4 4: Hatred

One of humanity's greatest driving force. The reason fighting began after violence, the reason pain simply leads to more pain. The reason why humanity never seemed to learn from their mistakes was a simple fact of hatred. The ability to not accept what had gone on, to go against it with such aggression that the line between just and unjust seemed vague.

Hatred.

Hatred can be caused in many ways. From something as simple as someone bumping into someone else, or something as extreme as having seen your parents burn alive in front of you. Hatred drove people to cause violence, to cause someone else harm.

Is it good or bad? No one really knew, but it is an emotion that definitely exists within humans.

The boy, the son of a minor nobility, had just seen his parents murdered by some random peasant. Their family had nothing against lower class people, they treated them well, yet because of the same people they had tried to treat well, his parents had died. The boy could do nothing to watch, and could do nothing as the trial at court went on.

He could do nothing as the judgement was passed, or the fact that the Judge himself was a peasant. Peasants despised the nobles, mostly from a single incident that had occurred in the past.

About twenty years ago, in one of the Middle Cities, something had happened. A noble, one of the most prestigious ones at that, decided to play a game. Not just any game either. He had gotten his contracted mage to build a barrier around the city and had a hunt, shooting down the peasants one by one for entertainment. Mowing them down until not a single one lived before simply letting their bodies rot or be fed on by dogs.

Peasants, after hearing the news, hated the nobles. They thought that just because they had the money and the authority, they could commit such acts and get away with it, the fact that just because someone was a noble, they could play with the lived of peasants.

The event was called Calling Hunt.

The noble who had performed such an act went to court and received his punishment. Many peasants were in attendance to see just how badly the court could prosecute someone of such high standing.

The noble had received a punishment. To have half his wealth taken, half his property confiscated and for them to live in one of the Outer Cities. Basically, the noble was heavily fined and banished form both Inner City and the Middle Cities.

The peasants, however, wanted him dead.

He had caused the death of so many humans, but had such a light punishment as a result. Peasants who had seen all that decided they wanted to do something about it if the legal system refused to do anything else. Luckily, the noble live in one of the Outer Cities.

They dragged the noble and the rest of his family in the middle of the night. They were tied up and unable to do anything in resistance, even their contracted mage was killed in his sleep.

They were dragged near the edge of the Forest, the edge of the forest that signified the end of human territory. That night, not just the nobles, but the few peasants who had been too slow to run away were killed by the monsters.

That event went public, and the relationship between nobles and peasants were no longer the same.

Following the event, with the Judge of the trial being a peasant, and the guilty a peasant, the man was punished.

The man was to spend a measly ten years in jail, have all his belongings stripped, and to pay a fine so heavy that it was impossible for him to pay it back.

But the boy thought different. He wanted that man dead, that guy that had killed his parents in such a horrific way. He wanted that man to be killed on the spot, he wanted him dead in his arms.

Hatred amongst the peasants had caused them to act that way, and that hatred from the peasants resulted in them receiving hate from the nobles.

An endless, inescapable cycle of hate and pain as humans still continue to be in war with one another. The legal system was flawed, the law was flawed, the world was corrupted with biased views, people refused to be at peace.

As mentioned, humanity's greatest enemy were not monsters. No golems, dragons, even the Devil could cause so much bloodshed. There was simply no need for the monsters to do anything for even with their limited knowledge, they knew that humanity would one day self destruct. And when that time comes, humans would be wiped off the face of the world.

Ten years, the boy waited. He knew that if he wanted revenge, he needed to wait ten years. Even then, the death of one man, just something as basic as a death could not satiate his pent up hatred for the man. For ten years he waited, waiting for that man to be released from prison.

In ten years, an event written into the history books like a scar occurred. An event so horrendous that it could be considered on par with The Great War. Death, bloodshed. This time, not between factions, not between armies, not between kingdoms. A battle between peasants and nobles.

But it would be considered less of a battle, and more like a Purge.

The Purge of Ether.