《Whispers of The Lands》


 1 - The First Gaze

    I, Globoch, appointed as High Wizard by unanimous voting of the 33 Kings of The United Free Kingdoms of The Lands, declare the 88th Universal Era officially open under the protection of The Golden One. May She always protect us and make us warm and peaceful. May this record stand the test of time and reach distant times and kingdoms.


    Now that the ceremonial words have been said, I will begin this first gaze into the Silver Cup as is common practice by explaining what the Silver Cup itself is.


    Above: the Silver Cup.


    The Silver Cup is an extremely powerful magical object that enables its user to see and hear all present events no matter their distance, as long as the object is binded to the God of a certain territory it grants visibility to all of the affiliated kingdoms. It was obtained after the conquest of the First Moon in the 23rd Era, more specifically during the last and most significant battle: the battle of the Moon Cathedral, where the Elven Cosmonauts'' 70th Special Division defeated the forces of the Moon Mouse Empire and toppled the regime of Rooley the Fifth. Inside the cathedral they found the Silver Cup, which had been used by Emperor Rooley to acquire strategical information of significant importance. Its effect had been mitigated by the invention of a limited number of telepathical elven devices, used by high army officials to discuss their battle plans.


    After having been binded to The Golden One it has mostly served the purpose of record-keeping thanks to the ability of the first officially appointed High Wizard: Uylmeiz of Ruby Bay, who created a spell that turned the visions offered by the cup into books divided by Era, just like the one you are reading now.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Above (always from top to bottom): Rooley the Fifth, the Moon Cathedral


    So, what are The United Free Kingdoms of The Lands? Who is The Golden One? And who are the 33 Kings who rule over The Lands?


    This chapter will mainly focus on our capital city, The Golden One and the King among Kings.


    The central realm of the UFK is the Elven Forest and its capital city is called The Tree. Elves have been living in this forest since the beginning of time. There is no account of any Era where they have not done so, even in the books describing the first 23 Eras before the use of the Silver Cup. The forest itself is of natural origin, but the current trees have all been magically generated by their State Department of Internal Magic and Sorcery. Each tree is big enough that it can function as a house or building. Some skyscraper trees have been built, but not too many. The biggest tree is the one that gives name to the capital: The Tree. It is so big that it can still be seen many towns after leaving the city. It houses the government of Elven Forest, the royal court, the UFK headquarters and the UFK Research Centre.


    Above: a city street in the capital, a summer villa outside the capital, The Tree (building).


    This Centre is of key importance to the well-being of the kingdoms of The Lands. Other centers exist, but they are not nearly as advanced as the UFKRC and usually specialize in regional matters. The research centre of The Tree contains The Golden One.


    The Golden One was not always considered the God of The Lands (these were godless territories for centuries), until She fell from the sky during the second Era. The Lands have never been the same: the energy provided by The Golden One has been the fuel of elven research and has allowed the creation of wonderful technologies by the likes of those mentioned before. All visual representations of The Golden One are prohibited since they would diminish its true beauty. This is currently a matter of heavy theological discussion.


    The king of the Elven Forest is not to be confused with the King among Kings: this title is given to all 33 kings of the UFK, once every ten years, until all of them have had their turn. This process follows a random order each time. After a full cicle is done, it resets and begins again. The King among Kings only has a representative role and only differs from the others in the fact that it manages External Affairs and represents the UFK when dealing with other kingdoms. The current King among Kings is Rockledouv the First, King of the Grey Cave and Leader of the rockley people.


    There will be time to write all about The Lands, included some of its lore, and territories yet undiscovered. An Era is a long period, and I can''t wait to see it unfold!

 2 - Royal Convocation

    Aetelval, king of the Elven Forest, stood before the throne. His moonsilver armor was shining bright. He wore it whenever he could, a custom not shared by his predecessors.


    "I hope you know why I called you here."


    The King of Kings spoke through thoughts, something nobody could ever get used to: you heard his words appear in your head. To be fair, that was the only way he could talk, given the fact that he was physically a literal rock and therefore had no mouth.


    Above: the official royal portrait.


    "Of course I know. It''s about the army officials, isn''t it?"


    "Yes. The time of their vanishing is rapidly approaching. The thelepatical devices that were used to win the War of the First Moon, many ages ago, were designed to become part of their users, instead it was the users who became part of the devices. This was not seen as a real problem at the time, since it was the only way to win the conflict. However, the energy infused into the devices is about to be ultimately depleted and there is no way to charge them back. It will mean that our precious officials will have the same fate. You know what it means."


    "Tell me."


    There was a moment of silence. It was so deep that you could hear the late spring in the air.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "You are not a stupid man, Aetelval. What do you think will happen to this kingdom when its core is left defenceless? When it is known, because trust me: this is no secret at all, that it has lost all of its high army officials at once? They have served well and for far longer than what was expected of them, thanks to the devices that turned them into some sort of... machines. But soon it will all be over. We have relied too heavily on their limitless experience and skill. In fact, one might even say that it is they who should wear a moonsilver armor."


    "Careful..."


    "Cool your blood, king of the Elven Forest, there will be enough rage over all of The Lands in no time. The realm will be unmanageable after the capital loses its effective control power. 33 kingdoms are far too much... we overextended ourselves. The orcs in the South-West have been wanting to march on the obsidian dragons for centuries. The jungle tribes in the East are fighting each other and we do not even know what is going on in there. North of their shores, pirates have been gaining more power and men. The Underwater Crater has been growing isolationist sentiments. The Northern Bears have been neglecting their army and focusing on exploration, while to their South, and West of the orcs, the Blue Desert''s influence over us grows exponentially, much like their trade routes. The elven conquerors thought they could keep The Lands together with sheer force... how foolish. Everyone who believed this was the right path to follow was nothing but a fool. It is nothing but a sand castle built on low tide"


    "Everything is not lost yet." King Aetelval spoke slowly and with a sombre expression. "We still have our army, we still have me and my strategic knowledge proceeding directly from the officials, we still have technological advance and we also have faithful allies like the First Moon Republic of the White Mice, which we helped establish."


    Another moment of silence filled the room. Aetelval truly felt as if he had said something very silly. He couldn''t shake off the feeling that in confront to king Rockledouv he was nothing but a child playing war games.


    "Do not misunderstand me, Aetelval: I never said this would be a short war."

 3 - Laboratory

    Steps filled an empty hallway in the UFK Research Center. They were the steps of someone walking quickly but not running: the kind of speed found in urgency without fear. The figure producing said steps, wearing a beige lab coat typical of the center''s scientists, entered the central meeting room. Inside, many other scientists were already waiting for him, sitting at a big round table made out of the section of a big tree''s trunk. There were elves, bears, some jungle shamans and even a small group of orcs. That room contained, in that moment, the most brilliant group of people in all of The Lands.


    The man who had just entered the room was the head scientist at the UFKRC, a relatively young elf (which, for elf standards, meant that he hadn''t seen the forest before city planning) named Dvaerseles Purpleflower, who had achieved incredible academic success, principally on his studies about how to harvest energy more efficently from The Golden One. He was also very close to the government thanks to his insights on how to keep the army officials alive as machines, replacing the parts of them that had still remained human in order for them to live longer. For this, he was basically regarded as the inventor of sentient machines.


    "I am glad to see that you are all here." He spoke slowly and with a satisfacted tone. "As you know, the situation we face is critical. My beautiful projects are about to end. I have recieved a letter this morning, directly from king Aetelval. In it, he as asks for the definitive destruction of the army officials. As you know, I have devoted so many years to those amazing machines... in them, lies the power that built this kingdom."


    "They are nothing but death machines." Vyrblu the orc said harshly. His black skin with greyish tones, typical of orcs, reflected the light coming in from the windows and his silver eyes looked firmly at Dvaerseles. The latter smiled. Everyone in the room held their breath as they waited for his response. "Yes, you are right. What is power if not the ability to give death? You know, entropy is ever-growing. You''re a scientist, so you should be familiar with such concept. Eventually, when nothing is left, everything will be possible. Destruction brings creation. True, unlimited, creation."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Vyrblu left his seat, walked up to Dvaerseles and talked loudly. "I''ve been following you. I know you''ve found a way to recharge the officials, but you haven''t told anyone. Everyone in this room already knows this. I trust them but not the king. I bet this is a royal trick to destroy all the other armies and finally dominate over everyone isn''t it? But I''m sure you still need time, and we are going to stop you before this plan, whatever it is, is completed." Five other orcs also stood up and removed their coats, which revealed secret forces uniforms of the orc kingdom. "We called some friends. Loyal friends. Loyal to a fair kingdom and not this degenerating mess you and your armored friend created."


    Dvaerseles didn''t seem surprised. He looked at the orcs for a while and then turned his eyes back to Vyrblu. "You got two things wrong, which will result in the failure of your heroic action. The first one is that I hate Aetelval maybe even more than you do: royal intervention in the days prior to this meeting would have been certainly difficult to manage. The second is that I always work ahead of the schedule."


    At these words, ten parts of the circular wall of the big room crumbled, and from them entered ten gigantic beings, hard to identify but of humanoid form, covered in wires made of jungle vines and an armor (or possibly part of the main body itself, it was hard to guess) made of thick dark stone. They did not seem to have a head. One of them destroyed the special orc force with a single movement of its arm and they proceeded to slay everyone sitting around the table, with big swords covered in some sort of rust but with a sharp blade.


    Vyrblu shouted and pulled out a dagger from under his coat, digging it deep into Dvaerseles'' chest. His face turned into pure horror when he saw the same wires coming out of it. "You madman... what is this? What have you become?!"


    Dvaerseles smiled as one of the big swords pierced Vyrblu from behind. He looked at the orc''s eyes as he fell into the ground. Only then he responded: "Entropy."