Prelude of Elker's Alchemist story arc

When the great black star deformed the skies of Norus, a palace of metal descended from its depths to rest in front of the shores of the Stavenger kingdom. It was as large as ten castles and as imposing as the mountains. It floated as if it had the weight of a feather and moved silently across the land. Scribes from each kingdom tried to document everything about the event, but none succeeded in clarifying its origin. They were not allowed to do so. No king thought it wise to reveal to the world what had happened, and they decided to censor the horrors they faced.

I don't need to swallow the lies of the scribes: I was there when it all happened. I was an orphan living in the Gaia forest with a warm community of outcasts. Both I and my friends were fascinated by the metal castle gracefully moving over our lands. We couldn't know what those metal walls contained, whether they were horrors from outer space or distant visitors, nor did we have a way to guess, but I can assure you we felt no fear. The one who felt fear was the cowardly King Kaenius Stavenger, who, sheltered in his distant castle, ordered his army to sweep through our home, the Gaia forest, to face any threat to his damned lands.

The soldiers announced themselves with intense fires, columns of black smoke, and distant screams. They were brave, raising their swords and incinerating defenseless arcabassys. They shouted and laughed with enthusiasm as they murdered my friends, inspired by the ecstasy of their superiority. They used their talents against those who couldn't defend themselves, burning them with fire flares or breaking their bones with a gesture of their hands, playing with them in the air to ensure that their screams spread terror and exploding their entrails when they got bored of them.

They were brave against sickly arcabassys and a girl who could barely control her talents, but something else would stop them. Their feast ended when five humanoid metal beings descended from the floating palace to ravage them in the most humiliating ways. At first, when the soldiers were full of adrenaline, they charged with a battle cry against the three-meter giants, believing they would slice them as easily as us. First, a skull exploded for no apparent reason; then the humanoids moved with such speed and skill that in a few minutes, they had cleaned almost the entire battlefield.

The guts of four hundred soldiers from the proud Stavenger army were scattered on the stage of that battle, something the scribes have never mentioned.

The metal king revealed himself to us in the midst of the emergency, a three-meter humanoid whose skin under the plates of his heavy armor shone with a celestial tone. He carried a man in his arms, unconscious when we received him. His skin was pale, and his black hair, shiny. The metal king entrusted us to take care of him and to travel north to keep him away from danger while he repelled the attack of the supreme commander of the Stavenger army. 

That man was my master, the one who learned our language in a day and who could read entire pages in fractions of seconds, the one whose passion for knowledge burned with great intensity, especially regarding what concerned shpabisshys and the natural laws of our world, what he would be happier to define as "Physics".

Since I began to be passionate about stories of intrepid adventurers, I knew it was my duty to share with the world the exploits of my master. I have weighed over the past few years which should be the first to see the light and the most appropriate way to reveal them. Our adventures have been incredible both in abundance and interest; they range from the battle of the Gaia forest, through the occasion when we defeated an emerging chimera in the Munrich kingdom to our alliance with Queen Anaeth to stop the sectarians of Volkius, among many other intermediate episodes that—although not as impressive as those already mentioned— have forever marked both our hearts and those we helped.

I have detailed records of each event; they range from personal drawings and notes to statements from witnesses. I could start talking about any of them, but ensuring the privacy of those involved is a task that complicates my choice. However, I have decided to start with something simpler. It is one of the most unique adventures I have lived, and although it is not the most spectacular, it illustrates very well the serenity and objectivity that I appreciate so much in my master. But not only that. It marks the unexpected beginning of a problem that would grow to unsuspected dimensions, revealing in the process the dark secrets behind Elker, which for a long time was the most prosperous city in the Stavenger kingdom.