Hey guys listen to the soundtrack above while reading the chapter... Not necessary or anything but adds to the mystical effect!
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Power.

That's what the entire godforsaken world was fighting over.

That's what wrought a million families apart and brought a million allies together.

That's what forced people to pick sides.

That's what started the war with the Barquetians.

Cennet was a peace loving country, with no territorial disputes nor any lethal trade connections. That's when the question arises;

Why then, did it have a scroll-full of international enemies on its hit list?

It goes centuries back. A handful of humans had learned to tap into the entirety of their mind and siphon the essence of nature. This developed in them, abnormal capabilities. Some called them freaks, glitches of nature and looked upon them with disdain. Others called them higher beings and were fearful of them.

But the people of Cennet knew the truth. The reality of this uncontrolled, innate power, which could easily be used for wreaking mayhem if fallen into the wrong hands. These rare people who were entrusted with such great responsibility were protected by some countries. The rest identified them as practitioners of black magic and largely boycotted such groups.

The Cennatians called them the Mages. This breed of evolved humans could see the chaos of the world in materialistic terms and make sense of it using the energy they siphoned from the cosmos. Without the balance they created, humanity as they knew it, would fall to its demise. 

Cennet was one of the first countries to accept and shelter such Mages. Countries were still wary of such beings and Cennet hoarding them appeared as one big scheme to conquer rival kingdoms. The Cennatians were well aware of the repercussions. At first there were anonymous warnings and seemingly baseless death threats. And then the first attack.

January 1708, The Cennet Massacre. Merely a decade and a half after the Salem witch trials, the people still doctored pseudoscientific theories on wielders of magic. Assassins from the country of Barquet entered Cennet and set every village, which allegedly housed a Mage, on fire. The entire country had been reduced to smouldering rubble. The Barquetians had not just settled for a genocide... They took captive Cennet's most powerful Mage, the Enchantress.

But it rose from its ashes, rebuilding itself to be stronger than ever and spread its wings of fire. However peace loving they might have been, the country had been wronged. But the entire World was engulfed in apprehension. The tension could be felt in the air, like glass ready to shatter or a stretched rubber band on its breaking point. A single attack would cause the greatest World War humanity had ever witnessed. So, they resorted to covert rebellion under the guise of a peace treaty.

Every few years, the Emperor of Barquet threw a masked ball for all the royal and official eligibles. And Cennet chose a few cities to play the Royal Assassin, attend this masked ball and eliminate those who benefitted from the Cennet Massacre of 1708. There were numerous successful klilings and though the Barquatians suspected that Cennet had a hand in this, there was no tangible evidence to support such claims and the peace treaty could not be nullified.

However, the Royal Assassin had never actually succeeded in knowing the whereabouts of the Enchantress, let alone release her. But they were relentless in their pursuit and would only stop when they quenched this unquenchable thirst for revenge.

Because of this fight, this war began with the struggle to gain a presiding vantage point. It wasn't just for a larger territory, or a mound of gold...
It was something  that had much more influence to create and to destroy, to understand and to misuse.

That's what the entire godforsaken world was fighting over...

Power.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys! Sorry if this chapter sucked but I felt a little bit of background was necessary for you to comprehend the plot and not feel completely lost...
But don't worry, from the next chapter we'll be right back to the present time!

Comment and vote!

Toodles Cinnamon rolls 😘😘