Tales of Astora: Legacy

Prologue

Prologue

At the beginning there was nothing. Then God came. "Let there be Light" he proclaimed and with his words, a bright light began to shine in the Void. From this light came the stars and worlds filled with Monsters. But God was not satisfied with his creation. For Monsters only followed their animal instinct. He wanted something more: an intelligent life form in his image.

And so God forged the First Flame. And from it life began. The Prime races were created: Human, Elf, Beastman, Dwarf, Dragon and Celestial. He then chose one representative from each race to be their own Gods, giving them extraordinary power. These six were later known as the Primordials, as they were the first of their race. And with their commands, the world continued to prosper.

But the brighter the light the darker the shadow. For if there is Light, so is Dark. The Dark would not accept the Light. It corrupted the Monsters, creating an abomination known as the Demons. Savage creatures who dared take the form of man, who only knew killing to satisfy their bloodlust. The Demons waged wars against all races, driving them into near extinction. When all hope seemed lost, the Savior came and brought hope back to the people. For he was the hero sent by God to protect his subjects. As he struck down the First Demon Lord and repelled the Demons back in the isolated continent of Ragna.

However, one day, the Dark will come back and the Demons will rise again. When that time comes, the hero shall rise again and we will repel the Dark in the name of our Lord.

-Chapter 1 "Origin of the world" from the "Holy Scripture" by Saint Peter the First, First Pope of the Church of Light-

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Kingdom of Ceadric, Frontier Village Caine

It was cold. Of course it was since it was in the middle of winter. In the outskirts of Caine Village, an old man was returning from the hunt with his trophy on his back: a wolflike creature with a horn on his head, a Storm Wolf. The storm wolf was a common monster in these parts. They usually hunted in group but awkwardly not this one. This explained why the old man managed to slay it as it would have been difficult for him if there were more than one of them.

The man seemed to be in his sixties, bald with dark skin. But this was no ordinary weak old man as his body was covered with scars, not from the wolf he hunted down but from years of battle. He used to be an adventurer, going in dangerous dungeons looking for treasures or defeating terrible monsters. But it was not odd to see a retired adventurer walking around in a forest. What was odd was the direction the man was walking toward. Normally after a hunt, the next thing to do is either to sell the prey or bring it home. But the old man continued walking in the direction opposite of the village. Not to mention in this cold weather. The answer was simple: he was going home. But why live outside the village? Monster attacks were common in these parts. Surely it was better to stay inside the protective fence surrounding the village... Unless you had something to hide.

After a long walk, a wooden cabin came on sight. It was a simple two story house, located in the middle of the woods. The area surrounding the house was clear of trees. Normally it would have been covered by flowers, but in this season, nothing could grow on the snow. The light was on and white smoke was coming out of the chimney. An odd stench was filled the air around the house. The old man, approaching the house, recognized the smell immediately.

"10 years and still the same damn soup. Please God, let me live through this, as you did for the last 10 years!" he mumbled to himself.

Upon entering the house, he was greeted with a smile from a beautiful elven woman. "Welcome back, Gazel!" greeted the woman. Her name was Morgan. Long black hair as dark as the night with dazzling violet eyes as amethyst in a black coat, the elf looked almost out of place in the middle of this half broken place. She was seemingly concocting some mysterious potion in a big cauldron. The substance looked black with bubbles on the surface.