1 Prologue

Before reading this book, you must first touch up on your historical knowledge. What do you know about the 1000-year war? Why is it that all the nations are tied to the so called, Holy Land? Who are the rulers of between Findara and Asterin? Where is Pertunia and Calipco located? Ah, I see now. You do not have the slightest idea of what I am talking about, do you? Well, nothing to be embarrassed about; take a seat anywhere and let me give you a history lesson.

Thousands of years ago there was a large chunk of land known as, the Holy Land. There are multiple theories as to why it is called the Holy Land: maybe because the ruler forced everyone to believe that there was a higher power that blessed life to the people living on the land. Or maybe it was because if you did not fall in line with everyone else then you would be burned at the stake.

Now I have your full attention. See the King of the Holy Land, King Frederick Oliver the First, was said to be the first person to be born on the Holy Land. For some unspeakable reason King Frederick lived to be over 100 years old, dying at the day of 158. Trust me, you did not want to see him on his death bed all brittle, stinky, and rotting. However, the people of Holy Land were happy to hear that he was dying. During his lifetime, King Frederick was a cruel and nasty ruler. He focused on the rich, left the lower class to die, and never shared his riches. He would order mass killings to help reduce the population or to order his knights in training to kill off anyone he did not like. See King Frederick is not the kind king you were probably hoping for. He sat in his throne all day crowded with young and beautiful women while the rich would sit in front of him eating mighty, fruitful, big feasts. Although King Frederick as surrounded by women all day long, he would always retire to his one true love: his wife, Queen Ellen Oliver.

Both the King and Queen had 4 children in their lifetime. The eldest son, Finnard, who was as stern, cunning, and cruel like his father. Followed by fraternal twins; a girl, Penelope-Ann, and a boy, Castiel. The twins were kind-hearted, smart, and empathetic like their mother. Lastly the youngest son, Elijah, who was a mix of both his parents. You would think that the next ruler of the Holy Land would be Finnard, however, that was not the case. As the children grew older, wiser, stronger, and intelligent; King Frederick decided to assign his children to pieces of land to explore, capture, and start their own kingdoms. This would later be known as the Four Nations. Finnard was sent to the East, the twins to the West, Elijah stayed in the north, and a young knight that the king favorited to the South. This confused Finnard. Why was a knight who fought battles ferociously against the evil outside of the Holy land was sent away from the kingdom to explore what should have belong to Elijah’s? Who is this Knight? Well, his name is Ashton Sterling, who made himself a name from a very young age when he volunteered to join the Holy Knights. He quickly climbed the ranks and at age 16 he was promoted to the highest rank in the Holy Knights, commander. He only answered to King Frederick and King Frederick put all of his trust to Ashton to gather more land for the Holy Land and protect the kingdom from evil forces.

What Finnard did not know was that King Oliver thought that Finnard was weak, dumb, and hot headed to rule the Holy Land. Elijah, on the other hand, was more versatile in politics, the rich, war, and agriculture. While Finnard try to impress his father with mindless tasks and accomplishments, Elijah took it upon himself to excel in his studies, train with the knights endlessly, and always showed up to any events happening within the castle grounds. Being there for the kingdom impress King Frederick more than how many apples Finnard could hit with one arrow. Instead of sending Elijah to the south to gather a large sum of land, he would be the heir of Holy Land.

After being assigned their land, the children and knight took off with their own small fleet of Holy Knights to explore their new land and build. Finnard, assuming that he was the well favorited, thought they would get a large sum of land, but much to his surprise he found out that he could walk around the edge of the land within 2 hours. Can you see how small of the land that is? The small fleet of Holy Knights tried to hide their laughter, as they knew that Finnard was dealt a poor hand. A small land with not terrain or wildlife? It was a hilarious sight to see. With instant anger, Finnard wasted not time to pack everything up and visit the twins and Ashton to see what they have received. Now the world described here is not exaggeratedly big, all the Nations and Holy Land can be travelled within two weeks’ worth of time (without stopping of course). Within two days, Finnard arrived to the west to see a mass land the twins were given. There were mountains, forest, and rivers that can be seen for miles upon miles. The temperature was still cool, but warm enough to not wear a winters coat and the animals full of meat and fat the roamed the land. Upon deliberation, the twins laughed at Finnard thinking he travelled all that way to tell them a joke. Finnard getting a small piece of land? Never in a million years did the twins think Finnard would get that, but once Finnard started to demand that they give him their land, they quickly realized he was not kidding.

The twins told Finnard to travel to the south instead and demand the land from knight Ashton since he is not blood related. Understanding the twin’s frustration, Finnard agreed to travel to the south to see the knight. Even though Finnard and his small fleet was a day away from shore, Finnard could already sense something strange. The air tingled the nose in a pleasant way. The sun shone brightly, but there was no exhausting heat coming from the sky. There were strange animals in the water, the knights swore it was human fish but Finnard told them to keep their bickering quiet and that they were just tired from all the travelling. How naïve Finnard is. As they approached land, Finnard could see a waterfall coming from the sky, but it was not attached to a mountain. Finnard feared the worst, evil forces such as Satan and the devils could be amongst the land. Finnard and the knights decided to continue further into the land to see if Ashton was still alive, but the thick forest made it hard to move forward. There were creatures that Finnard has never seen in his life, huge animals with antlers or hard-shelled reptiles. Little grey flies that giggled often swarmed around them; the knights excused it as the devil’s trick. The plants around them grew delish looking fruits of all colours and flowers laid about everywhere you looked. That’s when they all heard light music playing and laughter of all sorts coming from the distance. Finnard’s eye widen in horror at the sight in front of him through the bushes he hid behind. Ashton was flying high in the sky with women, men, and children. There were people moving objects without even touching them. Girls kissing other girls and half men, half animal things roaming around freely.

Heroically as he thought, Finnard drew his sword and charged at the people of the southern lands. Ashton quickly reacted and held Finnard back begging him to understand their way of living and that he was blinded by King Frederick’s lies. Finnard could not believe what Ashton was saying, one of his father’s trusted subjects turning against the Holy Land. Quickly, Finnard made his way back to the Holy Land with the intent to get permission to burn the southern lands down. He entered the castle grounds to see Elijah on the throne, his anger quickly turned to hatred. Elijah explained to Finnard what had happened, how their father announced him as the heir to the Holy Land. There was too much going on at once… betrayal, Satan, and now this? Finnard saw nothing but red and before he knew it, Elijah’s head rolled across the floor. Screams were heard throughout the palace, Frederick and Ellen came out from their chambers and to the throne where Finnard was sitting with Elijah’s head on his lap.

Ellen scream and cried at the sight as Frederick demanded what was going on. Finnard simply laughed as he told him how big his land was, how he saw the twins, how there were people practicing Satanism in the south, and how Elijah is not the rightful ruler. Frederick pulled his sword out at the stupidity that his bratty, spoiled son was talking about. Frederick knew about the south; he was hoping that Ashton could spread the teaching of the Holy Land to the southerners and if not, then Elijah was going to handle it. Finnard could not understand how his father favored his dead son more than him, who sat on the throne.

After the killing of Elijah, his father, and his mother, Finnard took matters into his own hands. The Holy Land was renamed Findara, in honor of Finnard himself. He purged the land of anyone that did not fit his vision of a pure, enlightened living. He took young boys and trained them to be strong worriers that made training intense. Some boys would die on the spot due to exhaustion and starvation, but that didn’t matter because he had a surplus of disciplined men ready to fight. Finnard finally understood what he in the forest that day: witches and wizards is what they call themselves. He had spies running around the street and burned anyone who taught and read science, practiced magic, or did not follow the men and women only relationship.

Once his land was cleaned from sin, he moved towards the east to reclaim the land from people who said they were there first. After he slaughtered the people there, he moved to the south only to meet Ashton and the twins waiting for him. They asked him to turn around and leave the people of, what is now known as, Asterin alone. Finnard simply laughed at their faces before he and his man push forward to take their land.

This is the start of the 1000-year war. A gut-wrenching war that took the lives of millions. Witches and wizards almost going extinct, plants and wild life dying by the day, and ruler with an iron first that has no plan of stopping. Eventually, the tree siblings and knight had passed away due to old age and at the end of the 1000th, many generations later, the rulers finally agree to disagree. Findara agreed to leave the nations of Calipco, Pertunia, and Asterin alone as long as they do not set foot in Findara and the 3 nations agreed to let Findara continue to trade with them as long as they did not push their outdated values onto them.

Now that you are all caught up, I can finally tell you a better story. One full of love, anger, violence, secrets, and rebellion. Be warned now, this story is not for the sensitive. If you cannot handle discrimination, gore, or mature language then I will have to ask you to stop now and read a happier book like the Lovely Bones or Everything I Never Told You. See what I did there? Alright let’s get started.