“Nonetheless, it was not long until the Gold Standard Weight came into being. Gold had been the most common storage of wealth before the Adventurers Guild started unearthing artifacts that could also be deemed as a store of value, with a little help from various appraisers and mages. Therefore, for posterity, one gold standard was deemed the standard measure of weight called the aum. One aum (Au) or gold standard weight is the equivalent of one gold bullion, of at least ninety parts purity. It can also be used to measure the quantity of liquids. All these fall under the under the Trade Accords and all subsequent clauses therein as witnessed by the involved parties. The need for a larger unit for measuring bulk cargo for both air and sea faring vessels was also unanimously agreed to follow the same convention. Thus the Imperial Weight, equal to a thousand Gold Standard Weights became the measure of choice for all those dealing with large quantities...” -Excerpts from Archival Records of the Merchant Guild, Antefall Calendar Year 1520.

History; the broad strokes…the colored lenses and the unblemished truths were all bared for him to see. After his visit to the Church of Thea, the alcove of books in his private study had grown a little after Arthur did his damnedest to get the Abbess to lend him some of the volumes that would provide context to the material he’d received.

The little ten paged document tried to say so much in so little words that it left him with more questions than it did answers. Borrowing a leaf from the academia of his world, he went for the references. While the primary source of the information could not be lent away as it was the only book of its kind and the Brothers’ of Vesper were so adamant to part with it, other books were just enough to provide the backdrop of what he was looking at.

‘Prelude to Prestige Classes: The Dragon-touched Scions by the Brothers of Vesper ‘ was the title, written in cursive script on the little ten leafed document that looked like report documentation. At least they didn’t skimp on the handwriting; it was hard enough to read without referencing other materials and jotting down his own notes.

Oh what he’d have given for a computer and a search engine; even if he had to get a review hidden behind a paywall he’d do it in a jiffy. Computers computers computers…he looked at the dungeon shard sitting in his desk and shook his head wistfully as he continued scritching, no writing away because he was using a ballpoint pen and not a quill. He’d parted with a few of them just so he could trade for the books which were seldom lent out of the Church’s library. He even had an adjustable magical lamp leaning over his desk courtesy of yours truly.

The long and short of it was, his class was a prestige class because most of the references said that some of the scions who led the other races became [Kings], [Knights] and [Champions]. They were actually originators of new classes during the Fiendish Wars.

After the Wars had been reduced to dealing with stragglers and the races were not in danger of being exterminated by a race which came from Thea knew where, they settled down and they built settlements. But by then, only a few of them were left in charge of a few kingdoms—Most domains had [Scions] who were not so fortunate to survive the war; a bloody war on an intercontinental perhaps even cross-realm level that spanned decades, a century even.

So it was then left to their seconds to take the reins and steer their people. All was well for a moment, civilization flourished, cities were built, religions arose based around the dragon-touched as saints.

By then the Church of Thea had already been a constant presence, a beacon of shining hope that Erythean races would triumph over the great evil if they armed themselves with knowledge, sharpened their intent through intellect and endeavored to better themselves.

But then, squabbles arose amongst the humans…it was always the humans; their ambitions and insatiable want to be at the top. The other races always had experience with their predisposition to resort to anything to get what they wanted and left them alone; elves to their arbors, dwarves to their deep holds, giants to their mountain settlements, beastkin to their forests and savannas. There were other races that steered clear of interactions with the aforementioned, in fact during the wars, they neither lifted claws nor feathered hands.

It was not long before dissent was sowed and some human kingdoms imploded. A few wanted the powers of prestige classes for themselves, they wanted to use it to lord over their brethren and other races.

Thus, they burnt the records of prestige classes, sabotaged libraries and chased away the clerics who did not agree with their philosophies and welcomed the turncoats who did. A few records of the time survived, sequestered away in a priest’s cloak, under a babe’s coat or sealed inside a bottle of alcohol as an exodus to another continent began. The exodus to Alkerd.

The church splintered, the larger majority who were staunch in the teachings of Thea broke away with the groups of refugees who crossed the Straits of Hya’cinthe to escape the aftermath of infightings between power usurpers.

First they settled along the coast and built settlements that would become footholds to their forays into the interior of a yet untamed Alkerd. Of course Alkerd had always had other civilizations, some older than the wars, long faded and buried beneath proliferating forests, rolling hills and ridges or the dust blown sands.

The other races, like the centaurs had free rein of the savannah’s where they and their ancestors had lived since time immemorial. They even found other races like elves and dwarves had already been there before them.

The central continent was large, ripe ground to set new roots to forge things anew without the power hungry brethren they’d left on Occidania. And with that they set down rules that the knowledge of prestige classes would not be used lest a repeat of what happened in Occidania plague them again.

The church was rebuilt anew and became the custodian of such information, making sure that it wasn’t used for the wrong intentions. As time went by, the existence of the Primals which had hitherto only been a faint presence in the Church of Thea rose in prominence, giving rise to the six Orders under the one main Church which was monikered the Church of the All-Mother, origin of the World.

Two of the Orders had previously been factions that were already present then only that they didn’t have identity; they stood for Order and Change, Claritas and Vesper. The others lent themselves to their own inclinations, which included joint ventures such as healing between the Orders of Claritas, Vesper and the Order of Diane birthing a healer’s wing of the church.

The Orders of Ustrina, Eog and Vesper became the crafting wing, from them came [Builders], [Smiths], [Researchers] and [Inventors]. Finally, collaboration between the Orders of Aeris, Hy’diane and Eog gave rise to agriculturalists like farmers and herbalists. The church once again, flourished disseminating knowledge on classes as it was meant to be.

All seemed to be going well, until it wasn’t. In time, news of incursion were heard over the horizon. As the cities flourished along the coast; the simmering sack of owlcats as one researcher put it, set their avarice on their brothers and sisters who had gone out to carve a place for themselves in Alkerd. With their gargantuan egos they set sail from their kingdoms with armadas of ships.

By that time, the age of aerships had yet to happen because contact between humans, dwarves and elves which would be the turning point of this technology was sparse. It was foolhardy to cross leagues upon leagues of seas just to go grab something from a distant continent; the Straits of Hya’cinthe were open once a blue moon after all.

There was no sending armies through the land bridge that way but irrespective of sea monsters and storms, these kings forged on until they landed on the shores. They Lost some men and ships but they still remained a vast host that would have made any [General] worth the gray of their beard despair.

Were the settlers of Alkerd going to sit and let their soon-to-be oppressors roll over them without a fight? No, they didn’t. They mobilized anyone who could fight, there was no peasant who wanted some pompous high-noser who didn’t shed sweat, blood or tears to curve out the wilds for themselves.

As if the World was watching, it gave new classes…[Lords] and [Ladies]. Those became the banners around which the people rallied against their overlords the [Kings]. They had detested that class so much that the World saw fit to give an equivalent.

War was fought on the shores. It took some time for the new [Lords] and [Ladies] to level their classes of course, battles were sometimes hits and misses but the settlers had the lay of the land at their side.

There were veteran [Knights] who became the [Line Generals], [Spear Generals], [Bastion Generals] and so forth, lending their expertise from previous wars to a right cause. Their enemies had the superior weapons and armors and the skills of kings behind them while the settlers had repurposed theirs for farm implements. It did catch them flatfooted…they lost men and took heavy losses in the initial attacks as a consequence.

Things were looking grim, if they let the incursion gain a foothold there, it would have grown, entrenching its roots on the coast and ultimately hard to exorcize like a virulent strain of disease. Thus the [Lords] and [Ladies] with the most formidable negotiation and diplomatic skills were sent to the interior to plead their case to the natives; to rally help.

They had to show the natives the implications of letting the Occidanians settle on Alkerd. Reception was at first lukewarm; it took some doing to get the Aesylvani arbors and Dwarven holds, even the centaur and beastkin chiefs to see what could happen. It was hard to tell people to help you fight against your own race for how could they see that you were better than them or that you wouldn’t turn into the sort of enemy you were fighting against?

Reluctantly they sent detachments of Centaur [Lancers] and [Archers], Dwarven [Axe Guards] and [Earthworks Architects] and Aesylvani’s [Archers], [Rangers] and [Scouts]. The beastkin were few and far between, the giants well…they had communication problems.

But they made it work and the tide turned. And turn it did, they beat back the would-be conquerors, harried their lines with the mobility of centaurs, crippled their supply lines with the elusiveness of the Elves and broke their advance with the invincibility of dwarven defenses.

They not only stymied their advance, they beat them back; devastated them so thoroughly they had no option but to beat a hasty retreat. But not before they cut off the head of the serpent, or in this case…the hydra. Seven kings fell on the day the incursion broke hence the first city was named—

“Kingsfell.”

“Huh? Did you say something, Master Arthur?”

“Nora, we’re in the study. We don’t have to stand on ceremony you know…its too stiff.”

“Oh, so now you decide to drop the Miss.” Nora batted her lashes. Throwing her legs to the armrest of the two seater she added, “You know, you should really add a [Secretary] or an assistant. Your sense of organization can be flimsy when you really get into your research.”

Looking at the pile of notes and books all around the table, half-finished pancakes and oily napkins, cutlery and lukewarm tea sitting at the bottom of three cups. Arthur just slumped.

“Pray tell, do you have a person in mind?”

“Elena”

“No…”

“Aawh, whyyyy? I’m trying to get her out of her shell. A change of pace should do wonders for her”

“What about our secret lab and ‘escapades’?”

“Oh, that? We shall tell her in time,” she said, putting a finger to her lips, as she lowered the novel she’d been reading away from her eyes.

Her pale legs were playfully whipping through the air, maid stockings half way off her instep. Apron? left on another chair. The dress was still unruffled through, not that Arthur was observing that while it happened. He was trying to find the passage he’d been reading… frustrating to lose a train of thought or flow sometimes.

‘Ah, found it,’ he sighed.

Kingsfell; so the Kings fell and the conquest failed. Alkerdia was free though at cost. There began the alliances with the native races of Alkerdia which led to marriages and so forth. A second settlement, Faerilight, also a coastal city, was named to commemorate the help of the elves. It was ruled by a [Lady] whose husband came down to settle in the city as a show of goodwill. He must have been quite taken with his bride. But based on the timeline, it must have been before the elves disappeared as Volemhir had said.

Vernoulli came about because of the dwarven craftsmen who settled there. That was way before the dwarves started hoarding magitech as it had yet to be discovered by then. Then Terbourne and Guernemyr cropped up as more people made headway inland with the help from the natives, also ruled by [Lords] and [Ladies].

Terbourne as a result of mining and Guernemyr as an agricultural breadbasket. Last came Ortusbough, the gateway to the frontier, a trade city with many branches of roads connecting the coast to the interior. And that was only the lower end of the south. The rest of Alkerd still remained an untouched frontier with a smattering of towns which had not yet gained renown, not as much as Aldmoor at least.

‘So the dwarves weren’t always the ground squirrels they were today. I wonder what changed’ he sighed, noting that down. ‘And Aldmoor is just a small town.’ He shook his head, despondently as he continued reading.

After the war, the Church realized that it was still as vulnerable as it was before. While the Lords and Ladies weren’t hostile in any way, the church still had an enemy…an only enemy from across the Hesperian Sea—the Clarendian Church.

Its rival’s doctrine was controversial at least. Unlike their Alkerdian counterparts, they polarized the Primals who kept the balance, pitting Claritas against Vesper. They sought to sow dissent, digging up old wounds like the Fiendish wars using pathos to discriminate against some races like the beastkin and tieflings—dhampirs had already seen the storm coming and hidden of course.

That being the case, the Church resolved that it would not sit still and watch as this happened. At some point they had been too late in seeing it, rather complacent really when some of their orphanages in remote branches were sabotaged that was long ago during after the Fiendish Wars had died down and people were just picking up the pieces.

Such practices were not easy to root out and had continued even to the new land. Thus the knight orders were formed…the Order of Day Break to fight against its old enemy and defend from external influences and the Order of the Even Tide to balance their counterparts and protect its internal interests including its properties, expeditions and the wards under its protection.

‘So it was true then,’ Arthur looked up from his reading to look at Nora. The girl was already sound asleep with the novel over her face. ‘Seriously,’ he smiled.

‘Er, where was I? Uh yes…context. Aeris breath! What a rabbit hole. So basically, [Scions] were the precursors to prestige classes like King, Knight and Champion, perhaps even other classes below the King, though they haven’t been mentioned. I’d like to think they exist—

Mmh, so basically…they are blue bloods and not. They were warriors first and foremost, leaders second…well. That’s not enough information to go on, but it’s a start.’ He contemplated whilst kneading his temples. His wrist joint, wrist and pointer finger were sore as well.

‘There is no mention of dragons…it’s like they just up and left after the scions came to be. Because that is how the class originated after all. Either there’s something Abbess Rhodea is not telling me…or, the records did not survive the purge. Maybe they did not survive after all, no wonder the Brothers of Vesper are so possessive of the book…like Golum with his ring…dark—

Poor Aeskyre, knowing this, she won’t have an easy time of looking for her kind. Dragons seem to be the reclusive type just like her.'

He let the ball point pen roll off his fingers onto the top of his desk, clear plastic clattering on the wood . Then he took all the notes he’d written, and organized them…they were a lot.

‘Damn Nora, Elena as a secretary really? I’ll see what I can do…’

That done, he got up, walked around the workstation. He grabbed a throw blanket and covered the snuggling Nora who was most probably in the middle of a dream from the way she muttered in her dreams. He dimmed the lights, he wasn’t sleepy yet, perhaps he would go down to the lab and tinker with something.

Decluttering his mind might do him some good and oh, there was some research he could look into—from the owner of the mansion. He’d put that away for a while now…on second thoughts piling things on top of what he’d already done was much like what the Abbess had said, becoming many things at once.

‘Conflicting.’ He thought as his hand hovered over the gargoyle sculpture which held the key to the elevator room.

‘I wasn’t meant to be a warrior…or a leader for that matter. What can I be?' he stepped away, heading out of the study instead. ‘What would I have wanted to be? The Arthur before Eryth? What was he?' He thought, as his phone magicked itself from inventory into his palm. He looked at the blank screen, glassy, reflecting his visage beneath the chandelier lights as he passed his library hall towards the exit adjoining the rest of the first floor.

Alone with his thoughts, he walked across the hallway which was curtained from outside. Pushing aside the drapery, he gazed to the back garden—a pair of feline eyes. Umbra, now the size of a juvenile leopard, gazed back at him. He smiled at the nonchalance of her freewheeling existence as she rolled in the grass.

‘Hmph, big kitty. I wish I could be like you Umbra. Not burdened by my past or my present. Just...living’ he turned away, letting the curtains fall back to the large arched window. He lit up his phone, all the while killing off the lights along the hallway using [Kill Switch] as he plodded on. The artificial light from the home screen bathed his visage. The date and time were all there, just…wrong. But he was looking at the wallpaper.

"Sister…"Arthur murmured. He let the memory come unbidden; just a trickle of it not the whole torrent. 'What kind of person was I sister? What would you have told me if you met me as I am now?’

He made it to his bed. Took of his shoes and socks; thank Thea this world did have comfy socks. And clambered up his levitating bed that he’d bought with the rest of the furniture. Modern and simple was what it was.

‘What would my sister say if she were here? Do I even have a mother? A father? Whose voice was that in that dream...vision weeks ago?'

The phone held everything he wanted to know and not.

‘A mother…No Aeskyre is more like a teenage auntie who is both old and young.’

His eyelids grew heavy as he sunk into his sheets and pillow. The screen time-out kicked in, plunging him into darkness…but another memory, whisper-like, slipped through…

“Verily, this I’ll tell you—the bond can be what you want it to be.”

[Scion of Sturmdrache Level 2!]

[Skill- Eye of the Storm acquired!]

[Skill- Air Cannon acquired!]

[Skill-Chain Lightning acquired!]

‘Two, just level two…Really now?!’