8 Tales of the Old - Part III

The world seemed to be covered in a shade of gray while the sunset cast a red hue over everything.

Somewhere under the gray sky, a battlefield was littered with signs of destruction and gore. What used to be a greenfield once, was now a river of red. The air which normally gave off a pleasantly sweet and fresh smell now carried a thick scent with it while heaps of corpses decorated the land. The theatre of death filled up with keening and caterwauling sounds as the sodden earth became oily red.

A man was standing in the middle of all this, facing a thousand-strong army. He looked haggard, his armor was tattered and blood flowed from his injuries. A pool of blood had already formed where he stood. However, his eyes shone with a sharp glint showing he was not done yet.

"What rises with the break of dawn turns to dust with the descent of night. It's all for naught in the end, yet we have to keep going, keep surviving - because that's life. I have stood at the top all my life, yet here I am in this state. Pathetic, isn't it? But I have no regrets. I dreamt of being the strongest, and I was the strongest - it was a life worth living. Finally, I can be at peace with no regrets." He laughed.

"Zastan, are you ready to meet your maker here?" A knight riding a horse, who seemed to be the commander, roared.

"Hoh, It will take a lot more than this to take me down," Zastan smirked.

"This heathen has tainted our land with his presence. He needs to perish today. Everybody, Charge !!!" The soldiers yelled in unison and charged toward the single man. Hundreds of horses galloped, the knights riding them gripping their weapons tight, tensed.

Seeing the charge, Zastan held his long blood-soaked spear tight and raised it towards the enemy.

* * *

Vance woke up with a headache the next morning. He had a weird dream last night, the details of which were still fresh in his memory.

'I guess it's true about what people say, you dream about what you think about before going to sleep.' He thought to himself as he made his way to the breakfast table.

His earlier routine of waking up at dawn and going for a walk in the mountains broke off when he was advised bed rest. Now he would wake up when the sun was already out in the sky, and to make things better, he wasn't tasked with any of the house chores.

"Where's father gone off to?" He checked around and didn't find any signs of his father's presence. "Oh well, he must have gone to the city then," he added.

Feeling hungry, having woken up to an empty stomach, he looked around and found a loaf of bread which he quickly stuffed into his mouth.

"This tastes good for some reason."

Now that he was not hungry anymore, and not feeling like going to sleep anymore, he decided to go for a walk outside to get some fresh air and organize his thoughts.

He changed into heavy clothes for the cold outside and left the cottage.

Just as he stepped outside, a harsh winter wind blew into the cloudy sky while the sun was still climbing out of the deep well of winter.

"It's really chilly outside." He shivered, his teeth clattering.

All the green had died down because of the winter, the surroundings not looking as pretty as spring anymore. While looking around, he made his way towards the periphery of the woods. In the distance, a fox was trying to hunt a rabbit while the rabbit was trying to escape for his life.

Standing at the periphery, Vance witnessed everything. After half an hour, the fox was finally able to kill the rabbit. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a mere play she was having with its prey. She held the rabbit in her mouth and disappeared deep into the woods.

"Looks like she was just playing with her prey. Poor rabbit stood no chance from the beginning," He sighed and thought to himself, 'Is it really a sin to be weak? If you are not strong enough, you are just a plaything for others.'

Thinking about it, Vance suddenly remembered the scenes from his dream.

'That person said he stood at the top, yet in the end, he was still weak compared to an army of thousands. Will I ever be that strong?' Wondering about it, he made his way back to the cottage. A small walk in this cold was more than enough for him.

* * *

It was evening already, the weather had warmed down a bit during the day. Vance was anxious and worried as Morgan had not returned yet. He had never been out for so long before, and it worried him.

With nothing better to do, he opened the old book and continued from where he left last night.

'Nozark was once a peaceful land for humans. But the greed for power destroyed everything. When mankind finally arrived at peace, it was disrupted once again, this time by others.

We realized this world was not ours alone. There lived others too - others far stronger than us.

Nozark was home to all kinds of species - Dragons, Elves, Dryads, Barbarians, Beasts, and many others. Dragons ran rampant and created destruction, wreaking havoc across countries in their path, whilst Elves lived in relative peace in their kingdom away from the others. The Barbarians were one war-hungry race while the Dryads protected the forests, acting as their guardians. Humans hunted down the monsters whereas monsters ate humans alike.

In the quest for power, humans finally arrived at the answer - world energy.

Each race was attuned to the world's energy, harnessing its power to achieve feats that were otherwise impossible. Dragons became the apex predators as they were the closest to nature, while Elves were loved by nature because of their temperament.

The world energy was this world's primordial energy in its raw form, non corrupted and untamed. Harnessing and channeling the world's energy was like communicating with the world, a manifestation of one's very own will. And it worked wonders.'

"Dragons and Elves? World Energy? I really don't know much about this world. If not for my father giving me this book, I would have stayed a bumpkin" he mumbled.

'True power is power within one's own hands;

Bending the world's will to your command is where true greatness lies.'

'And the quest for power once again began.

Thousands of years ago, humans learned to harness the world's energy for the first time. With that, everything changed. Those who were able to harness it evolved; some got superhuman strength - taking on hundreds alone, while some were able to do magic - creating flames out of thin air.

However, there was something different this time. Physical warfare was limited to men back then, but the world energy was impartial. Women were also able to feel and harness the world's energy as much as men.

With the passage of time, the control only became better and we were finally able to stand against the 'others' as what we called them, on equal ground. We were not afraid for the first time.

With newfound powers, we discovered we lived on a piece of land surrounded by water on all sides. People spread out to search for more truth and crossed seas. New lands were discovered, new nations came into existence. Countless legends were created; magic engineering reached its peak. Humanity reached new heights of prosperity as time passed. We were ushering in a new era.

But, history repeated itself once again.

Power corrupts one's soul, and absolute power corrupts one to the core.

Humans now wielded fate-defying power, but the millennia of humiliation suffered from a different kind was etched deep into their souls, passed down generation after generation - never forgive, never forget.

Wars were waged again, this time with the 'others'; stampedes of blood endlessly ran, rivers of blood, both ours and theirs, flowed tainting the land. Plagues and illnesses spread in the aftermath of war.

The 'Great War' dragged on for a millennia; there were no victors but the fall of humanity was a foregone conclusion. We were reminded of the truth once again - that no one is invincible.

Everything was lost. Nothing was left.

Mankind was filled with despair once again. But we had faced this before, so we started again. Humanity has once again started building itself from scratch. However, we were no longer worth standing toe-to-toe with 'others' anymore.

And time passed. A new era was approaching, hopefully, a better one - and the First Epoch came to an end.

* * *

Vance finally put down the book. The past had been too much for him to take all in at the moment. He felt the need to calm his emotions down. There were countless questions going through his mind.

*crackkk*

In the silence of night, he heard the faint sound of the door opening.

"Looks like father is finally back!" Relieved from worry now, he came out of his room to meet Morgan but stopped halfway.

Morgan stood at the door with a tired face, his clothes torn; his body bruised and cut, blood dripping from places.

"Father !!"

That's all he could say as he felt something snap inside his body at the moment.