OF ILLIS

"A long time ago, before the age of the gods, our world was at peace. The perfect balance existed, a state of dynamic equilibrium. There was harmony in all spheres amongst all forces - Nature perfect, in itself. In this pure age, there emerged two brothers - Lucian, the Vague, and Serrion, the Kon. They were brothers, but they differed so greatly, it was as if they had been chiseled separately by day and night. Where Lucian stood proud, Serrion knelt humble, and where Lucian was cunning, Serrion was wise.

The brothers were equally balanced, as was intended; they were thought to be perfect with their power and the blessings of Illis. Lucian and Serrion lived for many years in peace, being taught by the world that had created them. They excelled in every art, but their preferences, again, differed. Where Serrion thrived in the light, Lucian found himself drawn to the dark.

In time, although, after the dragon rebellion, and the demonic wars, we learn that the brothers drifted apart, and at a certain point they became so cautious of one another, that each began to see the other as a threat. This tension between them worsened until an event occurred that ultimately began their war. We do not have knowledge of this event, only what came after - Lucian and Serrion divided the world among themselves, forming their own empires.

Now, the events leading to the end of this bitter war are shrouded in mystery. Although, we find that a pure blood perhaps a Licanian, drew the war to a close, a man who had lost everything to the war and wanted it to end. He became a prominent figure, the key to the brothers' war, although we do not know in what capacity. But we do know this - Lucian eventually won the war, but the bond of brotherhood he had with Serrion would not allow him to truly accept it. Soon after this, he took his brother, and vanished from the pages of history altogether. This pure blood was the first to ascend, he presided over the vacant throne that Lucian left behind, taking over the United Empires.

Despite the power this pure blood could not, however, retain the power of the entire empire. Over time, the empire broke, and its glory was lost. We divided the world amongst ourselves, forming nations and tribes. That is our history - the history of the ancient world of Illis."

It was a story that Kai had heard from many people over the years, in as many bits and pieces, but hearing it now in his uncle's study made him understand that it was more than a simple history lesson. He looked at Uncle Philip as he sighed heavily at the end of it. Kai couldn't help but feel that the story had drained his uncle of energy.

Uncle Philip wasn't really his uncle; Kai had no recollection of his actual family. At seventeen years of age, all the memories he had were of the seven years he had spent in Uncle Phillip's care. He had taken Kai in as if he were his own son - it was a debt Kai could never repay. Uncle Philip had had a wife, but she had died years before Kai met him. Kai admired him endlessly. He was the person Kai could turn to with every problem and be sure that he would receive good advice.

Kai and his uncle lived in a remote village named De Terres d'Aurores Aube, at the northern edge of the continent, but its residents called it Aube. It had been Kai's home for as long as he remembered. Philip was a village elder, known throughout Aube, He was an Inn Keeper by profession. Kai also worked at the same inn.

Uncle Philip was a well-learned man, well-versed in most of the arts, and had taught Kai whatever Kai knew. Kai had often wondered why a man of his caliber chose to stay in Aube, of all places, and be an Inn-keeper, of all things. Uncle Philip would have could have been doing something greater with his life. A thought that Kai had expressed several times before, only to have his uncle laugh it off usually during their lessons. He had never, to this effect, been to the one school Aube had. Not having many people his own age around was hard on Kai and the few teenagers that were around his age kept their distance.

Kai did not blame them. He knew his strange features made them wary of him. At five feet seven, he was a height quite normal for his age. Kai had stark ash-blonde hair that shone almost silver in the light. If people were to look past the color of his hair, they would be taken aback by the sight of his eyes. The irises were a rare deep black, tinted with a scarlet outer ring, a color that would forever label him an outsider. With a slightly pointed nose and sharp features, he was handsome in a peculiar sort of way.

Uncle Philip, on the other hand, was rather angry at him for not making any real friends, but he understood that there were issues involved. Often blaming himself, Kai thought Uncle Philip considered it his own fault, for he was a village elder no-one wanted to cross. Or so it appeared.

Some Time in the Distant Future

A dark figure walked through a dimly lit alley, the alley bore a faint impression of the past to it, one could tell that it had once been very lively. The man stopped near a dirty lamp, as if waiting or listening for something. His shadow seemed to get darker and heavier until an entire figure materialized from it. It was a trick of light, an illusion. But the fact remained that two hooded figures now stood where there had been one.

"What do you intend to do, Kai?" the newcomer asked in a voice so low; it was almost a whisper.

"Ken," the first man spoke, acknowledging the other's presence with a tilt of his head. "I am yet undecided. Perhaps I will spare them."

There was silence for a while, and then they began to advance towards the darkness. Kai's footsteps were persistent, like the echoing thuds of the heart. Ken had no footfall, and an onlooker could argue that he appeared to be floating. As they neared a dead-end, the lights flickered, and Ken disappeared, just as he had appeared. Kai turned to a door.

It seemed to be a pub or a bar that had, much like the buildings around it, seen better days. The battered sign above the doorway read 'Halo's'. Kai paused on the doorstep, as if making up his mind, and then stepped inside.

A cacophony of sound greeted him, along with a clutter of men scattered throughout the space, wearing cloaks similar to Kai's own. As he walked towards the bar, he noticed that strange items of clothing littered the ground. It was quite the usual spectacle that any pub of the sort afforded. However, it disgusted Kai.

"Foolish men. Do they even think to comprehend the danger they are in? "

Kai's thoughts were disrupted by the barman who asked him what he wanted. He had reached the bar - a little square island in the center of the hall, that housed bottles of various liquids. Kai merely looked at the barman, as if acknowledging his existence, and took a seat on the bench. He looked around, quietly and carefully observed everything. This angered the barman, who had had his share of trying customers for the day.

"Hey, you! What do ya want? Can't stay 'less yer gettin' somethin'!"

The man sitting beside Kai gave him a long look. "Ain't seen you 'round here before."

He spoke in the slurred speech of a drunkard. Kai simply ignored him as he finally turned to the barman, "Water."

His neighbor snorted. "Water? HA! This is a man's joint! Get a man's drink!"

In his drunkenness, the man missed the confused expression on the barman's face, whose shoulders tensed slightly as he stared at Kai's shadowed face.

"Who are yeh?" the barman asked quietly. As Kai lowered his hood, revealing his face. His hair shining in the yellowed light, but the barman caught the red of his eyes first. There was no mistaking that silver hair. Before the barman could say anything, the man beside Kai stood up with a wolf whistle.

"Well, look-ky here! We got a pretty boy with us tonight!" he announced loudly, staggering against the effort. He was met with a volley of cheers and whistles and some drunken catcalls. A few women at a corner joked about taking Kai home, which started another bout of cheers.

Kai tapped his finger on the bar, making sure he gets the barman's attention. The barman looked at the symbol on his hand before Kai dragged it back off the bar, only to have the barman hold his breath.

"Can I have that water now?" Kai spoke again ignoring the crowed.

The barman was about to scuttle off when the man beside Kai leaned too close to him. Kai could smell the drink in his breath.

"All right boy, let's do it simple? Me and my friend here are short on cash," he begins, too intoxicated to read the atmosphere of the space he was in, "Yeh look like you're kinda well off. So be nice and hand over yer wallet, eh, nice and easy."

The barman's eyes widen as he takes in this exchange, he seems to draw in a breath to say something, but Kai turns to the man beside him, looking at him for a space of two heartbeats, before reaching inside his cloak, and pulling out his wallet. Kai tossed it at the man and returned his gaze at the barman again.

"Water," he repeated, gently but clearly, his patience wearing thin.

"Sure, man," the barman hurriedly poured water in a glass and sets it in front of him. Kai was about to reach for it before the drunk snatched it off the table.

'Dun' mind if I do," he sneered and gulped the water. This man was spoiling for a fight. It was evident from the way his eyes followed Kai. Kai was thoroughly annoyed by now, evident by his facial expression layered under a veneer of disgust.

"Water, and preferably in another glass. This one's filthy," Kai's voice becoming lower as he repeated to the barman yet again. The barman's face was pale by this point, terrified.

"Wha- What did ya say?" the drunk glared at Kai.

Apparently, he was too thick-headed to look at the barman.

"I said, this glass is filthy," Kai replied quietly.

"Mother Fucker." the man's face distorted in anger as he threw the glass behind his head and grabbed hold of Kai's cloak around the neck. The noise in the bar now quiet.

"Let go, or you will regret it," Kai worded, his voice mirroring his bored expression.

"Or what? You gon' go bitch to yer ma, huh?" the man jeered at him gaining a few cheers from the crowd.

"Maybe - Maybe he might piss 'imself!" came another voice, the laughter getting louder.

"You lot, shut up!" the barman finally found his voice, "Yeh don' know who yer messin' with here. Let go of -"

"Stay outta this, old timer!" the man holding Kai, cut him off. as jerked Kai and pushed him to the ground.

It all happened quite fast.

Kai swiftly stood back up and placed a hand over the man's chest. With a tremendous bang, the man's body flew towards the wall on the other side of the hall. He crashed against it, and fell to the ground, limp. His face stark, his breath stuck in his throat, his expression one of pure and utter agony. Kai's wallet lay at his feet. The other people, after coming out of their shock, started to charge towards Kai.

Utterly bored, Kai sighed and picked up his wallet.

In a few moments, there is silence once more. Bodies have joined the discarded pieces of clothing on the floor, their owners' faces wearing expressions caught forever in a state of unbelievable suffering.

"And I thought I wouldn't have to kill anyone tonight," Kai sighed, and looked at the barman. The man seemed to get smaller with fear as Kai approached him again.

"Such a shame."

He sat down on the bench again before he began, "Now, finally, to business. But first," he paused to watch the barman swallow, "a glass of water, please. I really am quite thirsty."

The terrified barman got him another glass, his hand shaking. He stares at Kai as he slowly picks it up and drinks it. As Kai set it down again, the barman cowered under his gaze. Kai leaned forward a bit before he voices his thoughts.

"Ah, now, you know who I am, don't you?"

The barman nodded quickly.

"I was told that you have some information about the... object that I am looking for. Perhaps you would like to share this knowledge?"

The barman, now sweating like a pig, nodded again. "I-I-I ain't gon' lie, I do know a... clue to its location. But I - I can't tell yeh! Y-yeh must understand, th-they will torture me, they'll kill me!"

"And what do you think they will do to you if they find out that I left you alive and these other men dead? In all honesty, my man, you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Just tell me what I want to know, and I will personally make sure that they do not torture or kill you. Fail to comply and I have other intentions," Kai gave him a slight smile that curdled the man's blood, "Necromancy, for one. It'll be easier, seeing as the dead don't lie."

The barman flushed with horror. He responded in a shaky voice,

"Yeh- yeh promise ye'll keep me safe, that I won't die?"

"Come now, everyone has to die," Kai spoke, smiling innocently a hint of perhaps irony. It made the barman's heart freeze.

"I mean, ye'll make sure they don' kill me," the barman rephrased his words.

"If that's what you want, then sure" Kai answered calmly.

"Okay then," The barman lowered his voice, "I once heard that the clue to its location was somewhere in the land of Northern Dawn, but I got no idea wherever that is, I swear!"

"I thought as much," Kai mused, pensive. He turned to the barman and spoke aloud, "Is that all you know?"

"Yes, I swear! Now ye'll protect me?" the barman shivered nervously.

"No," Kai replied shortly, as he rose.

The barman sputtered in terror. "But- ye- ye promised -"

"The promise I made will be kept, of course. I will make sure they don't kill you. But I cannot protect you, you see. I'm about to have you killed."

The barman was stunned into silence, and he only watched as Kai made his way out of the building. As he stepped out into the night, he pausing to take a deep breath.

"Ken, do me a favor and kill that man, please," Kai spoke to the night. The figure of Ken arose from his shadow once more, and entered the pub. Kai calmly spoke after him, "And make sure he doesn't suffer long."

There was silence for some time again. As Kai let out a shuddering breath. He turned his face to the moon, a single drop of liquid - a blood-red tear - flowing down his face. Kai closed his eyes. speaking to the air in a dark, hushed voice,

"I will find you, just wait."

And with a flash, he was gone, leaving behind the blood-curdling scream of the old barman.