Far off into the South of the continent was a certain mountainous region filled with huts and tents housing a certain group of Humanoid creatures covered in fur and dressed in leather or rags. There were those that possessed the head, such as a wolf's or a rabbit's, yet possessed the body of a man. While there were also those who possessed the body beast, like that of a horse's or a bird's, yet the torso of a man.

And then there were those who looked almost entirely Human, possessing only a small amount of fur, or perhaps a tail, or ears resembling a cat’s or a rabbit’s. These creatures were the beings born from unnatural circumstances, the folly of the Gods, known as Beastmen.

Though despite their unnatural birth and circumstances when compared to the other prominent races, they were once the proud rulers of the forest, mountains, seas, and sky losing ground only on the plains of man. It was only in those plains that the beastmen regardless of race were slaughtered like the beast they so resembled.

In the face of man’s tough walls all charges would falter. Even those who flew to the sky would be shot down by man's archers. And it was naturally hopeless for those were adapt only in the water.

So with no other choice, the beastmen remained in their hills and forest, and lazily flew through the skies or slept in their mountains. But inevitably Humanity grew stronger and stronger at a frightening pace. Eventually, Humanity began to expand in all directions, and the Beastmen were forced into the far reaches of the globe.

And the likes of those beastmen in the south were driven to this barren mountainous regions were little food could grow, and prey was scarce. But these harsh conditions proved to be the perfect natural barrier for the likes of Beastmen who could survive for far longer periods without food or water.

Here they could dash into the dense forests of the North and quickly retreat to the steep cliffs to the south. Here they need not fear man's bows or their spells. Here they need not fear man's relentless charge. And although it was not as pleasant as bountiful as the Beastmen Kingdoms to the east, it was still not as harsh as the tundra which the beastmen were driven to in the North.

In comparison, the south was a paradise when compared to the North. But things weren’t always well in the south, despite the lack of Human invader. For just beyond these mountains lay a land dyed a pitch black where the sky was left in a perpetual night. For to the south lay one of the world's most dangerous regions, awarded the highest possible danger level by the Adventurers Guild, and the burial ground of countless unsung Heroes. To the farthest reaches of the South lay the Land of Death.

Often times Undead would come swarming in from the Land of Death in troves of hundreds or so. And It was not uncommon to see a lone zombie or skeleton roaming these southern part of these mountainous regions. Beastmen with their powerful arms or their agile bodies could easily take down a few undead on their own even if they were but a child.

Yet today was a bit different, the usually lazy and relaxed beastmen who would typically be sprawled across the mountains were bustling about. Dozens of harpies could be seen hurriedly flying through the air carrying messages to and from mountain to mountain. Massive goat men were blown their horns signaling their comrades, and the proud Centaurs were rushing to the south with their massive bows in hand.

The Lizardmen in the swamp were climbing up the mountain, the Minotaurs were sharpening their battle axes, and hundreds of rabbit warriors were jumping down to the south.

It was almost as if a war had suddenly erupted, and well that wasn’t too far from the truth. If you were to climb up to the peak of one of the mountains you would be able to see a thick black fog visibly moving northwards in their direction. And yes through this fog one would be able to see countless red eye from within.

Over the years the beastmen have weather hordes and hordes of undead, but this horde was an unprecedented invasion! There tens of hundreds of skeletons, zombies, ghouls. Every now and then you’d be able to spot Death Knights, and Skeleton Mages followed by several Will o’ Wisps.

In the back, you could even see several headless horsemen riding fierce skeleton horses, and each of these horsemen held a single massive banner that spewed forth a thick black fog that covered this trope of undead.

And in the far back were five carriages made entirely of bone, pulled by horses similar to the headless horseman but were far larger in stature. In each of these carriages sat a single undead far stronger than others. On the left most carriages sat a lich, on the right most a death knight with an ominous sword in its hands, in another carriage sat a scarecrow with several large knives, and then a skeleton constructed almost entirely out of skulls in a black shroud.

But in the center most carriage which was far larger than the others sat a small child accompanied by a headless butler. She had blonde hair, and red eyes, and was almost a sickly pale. She turned to the butler and said, “Hurry it up, to Ostea!”

The butler bowed, “As you command.”

And as if the entire army had her this young girl's command, they sped up considerably and charged towards the Beastmen.

...

While West, in the direction of the Kingdom of Lor, the Heroes Kingdom, and the Demon Kingdom ruled by the rising Demon King several shadowy figures quickly traveled through the forest unseen.

Each of these figures was dressed entirely in a black armor, and a hooded robe to cover the parts the armor could not. And aside from the centermost figure who merely wore a black robe, each of the shadowy figures was especially tall and robust, and they all carried unnaturally large weapons on their backs or their waist.

This small entourage of rapidly made their way eastward leaving behind a trail of smoke wherever they went. Yet oddly enough not a single soul seemed to notice them. Not a single beast approached them, and as a matter of fact as soon as any living thing that drew near them would be filled with an indescribable sense of dream and panic before running away.

As for those beasts in their panic were unfortunate enough to run in their direction, they would suddenly vanish without a trace. Not a single drop of blood would touch the earth, nor would the beast make another sound. They would just disappear like some phantom or illusion.

…

To the far east, a large island there existed a massive city that made people think that this city was a country unto itself. This city seemed was intrinsically connected to a number of floating islands nearby was, in fact, an Academy and like Ostea one of the few neutral regions in the world. It was here knights, mages, thieves, assassins, Heroes, nobles, monsters, peasants, princes, and princess alike could come to learn.

And it was one of the world's major powers sporting a total of thirteen Sages, and a Magic King of its own. It was also home to several dozen S-Class Adventurers, countless powerful Knights, and even possessed and a troop of Wyvern Knights led by one of the few Dragon Knights in the world.

It possessed enough military strength to topple even some of the other major powers of the world, yet this city for whatever reason has remained neutral for centuries merely content in passing on the teachings of former Demon Kings, Heroes, Sages, and other legendary figures in a peaceful and calm environment.

Yet this typically calm was similarly bustling about, though the origins similar the reason was quite different from the south. In one of the floating islands above, there was a massive palace that was for the most part rather empty other than the few worker and attendees who manned the palace.

This palace more resembled a place of worship and was known as the Sages Palace where the thirteen sages often convened. So few people would dare to even approach this palace, yet there was a single Wyvern Rider who landed on this island, walked up to the golden palace doors and kicked the right open.

One of the attendees in a panic called out to the Knight, “S-Sir, please this is the Sages Palace, the thirteen-”

“Shut up! I know where I am” the brown haired knight walked into the palace with his long spear in hand, “You senile old fools I know you’re here!”

Suddenly, thirteen old men appeared before this brazen young knight, and the center most old man spoke, “We are aware of why you’ve appeared here, but the Academy is not to interfere.”

The knight slammed his spear into one of the pillars next to him, “What do you mean we’re not gonna interfere!? You old bastards won’t even send a squad to investigate! What are you afraid of? We’re the Academy!”

The attendee from earlier walked up to the knight, “S-Sir please, your language.”

The knight glared at the attendee, before turning around and walking towards the door. That's when one of the old men said, “If you go to Ostea you’ll be stripped of your status and rank within the academy, you’ll no longer be one of our honored Knights.”

The knight paused, and suddenly threw his spear towards the ground just before the Sages. He pulled off an emblem hanging on his armor, and threw on the ground, “Screw it! Who cares if I’m an honored Knight if I can’t even protecting anything! You want us to just sit here and watch from the sidelines!? Then screw it! I quit.”

The knight walked out fuming, and got on his Wyvern and began flying to the east. The sages walked out of the palace and shook their heads. Suddenly an old man with a long white beard appeared, the sages were surprised and then fell to their knees, “Lord!”

The old man turned to the sages and said, “Enough, let the child be. This will be a good learning experience for him. As for the Academy…”

The old man paused, and said hesitantly “We shall continue to remain as is…”

...

Finally to the north, there was a single man walking down a road to the south. He wore a simple traveler's robe, and other than his unnatural black hair and the large black book he held in his hand he looked no different from anyone else. He slowly walked down the dirt pavement towards a town, when he heard the sound of a lute.

He looked around and found a group of bards near the front entrance of the town. He walked over and started listening to the bard play and sing his songs. The bard sang a very slow and calming tune at first, he sang of the beauty of the trees, the forest, the river, and the seas. He spoke of the grandness of the sun, the wonder of the sky, and sang common folks songs.

But as more and more spectators came to watch him play he began to play a more exciting note and told the story of the Hero and the Demon King to the West, and the Magic Emperor of the past. He told of grand tales of the Wars between Man and Beastman, the story of the Dragons and the Dwarves, the Elves and their Sacred Tree, and Fairies and their Eternal Youth.

Eventually, the black haired man grew bored of the bard's song, but as he got up to leave. The bard began to sing a peculiar song about a rumor he'd heard from a friend. He sang a song of a tower to the South, but not the Grand Tower of the Gods, the fabled Wizard's Tower. But a little tower, or at least in comparison to the Wizards.

He referred to it as the Little Tower of the Gods and sung a playful tone joking about the second coming of the Wizard and sang about how it mysteriously appeared one night. Those who listened were amused and laughed at his joke, but something about this song caught the black haired man's attention.

He turned to the bard, and interrupting his song asked, “You say a tower sprouted out from the ground overnight?”

“Why yes good sir, it’s like the Wizard Tower of old. Perhaps a mage built it out of boredom, or perhaps no one just noticed as it was slowly built. But in the lands of the south, it supposedly exists.”

“I see the south huh, and just where in the south is this tower?”

“Well good sir,” The bard with the lute coughed, and took off his hat and extended it forward and smiled, “I’d be happy to oblige.”

“Oh, of course, a tip!”

The black haired man dug into his pockets, “Well here’s an excellent tip, don’t lose your head.”

Suddenly, a silver light flashed past the bard's neck and his head was cleanly lobed off and it fell to the ground. The rest of the bards stared at him wide eyed before a lightly dressed woman screamed and began running towards the town.

As for the other bystanders, some grew frightened and pulled back while others grew angry and pulled out their swords screaming, “What do you think you’re doing!?”

But the black haired man seemed to ignore them, he opened up the massive book he was holding the entire time, and his shadow suddenly moved unnaturally and flowed into the bard's lifeless corpse.

Suddenly, the bards severed head flew over and reattached itself to its body. The bard eerily got up and stared at the black haired man. He asked the bard, “So where is the Tower?”

“In Ostea.”

“Why thank you.”

Everyone stared at the black haired man in shock, “He’s a necromancer kill him!”

Those who had weapons began charging towards the him, swinging down their swords and hatchets. However the black haired man just simply dogged and he flipped open his book, “Well it’s not exactly a flute, but the lute will do.”

With a snap of his fingers, the book in his hands rapidly flipped to a page and the reanimated corpse of the bard picked up his lute and started playing. The song he started playing seemed to have a sort of hypnotic effect on everyone and they started to stop doing anything.

The black haired man turned to the group of people who were attacked him and said, “Kill yourselves.”

And as they were all compelled by the dead bards song they all took their weapons and cut their necks or pierced their hearts. While those without weapons slowly suffocated themselves or smashed their heads in with one of the instruments or a nearby rock.

The book in this black haired man's hand suddenly began to float, “You have the worst sense of humor”

The black haired man laughed, “I don’t have a sense of humor”

“Creep”

The floating book flipped several pages before glowing, and the black haired young man's shadow began to envelop all of the corpses slowly dragging them into the ground.

“So I guess we’re heading to Ostea”

“Of course, there’s a few months before the meeting we got time to kill.”

“Want me to get rid of this guy?”

The black haired man looked at the reanimated corpse of the bard he’d just killed, “No, I’ve got something else in mind.”

The black haired man motioned the bard, and he slowly began to walk to the town playing his lute, as for the black haired man himself he disappeared.

A day later a group of knights passing by, stopped at the town to buy some supplies and necessities. But as they entered the town they were greeted with the putrid stench of blood and rotting corpses.

The streets were lined with corpses of those who were strangled to death, of those who were cut to pieces, of those who had their sliced open or their heads lopped off. There was just death everywhere, and all lives were seemingly taken indiscriminately. No woman, nor child was spared and even the elderly met a similar fate.

The knights covered their mouths and nose and walked towards the center of the town where they found a single bard strumming his broken lute. The bard sat atop a small mountain of corpses, his body stained in blood, the strings of his lute already cut in two.

There were numerous wounds on the bard's body, but he didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t even bother to take out the spear through his heart, or the knives on his back, or sword that was run through his arms. He merely stared blankly into the sky mindless playing his lute.

…

“Do ya think we might have taken things too far?”

“Hmm?”, Ria turned to Cathy hanging up her coat having just returned to the tower, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve heard all sorts of things from my associates, and well…”

“Well, what?”

Cathy sighed, “We might have really taken things too far.”

Ria laughed, “Don’t worry things will work out! Probably.”