Prologue (The decay of the ages)

The ground rumbled underneath Inke. His mind racing with what he had to do next, blood seeping out of his ear. Inkes' tuft of white hair on top of his head was as white as an old mans. Although Inke was only 19, he overused his Stint. It was sucking his years away. Debris was flying around Inke as if he was caught in a rock slide. Inke put his hand on his leather satchel which housed beautiful jewels that were glowing with soft and dark reds, light pinks and greens. The one he wanted wasn't any of those. Inke pulled out a dark blue gem with a green hue on the outside. "This is it,' Inke thought, with blood running down his left cheek like a calm and flowing river.

Dust and debris were surrounding Inke, leaving him senseless to his Stint. Incapable of doing anything, he raised the gem in the air and used it as a last resort. "Dear Pasa, the creator of man, I vow thee my life and needs for you to help me." shouted Inke. A thunderclap exploded overhead as lighting split the sky, piercing the gem. The gem burnt a hot white and dissolved into Inke. Inkes' fist glowed with a hot white smolder as he turned to his right, he enveloped electricity that was dancing on his skin. Through the dust and debris, his senses were heightened. He instantly took note of his surroundings. The man he was running from was in front of him looking down.

The man was perched on a cliff with a steep drop-off into the water below. The man had eyes that were piercing to a point of spine shivering intensity. Inke could see his eyes from a mile away. Inke gained control of the temporary Stint, given to him by Pasa, the creator of man. Inke felt his feet tingle and knew where his enemy was. The man on the cliff looked down in disbelief. Inke was gone. "Where could he be?" thought the man with the piercing silver eyes. At that exact moment Inke appeared behind him. A kick to the right side of the man's face sent him flying into the water below.

Inke stood at the top of the cliff. Assuming that there was no way the man could be alive, he got on his knees. The drawback to Stint? It drains your living years. A drawback of using a Stint gem? It takes off 50 years of your life for unfathomable power. Pasa was a good god, he took care of mankind. He mankind the capabilities to do anything, with the drawback of giving something up for it. Inke sat on his knees looking at the water where the man had fallen. Surely dead- the man's blood turned the blue water into a maroon color. The waves crashed and licked the base of the cliff Inke was at. Thank god it's over.

Tears flowed down Inkes face along with his blood, mixing at his chin and dropping onto the soil beneath him. "Why Pasa? Why did you doom us? Why curse us with such a gift?" screamed Inke. "We war, we fight over the capability of being able to use it. Some of us are born with it, and you let us die for it. Why?" cried Inke. His hands were trembling, his life being sucked away from using the gem. He cried and yearned for a different life. He wanted to do things different, have a different lifestyle. He had a pregnant wife at home whom he would never see again. All of this just for the ability to be different.

Rain was pouring sideways, slamming into Inkes face. He stood up and waddled over to a nearby willow tree. Inke took out his dull blade, made out of stone with a wood handle wrapped in leather, and carved into the tree. "Do to them what they did to me" it wrote. Inke only had about 12 minutes of life remaining, no way he would make it home in time. He drove the knife into the bark of the tree and closed his eyes. Awaiting his penalty for cursing Pasa.

Just then, the sky parted like the ancient stories of Moses and the red sea. A beam of light hit Inkes face causing him to instantly feel warm. He was happy. No matter what would happen next, he felt forgiven. He felt like the people he killed, and the things he stole were all accounted for. It was worth it. "Thank you, Pasa." whispered Inke as he closed his eyes with a sly grin on his face. Just then, a blade ran through Inkes chest, causing him to groan. He looked up and saw a man with piercing eyes look down at him.

"You thought it would be that easy?" the man yelled. His skin was black, like the night. He was around 6 feet tall and had hands the size of an ogre. His piercing eyes looked at Inkes chest, pierced with his own sword. The curvature of Inkes chest was depleting as all of his blood ran out of his body. "To you your own, to me your life." the man whispered to Inke as he wiped the water on his hands on Inkes pant leg. "Thank you for making this interesting." the man laughed and pulled his sword out from Inkes chest. "You will remember me." Inke said as his life left his body and his eyes glazed over.