Prologue

There is a world, a largely untamed patch of land, in which the humans have divided themselves into three groups. These three groups do not interact or intermarry, and breed within themselves a basic hate of the foreign groups. It is conceivable that humanity may once have existed undivided on this isolated continent, but the origins of the world were lost to history and only the vaguest ideas were left as to how the groups had departed from one another.

The first is of material; the second, of nature; the third, of eternity.

The Material World organizes itself into cities, which are ruled by their respective Leader Family. The cities trade amongst themselves and interact, albeit warily. The Material World is focused on power and control, the idea of everlasting prosperity; it is the dear ambition of every Leader to rise above the rest and seize control of them all.

The Natural World is but a mass of free existence, though they do clump into tribes. But, unlike communications within the cities, the tribes interact freely and easily. They exist with the planet in its natural state, and have instilled within their tribal community great respect for the beings of nature around them. If there is an exception to this rule, it is humans other than themselves, or those who have left them to pursue life in the Material or Eternal Worlds.

The Eternal world exists within water, the depths of the western ocean. Their history is the most renowned, sketchy thing of all worlds: For a mysterious purpose, a Leader was abandoned by his Honored Lady and his children; twin brothers deserted from their tribe and are alleged to have joined with them on the coast. There they existed, drawing to themselves fellow outcasts of their separated societies. The Material World soon considered their budding community a threat, an undue threat, and the Leaders banded together to construct the necessary army. However, the abandoned Leader of Springwater left his city and warned his family. Before the army could strike, the outcasts had delved underwater and created the Eternal World. It is taught within the cities that those of the Eternal World could never again return to surface existence and were granted longevity.

For years, this world of three parts would coexist in its separated way, and none alive within it would know or remember when it was changed, as they did not remember the dawning of existence, the birth of every child, or every manifestation of negative, habitual thought. Eventually, it would just become the world as they knew it.

A/N:

I had finished writing the first draft of this a few months ago, but it hadn't been up to my expectations, and rewriting it was a daunting task. So, I abandoned it. Recently, I picked it up again, and decided to post the chapters one at a time, once a week, as I edited them.

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter; expect another this weekend, and every weekend after that. For about eight weeks.