A coming of rank story.... In a world where reverence and ranks separates people, Diah tries by all means to climb up ranks. Once a slave, determined and witted out, she sets to becoming a soldier and eventually became the knight the godsdom has longed for for centuries...she scaled through difficult tournaments and had to die at some point, what significance does her death and possible resurrection mean?
On a beautiful pasture in a far off land surrounded by towering mountains, landscapes covered with ice, rivers that runs fast with strong currents and deep waves, beautiful sand dunes that changes shape every now and then due to drifts beneath the core, volcano that boils hot but never erupts, a land designed and founded on orders, ranks and respect lives in a spiritual rich land where every born native is endowed with a special power that determines the rank they can function in.
A land where seventy percent of the natives are born warriors with the most incredible skill ever harnessed by mere mortals. The least among them is more powerful than a wizard or witch. Despite their strength and powers, each orders respect and submits to their designated assignment, they live with love and loyalty and place the order of the land above every other thing. Regardless the rank of another person, respect and kindness is put in sight when dealing with each other... (You know what? Let me leave it to a native to give a better introduction. Diah! Over to you)
"Thank you Geminine. Hi reader, I am Diah, a native of the Kauoha people. According to our history, we are descended from the first gods and our land is the sacred garden where the first gods inhabited, because of how rich and glorious the land was, bad spirits came for it. But, our ancestors fought and kept them away, but more enemies kept approaching, the council came together and created knights that harnessed the elements as watch guards, they were so powerful and undefeated and thus, kept the enemies from encroaching. Seeing how passionate the knights were in protecting the garden, the gods blessed them with life and will, and gifted them the garden for their habitation. Centuries passed and the knights produced offsprings and taught them to fight and always protect their home. The land grew vast as more offsprings were born. Being all powerful and undefeated, the gods sent some of the knights to far off lands to protect them from raiders and bad spirits that sort to enslave them , this action led to knights mixing their bloodline with mere mortals and producing halflings which they called soldiers. The halflings were half as strong as the knights and also harnessed some special skills too. They fought alongside the knights and kept off raiders from their land. In time, they multiplied. The gods saw this and were concerned about the order they had created, they warned the knights to stop mixing the bloodline but because of the victories already accomplished, they turned deaf to the warnings. Few years down, some soldiers revolted and fought against the knights in an attempt to take control of the whole garden. The battle lasted for a whole century. A lot of knights were killed in the battle and this made the gods very angry. They destroyed the soldiers and restored what was left of the knight order. They wanted to destroy all the soldiers completely but a knight interceded and asked for their souls to be tested to see if they are deserving of the verdict. As a result, the fountain 'Figura' was created to test the souls of the soldiers left. After a long while, the war was forgotten, the land healed and more offsprings were produced. At first it was soldiers and knights until two lower ranking soldiers came together and reproduced a really weak order which they deemed best to name a 'slave'. They are called slaves cause they cannot go to war or defend the garden. But, that didn't excuse them from performing a role. They tend to the basic needs of soldiers and knights and run errands and do the most degrading jobs ever. Until a slave had enough of the life and trained really hard to be a soldier. At first, the gods laughed at the idea, but seeing how super determined the slave was, they staged quests and to their shock, the slave passed all the stages and became the first slave to reach one of the highest ranks in the soldier system. Other slaves were inspired, those who could, did, and those who couldn't, accepted their rank. It became a normal concept in Kauoha for slaves to train hard and become soldiers.
I fall under the slave rank. Yeah, sorry to make you think less of me. BUT! i stand chances you know? I'll become a soldier in no time, you'll see. Now, back to the story. The gods were mad at the knight for mixing the bloodline and they stopped the wombs of a lot of knights, yeah, as punishment. So now we have very, very few knights left and no one has metamorphosed from being a soldier to a knight in the longest period of time, although the gods left a way out, which is excruciatingly difficult! A lot of people can metamorphose from a slave rank to a soldier rank, it keeps happening by the ways, but to become a knight? Whoosh! It takes a lot lot. First, you need to come from a knight's bloodline which is hardly a possibility now. Two, you must be willing to give up your life for it cause passing the elements' quests is never easy, it is more dangerous than being locked up in a cage with wolves. Three, just give up on the idea cause who wants to die for a rank that only the best best of the best gets to?. I'd choose soldier any day anytime cause i love the idea of staying alive and besides, It's pretty easy (not that easy though) compared to becoming a knight. To go from a slave to a soldier, all you need do is prove your set of skill on the training ground, pass the figura tests and go on a couple of quests, survive and there you have it, a soldier.
Our soldier ranks differently. We have grass soldiers, desert soldiers, water soldiers, and fire soldiers.
Grass soldiers are the lowest ranking, they tend to the green world and maintain order, their task is huge but in a world such as mine, they are considered less, next to the slaves. The desert soldiers tends to the dunes and arid part of Kauoha, they keep the weather down so as not to start a sand storm or any related desert hazard or disaster. Water, same. Each rank performs specific function based on their name and order. But, you can graduate from being a grass soldier to a desert soldier in case you get tired of looking green all day and to do that, you simply go for more training and survive the next quest. It keeps getting tougher as you climb up the rank but no worries, if you desire it that much, you can get there. As for the knight ranks, we only have the ice knights and the winter knights. We haven't had a winter knight for almost a century now, the closest we have is the ice knight and so far, just one female, Lisa. Well, she comes from a bloodline of knights and both parents were ice knights so, yeah an advantage. To make a winter knight, both parents have to be ice knights or ice and winter knights or winter winter. I bet we won't be having a winter knight for a long, long and longer time. Maybe the next century. It's a sad reality but hey, there are lots of soldiers to protect our realm! Thanks for listening, i gotta go, duty calls. Geminine, you can take the pen back. Later guys!"
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