Chapter 1

During the early 21st century, the world was organized into various monarchies and territories. Every inhabitant was born with an innate ability for charm-casting and elemental bending, which had long been studied as it relates to the natural world and us. There were six main categories of charm-bending: fire, water, earth, air, light, and dark. These six elements were taught in every school on the planet. With charm casting being studied across the world, it was becoming impossible to deny that these abilities directly linked every person to the natural world and themselves. The central doctrine for using such abilities stemmed from a trinity that must be held at all times to cast any form of charm or bend any element, that being a unity of the mind, body, and soul. Those who held a strong grip on this trinity within themselves, as well as taking the time to learn the principles of charm-casting, elemental bending, and the natural world became the best at acting as gateways between themselves and their abilities.

The world's population was unevenly split between humans, demi-humans, and denoms (or demons, as many now called them). The population of the humans was growing, while the population of the demons remained relatively the same, and the number of demi-humans was continuously shrinking. This was happening, in part, due to the way the kingdoms were arranged and who stood in positions of power across the globe.

There were four main superpowers of the world at the time, four kingdoms that retained the most wealth, territory, and power on Earth at the time. There were multiple kingdoms claimed by humans; after thousands of years of war between rivaling human nations, they split into three main territories. These would come to be known as the Aztan Kingdom, the Braztec Kingdom, and the Circa Kingdom. The demons, for the most part, maintained a single territory: the Denomi Kingdom. Demi-humans, however, have never had a permanent territory that belonged to them. Demi-humans had a long history of oppression in the kingdoms they lived in across the world. Despite there being demi-humans present in every kingdom on the planet, there had never been a kingdom ruled by one. The closest kingdom they could call home was the Denomi Kingdom since most of the world's population of demi-humans resided here.

The Aztan, Braztec, and Circa kingdoms (also known as the power-kingdoms) were similar in many ways apart from being ruled by the same species. They all had similar customs and traditions with few exceptions, and they had the same foundation for their religious beliefs. When observed on a macro scale, there were few differences between the human kingdoms, but when observed from a micro scale, the three power-kingdoms looked different.

The Aztan Kingdom had the edge in terms of scientific and technological advances. The focus of the Aztans homed in on the utilization of charm-casting and bending techniques for the manipulation of nature on the smallest and largest scales. They used their collective prowess to establish themselves as the scientific and technological powerhouse of the world. The homes of the Aztan people flourished and they were known to have the best education system in the world at the time. The families worked in unison to maintain their homeland; with the majority of the young-adult population seeking higher-level education to join in the country's innovation.

The Braztec Kingdom was the wealthiest monarchy on Earth at the time. With about a fifth of the population owning farmland, many people of this land kept up a healthy financial standing through trade and business under the flourishing markets of the land. Their economy retained the most substantial and stable international income throughout the world, while also being the best supplier to other kingdoms for traditional goods and food. The kingdom prospered due to its wealth, and was in the best spot, geographically, to establish profitable trade networks. Because of this, the Braztecs saw business, wealth, and cultural influence come in from all other kingdoms of the world.

The Circa Kingdom was the strongest in terms of military power. They retained the largest army, navy, and aerial fighting force in the world. This kingdom also had a strong economy, which tended to spend most of its funding on bolstering and maintaining its many substantial armies. Their military was composed mostly of humans, a small fraction, however, were demi-humans. As demi-humans were starting to feel more welcomed into human civilizations, this number slowly grew over time.

The Denomi Kingdom lagged in technology, economic wealth, and military. They were often referred to as the "kingdom left behind," left behind by the growth brought about by the new era. The Denomi kingdom was mostly composed of demons and demi-humans, although demons were in the majority. But what they lacked in tangible power, they made up for in their citizens' innate abilities for harnessing the most powerful charm-casting techniques in the world.

These four major kingdoms kept the world balanced, global war and the taking of land had long been abolished on the global scale. The kingdoms of the world kept to themselves and maintained the order they had to keep everyone safe and at peace. The nations would often communicate with each other and share their kingdom's newest discoveries in science, charm-bending, military tactics, and ways to keep their economies afloat. The three human-ruled kingdoms always had much to offer. The Denomi kingdom, however, did not have much that the humans wanted or cared for. Although the Denomi kingdom was not notable in terms of power on a global scale, the demons and demi-humans of this land retained a heavy sense of pride for their home. Demons were often outcasts in the other kingdoms, often deemed "harbingers of evil" by humans. Of course, this saddened them since they were not evil, they only desired peace and equality. On the local level, demons were often discriminated against in the other kingdoms, not being given the same opportunities and benefits as most humans. Most humans feared the innate abilities of the demon people, given their ability to use dark style bending. Demons are the main race born with a natural affinity for dark bending. Demi-humans would often receive the same treatment as demons since they are born with affinities for light bending. Most humans are born with affinities for all elements except light and dark, it was extremely rare to find a human with an affinity for light or dark charm-casting. Demons were the main species that had a clear understanding of how to effectively use dark bending. While demi-humans were the main species that had a clear understanding of how to use light bending.

Denoms are called "demons" not because of any alignment with evil, but because of what runs through their veins. The blood of a denom is off-putting in nature since it takes the form of a black, viscous liquid. Their blood also has the unfortunate side effect of degrading the life of any plant life it comes into contact with. Their innate ability to harness dark charm-casting is another reason for their bastardized name. Although every demon has an affinity for dark style bending, they rarely use this power for their purposes. Most demons only want to live in peace and solitude, they do not seek out war, and they never have. 

Throughout history, demons and demi-humans have been known to defend themselves from invasions from human kingdoms to acquire more of their territory. Over the thousands of years of invasions and expanding human empires, the demon lands were reduced to half of what they originally were. This is why the demon and demi-human people are not confrontational by nature, they are more than aware of how it feels to lose their homes. Therefore, they have resolved themselves to defend what land they have left to preserve their home, instead of continuing to fight for what they have lost. The demons have long realized the horrors and cruelty of war and will do anything they can to cease losing any more of their family. The demi-human species are much the same way, as they have never had a permanent home and were often displaced due to systemic unfairness. The demons recognized that the demi-humans, like them, were not a species that desired war. This allowed the demi-humans to slowly integrate into their culture over time. As such, over the years, the Denomi Kingdom was recognized as retaining the most rights and freedoms for demi-humans and became somewhat of a haven for the demi-human species. Many demi-humans moved here, and the demon lands grew to become the kingdom with the highest population of demi-humans within its borders.

Demi-humans, like demons, are born with a singular natural affinity. Unlike demons, however, demi-humans are born with an affinity for light-style bending. Light bending is the rarest and hardest type of charm to learn, and just like dark-style charm-casting, most humans do not have a clear understanding of its full capabilities. Because of this, humans tend to fear those who know light-style charms the best: demi-humans. Over time, the demons learned that they are very similar to the demi-humans and that they both are subject to struggling in this world. So, despite possessing opposite affinities, demons opened their doors to the demi-human species and the demi-humans were grateful.

The cultures of the demons and demi-humans mix in areas with higher numbers of demi-humans. They shared their customs, traditions, foods, and farming techniques. While many areas on the outskirts of the demon lands housed mainly demi-humans, there was an increasing number of areas that were a blend between demons and demi-humans that lived in harmony. However, both species maintained the tradition of mainly having children within their species. Only in very recent history had the time finally come for demi-human and demon hybrids to be born. Many wondered what that child would look like, if the child could grow up healthy, and what affinities they would have, if any. The main question, however, was whether a child such as this could even exist in this world. With the lines between demon culture and demi-human culture becoming blurry in some areas of the demon lands, it was only a matter of time.