When I was a child, my mother told me countless stories about the legends that the local people believed in.
But among all those legends, one thing was always the same: "roots and antiquity."
Legends can originate from many things.
The legends told to me in my childhood were born of fear.
The legends told to me when I practiced swordsmanship were born of anger.
My family, I, and the people of my land—all of us were born from within a legend.
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The Continent of Theodora
At first, it had no name. For three thousand years, people lived without law. They were boundless.
It was a time when the weakest perished at the hands of the strongest.
Then, fifteen hundred and thirty years ago, when the only law in the world was chaos:
Three men and two women, wizards, rose in rebellion.
They forced the people, who had faith in imaginary legends, to worship their magic.
The people called them the Lords of the Elements,
for they were the only ones who could master the mysterious and forbidden magic of blood.
Finally, they divided the continent into five realms through a pact.
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Isarion Vera – the Wizard of Light and Radiance.
His healing was like a miracle, and he later became the founder of the realm of Elnora. He was my ancestor.
Vesra Dormaris – the woman known for her war prowess and fire magic,
who later founded the realm of Fyron.
Elrion Varish – a wizard whose soul was bound to nature itself.
He was the voice of plants, trees, forests, and magical creatures,
and became known as the Lady of Life.
She founded the realm of Numera in the ancient plains and forests of the east.
Liryeus Ranor – a man whose character mirrored his magic: he wielded ice and moved waters and oceans with his heart.
He became the founder of the realm of Norfhelm in the northern lands and the Stormy Isles.
And finally…
The most terrifying, dangerous, and powerful of them all:
Vermar Daitros – the Shadow Wizard.
Countless stories exist about him:
He could wither plants with a single breath,
and create dangerous creatures from shadows.
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But in the end…
Blood magic did not endure.
The ancestral blood magic of my line—the light—grew weak,
even the shadow magic of the Daitros family diminished.
Blood mingling,
and the three great wars of the five realms,
all led to the weakening of the royal families.
The realms no longer relied on magic to preserve their power; they relied on political games and armies to wage war.
The three great wars of the five realms left nothing but ruin.
In all three wars, the Shadow Realm did not intervene.
No one dared attack that realm, for fear of the shadows still ran deep in their blood and skin.
After the third war, the world entered a three-hundred-year peace.
But… no peace lasts forever.
In the year 1503 after the founding of the Five Realms,
Alden Daitros became the king of the Shadow Realm,
a man who cast aside all limits and mastered the full power of blood magic.
And then…
The world began to crumble.
Because Alden Daitros became the instigator of the Fourth War of the Five Realms—
my greatest enemy…