Mundane

Beginning Years: Folklore and Early History as Recorded Lorietta Finch

An excerpt from the ever popular and well read guide. A book that has been read by millions across the nation, its tales of days past never disappoints.

Humans originally came from an entirely different continent by the name of Ahriman*. This was a deadly place to live. Ahriman sat directly on an enormous fault line, which caused almost constant earthquakes. They rocked the country, and its estimated that millions were dying.

So they did the only thing they could do in a situation like this. They ran away. They built enormous ships and gathered people aboard them. And they left.

They never looked back. To those on the small group of vessels, it was better to die on the ocean fighting for your life than to perish while cowering and hiding.

They spent two and a half years at sea. The oceans were dark and dangerous, filled with ruthless denizens of a little known world. The humans encountered one such beast during their first months at sea; they were barraged by a massive sea serpent, which they called The Lynch Eel. During the attacks, two ships were sunk and three more were damaged. That in itself was only one of the beasts that lurked in the watery depths...

However, despite there being several sightings of other strange and wicked creatures in the water, the group of refugees was not attacked again. The crowd was not free of misfortune though. Sickness struck at the worst of times throughout the journey. The lack of nutritious food weakened the people among the ships, and a simple, seemingly harmless illness would spread like a wild fire in dry grass.

Over the course of 13 months, the infected grew to outnumber the able, and the tainted ones were placed on a boat to die. The rest of the fleet left them, and any who couldn't bear to leave the occupants, behind.

The survivors of the plague were few; there were only 796* passengers left out of the several thousand that had begun the journey. Out of the 796, there were 386 women and 410 men.

The last of the humans were giving up hope. The population that the corruption had left behind (whether out of mercy or as a form of torture, they did not know) were deeply depressed. The minuscule amount of food left wouldn't support them for long, and there was no land in sight. They were miserable. Most saw living as a lost cause, and as many 15 people committed suicide together.

Yet the ones who held desperately to their faith cried out to the
Luck Goddess, Pasuri, begging for a miracle. And she mercifully granted them their need.

Two weeks later, as the people gave up on having their desire granted, they caught sight of land. At first, the lookouts thought they were hallucinating, and that the foggy shape in the distance was the beginning of The Madness. But as the landmass solidified and grew on the horizon, they realized that their dream had come true, and their prayers had been answered.

Songs were sung and people made merry and danced. The thought of a close to the ghastly migration thrilled the passengers. There was great rejoicing, and they knew that within a matter of time, they would be standing in their new home.

It took several more hours to actually land on what they had thought to be an island, but as the size of it grew and grew, they found to be a continent. Many grew impatient and weary at the distance that they were crossing so slowly. They were near to their destination, yet so far.

As they neared the shore, the water became crystal clear, and bright reefs shone below them, where exotic fish swam in schools. The caps of the waves were small and frothy; the water was an almost unnatural shade of blue. The survivors were enchanted by the tranquil beauty of the bay. Even in the calmest of water, the open sea hadn't compared to this. The scene was like a painting; snow capped mountains loomed in the distance, white sand merged with turquoise water, and rolling emerald hills sat several feet back from the shore.