Chapter One
The Land of Aesla
The Land of Aesla
The world of Aesla was a world in which people had distinct abilities, and powers, skills, elements, a sort of magic, if you will. Energy was what dictated each user’s control over these powers, each person had a different level of energy depending on how often they used their powers. Each power was also classified as to whether it was governed by an element, whether it was a bodily upgrade, an environmental shift, or a basic attack that was created of energy.
Any attack governed by an element, was known as an Elemental Magic. Not many people in Aesla had a remarkable control over these abilities, and those that did were extremely well renowned. They became known as Elemental Masters. Each person could master up to two of the ten elements, Fire, Water, Ice, Wind, Earth, Nature, Thunder, Light, Dark, and Omni, that’s not to say that they can’t use all of them, but they can achieve a mastery of two. Each of these elements was put on Aesla by the silver dragon Aes, and each of the elements was concentrated into existence by weapons of varying elemental power known as the Legendary Dragon Swords. These weapons were given to ten warriors of indescribable strength by the dragon, and each was hidden in a temple of the respective element when the owner died. Some of the blades have been found, but the rest of them remain in their rightful place, feeding Aesla with the elements it needs to remain alive. Omni is the only element that nobody in recorded history has managed to master, only a handful of true elemental warriors have ever even used an Omni attack.
Bodily upgrades, or Abilities, are governed by the initial level of whatever skill the user is amplifying and however much energy they expel into the Ability. These skills range from everything that one can find to better in oneself. Be it strength, dexterity, agility, endurance, speed, defense, range, accuracy, vision, smell, hearing, and extra sensory Abilities. These Abilities generally don’t use much energy if used moderately but if used in succession, they can drain the user’s energy very quickly.
Environmental shifts, or powers, are extremely useful, these can range from changing the field to reflect all the fears of one’s opponent, to burning everything around the user if they were a fire elemental and the opponent was a nature elemental. These particular skills can also affect the user directly, such as, if a user ignited a move known as Rage, they would become enthralled with destroying their opponent and throw off any tactical entry. There are many other useful ways to utilize these powers but they are much more personalized than most other skills.
Non elemental skills, or force skills, are basically classified by the manipulation of the user’s surroundings. Force skills can range from throwing an object nearby, to flipping the floor beneath an opponent. A more direct approach would be to grab one’s opponent using their willpower alone, choking the life out of them slowly. These force skills are the most commonly and easily used skills that any Aeslan warrior learns.
These skills combined create what is known as an Aeslan warrior, these warriors have either chosen to join the glorious Aeslan Army along with every other nation, county and clan, or they have chosen to join the evil, malicious Brotherhood of the Draicos Desert. The Aeslan Army was once several armies scattered across all the land of Aes. The deceased King Verinius of the Kurai nation united the other nations under one flag, in an attempt to defeat the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was founded by a man who embodies everything evil, Lord Caruss. He was said to be a reincarnation of the black dragon Cryos. These rumors had no real foundation behind them, but Caruss used them to his advantage, climbing his way through the ranks of the Draicos Army until he finally became Supreme General, uniting the other armies against the Aeslan Army.
Through all this, our true focus begins to center on a small town known as Varen, in the Kurai Province. Kestral was born and raised in Varen, knowing only what life had shown him in his travels between towns in the Kurai Province. He had been a traveling trader since he was twelve, he had no real family but his younger sister, Alruna, and his best friend, Zindell. He and Alruna’s parents had been killed by bandits when Kestral was only four, she was one. Zindell had been abandoned by his family before he could remember anything, once they found each other at the orphanage, they became great friends, running away to become traders together. Kestral and Zindell were the same a age, and when Kestral turned eighteen, he went to join the Aeslan Army, to find out what life was like outside of the Kurai Province, and to protect what he held most valuable. Zindell wanted to join as well, but Kestral insisted that he stay and take care of Alruna, who was only fifteen.
Once he had joined the Aeslans, he found that training was rather strenuous, especially since he had no real Elemental Magic, he was however adept at performing force skills, powers, and abilities. In the eyes of the Aeslan commanders though, he would never be more than a low class fighter.
Kestral had an inexplicable power hidden deep within him though, it surfaced when he was against impossible odds. He felt as though he were invincible, killing innumerable enemies without even realizing it. This surge of energy and adrenaline usually resulted in Kestral blacking out afterwards.
With all these skills, Kestral would find that the Aeslan Army was underestimating him severely.
