[center][i]Within the borders of the Kingdom of Ashkandi, it's always been relatively safe.
Outside? Well, there's a reason we're the last civilization of humans left.

There is a darkness, a plague that has held our world by the throat for as long as we can remember.
The legends of old never spoke of a golden age. I suppose now is our time of peace. The age of light that the history texts thousands of years from now will depict.
An age of light, a tiny, little mote that is only one moment away from being snuffed out forever.

The children are kept blissfully unaware. Fictional stories like "The Hero King," "The Radiant Hero," and "The Challengers of Fate" keep their heads in the clouds. At least it's sunny up there. The rest of us are trying to go about our days, pretending that there isn't an entire world filled with eldritch horrors waiting for us to exhaust our little cocoon of a kingdom.

With no gods to pray to, most of us have tried desperately to find some kind of hope. Some have declared it the end times, and even still others have tried to take the laws into their own hands, the damn brigands. The king's men do just about as good of a job as you'd expect keeping the land running as smoothly as a doomed humanity could run. There's no walls to patrol at the edge of the kingdoms, just a wasteland that we believe the creatures of the darkness have run dry in resource. Many years ago, the fighting along these lands was brutal. Now, we're content not exploring to see if they're still nearby.

I agree with the callers. I think it's only a matter of time. Just have to see how much Time hates us...[/i]

Who am I, you ask? Well before I answer that, I should make a clarification. I used words like "us" and "we" too loosely. You see, I'm not part of Kingdom of Ashkandi. I'm on the outside, looking in. I express sympathy for them, I know not the true feelings of terror and helplessness that they probably feel on a nightly basis. It's probably terrible. Hm, there was likely a better word for that. Well, ink isn't erasable, so screw it.

In fact, how narcissistic am I to assume you'd ask who I am just from reading all of this? Very. But if your apathy outweighs my sympathy, then I'm just a series of scrawling on a parchment that you'll have even read to begin with.

You know who you are, and once you DO read this, I'll finally rest in peace knowing you braved the darkness...[/center]

[hr]

[center][h3]Prologue[/h3]
[h1][b][i][u]Calm Before the Storm[/u][/i][/b][/h1][/center]

[color=8493ca]"Again!"[/color] Headmaster Ezeras was rather laid back when it came to most things. The only exception was education. For this, he had no qualms demanding that Princess Catherin repeat the same spell for hours on end to ensure that she could cast it correctly. Even one slight error, and he would call for the drill to be repeated, and demonstrate flawlessly how to perform the verbal and somatic components at each step. He was still rather young, for an elf at least. Over a century old, he had been instructing great magical masters when he was only an adolescent, and the status of royalty would not save Catherin from his unforgiving regiments.

The intense mid-day sun made the situation no better, as they had been at this since dawn. The only one without complaint was the emerald knight Cadence, who had been blissfully entertained by the shows of magic as she sat in the soft grass a safe fifty feet away. Her brother Dorian and superior Nikalus, however, had been rudely awoken by the cracks of thunder produced by Catherin and Ezeras, and were now standing behind the fascinated caviler with folded arms and expressions of fatigue and apathy. Each flash of lightning and roaring boom of thunder made them wince, and Cadence cheer.

[color=f26522]"Can you please cease your abhorrent cries? It's already loud enough, and some of us were disrupted because of it."[/color] the crimson knight muttered almost under his breath. His eyes remained closed as he stood like an agitated statue. [color=8dc73f]"But Doriaaaaaan, look how cool it is!"[/color]

[color=f26522]"I'd rather not."[/color]
[color=8dc73f]"Please?"[/color]
[color=f26522]"This happens every day. I know what it looks like."[/color]
[color=8dc73f]"But-"[/color]
[color=f26522]"Stop."[/color]

Shut down by Dorian, Cadence sat hunched over on the grass with her arms crossed in a forced [color=8dc73f]"hmph"[/color] as she continued to spectate the magicians.

As the day came to a close, Ezeras finally relinquished Catherin of their lesson. [color=8493ca]"Very good,"[/color] he began. [color=8493ca]"That should be enough for today, and we'll resume the day after tomorrow. You are dismissed."[/color] He gathered his various tomes and staves, and made off towards the administrator's offices without having even broken a sweat.