Age of Heroes

THE GREEN PLAINS

NEAR THE COAST

The firewood crackles as the fire grows bigger. A woman is throwing a small red stone to the fire and the almost extinguished fires found life again.

Tatiana is tending to the campfire. 

After her sister negotiation with the council went south, Tatiana and her sister run away from Ragora and end up in the Plains.

She is now in one of the caves near the shores of the sea. She is just outside of Ragora, three months' distance from the forces of the Bastion. 

She sighed as she looks at the fire and tending to her cooked fish. After confirming that the fish is cooked well, she takes a bite.

'Ouch, hot!' She said as the heat travel through her tongue still she savors every bite. It's not every easy getting food here in the Plains.

If not for her sister supplies she would have starved. 

She can't fight the ferocious beast that roams the plains, the lions, the tigers, the horned mouse, the man eating stallions, and the giant's snakes that occasionally slither away from their cave and search for prey.

Even in Ragora she was only a lowly recruit, nothing but patrolling jobs and peacekeeping inside the Bastion.

In the Plains, the rule of the strongest applies.

Her younger sister has ride to Ragran settlement to ask her friend help for a place to stay. They are near the Ragran tribe settlement but to enter one must be a Ragran. 

Since they are Cassinian, her sister will try to use her connection to try to get her a place in Ragran.

So she is waiting here, hearing the lapping of the waves, eating fish. Then she sighed a bit. She still couldn't believe what her sister told her after they got out.

When they went outside finally Tatiana knows how her sister survives all those years outside the Bastion protection. 

Ragora is not the only city in the land of shadows. No wonder they rarely allow people to get out and forbid anyone to enter haphazardly.

All these years, thinking Ragora to be the last bastion of the Thirteen Tribes when outside, the thirteen tribes have made their own cities outside the Bastion and thrive and have been surviving all this time. 

But still Tatiana misses her life in the Bastion.

If there is one thing that is true about the Bastion it was, that it is truly the safest place in the Land of Shadows.

High walls, full with arms and filled with knights that is disciplined.

It has been months since they went outside the bastion. Tatiana has also begun learning about the cities and the people, most of it from her sister notes. 

Titania left it for her, to study since she asks her sister to explain more about the world outside the Bastion.

The bastion does have every race of the thirteen tribes in its city but outside Ragora each tribe made their own settlement and lives outside the walled city of Ragora.

From what her sister tells her, they were outcast who built a community resulted from their eviction from the bastion. 

Long ago, Ragora was the Capital city of the Salingian dynasty, a house that branches from the First Family after the fall of the Kingdom of Living Isle.

All the thirteen tribes live there in harmony, helping each other, complementing each other weaknesses, just until the fall of the Salingian dynasty. 

From what stories that remains, it tells of a darker time than even now. 

Resources was dwindling, darkness was spreading, winters that never stops, cold that burns, great fiery balls fall from the sky that bombard the cities, earth shakes every day, buildings and city walls crumbles like dust.

Disaster and catastrophe happens every day, like the end of the world is nearing. The largest city of the dynasty was Ragora. 

Every day the resources in the Large Granary of the City dwindle and the city began facing a true crisis for resources.

Then the Thirteen elders of every tribe decided for the greater good. They need to reduce the populations.

It must be noted life during that time is not as sacred as it is today. In the past the Thirteen Tribes even sacrifices life to their Gods on certain days.

Usually they use war prisoner life to sacrifice to their gods. The Elder believed the Gods were in anger.

For the greater good, the elder decided.

Only those privileged noble families of the Thirteen Tribes live inside the Capital cities were not executed or evicted from their homes, and the common people, the peasants, the poor, was executed, burned, killed and annihilated to solve the resources problem at the time. 

Some ran outside and secretly build their own settlements. This was a time before the Godstree sprouted from the Three Wells.

The Godstree sprouted the day Nasrana, the Great Prophet came. 

He sees the suffering that the Thirteen Tribes endure from the repeated attacks of the Darkly Things and the Great Prophet sympathizes with the Thirteen tribe's plight.

But his teaching is not well received by the Elders and the Spiritual Leader of the Great Pantheon, by the Oracles and the Fire Priest, the Death priest, by the Priest of all the Thirteen Gods.

One of the Elders of the Priest challenges Nasrana. If his God is the One True God, then deliver them from this darkness.

The Great Prophet replies, His God is not to be tested. Humans can be tested. But to test God? This is unheard of! It is arrogance towards the Creator of All.

Then the tribes threaten to kill him for spreading heresy about their Gods until God itself send word from one of his Angels for The Great Prophet to pray on the spot he was supposed to be executed. 

His Disciples convinced the Tribes that The Great Prophet will prove his word of faith.

The Tribes then agreed for they have nothing to lose.

He prays and prays, for three days and three nights, thunders reverberated around the Plains, the fiery balls disappear into wasp of smokes, the shaking slowly stopped, and on the third day of his praying, light fills his body, maintaining a golden holy light, the denizens of the Darkness could not approach him and then after he open his eyes, a small tree sprouted from the place he was kneeling.

Beside the tree, water is bubbling up from the ground, three holes is suddenly formed near the first tree, spurting water stream.

And he gets up and sweeps the dust from his robe and the Great Prophet approach the small tree and observe it intently.

The trees have two leaves. 

The Great Prophet takes the two leaves and then put the water of the stream inside two vials.

He then travels to the northernmost point, from the place he was kneeling and planted it there, and showers the leave with the stream water, while the Elder of every tribe follow him from behind fearing that he would run.

Then he traveled again to the most southernmost point from the place he was kneeling and he planted another leaf. 

He then announced 

'As long as these trees thrive, humanity shall have no fear.' At this announcement the elder is puzzled. There is no tree.

Seven days after he planted the leaves, two gigantic trees spouted from the leaves that he buried but the first small tree becomes the largest and the leaves was golden and it radiated light and power.

The streams become a well after the Elder decided to make it bigger.

Since then the Thirteen Tribes fear the Darkly Things no more. 

But The Great Prophet also said that when the Great Darkness began to threaten, the only Light that will drive away the Darkness is Asrana. 

The Conqueror of Darkness. The trees will wither, darkness will threaten and the Conqueror must fight his final battle.

The Great Prophet prophesizes his coming, and it is because of that the Thirteen Tribes accept some of the beliefs that the Great prophet was spreading, making Asrana their God in the Great Pantheon.

By now, all these tribes have scattered all across the land.

They are even some tribe who lives so near the Godstree, that some dare not even venture.