Day One: 1216 words total

In the beginning, the race of man had a simple language. It had no word for pain, it had no word for fear. In the beginning, the race of man was the most advanced of all the living races on the isle of Amiox, despite the common weakness that becomes humans. They created law for the protection and guidance of their people. They created education, to give man the skills to provide for himself. Most importantly, they encouraged love, to help a man learn the value of all his skills.

In the beginning, the race of man was simple enough. They were kind and gentle rulers. Men kept mainly to the capitol province of Abiona, leaving the rest of the island to the shaman tribes, and the races of elves and nymphs that had settled into the forests of the island. Men gave as they could to the other races, and took only what they needed to sustain themselves. The relationship man held with the isle was a delicate relationship, one of stewardship and ultimate respect. As the goddess Carolina, the mother of the entire island, had foretold “The ultimate peace can only be attained through supreme unity. Unity of each life to all that enables it to live.” And so, this is how the Amioaxans dictated their lives.

The isle lived in a state of ultimate peace for centuries. The tribal people were all but forgotten, and the other beings that lived in the woods of the island became things of stories, their truth lost to the years by all. It was only in their peace that the people of Amiox were able to exist.
It was not until year of the swan when the great explorers set out, trying to find the way to the other side of the island. The people of Amiox had always been content with their small province. It had not been until the year prior when the number of young on the island grew in ways they had never done before, and in his infinite wisdom, the king set out to find more space, and more resources, for his people.

The explorer Empeion was a sweet man, gentle and quiet. He had a beautiful young wife and a small house in the bay of Excior. His partner was a forthright man by the name of Gaelon. It was when the explorers reached the Xzixcyon province that they met the shaman tribes. Empeion was in awe of their simple ways, how they survived without the tools and developments of the Amioaxan people.

Gaelon, on the other hand, was not impressed. He saw the shaman, and their primitive behaviors as a violation of natural law. They did not perform ritual solemnly, but in dance. They did not thank the goddess for all of their gifts, but took credit for some achievements. They did not prescribe to laws of medicine or human discipline. And for this, he thought, they must learn to live as Amioaxans did. So, by caravan, the shaman people were brought to the province of Abiona. They were taught to cook, to clean. They were trained as servants and helpers to what Gaelon thought was the more “worthy” race of man. As the head of the great council, second in command to the king, Gaelon told the shaman people that they must serve or they would be banished from life on the isle. He warned of eternal life on a dreadful ocean. He warned of eternal sadness. It was not until the first massacre that the word “pain” existed in Amiox.

The king, in his endless trust of Gaelon was never quite aware of all the misdeeds his left hand had committed. It was not until the blood of 2000 shaman warriors stained the great courtyard when he realized how terrible things had become. He told Gaelon that the shaman must be released from their oppression, which Gaelon contested. Gaelon had transformed many of the citizens of Amiox, made them into fear mongers who desired control of the shamans, the dirty. This was unsettling to the small kingdom. In a place of peace, there was an unbearable upset. A human existence that they found unbearable. When the land was not peaceful, the people could not contribute, and the race of man suffered.

The great king had no other choice. He told Gaelon that he must desist. He must stop his tyranny, or he would be exiled to the vile woods of the North, a barren land where no happiness could ever be found. To his great surprise, Gaelon chose exile. On the day he left Abiona, a trail of 4,000 people followed him, with all of their belongings, to start a new nation. The streets of the capitol were lined with the loyal, those who had vowed to fight, if necessary, for the values of old-the words of the goddess, and the honor of their king. It was a day of endless sadness. Brothers watched as their brothers disavowed themselves from their families, blindly following Gaelon into the night. They would form a nation in the North, Iontica. The pure land.

The citizens of the new nation of Amiox tried to return to their old way of life. They restored the freedom of the Shaman, giving them their own eternally protected land. It was their motherland, and they were content. They returned to their jobs, and destroyed the tools of war that had been built by the followers of Gaelon. Try as they might, there was an endless heartache in the province, and the people lost the perfect peace that had unified their kingdom. Over the years, their heartache separated them from the eternal love of the Goddess, and their rituals became rare traditions. The priestesses found that if they were to follow the doctorine of Carolina, they must be separated from the secular world. They created a holy land to the south, called Petuico. It was the land of Carolina’s tomb, and for two hundred years they did not leave or communicate beyond the walls of the city.

One day, a cry was heard from the holy sanctuary. A young priestess yelled to the heavens. A holy prophesy was declared :

One day ablessed child will be born, bearing the mark of the Goddess Carolina.
With the help of the forsaken children, the child will destroy pain and restore
perfect peace to the island of Amiox, to the race of man, to the living. It is
only through this child that peace can be attained. If this child is hindered,
the isle of Amiox will live in darkness and pain for 2,000 years.

One hundred years to the day later, a young woman named Elana gave birth in a dark forest south of Iontica. The wails of a young child were heard by none that desired to make their presence known. The mother, knowing that her child was forbidden, would make a daring journey that night to the province of Abiona. A journey to definite safety. In her preoccupation, she would fail to notice a small birthmark on her daughters left shoulder. A birthmark that would place on her daughter a terrible burden. The burden to save the race of man from endless pain. The burden of absolute responsibility.