"In this world, each of us is born with something extraordinary.

Is that what you thought?

What a piece of senseless garbage. Of course not.

Not each of us is born extraordinary.

Few are gifted from birth.

But frankly, whether you are special or not doesn't really matter. What does matter, however, is the kind of person you were assumed to be by the masses at the eve of your passing away."

-Verse 1, Chrome Era

"Then? What happened?" Little Keith asked as his father continued to read the book to him.

"Well then! Let's see... ah yes!

King Chrome.

After the man answered that his goal was world domination, Chrome knew - just like Ethel - that this guy, with his level of power and the way he just killed all their men, was no fluke. He might even just do it.

Even though Chrome had already realized that obvious fact, he was still concerned about the fact whether any of this will be registered in King Naren's brain or not, since he was not a person who seemed to act with his head, and especially seeing his men die had probably boiled his blood to such an extent that getting through to him might be next to impossible. Chrome was afraid that he would lose his cool and rush to his death.

"You bastard-!" Naren madly rushed towards the man, whose smile turned into a docile expression. Chrome and Ethel sighed - just what else could they be expecting from him?

But the next sentence surprised them.

"I will hold him off. Run... while you can."

"King Naren-" Chrome gulped.

"What you looking at me like that for? Just run...!"

There was merely no time for unexpressed thoughts of friendship and gratefulness. Both Kings immediately obliged.

Barely a second had passed when they heard blood splatter; red liquid trickled down their clothes like an incessant shower from a dull sky.

"Honestly! Are you... mocking me? You really think you can escape me because of one measly man blocking my path when I killed all those weaklings in an instant..." The silver-haired man waved his hands towards the grotesque corpses lying around his feet and burst into loud laughter as Ethel fell to his knees.

He is right. Just how can we hope to escape such a being? No matter what our mortal strength is, we...

"Oh, aren't you going to beg for, I don't know, mercy or something like that?" The man smirked at Chrome, whose jaw tightened at the words.

"Beg from the likes of heartless abominations like you?" He lifted his chin. "Might as well die proudly."

"That's your wish, hm? Then it's your lucky day, as I'm feeling generous enough to grant it!"

The man snapped his fingers, a sadistic grin intensifying on his face.

"What's your favorite way to go? Want to try the same one as your pathetic friend here? Hahaha..."

Chrome tightened his face and didn't answer, waiting for his heart to explode already.

But then, something extraordinary happened.

A majestic golden light brilliantly lit from behind Chrome and a little being came up while yawning like it was bored out of its wits.

The spirit seemed so tiny and light that it could barely be noticed even if it was sitting on one's shoulder, its wings fluttering now and then.

"What...?" The silver-haired man looked greatly surprised that his attack didn't work. Chrome and Ethel exchanged a glance as if to silently ask what's happening now.

"I will give you protection if you are willing to sacrifice the other person with you." The spirit came in front of Chrome's face.

"Huh? What?" His eyes nearly crossed as he tried to look at the spirit spiraling around his head, "Who...?"

"Happening too sudden? Got that. But you still have to answer." The spirit - it was a 'she', it seems - crossed her arms. Chrome couldn't comprehend what was going on but even so, he knew what choice he was going to make.

"No! I am not going to abandon King Ethel just for my own self-protection."

One of my newfound friends just died to give us a moment to flee and live on - do you think I just forgot about that?!

"Oh... then for someone else perhaps? One of your subjects? After all, they say that a king's life is worth a million common ones-"

"No way! I'd rather die fighting an impossible enemy than put the lives of my people in jeopardy! That's what a king is supposed to do anyway-"

"Oh okay."

The spirit closed her eyes once-

"Hey you-! I'm not done here! Wait that's not fa-"

-And the terrain suddenly changed.

Startled at the sudden development, Chrome blinked a few times before registering the fact that they were now in an unfamiliar area surrounded by lots and lots of ancient-looking trees. Ethel plopped onto the ground and held his head in a daze, still wondering what the hell was going on.

The spirit patted its sides as if dusting off something, "Before you go berserk and ruin this thousand-year-old sacred forest, let me inform you that I have transported us to a safe location for now - but it won't be for too long. You and the geezer should get moving."

Naren's image rose once more in Chrome's mind. He painfully swallowed. "But you... you said you will protect me if I- But I didn't- "

"Shush foolish boy king! I said I will protect you if you sacrifice him but I never said I won't protect you both if you don't sacrifice any~"

"Huh?! I... oh."

Chrome, for the first time in his life, found himself losing an argument with a speechless face.

"Was that a test then?" He looked at her. She didn't reply and played with the tassels on his shoulder band, which affirmed his suspicion.

"So... hm, who are you?" Chrome asked.

She grinned, "You sure are not very grateful after I saved you from the brink of death, let alone this greybeard who's basically a living statue now. A heartfelt bow will go long way, you know. Even a thank-you will suffice."

Chrome's eyes momentarily flicked towards the blank-faced Ethel as he let out a long sigh and put on his serious face. "Well, this lack of gratitude might be since I have no clue as to why this superior being is trying to rescue us while the other's after our hide... you owe us an explanation."

The spirit chided, "And you owe me a knighthood."

"..."

She flitted down from a tree branch, "Every time I searched, I have never found anyone who wasn't willing to sacrifice others for their own well-being. But you, a young king of weak build and strong will, turn out to be different - which is why I shall ensure your kingdom is safe from that man for the next 200 years ."

"2-200?! That man - is he immortal?"

The spirit tilted her head at his question as if not sure herself.

"Then 100 years each for both King Ethel and Naren's people. You can cut out the 100 years for my kingdom." Chrome stated his wish.

"You sure? This isn't some test; you won't be able to change your decision once taken."

"It is not that. I couldn't possibly live with myself if only my people are safe from all that senseless slaughter and the others are losing their everything!"

A moment passed in silence, and then the little spirit burst into tinkling chuckles.

"You truly are the embodiment of a perfect King, aren't you? You could still see it was, after all, a test only."

"I try to be. And um, no - I truly didn't know that it was supposed to be a test."

Despite having seen his friend die so easily and knowing that the same fate could have been his, Chrome knew that whatever the situation - some things should never change.

Like one's core values.

The spirit clapped her tiny hands together, "Alright! I want you to plant two magic stones that I am giving you in your land - but once you do that, you can't go outside until those hundred years are over. It is quite likely that during the hundred years under my protection, some individuals might be able to harness some form of magic. But for now, just remember this - you have to stay inside the boundary and then..."

After a few more words, the spirit waved a hand before it vanished into a radiant burst of light. Soon afterward, King Ethel finally came back to his senses and profusely thanked Chrome for saving him.

Acknowledging the life debt that King Ethel owed him, he promised Chrome that the people of the East and North would revere him for centuries and would name the years as the 'Chrome Era' in his respect.

CHROME ERA 100

After a hundred years of peace, when the veil was lifted - there happened a grim war with the armies of Selvesters, East and North united against that Man.

He had, at first, laughed and continued to slaughter them one by one like mere hordes of sheep - but soon the magic stones planted in Selvesters' soli shone brightly, and King Chrome XIX's sword was filled with a bright light which almost seemed to pierce through the skies and raze the oceans with a single blow.

That heavenly weapon finally pierced through the fiend's vital organ, destroying him entirely.

The spirit had told the then King Chrome that the stones can suck in the energy given by the molten core of the planet and harness that energy straight against the enemy - and the accumulation of that energy for all those years had helped to acclaim such power.

But after that brilliant display, the current King of East was amazed by the power that sword held. The greedy man thought that now the dangerous threat was gone, there was no need to maintain good relations with the 'savages' of North and Central; it was best, of course, to take that mysteriously overpowered sword away from King Chrome XIX and gain power for himself.

And so, the traitorous king stabbed the last King Chrome from the back; everyone knew that he had no skills to fight head-on with that valiant and kind-hearted king.

The king who had led the deadly battle to the end died on the battlefield, pierced through the heart by a former ally. He was carried back by his grieving men. What awaited the people of Selvesters was not the news of the elimination of a long-suffered threat and the joy that came with it; the kingdom had not a single light lit anywhere to remember that their good king too, was gone now.

The King of North promised to the indignant people that he would hunt down the lord of East - but one decade had already passed, and there was no sign of either the return of the heavenly sword or the King of North. Nevertheless, the new King, Lucius the First, ascended to rule Selvesters. After a few years, he had had enough of the delay and set out immediately with his troops to demand an explanation from the King of North.

They reached the dry expanses of the North after a grueling journey but were shocked to find that the buildings looked more than just broken - more like razed to the ground. Even the sturdy royal palace there with the famed expert architecture and ground-breaking castle formation was destroyed into hideous ruins with fires having blazed the charred castle walls. The walls looked to be made of mere sand, soot already hardened into cold chunks of black matter - it was quite clear that the fire wasn't recent.

That is when King Lucius noticed a figure - a girl? - standing atop the fire-devoured walls looking down in their direction. He tried to get closer for a better look, but the figure disappeared in instant.

His men rubbed their eyes in a frenzy, unable to believe what just happened. Some whispered that it must be some curse or bad omen.

King Lucius hurried back to his kingdom as fast as he could and sought out the spirit, who had first helped his ancestor, King Chrome XVII, to ask about what was happening.

"Hm, is that so? Well, it seems that when the former king fought that Man using the immense power siphoned off from earth's core for a hundred years through the help of my magic stones, the process has also awakened the power residing within Ardania - the forbidden land where that Man had appeared from - and now beings with supernatural abilities just like him but of significantly lesser power are emerging. It is quite possible that one of them had beef with the King of North for some reason and destroyed them. So, I warn you to be careful. The only ones who can possibly match those beings are probably some of the people in your kingdom and the other remaining kingdom who have been able to harness magical energy in the past century."

"But can't you hold them off - just like you did for a hundred years, guarding against that Man - while we were preparing a weapon to destroy him?"

"Holding him off for a century was hard enough already - and I was only able to do that by tilting the axis position of the planet to shift kingdom's location to throw him off in opposing direction. Yeah, I know that I'm a genius."

"...."

She continued in a serious tone, "That man had already realized what was happening so he waited till my magic ran out. Of course, he had no idea that while my magic was running out, there was a weapon in preparation to catch him off guard - that was the sole reason you were able to destroy him.

But now that these beings are appearing there, it is quite lucid that they might hold different powers - and I am at my weakest at this point. So, the best way for you to retaliate would be to accumulate your magic-wielding people and then launch a planned attack on parts of Ardania because even if you can catch one being, you can definitely harvest immense magic power from them and boost your own power to protect against the other remaining beings. Even though many beings would be powerful there, some might just be weaker than your mages - so if you capture them early, you could extract the power they hold to full potential by a technique I told your ancestors."

Lucious stroked his chin, "So basically, the best option for us right now is to sneakily capture as many as those beings with a few of our men who can fairly match their strength to bolster our own strength even more. Certainly, this seems like the only thing we can do now to improve our strength and ensure better protection for our people."

After receiving the information, Lucius returned to his kingdom. One of the guards turned out to be a spy from the East kingdom, so they got the tidbit as well and news spread like a wildfire.

"You mean if we are actually able to harness the power of those beings first. Then we can destroy Selvesters." One minister of Weselton, the kingdom of East, slowly reiterated.

"My Lord isn't wrong. But to do that, His Majesty will have to first conquer the land of Ardania which lies adjacent to Selvesters and be the sole ones to send the magical wards to capture them." The Traitor from East remarked.

Soon another war broke out between Selvesters, North, and Weselton - each kingdom trying to gain access to Ardania and control the beings appearing in it to gain an advantage over each other.

.......................

"But after three hundred years of fighting against those traitors and savages, we have finally become much stronger as an Empire, gained much more power, and soon we will crush them into fine dust and erase all those beings." Keith's father remarked as he looked at him with simple wonder etched over his face.

"But who compiled all this?"

"Brilliant experts from several places collected all this after years of extensive research. So, you understand, right Keith? How savage and ungrateful those kings were... after all we did for them, they took our sword, killed our great king, and then dare to harness a power so tainted - the origin of the Man who had once wanted to destroy the world! This is why we Selvesters fight - not to gain power or anything, but to make this world a better place. While these people want to keep those vile things for their own use, it is best if we eradicate them entirely. That is why we have to capture Ardania as soon as possible to gain enough power and destroy all those beings. After all, letting anything connected to that Man roam free just to satiate our own greed would surely invite destruction." Prince Keith listened to all that intently.

"Yes father! I am going to fight to protect the world just like my ancestors did and stop these bad men from exploiting evil magic that belongs to those magical beings that threaten the world!" He fervently gushed out.

"You forgot again - didn't you?"

"Forgot... what?"

"The beings. They are known as Venefics."

"Oh... right." Keith looked embarrassed as his father left the room. A little later, he went to bed - quietly sighing at everything he had just been told.

...................

CHROME ERA 416

The Kingdom of Selvesters had captured three Venefics by now and extracted power potential from two to increase the strength of their mages. They currently occupy a bit of the East part of Ardania.

Most of the Venefics have receded into the Central part of Ardania while the Kindom of East, Weselton, and the new Kingdom of South formed around forty years ago by a culmination of some minor kingdoms have almost reached the south flank of Ardania, nearing the part occupied by Selvesters. Despite the rise of human mages in Weselton, they haven't been able to capture a single Venefic as they proved to be too powerful for them.

The most probable reason behind Selvesters being able to acquire Venefics, as thought by ministers of other nations, was due to the magic stones. Since the spirit who gave protection to Selvesters and other Kingdom had harnessed magical energy from the land of Selvesters, the people, even if a few, were more likely to be stronger in magic - while for the rest of lands, it was harnessed uniformly so they were able to get much more mages imbued with weaker magic. Even so, the fact that Selvesters hadn't made a large-scale attack on Weselton was because of the weapon that it had stolen from their King Chrome XIX, three hundred years ago.

That way, Selvesters, and Weselton were the two strongest Kingdoms right now - while the Kingdom of South. being so far away, had few mages at best, but they had focused on building up on their army, combat strength, and technology to compensate for that. So, even while the three kingdoms did have different ideals, they rallied under the goals of Eradication of Venefics, Destruction of Selvesters, and Expansion of Land respectively. All three were, in fact, competing for more power and strength.

The Last Venefic roaming around in Northeast Ardania was captured thirty years ago by Selvesters' army, but no one had been able to extract his magic so far - since the Venefic, who looked like a teenager, had shrouded himself in a layer of metal they couldn't break through even after bringing him inside the palace and hitting with swords. So, he was just lying there.

The last war with Venefics happened ten years ago when they launched an attack against Selvesters, but after their defeat at the hands of mages imbued with power extracted from the last two captured Venefics, they hadn't made any moves yet. So, for the last ten years, except a few clashes here and there among all kingdoms, not much had happened; everyone was bolstering their strength.

With these events in place, the young prince Keith wondered about whether he was fit for the role he was to be given now.

He had just turned sixteen, and his father had told him that soon, he would have to command an army to lead their nation to victory - so he should start to understand his role as a prince and the various tactics of war - for which he was to set out on a journey next week. He should decide by end of this week, whom did he want to take on his journey.

Just how would he go about choosing who he wanted to pair up with for this journey?

Was he even ready?

Quelling his anxiety, Keith just looked at the drowning sunset.

[E/N:-Starwannawrite

Nice verse you got up there. *thumbs up*

Chrome XVII is an inspiring person and no one can change my mind. King Naren... that fat-headed guy should have lived T_T

As for Ethel... feed this wrinkled patty to a lion already 'cause his descendants are the pure definition of jerks-

Noo Chrome XIX, not you too! Sigh...

The mysterious miss on the palace walls decided to chill on her fiery artwork for a while when she was (rudely) disturbed by King Lucius, it seems.

Does... the spirit have any beef with the other supernatural beings? The idea she gave sounds quite harsh in my head - but then I'd have given the same idea anyway, so who am I to say?!

Weselton being weasely about everything...

Keith getting a full-on lecture and motivational speech rolled into one. Poor guy.

The plot's doing quite well so far...

Morals today:

1) Always speak of the greater good when answering a spirit. There's a 99.99% chance that it's a test.

2) Become whatever you want in this life - but don't become as shameless (and back-stabbing) as King Ethel's illustrious descendants.

3) Never anger supernatural beings unless you're one yourself.

4) If you live in the Chrome Era, the worst thing that can happen to you is that you turn out to secretly be a Venefic.

5) History's a mystery. Don't believe in all hearsay.

6) Your goal's your moral compass+yardstick - and your deeds are your ID card.

7) If someone trusts you and you betray them, be ready for dire consequences. (Also, swords are sharp and shouldn't be played with carelessly~)

8) There's nothing called right and wrong, or black and white. It only depends on your perspective - and how many lives you wrecked along the way.

9) Do what you think is right - so that if you turn out to be wrong later on, you can't blame others or the 'circumstances'.

10) Most stories don't have a particular moral at all - but they try to teach us something which we might use in our day-to-day life, so we take them as little lessons.

P.S. The grammar was a pain, as usual.

(Readers, if this line makes it to the cut - I'll like you to know that this author made precisely 18 mistakes in this chapter which mainly consisted of unwanted spaces and godforsaken sentence formations. *pulls at hair*

Thank you for your time.)

The story, tho. *lets out a breath*

It's gonna be intense. Stay tuned!]