to see his wife trying to defend herself against five people that are attempting to violate her.

Now you might ask, "Where are the authorities, or where is the justice to stand for Balendon and Lennya?" The answer is pointless when the head guardsman and his friends are the culprits.

It was the moment Balendon lost his spirit and last bit of compassion. The second he drew his pocket knife and killed the first one by surprise was the same moment Lennya killed one using the opening he provided. He killed the second one swiftly before he could react, and Lennya engaged with Shou in a fight.

Shou screamed to alert other guards patrolling as if he was the victim, not even wearing his pants. The third one was tough, and Balendon could not penetrate his defenses with his knife. After a short struggle, the third one fell to the ground, dead, while Shou slit Lennya's throat unintentionally.

As the blood of four villains met along with Lennya's, two only living souls froze, staring at each other in the room. Due to his bond with Lennya, Balendon felt as if that cut in the neck had imprinted onto his soul an unimaginable grief and sorrow!

Shou, seeing an enraged Balendon trying to process the reality of his lifeless beloved on the ground, muttered the stupidest words ever: "I didn't want this to happen." Neither Balendon nor anybody in that castle wanted that to happen, yet actions have consequences.

The swing that came after those words was not to kill but to sate Balendon's rage, which pierced through Shou's jaw and tried to cut his tongue from its base. He failed to cut his tongue but inflicted a serious injury on his jaw. The second stab pierced through the right eye, but the knife was short- Shou was still alive.

The third stab could not happen under the gaze of guardsmen who came to rescue the "victim," the captain. Balendon froze, and in the shock of the sight they were witnessing, the guardsmen also froze.

A voice echoed in Balendon's brain, erupting his most concealed desire: "RUN, EVADE, DISAPPEAR." Balendon did not know that all these years of his pathetic life, he had built a good instinct toward preserving his life. His tenacity in dodging fatal situations gave him both physique and reflexes.

Thus, like a rabbit dodging a tiger, Balendon dodged the guards standing in the doorway and left the castle with nothing but his clothes and his knife.