A/N: Okay, this is my first story I’ve written, I did write it once before, got to chapter 87 then scrapped it. Six months of hard work gone. I have redesigned the land, the people, and the circumstances. Hopefully this time I can be satisfied. All names are mine, any reference to a person fictional or historical is 100 coincidence. Richter is pronounced “Riker” and language I will identify in later chapters. Staying this rating, R, because of adult situations, language, content and graphic depictions. (If you don’t like magic, multi-gods, possible homo-erotic moments, descriptive violence, or anything of the sort, you may turn back.)

Prologue:

Erathai was the sister planet to Eruth, which was over forty times its size. This was due to the fact that while Eruth was spherical, Erathai was coin-shaped. Erathai’s coin-shape made it very unique and quite a few levels. Due to its miniscule ten-mile depth, the planet had no core, and so no scientific point of gravity. This was quite a strange concept until it was discovered through Dwarven engineers that in the direct center of the coin-shaped planet lie a Well. This Well held magic more powerful than any part on the surface. The humans of course had to tame this power because that is the destiny of all humankind, to meddle with things out of their control. The humans demanded their enslaved Dwarves to tunnel to it from both sides of Erathai and make it a giant Well, connecting the top land with the bottom. Before this was complete, travel from topside to bottom side was literally impossible to anyone but a master wizard who could simply teleport himself there or even planeshift. This inability to communicate brought great distress upon nations on either side.

The bottom side had incredibly hot summers, in areas breaking hundreds of degrees. Since water froze at zero and a hundred could boil it, breaking one hundred degrees could easily kill people. The winters there were tame, rarely ever breaking zero.

On the topside however, this was nearly opposite. Their summers never once broke fifty degrees, but their winters could hit nearly a hundred below zero. These radical seasons caused different plant life to grow on either side. If the topside had a crop, the bottom side most likely did not and vise versa.

Another problem was the famine. These famines came rather often, but it was a nutrient deficiency that brought it on rather than lack of rain. This occurred due to the planet’s need to maintain a balance. Rather than equally distributing the nutrients however, it gave them in waves. If the topside had a famine, the bottom side was in surplus and vise versa. Once this Well was built, that problem would be ended due to ability to trade.

Once the Well was finished, rulers quickly fought to control it. This was not only to have such an amazing power at their disposal, but it allowed them to control all imported goods. Many hundreds of years passed and oceans of blood were spilled over the land surrounding the Well. Finally, a leader arose on the bottom side and claimed the Well’s surrounding land. The kind was so mighty not only in manpower, but in his own ability, that he managed to contain this well without losing it a single time.

Owning the well quickly made this ruler immensely rich, but rather than highly tax the products and over price them, he offered them at just above what he paid, keeping the people happy and content with him as ruler. Due to this, economy flourished and he became the wealthiest of men to have lived in existence of Erathai. Again the king was generous and gave a great deal of his earnings back to his people, hoping to make everyone successful and content. He was and still has been labeled as the greatest ruler of all Erathai.

On topside however, generations died down and soon the well became community property, no one owned it. They finally chose to stop their fighting and solve the problem diplomatically. For the first time since the well was created, there was peace on both sides of the world and enough food for every person to afford without giving up their home.

For many hundred years this lasted, peace and full bellies were the slogans for the times. It was truly blissful. Oddly enough, the king of the bottom side still lived. Many said he was a wizard, but didn’t care as long as he maintained his ways, and he did. Finally though, the king grew tired of the divided bottom world, and in the fastest conquest ever made, he brought the entire half of the world under his control. He named the land Keltin, a derivation the from Monastic word keltisha, which meant unity. Monastic was an ancient and forgotten language, usually only spoken in fragments by the most powerful of wizards and sorcerers.

While topside’s nations did not always get along, diplomatic means or a simple duel of their greatest fighters resolved most problems. Khrinn quickly rose in not only size and population, but also in wealth. It quickly became the wealthiest nation on topside. It was the only nation in all the land that forbade slavery, yet still managed to keep up with all the other nation’s technologies. This was because rather than force the other races to work for them, the humans embraced the other races and worked with them. This caused much greater results than the other nation’s slavery, as well as fewer revolts, ending in countless casualties.

Keltin however had no such issues, as it had no race aside humans. Early on they had been thought of as “demons” or “evil” for being different and had been eradicated. This terrible injustice still haunted the minds of the world because it cost them entire species. Dragons were so rare that to see one and speak of it was a tale worth much coin. The Dragon had seemed to prefer the ghastly hot climate and had become dependent on it. The topside was too cold so none could live there but very few who hid in deep chasms during the winter. Other species such as Unicorn, had not been as lucky to find acclamations, and were extinct before the first bit of running water came along.

On topside, many things were made possible due to Khrinn’s cooperation between races. Dwarves came up with the first bit of sewer system and plumbing, making life rather easy. The Elves designed fashion items, such as elegant gowns to skirts as well as an array of cosmetic items such as lip gloss, mascara, and blush. Even the Halflings contributed with the design of insulation. Their design was rather unusable, but the idea was instilled and before long every home in Khrinn had insulation, running water, and make-up. The Dryads, creatures more attuned to nature than even Elves as they were seemingly part of it, worked long and hard with magic. After decades of trial and error, the first electrical charge was created. Harnessing this into wires forged from copper, silver, and even gold, the Dryads made each home electricity ready. Though this was hindered by costs, so only the richer of families had any and was used only for light.

The world was aflutter with peace and surplus. Though in one day, that all changed. Darkness ravaged the lands, killing anything standing before it, burning fields and kingdoms alike to the ground. One man stood up to this darkness, one man forged the future of the world. The heart and soul of this lone man saved the world from an endless darkness, it sealed the evil for all eternity. Until now, four thousand years after his victory over the shadow, it has returned, and now it’s his son’s turn to do as he did and vanquish the shadow. This time, for good.