Dark was the night when our tale began, no stars in the sky and no moon present. It was as if the whole world had been covered by a blanket. No light anywhere except from the torches placed along the roads in the city. No one was out that night, no one except for one small figure rushing along the long murky streets. They rushed upon the staircase and was about to knock on the huge gate in front of them when the doors suddenly opened revealing knights on the other side. They let him in before barring the gate once more. One of them followed him, showing him where he was supposed to go.

But it didn't take that long before the man could sense where he was supposed to go. He could hear the faint screams from a woman echo through the walls. It made a shiver go down his spine, he could feel how each one of the strands of hairs that covered his body stood up. The further down into the basement he went the stiffer his movement got. His breath grew heavy as a drop of sweat dripped down his cheek.

In front of him, a huge man appeared in a doorway. The man urged him to hurry up, as the smaller man came closer he could see the hysteric look in the man's eye. The grey strands of hair that tainted the mans otherwise pitch-black hair. This was not the king everyone knew, this was someone else, someone crazed. He didn't even look like himself. Rumors were spreading outside of the castle, people knew that something was wrong with the king and the queen. No one knew why however.

As the alchemist passed the king and went inside the well-lit room it revealed itself to him. In front of him were the queen. But at the same time, that could not be the queen. She was strapped down to the bed, you could see drag marks on the oaktree floor created by the queen's hysterical movement. Suddenly, the queen's eye was looking right into his, if the king seemed hysterical, the queen looked like an animal. Her eyes bloodshot, her pupils grew larger as she stared at him and then she screamed once more. The alchemist had to cover his ears because of the sound, it felt like her screams could rip through skin and bones.

The king pushed him towards the middle of the room and urged him to start working. To save the queen from her illness. But what type of illness was it? No one knew the queen's skin had turned grey and her hair was falling out. She was known to be beautiful and plump. Now she truly looked sick, she was thin but at the same time she seemed to be longer than usual. Her fingers and toes seemed long and crooked, the tips were darker than the rest of her. The alchemist had no idea what he was supposed to do. Many more before him had no idea what to do. No one knew where they went after they had entered the palace. No one had seen them since.

The alchemist found himself in a serious predicament, no, that was an understatement. The alchemist found himself, with his head resting upon the executors log with a sword to his neck. The man didn't say anything, instead he was trying to search for sympathy somewhere in the ocean of eyes. No one met his gaze. Everyone was looking at the king was he described how the alchemists had abandoned their land and murdered the queen in cold blood. But that wasn't true? He had done everything he could. It wasn't his fault that the queen suddenly died. He had no idea why she died.

The crowd cheered as the king banned anyone from using alchemy inside his country again, alchemy was the work of the devil. Nothing good could come from that. A thud, and the alchemists head landed inside the basket. Not the first one, only the first one to be made public, but he wasn't the last one either. The king continued to prosecute anyone that showed interest in alchemy.

This has been going on since, alchemy is still banned inside the country of Aswal. At this point the king that started the lynching has long since died. Now it's his son that rules the land. And his grandchildren are supposed to take over after their father dies. That time did come much sooner than suspected though. The irony is that alchemy was one of the reasons why Hedrary was able to conquer Aswel so easily. And the king that had butchered so many during his reign of terror now got murdered in the same fashion.

Not everyone was present as Hedrary attacked however, one lucky prince was rebelling against his parents and left the castle without permission. He got trapped inside the city as the Hedrary army attacked and now he finds himself alone in the world with a thirst for vengeance.



Aswal
Aswal is the country far to the south, they prosper when it comes to trading since their capital and other smaller cities are placed along the coastline. The nature varies, there are mountains and deep forests that you can get lost in. But there are farmlands close to the capital however Aswal prosper much more on trading logs with more fertile lands on the other side of the sea.

Elderport

Elderport is the oldest and quirkiest of all Aswal cities, it's the country's capital and the home of the royal family lies there. The city mirror's the royal family, it's strange, unique but at the same time sophisticated. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that it would be hard to find a city like it somewhere else in the world.

Bazon

Bazon is a small rural village on the outskirts of the forest Oxmer Wilds. It's not located near the sea instead it's close to the border that separates Aswal from Hedrary. You can see the high mountains of Hedrary if you look North from the villages. The main sources of work here are mining and forestry, the people however are very open and friendly because they haven't been given a reason to be mistrusting.

Oxmer Wilds

Oxmer Wilds are what separates Aswal from Hedrary. It's a deep dark forest were creatures lurks at night, even if the people of Bazon are used to the area they do avoid wandering around in the forest at night. People that try have a tendency to go missing, and no one will ever see them again. At least not alive.



Hedrary
Hedrary is located north of Aswal, is a country mainly occupied by mountains. The people that call Hedrary their home are scarce and placed far from each other, most of them are located near the capital though. Hedrary is supporting itself mainly by mining, because of their location there isn't much land that can be used for farming.

Osrannor

Osrannor is the capital city of Hedrary, it's placed high inside the mountains and can be considered intimidating at first glance. Huge walls surround the city and foreigners are frowned upon once they enter the city. It's not a welcoming city, perhaps it's because of the harsh landscape and weather or it could be because of the narrowminded royals that run the city.

Durrock Mountains

Durrock Mountains is the first village you will see once you travel through the Oxmer Wilds, but make sure that you don't stray away from the main road because the forest may make you lose your way and never let you reach your destination. The people of Durrock Mountains aren't used to travelers from Aswel since not many try to travel through the forest. They don't have an Inn because the village is too small and there aren't enough tourists to be able to sustain such an establishment.