First Age of the World

a short story, detailing some worldbuilding elements from a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

The First Age of the World, a brief history

When the first humans came to be, they were a peaceful race. They banded together, were hunters, gatherers, explorers, farmers and builders.
The Beginning as it was called, was a serene time of peace and discovery. Humans quickly rose to consciousness, invented languages and writing. Not long after that, the very first tribes started to form. It was a time of long-lasting peace between the humans.
More progress was made intelectually, philosophical thought was born, tribes started expanding their territories, annexing smaller ones or settling unsettled land. This was called the Expanse.
After the Expanse, tribal areas became the first cities, and the cities became states. It is estimated that humanity had existed for at least two millenia by then.
The control over the magical currents was discovered and that quickly ushered the World into an era of greatness. A period of time, known as the Golden Age, that lasted for the following 2,500 years. During that time, there existed thousands of small kingdoms that dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. Conflict was uncommon, since all the kingdoms were focused on making progress of their own and were dealing with organizing functional societies in order for the people who inhabited the land to live normally.
Some years after, it is unknown for how long this went on, alliances formed; but at the same time, enmities formed as well.
Soon after, brother betrayed brother, son murdered father, neighbor invaded neighbor and just like that, the World was thrown into chaos and dissaray.

Thus begins the Age of the Great War.
An age of great turmoil, mindless and endless destruction, wanton murder, raging chaos and drowning grief.
During this time, more than half of the World's population at that time, was lost to the Great War.

After almost a century of fighting, something both horrible and unbelievable had happened.
On a cold winter night, in a small nameless vassal state of the Phaeronic Empire, four boys were born inside the Magos Citadel of warrior mages of the Mul'querian Order. They all came out their mothers' wombs without a sound. And when the four of them were laid down next to each other, they simultaneously started crying. In the skies above the Mul'querian Citadel, a vortex of magical energy had formed and unleashed a powerful energy surge that shook the surrounding Kingdoms to their cores. Every single soul within the Citadel had died in the surge, except the four boys and the man who they called Father in the years to come, the old Librarian of the Citadel.
But, in the surrounding Kingdoms, three quarters of all magically capable warriors had simply died, forcing the conflicts and battles around that area to cease for a few years, in order for the crippled armies to regroup and rebuild.
That night, later on, was known as the Eve of Penance.
During the peace that lasted for that brief period of 16 years, the old Librarian had taken up the boys into his care. He raised them, taught them everything he knew. He brought in masters of various arts in order to teach his adopted sons what he couldn't.
He had also taught them the Art of Warfare. A gift that was to them, as to the World, a boon and a bane.

The four were named after their real fathers; Merlinus, Zoroaster, Legault and Artorias.
They became brothers.

Merlinus, a child prodigy with a natural knack for magic. From a young age, he had been interested in books. He spent all of his free time inside the Citadel's Grand Library, one of the largest libraries in the World. Since the moment he learned how to read, he could not be seen without a book in his hands. With books came knowledge, and with knowledge came Power.
His desire to ingest as much knowledge and information from the massive library as he can sparked his magical abilities to life. The Old Librarian walked in on Merlinus levitating in the middle of the Library, with thousands of books floating around him; and he was reading all of them. At once.
In a matter of two years, Merlinus had read and memorized the entirety of the Grand Library.
And he was hungry for more.

Zoroaster was always the hotheaded joker of the four. Whenever he could, he pulled practical jokes on his brothers, which always got him into trouble with the Librarian. As punishment, he sent Zoroaster to his room with a musical instrument. Zoroaster was not allowed freedom until he had mastered the basics of the instrument and could play at least three songs perfectly.
During all those times, Zoroaster found his true passion; music. He then started to get into trouble on purpose in order to close himself off and devote himself to an instrument. Soon after, Zoroaster had complete mastery over every instrument that existed in the World.
His unusual talent of coming up with elaborate pranks to pull on his brothers molded him into an unpredictable, eccentric genius with only one goal in life; to compose the most Perfect Song that ever existed and would ever exist.

Legault, since the moment he could walk, was prone to climbing high things, hiding in the most outrageous places and stealing things. Somehow, he would never hurt himself badly when his stunts ended up failing. His luck was the Devil's own, and he was a little demon himself. He was extremely intelligent; but his true focus was on strategy and tactics. He would spend days placing stones all over the Citadel, imagining battles in his mind and resolving every single possible outcome of every single possibility that he could come up with. His love was also found in sharp things. If he could get his hands on a dagger, he would take it and store it in his own private armory.
Over the years, he had molded his mind into that of a tactical genius that had a habit of using unconventional, underhanded tactics in order to achieve victories. For him, it did not matter how you did something, but that you were unseen while doing it.
In addition to that, he was a master conversationalist; he could convince a person that they were wearing the finest set of clothes the World has ever seen, while stealing the clothes from the person without them ever noticing anything is amiss.
He was a sly fox, and that was his greatest quality.

Artorias was the oldest of the bunch. He was born two minutes before everybody else. And he had always taken up the mantle of the Big Brother. Whenever he saw one of the three do something that they shouldn't, he would not tell on them to the Librarian but would scold them himself, which often left his brothers with a few bruises here and there. Artorias was ruthless, but at the same time, he was the most caring soul towards those whom he loved. And his heart was a loving heart. And a brave heart. On several occasions, bandits broke into the Citadel that was seemingly abandoned and Artorias was the one who would step up and beat them down, despite him being a child.
He loved fighting. Every moment that he could spare, he spent training. He enjoyed listening to stories about heroic deeds from heroic people during the War and he would often pester Merlinus to tell him stories. Artorias aspired to become a great hero himself, so he slowly started coming up with a set of ideals that he would stick to no matter what. That list of his was later regarded as the greatest Book of Laws ever to be written.
His endless training routines made him into the largest of the four. He was truly of massive constitution and towering height. His very presence was enought to both intimidate his enemies and inspire his allies. Artorias loved fighting, and that passion of his is what had shaped him to become the Greatest General Under the Heavens; while his courageous, wise heart and his focused mind that was filled with ideals, morals and laws was what made him The King of Kings, The Emperor of the World.

Artorias, He Who Brought the Dawn.

And

Artorias, He Who Shattered the World.

After the 16 years had passed, battles started breaking out in that corner of the World once again. The four brothers were worried. Their Father was dying of an illness that had ridden him to his bed. So, in a flash of inspiration, Artorias gets the idea to rally the people within the state, in order to protect the Citadel with their Father inside, into a State Defence Force, since their state did not have an army; they would be trampled over would the war come their way. So, they sat one night and discussed the idea for several hours. At dawn, the four went into four different directions, each with a different task to complete.
A few weeks later, the governor of the state was found dead in his gigantic mansion. His heart had failed, but intrestingly enough, he had named his successor.
The new governor was, of course, Artorias.
The four brothers reconvened at the State Hall, where Artorias had proclaimed himself as King Artorias, renounced all the vassal ties with the Phaeronic Empire and chose a name for his new Kingdom.
Primordia.

Artorias became King, and the other three became his Generals.
Together, they quickly made Primordia into a strong Kingdom by defeating all the invading armies in the vicinity, annexing their states into their own and making a name for themselves.
Soon after, the entirety of Phaeronic Empire fell to Primordia, and thus it became known as Phaeron Primordialis, with the Kingdom becoming an Empire and changing its name to Sidhtullad'Uir.

Year after year, Artorias and his Brothers conquered lands, subdued rebel Kingdoms and Empires alike, broke conflicts, ended small wars, and they started to bring peace to lands that forgot how to dream of peace.

Merlinus became the Archmagos of Sidhtullad'Uir, the Greatest Mage of All Time. A Great General under Emperor Artorias, his Advisor, his Librarian, his brother, his friend.

Legault became known as the King of Shadows, the Master of Spies, the Greatest Tactitian to Ever Live. He was Artorias' Hand of the Emperor, his Great General, his brother, his friend.

Zoroaster earned himself the name The Mad King. He was also known as The Nightmare of His Enemies, and the Subjugator of Rulers. He was the Royal Musician and Master of the Arts to Emperor Artorias, his Great General, his brother, his best friend.

And his end.

After the Age of the Great War came to a close, thanks to the Four Brothers, almost a thousand years of war, the World was calmed. They brought Peace to the people. They brought tranquility.
They started to rebuild, to reorganize.
The Four Brothers were called the Saints Who Redeemed the World of its Sins.

But along the way, they had made some bad decisions related to the people they chose to hang out with. Specifically, one man. Nearing the end of the Great War, a man whose name is only known as The Traitor brought Artorias very valuable information that enabled him and his brothers to win the remaining few battles without spilling as much as a drop of blood. Artorias placed his wholesome trust into this man; his heart being guided by his ideals; and made him his second Advisor. Thus, Merlinus became the Advisor of the Right and The Traitor became the Advisor of the Left. On The Traitor's advice, Artorias split his Royal Court into two pieces, between Merlinus and The Traitor. That was the move that would start the downfall of Artorias, his Great Empire of Sidhtullad'Uir, and ultimately his death.

The Traitor had gotten inside of Artorias' head, and had thrown seeds of disarray among the Brothers. Everything was fine, until one day, Legault and Artorias had a massive fallout which resulted in Artorias exiling Legault, stripping him from all of his titles (on The Traitor's advice, while completely ignoring Merlinus and Zoroaster) and giving them to The Traitor.
That drove Legault so mad that he wanted to kill Artorias for betraying their bond of brotherhood for the sake of a sleazy snake that has started to destroy their lives. Luckily, no one could match Merlinus in his magical ability, so he managed to salvage the situation by teleporting Legault far away from The Emperor's Castle.
After that day, the relations between the brothers were never the same. With Legault nowhere to be found and Artorias closing himself off from his remaining brothers, only ever listening to The Traitor, Zoroaster tried to do something. For two months, he had closed himself off on a mountaintop in order to be able to compose the Perfect Song. He knew that Artorias loved his music, and he could rejuvenate his heart by playing the greatest song he had ever heard.
And so he did. Zoroaster managed to compose the Perfect Song. He returned home and played the song to Artorias, in front of their closest friends. But there was one man missing.
His brother, Merlinus.
After he'd finished playing the song, Artorias got up and left without a word. That broke Zoroaster completely. At that moment, he had stopped caring about anything in life. He discarded his Golden Guitar and spent most of his time in the Castle Gardens, staring at the sky.
Merlinus was nowhere to be found.

Not soon after that, scouts from all over the Great Empire started bringing and reporting news of unusual weather activity, earthquakes, volcanos erupting from nowhere, and other unbelievable things happening. The reports started coming daily up until the day when the Capital City of Sidhtullad'Uir, the City of Light, Mul'quer collapsed within itself. The grandest City the World had ever seen. The City that the four Brothers built almost by themselves had just dissapeared.
Legault resurfaced, found Zoroaster and the two of them went to see Artorias. In his Throne Room, they found Merlinus, strapped to a stone table, with his Great Staff impaled through his chest, all while being still alive.
The Traitor was controlling the magical energies emanating from the unholy weapon that was made out of Merlinus and his Staff.
Artorias was sitting on his Throne, his sword, the Dawnbringer, on his lap; him muttering gibberish.
Legault threw himself at The Traitor and they started their battle.
Zoroaster came up to Artorias and called to him. Artorias raised his head and all Zoroaster could see was an empty gaze of a man who wasn't himself anymore; who never will be himself.
Then Artorias asked him a question.
„Is Father alive? Did you save him?“
Zoroaster, choking up, stepped up and said: „No, brother. Father has died, a long time ago. He's gone, but we're here.“
That prompted Artorias to lose control and he lost himself in his mindless rage.
„YOU KILLED HIM! YOU! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD SAVE HIM! WHY?!“, Artorias screamed as he raised his sword, and swinged it at Zoroaster. Never being without a weapon, he blocked and they started fighting.

During the battle, Zoroaster realized that Artorias had lost his mind completely. The man known as The Traitor had done something so vile and hideous to his dear brother that the only way to stop the madness is to kill him. Zoroaster's face was wet with tears and blood. His bones cracked, his skin split, his blood spilled, but he refused to attack his brother. He only blocked. All that time, Artorias called him by names of the Kings, Generals, Emperors who defied them during the Great War. He didn't even recognize his own brother.
And he couldn't do it, in the end.
Instead of blocking the attack, Zoroaster threw away his weapon and let Artorias stab him in the gut.
And Zoroaster hugged his brother, with his last breath he whispered into Artorias' ear: „I'm sorry.“

Suddenly, Artorias saw everything clearly.
He felt a heavy, limp body on his chest, his hand being warmed by a hot liquid pouring out of somewhere; probably blood, out the stomach. And then he saw The Traitor, or rather, his lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. His head, severed from his body. The Throne Room bloodied. And he saw Legault. He'd taken out the staff from Merlinus' body, threw it on he floor and grabbed his brother's hand, crying. He saw Merlinus slowly relax to the point of limpness. Legault slammed his fists into his chest and then, with a painful roar, he hugged their dead brother. Then Artorias pushed away the dead body that was on him the whole time. And he felt his legs losing footing. He was wailing on the floor, holding his dead brother. Killed by his hand. He then heard a thud. When he raised his head, he saw Legault on the floor. Quickly, he sprang up and ran to him. Legault was still breathing, but barely. His body way cut up everywhere, his perfectly white shirt was now completely red. Underneath him, a large puddle of blood was getting bigger every second.
Legault raised his hand, and gently caressed Artorias' face.
„I forgive you, brother. It was not your fault.“
„No...I did this to us...I KILLED US!“, screamed Artorias painfully.
Legault squeezed his shoulder.
„Brother...I...no, WE forgive you. We...weren't there...if we knew...tell Zoro...aster...he was brave.“, he was gurgling blood, but he took one big, last breath.
„Tell Zoroaster that we love him. He was brave. And Artorias...Merlinus says he is sorry for not being able to tell you himself. We...lov..e...y...“. And Legault's eyes extinguished.

Artorias screamed so loud that his throat bled.
He cried so long, when tears ran out, he cried blood.
He was aware what had happened and that it was all his fault.

He got up and went to every one of his brothers' bodies, kissed them on the forhead and asked for forgiveness.
Then he walked up to Merlinus' Great Staff. He took it in his hands, and closed his eyes; wishing for death, for punishment for his sins.

He whispered: „May those who come after me not thread in my steps.“
And with a loud, beastial roar he slammed the Staff into the bloody, stone floor of his Throne Room.
The last thing he saw was a blue flash from the crystal embedded in the staff.

And he saw his brothers waiting for him.

That day, the explosion that came from the Great Castle of Dawn had wiped out half of the Great Sidhtullad'Uir Empire. The Empire of Light and Peace Everlasting was no more.

The peace had lasted for almost three centuries. And then, Artorias broke the World.

-Retold by Fangier Blüdfang, as it was recorded in the Tellings of the First Age

(To the reader, please note that the interactions may not be accurate, for not a single soul was left alive in the radius of 672 kilometers of Sidhtullad'Uir, and the stories recorded may not be entirely truthful)

Chronicled on 231 WA, Elderguard