Book 1 , Prologue - To Each Their Own (Pt. 0.1/0.3)

"Father..."

A boy, roughly the age of fourteen, was kneeling in front of a man dressed in an immaculate black suit. His body was bloody, and his clothes were in tatters.The man was looking coldly at the boy, with a silver long-sword drawn in his hand. With a vertical sweep, he knocked the boy back a meter, and sent him crashing into a nearby stone wall.

"Say no more! GET OUT! From this day on, you are no longer part of my Lyos Family! You are not the son of I, Caayn Lyos!"

The boy, who was currently crawling and struggling to get up, instantly went livid, and once again made a desperate attempt to plead to his father. "Father! Please! Am I not Synth Lyos, the son that your first wife and my mother gave birth to?"

Upon hearing this, the expression on the man's face changed into one of sorrow, as if he had lost something very dear and important to his heart...

However, it only lasted for an instant.

"Leave this place. Now. Or else, I will not hesitate to kill you."

Saying no more, and no less, the boy's father slowly walked away, with deliberate slow steps towards the family estate.

With heavy steps, the boy dragged his body slowly in the opposite direction. Tears were freely flowing down from his eyes like a waterfall.

"Father... am I truly useless? Is my innate talent truly that horrible, and my future so bleak, to be kicked out of the household...?"

Glancing one last time at the mansion that once used to be that boy's home, Synth clenched his teeth, took the money bag that his father had thrown at his face beforehand, and slowly left the grounds of the Lyos Family, one of the top three aristocrat families in the city of Bermil, protected against the numerous beasts that roamed the lands outside by the 'Alkkras' barriers that were the last remains of any proof that those human ancestors of theirs, those Magic Knights, truly existed.

With a self-depreciating smile still lingering on the corner of the boy's lips, he laughed maniacally. However, his desolate laughter had a tinge of sadness intertwined with loneliness... almost as if crying out at the injustice of it all, of the game that the gods of Fate had played with his life.

Under the moonlight sky, and the annual rain shower that came around every cycle of the Years, Synth swore to himself a very important promise.

Hope. Stubbornness. Refusal. Indignation.

Those four words were all bound within this vow, that he made to himself that sorrowful, life-changing night.

"Wait for me... I will surely become... a powerful Invoker! Father... the Lyos Family... will surely regret this!"

"HAUUUUUUURAGHGGGGGGGGHHHHH!"

With the last desolate wail that escaped from his throat, that boy turned around and without looking back, began to slowly walk towards the Inner Ward.

The Inner Ward, home of the nobles, a step below the aristocracy, yet a wide, almost insurmountable step above the commoners.

Also... the place where many young men and women dreamed about going to in their wildest imaginations.

The Magecroft Academy, home of those rare and elusive talents, the Invokers. Branch - 11 of the Eastern Lands.

"Father... with the money you gave me, it should just be enough to pay for four years, in this place, right? I will make you regret those words that you said to me today..."

Softly muttering, the boy tightly clenched the bag of Xena closer to his chest. Tears... began to fall from his eyes again.

A soft word, one that would go unnoticed if one wasn't paying attention, slowly escaped his lips. With eyes glazed over and brimming with deep emotion, the boy gazed at the sky, and the iridescent dome that seemed to stretch on forever in the dark clouds of the moonlight night...

"Mother..."

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"Synth!"

A young and beautiful woman was walking in an ornate, marvelously furnished garden. She exuded an elegant demeanor, with her long golden hair being gently caressed by the bright sunlight. Currently, she had a worried expression, and seemed to frantically want to find something, or someone...

"Mother, do you need something?"

A young boy, roughly around the age of eleven, was currently running at full speed from the nearby estate mansion to where the garden was located. When one observed his details, one would notice that he seemed almost like other similar children his age. However, the feature that would strike one the most upon further inspection would be the faint, intermittent streaks of gold in between his dark black hair.

As the woman saw the boy approaching, she lightly sighed and walked over. Tapping his forehead once, she gently scolded, "Synth, now, where did you go this time? Mother has been looking all over for you for the entire morning, you know."

With guileless green eyes, that young boy, Synth, stared innocently at his mother. Seeing the boy's stare, the mother could not help but lose her angry expression, and gently ruffled the young boy's hair.

"Mother, today I went looking at the scenery of the outside Lands! It was really beautiful! Why can't we go outside the Alkkras domes?"

With an energetic expression, the boy looked at his mother eagerly, desperately wanting to know.

At first, the mother was beginning to reprimand the boy for going to close to the outer borders, after seeing the cute expression that he was making, chucked instead. "Silly boy, didn't mother tell you that outside of these Alkkras barriers that our ancestors left behind, there lies dangerous wild beasts and all sorts of creatures that could kill us humans in an instant?"

The child, still not understanding the concept of 'death' due to his age, pouted, and cutely replied, "But mother, don't we have the Chevaliers and the Invokers protecting the human race?"

"..."

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Ten-thousand years ago.

The revolt of the beasts, the downfall of the golden age of humanity. The World Essence, that supported the human race, suddenly began drying up for no apparent reason. In those long lost days of old, there were legends of humans that possessed supernatural powers, and the elements themselves were at their very beck and call.

Those people were known as the Magic Knights. The defenders of humanity, and the arbiters that decided the position that the humans would have, ruling over the various other races in the world. Those Magic Knights relied on this World Essence, to fuel their World Essence Weapons, more commonly known as Charge Drives, to fight against the beasts that inhabited the various corners of the world, while casting magics at the same time, drawing out the power of the arcane.

However, with the supply of World Essence rapidly drying up due to a mysterious reason, the Magic Knights slowly lost their capability and potential... at this point in time, the beasts and other various monster-like races on the continent began to grow increasingly violent as well, to the point where they would attack any and all humans on sight.

At first, the Magic Knights were able to defend themselves, using their Charge Drives imbued still with the power of the essence of the world, and the spells that the breakthrough of the arcane rift provided them.

But, in time, the beasts grew smarter. They began assaulting the remaining cities in waves and droves. It soon became a battle of attrition, and very soon, the defenses of every remaining kingdom and empire were breached.

Dire situations called for desperate measures. Soon, the strongest and most influential people all across the world were gathered, and together, they formed a pact.

That pact stated that, it would choose three kingdoms in an empire to protect, in all the lands - The Eastern Lands, The Western Lands, The Northern Lands, and The Southern Lands. In short, after the 'war' was over, or if it ever ended at all, there would only be twelve remaining kingdoms in the entire world.

They were - in the Eastern Lands, Bermil, Tyri'll, and Verudai.

In the Western Lands, were Bnuia, Vesttiga, and Syak'il.

In the Northern Lands, were Heril, Parri'k, and Desais.

In the Southern Lands, were Crov'ila, Ar'isil, and Oarea.

Soon after the pact, which would later be known as the Final Hope Measure, action was immediately taken. All the combat forces within those lands gathered en masse within those three kingdoms, which would later on just be known as cities.

In the last battle, in the fight between the Magic Knight Squadrons and the army of the beasts, the humans were able to keep the beasts at bay for just enough time for five very powerful people to cast a joint spell, that enveloped each kingdom to form that protective barrier, later known as 'Alkkras', with a 1028-seal formation array, a godly feat.

However, in doing so, those five Magic Knights, roughly on the same caliber as a Spiritualist Invoker today, exhausted their life force along with draining the last few traces of World Energy remaining.

It was then, that the war between the humans and beasts would finally be put to a standstill, and the peace that was lost could be regained, for a temporary period of time...

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The magical arrays that were used to cast spells and the Charge Drives that those Magic Knights used, were thought to be just a myth...

Until on Sylar 24th, the beginning of Auugrite.

It was that day, when the Lord of the City announced that, those legends from old were indeed, true.

Also, it was time... to begin the counterattack against the beasts that had pushed humanity away from the territory that was rightfully theirs, and could in the end, only be theirs.

World Essence Crystals. The Lord revealed that, although that there was almost no World Essence Remaining in the atmosphere, the ancestors of humanity had found a way to seal it in these special crystals, which they had left behind for the future generations.

The young generation were also told that... some of them might possess the ability to Channel Energy. This meant that they would be able to stir up the World Essence sleeping within those crystals, and be able to draw out the powers and break the rifts of the arcane that their ancestors, the Magic Knights once had at their calling.

That day, everyone was tested for the ability to Channel Energy, by seeing if the crystals could resonance with any of the youths that touched them.

It was then shown that, roughly one in every ten-thousand had the ability to Channel Energy. However, their innate talent also had to be measured.

If one's innate talent was not high enough, they could not go on the path to become an Invoker, focusing mainly on the 'Magic' aspect of the Magic Knights. They could only become a Chevalier, focusing on the 'Knight' aspect of the Magic Knights.

The stages of innate talent, kept from the traditions of old, were:

-Null Stage - nearly none; one cannot become an Invoker and can only become a Chevalier.

-Spark Stage - innate talent is terrible

-Static Stage - innate talent below average

-Revolving Stage - innate talent average

-Flame Stage - innate talent above average

-Thunderclap Stage - innate talent high

-Lightning Stage - innate talent extremely high

The results for this test were brutal. Roughly one out of five-hundred-thousand had talent that surpassed the Null Stage.

The youths that had this special talent, were all asked one question.

"Would you like to join the fight for the revenge of humanity's oppression?"

It was then that these prestigious institutes, that nurtured and fostered Invokers and Chevaliers were born.

Many youths dream and yearn of having the ability to , and wish to go to these prestigious institutes. When one graduated, it was a promise, of money, fame, and power...

The Magic Knight Squadron, was soon born again. However, this time, it supported two branches instead of just one.

The Branch of the Invokers - the Acolytes.

The Branch of the Chevaliers - the Warriors.

Soon, the upcoming skirmishes between the Beasts that inhibited the barren, desolate lands and the humans, locked up within those cities protected by the barriers, would begin...