Prologue
It has been told through tales of tongues when long ago the sun god, Solos, fell in love with the moon goddess, Lunul. This tale that was passed on down from generations to generations was one of the few stories how the world began.
It was said that long ago the world, as we know of today, was once void and dark. The sun god, Solos, was responsible for giving life to the world, seeding it with trees, and animals, and life. At the other side of the world, Lunul, the moon goddess walked the earth. She was in-charge of keeping the world in balance, making the life sleep, and rest, and change. In contrary to Solos, she was also regarded as the goddess of death.
It has been said that one day, while Solos seeded the world with life ahead of time, he observed from a far away distance, the way Lunul cradled the people in her arms as they went off to dream. He longed her caress and her elegance as she lulled them all to sleep with her sweet songs whispered in the wind. He was entranced by her beauty and by her grace, and how he wished for her soothing voice in his own ears.
In the corner of her eye, Lunul noticed she too was not alone. She could make out the figure of a man of power, a man of warmth and kindness watching her from afar. She was intrigued by the way he watched her and devoted his time for her that very moment. It was love at first sight for both of them.
Without wasting time, Solos decided to put his thoughts into action. He readied his golden stallions and chariot and quickly drove out to the sky westward.
Lunul, who was longing for his burning passion, could not wait any longer. She was determinted to seek him once and for all that she rode out on her silver unicorns and sped the sky westward.
Since both Solos and Lunul raced westward faster than usual hoping they would catch each other, the world experienced disorder: the Age of Chaos, as the elders would say.
It was said that the Age of Chaos caused the imbalance of the world and of its growth. Life and death had become intertwined with each other, making the dead walk in the world of the living and making the living live even though they had already experienced death. It was also in the Age of Chaos, that the deformities and the evolutions were said to have started making the humans change into animals and the animals become men.
The Age of Chaos lasted for centuries. Solos and Lunul kept chasing each other, unfortunately, never catching up with the other until…
Solos stopped his golden stallions and decided to wait for Lunul instead. Hoping she would soon pay him a visit like when he did before. Lunul, on the other hand, as a woman, got tired of chasing after Solos—who she believed should be chasing after her (unknowing that he was actually chasing her too) and just waited for her lover.
While waiting, Solos built a city in a dispirited country and each passing day, he would seed it with prosperity and new opportunities. He named it Ashen or the country of Light.
Lunul, who had been waiting all her life for her lover Solos, became deeply depressed and disheartened. It was then believed that the once prosperous countries, under which she had waited for Solos, had been washed away by her gloom. Misery had been poured over the lands, into the rivers, and forests, and mountains, and valleys. This was how the countries of Darkness came to be.
Up until now, Solos and Lunul are still waiting for each other. Though there may be times when Solos would once again try his luck by walking over the countries of Darkness to look for Lunul. Seeing Lunul was nowhere to be found, he would return to Ashen and continue filling it with fortunes. Not knowing Lunul walked to the country of Light as well and finding that his warmth was not in the vicinity, she would walk back to the countries of Darkness miserably.
Being the largest area of land compared to its neighboring countries, Ashen had sometimes been mistaken for a continent. Even though it is not the only country in the continent, Ashen is the most famous of all. Ashen’s dreamy riches and prosperous walls are located in the middle of a desert continent. An oasis, some might call Ashen, because of its paradise-like environment in the middle of nowhere.
Surrounding Ashen from different directions of the continent are desert regions and mostly, a majority of sea mass. Sapphire Court—the pirate country—and Dunewoods are a few of the countries bordering it.
The countries of Darkness are the lands that were greatly affected during the Age of Chaos. Argentum, Hollerdam and Everdark: the 3 major countries that comprise the countries of Darkness. Other than that, there were uninhabited places that surround these countries as well.
The people of the countries of Light and Darkness, used to worship Solos and Lunul as their main god and goddess, respectively, but the practice later on subsided as soon as voyagers from the far reaches of earth occupied their countries. They introduced their own religion—Christianity. These voyagers from the unknown ends of the earth were said to have left their country with 10 fleets, but only reached the countries of Light and Darkness, with a mere single fleet of 3 ships. Since then, traveling by sea to uncharted waters had been considered dangerous and was left alone to the pirates of Sapphire Court.
Ashen was a country of life. It had been ever since and it still has been. Merchants all over the continents cross the mountains and battle the dryness of the desert to reach the rich walls of Ashen, only to find a good trade. Youths travel to the Country of Light for a better future.
However, life in Ashen can also be tough. It had been said by the veterans of the trade that one couldn’t survive simply in Ashen if one does not have the capital for trade. That was why people who could not afford to live in Ashen, preferred to live their lives in the Countries of Darkness.
Resources in the Countries of Darkness were abundant. Farmlands were plotted in villages. Trees grew in almost every square of land, thus making timber almost infinite. There were mines for coal and silver and other expensive rocks. But unlike in Ashen, the resources there were not easy to acquire.
In relation to its name, the Countries of Darkness was not a safe place to be lingering in a single place, alone. Creatures and monsters of unusual appearances were said to live amongst the shadows, waiting for its unsuspecting victim. Different tales regarding the mysteries beneath the endless nights in the countries of Darkness have been passed down from generations to generations. There were tales of vanishing livestock and tales of gruesome mutilations but one tale in the dark has never been spoken of.
This is the tale.