Prologue

Prologue I: World Introduction

This is a tale of Altruon, a magnificent kingdom from a world apart. Positioned comfortably in the south on the mid-eastern plate of Caldor, the kingdom of Altruon has seen much success throughout its time under the reign of a long line of benevolent and virtuous kings. The kings of Altruon are spoken of throughout the lands of Caldor for their fiery conviction and heroic exploits. Long have these kings reigned from Pyre, and there is a light that burns for their just and glorious governance, a flame of promise for the continuance of righteous rule.

Pyre, the radiant city of Altruon and its capital. Pyre was known throughout the world as a city of light and glorious splendor. Many stories were told of it across the seas in far off nations. The streets themselves were paved in gold, or so the stories went. Scholars and warriors from throughout the land would come to the capital to study and grow their talents. Scouts were sent followed by messengers with invitations to citizens throughout the four realms of the kingdom to find and select the best and most promising men to be brought before the king and to serve him. Throughout the centuries, the gates of Pyre have seen the rise and fall of many great kings and the burden of their people, but none like unto Almast. 

Zephyr Almast was a man like no other. He reigned in Pyre as king from a castle on a hill at the eastern wall. High Palace, a magnificent fortress, just as dark and mysterious as the king had proven himself to be. He was a recluse to his people, a terror to his enemies, and a glorified success throughout the realms. He had transformed the capital and mining regions into a place of wealth and product. 

Still, there were some who told stories, but with time, the old ways of the kingdom were forgotten and replaced. Then came new men with new industry and new ideas. Zephyr cast with the help of these men a revolutionary new vision which would transform all the known world, a newfound element and material they called maurium.

Maurium: a material of unknown origin which revolutionized the building and design industries with its malleability, durability, and comfort. Maurium had been found to be the ideal material for any product from clothing to housing to lighting to transportation. This miracle metal very quickly began to dominate in every industry known to the Altruic race. It was found to be wind proof, water proof, fire proof, and able to endure the greatest earthquake, collision, or pressure. The shavings were able to be spun into thread and woven into material which was inexpensive, protective, durable, and highly flexible. The material was even sensitive to weather, adjusting appropriately, allowing heat to easily escape on hot days and holding heat on cold ones. There were two types of maurium - a dark gray product and its counterpart, a mauve form of maurium which exchanged the increased durability and strength of the gray maurium for the distinct quality of luminescence.

Even education and communication have been revolutionized by this modern marvel. There is now little need for study, as the creation of maurium has enabled the perfection of a cranial receiver which is entirely effective in the reception and download of information within the subject's conscious. The device may be worn as an earpiece and the information will be shown as a part of the wearer's own memory, a quick and easy addition to their present reality. As a result of this, learning has been simplified to the point that it has caused traditional schooling to become obsolete, and children are instead given an eighteen year learning plan which is administered to them in their sleep through wave transmission and open communication with their own thoughts and memories. Reception of these transmissions with a strict adherence to the Kingdom Learning Program, commonly referred to as the KLP, and the king's orders of state communications are greatly encouraged and, at times, required by the kingdom's rulers. However, all such things are more common in Pyre than they are in other parts of the kingdom and its realms.

The kingdom is divided into four geographic realms and seven more arbitrary regions with Pyre at their core - the western plains, the southern foothills, the eastern forest, and the farmlands with the seas to the north. The seven regions were the seven centers of influence throughout the empire - Laoce, Euphess, Pergum, Delphi, Sa'ar, Tyra, and Asrymn. The seven were the traditional Kingsmen regions, the Kingsmen being a long standing religious order based in Altruon with a history as old as time. The Kingsmen influence in Altruon is great, the City Architects and nation's founders having been among their ranks, and they have lived their lives in peace until this day.

But even in this time of advanced technology and growing prestige, humanity still remains as it was. There is still theft, death, murder, deceit, dishonor, injustice, and all of those unpleasant things which are ever part of a world which is fallen. As the citizens of Pyre continued to build new, modern, better things, much of the old was forgotten. Some things seemed to fade away and cease entirely without a hope of their returning, and even the light itself seemed to fade as  the air began to harbor darkness. 

The city itself was one such thing which faded, the capital having been destroyed by fire about the time of Zephyr's reign and the invention of maurium. Zephyr had called for Pyre to be rebuilt three miles west of the place where the city stood. He called for a new city for the new age and encouraged the maurium be employed as the backbone of the city infrastructure. He called it the Eternity Project, and a great wall of maurium was erected to denote the borders of the new capital, the east gate being sealed to prevent a returning to the old capital and its ruins, and all was peace in Altruon.

Even so, a war is raging in the north against Obed, an old enemy of Altruon, whose people have fought them throughout their history. Though, in times of battle there is an opportunity for heroism and men of merit to rise in the eyes of the people of the nations they call home. One such man is a celebrated colonel, a man whose own descent is that of Obed. His name is Tyberion Ibori, and he is the father of a beautiful young girl who, in his absence, has become a blossoming young woman whose destiny will be forever tied to that of the nations.

Prologue II: Pyre, 3113

Pyre

Av 5, 3113

Stephan Caliphus, King

Everything was on fire the night he finished the book in the back room of a borrowed house. He laid his glasses down on the desk in front of him and rubbed his tired eyes. The crackling of flames could be heard as the city burned all around them. The blood curdling screams of the men in the streets where they died was enough to make the blood of the fiercest warrior run cold, but he was a man of empathy and it hurt him more than it did the others.

He opened his eyes to the familiar sight of his friend standing in the doorway. Beautiful and elegant, she held in her slender arms the well sought after infant. He replaced his glasses for clarity and offered his arms out for the child. 

"Are you done, then?" she asked him with light, melodious tones.

He nodded, blinking his eyes with tiredness. "Yes. Finally," he replied, smiling at her. 

"You don't have to take him," she told him, noticing his kind gesture.

He looked on her with fondness. "Is this our life now?" he asked her.

She looked at him, puzzled. "Our life?" she asked, repeating the words as a question.

He rose up and drew near her, lightly touching the child's fuzz-topped head. The child opened his eyes, staring up at him with big brown disks gleaming with amber flecks. 

"He's awfully small to be a ruler, don't you think?" he jokingly asked her in the softly fluctuating tones of his old northeastern accent.

The young lady smiled at him with stifled laughter, "Eliezer, stop it. He's hardly been here a week. Don't make such demands on him as already running a country."

"Here, let me hold him," he beseeched the fair maiden with the sun kissed hair, and she carefully passed the infant over to her well favored companion.

He stared down at the child as he gently rocked him in his arms and couldn't help but think of the promise of his own children, a promise which seemed as far now as it had when he was a young orphan lost in the solitude of Delphi's forests. Still, there was something about the situation which made him think of the boy as his own and his heart warmed as he held him.

"Eliezer, rest now," his beloved one pleaded, her kind eyes soft and blue. "You're tired." 

"But he's so sweet," Eliezer muttered. 

She laughed at him, coming and receiving back the young prince. "Eliezer, sleep now," she said, touching his face, clean shaven and round.

His warm brown eyes met hers, the orange flecks bright with caring. "Dorcus, what will we do now?" he asked her.

The lady sighed. "Eliezer, please... rest now."

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Aren't you tired?" he asked. "After all of this pain, all of this death... and what happened to Sebastian at the cottage, I would think that you might prefer some sleep yourself." He looked at her lovingly, and his eyes dropped to the child. "Go on to bed, Dorcus. I can watch him."

She shook her head, and her eyes fixed on the charming young man with the dark brown hair in front of her. "Certainly not."

"No?"

She shook her head.

He sighed. "Then, tell me, where is there from here?" 

She smiled. "The library."

"Will we be safe there?" he asked with his usual concern.

She nodded and her face turned to the child as she gently stroked his tender head, "Until he's grown."

"Alright," he pensively conceded. "Then I will rest, but I couldn't possibly sleep now with the screaming. So, here," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and again offering his arms, "let me hold him."

She looked at the reddish bundle of flesh which she cradled in her arms. "What do you say, Ben?" she asked him. "Should we let Mr. Webber hold you?"

The child looked up at her with bright eyes of wonder and squeaked as he yawned, his face scrunching up as his tiny mouth opened wider than would have seemed right for one so small.

Dorcus smiled, amused by him. "Yes, I suppose we shall, then. Careful, Eliezer," she said, passing him the boy wrapped in swaddling clothes, "he's almost as tired as we are."

"But he's so sweet," Eliezer repeated, his mind too weary to notice he had already said it.

Dorcus looked at him with a mix of concern and amusement. "Are you sure you're fit to watch him?" she asked, laying a hand gently on her companion's shoulder.

He nodded. "Of course," he smiled, looking up at her. "Rest now, my dear," he bade her.

"Very well," she said, pausing before she had left him. "Mm... Eliezer," she began again, looking back at him, "hadn't you wanted to talk with me about something?"

"Oh," he breathed in something between a laugh and a sigh. "No. Don't worry now," he told her, and he could feel his heart sinking and tearing as he spoke. "It isn't time."

"But," she began to protest, unsure of how to proceed.

"Dorcus, rest," his voice entreated softly and delicately to her, and she nodded, conceding to her lover's request.

"Yes, of course," she muttered with a humble bow of her neck before finishing her march to the edge of the room. "Goodnight, Mr. Webber," she said, looking back at him with fondness from the doorway.

"Goodnight, Miss Garner," he replied, smiling at her.

Once she had gone, he sat alone and stared down at the infant who still wriggled in his arms. He always seemed so happy for all of the gruesome tragedy in the world which surrounded them. Eliezer smiled, impressed by his cheerful character. 

"You, sir," he said, speaking to the little baby in his arms, "will tear down nations and raise up kingdoms. You will reveal hearts and bring light and glory to your people, because you, dear prince, are the son of a king and his favor... even in these present times of this impending darkness."