???

[TheHopscotch]

"You and I left a good life behind us,
There's no turning back from here."

2134 AC.

The Kingdom of Aen.

"Meranthe...

Once a land ruled by giants and at war against insects. You would be hard pressed to fine a country in this modern era with as much turmoil as Meranthe, many kingdoms have come and gone with attempts to siege and claim that land for their own. However, none have found themselves a successful footing against the vast expanse of this country.

I understand your disdain for them, though. These people were given a world that can pierce the heavens, a grand tower that stretches into Avalon itself and what do they do? They slaughter one another and focus more on petty squabbles than actual progress. Mankind is fickle like that, they have their minds set elsewhere as opposed to working in unison.

I learned that first-hand as I ran across Rhoyn.

I was alone for many months, surviving on what I could scavenge and hunt. I was little more than an animal at that point, my home now in ruins and not a single soul that would care for me. Had I sought out another village? Results would have been the same, stones thrown upon my body and warriors aiming to claim my head for the grand sake of their beliefs.

I was a Helspawn in their eyes, after all.

There was a moment as I roamed this continent that I felt drawn to a location. That no matter where I turned? My body would almost instinctively be driven towards as though bound by fate itself. It was there I found who would teach me of this world, of this magic I now wield. She spoke not her name yet in my soul I knew their presence familiar, they asked me but one question as I approached from the woods... Muddied and disgusting before power that could sink continents.

"... You've become quite lost in this world, haven't you?"

She had hair as black as night and eyes as blue as the deepest seas. In her hands a paint brush that etched upon life itself - Yet you will find that was the furthest detail I cared for at the time. She had wings that were unlike anything I had ever seen before, feathers of gray with a hint of black beginning to build upon the edges of divinity itself. Warmth and sadness all mixing into one, yet that sadness never turned to rage as she saw me for who I was.

Instead? She seemed only to pity my existence as she remained by my side. I was no more than nine years of age - Yet she guided me for another seven years within that simple forest of Rhoyn. Teaching me of magic and this world we inhabit, of Avalon and Hel, of mankind and their hundreds of wars raged over the course of the last thousand years. She wrapped me within those wings each and every night, she assured I could decide my own path as I push into this new world.

As for why we make way to Meranthe?

Because no Principality can repeat what occurred upon Rhoyn there. I was assured that so long as we manage to reach such a land? We will find what purpose I am truly meant to have.

Rest now, for tomorrow morning we continue gathering supplies for our expedition across The Silent Expanse.

I'll finish up this story for you then, alright?