Author's Note: If you have stuck around and read the story up until now, I want to thank you for your support. It means the world to me that you are enjoying the world of Keena as much as I am! From here on, unless something happens in my life, I will be posting an episode on every Tuesday and Friday of every week. I do ask for understanding if I am not able to post and I will make sure to explain why. Again, thank you all, and enjoy! End of Author's Note.
The world of Keena one hundred seventy five years before the death of Barry and Monica Gray, was a lawless and hopeless era. Of course there were people that wanted to live peaceful lives, but nothing like that was ever guaranteed. There were banded groups of people that wanted to initiate some type of lawful system, but none of those were strong enough to take on the mammoth task of intimidating or forcing other powerful ability users into being compliant. In this era, there were groups called guilds and they held the most power and authority in their specific regions of Keena. Only a couple of guilds throughout the whole world had absolute authority over the other guilds and that was due to the overwhelming strength of their fighters and leaders. These guilds have never forced others into behaving or even showing they knew right from wrong. All you had to know to survive in the world of Keena in the year of 3,225 A.A., which A.A. means after abilities, was to not get on the bad side of the guilds, especially the strong ones.
Right at the start of year 3,225 A.A., the guild known as the strongest guild in existence, the Red Dragon Guild, started a conquest, or forceful campaign, to try and unite the world of Keena under one banner… their banner… their cause… it was quite literally world domination disguised as chivalrous political movement. In this era, there were only two continents to take over, Shandiffen and Meetria. However, though low in number, they were gigantic continents that spanned over eighty percent of the world's surface and had vast and various types of land of all sorts.
Each region the Red Dragon Guild took over, they gathered the townsfolk together and convinced the people that the guild was on their side. Once they no longer needed convincing, the guild left a token leader behind and moved on to the next region. They did this again and again until the Red Dragon Guild became the world's strongest without question. Nobody dared to step to them in opposition.
They started their quest on Shandiffen, which is where the Red dragon Guild began, and made sure they were thorough. They didn't want to pull their army from an area and have to worry about an uprising so they played it off as if they were there to help, as if the people needed the guild's protection. Even though the guild did this as a power grab, the side effects of their actions did improve the lives of many. Most people under the protection of the Red Dragon Guild no longer had to look over their shoulders and could enjoy the new robust areas that were being shaped into metropolises around them. In turn, this boosted the guild's reputation in the eyes of the public and they began to obtain a lot of backing from the common folk.
Across the waters on the continent of Meetria, there was another powerful guild and the guild leader called an emergency meeting between all of the elders. The room that the guild heads were supposed to hold the meeting in, showcased a large oval wooden table that sat around twenty five people. There were heavy clay looking pillars built into the building's structure and could be seen in every room. All of the people could be heard mumbling about what could have caused their leader to call the meeting as emergent as one like this.
The people heard footsteps outside dancing across the clay flooring. Each one of them started to lower their tone as the steps grew louder. It was clear that whoever it was, was coming towards them for the meeting. There was a split second where no noise could be heard until the heavy steel doors swung wide open and smacked the walls as if they were the door stops. Luckily, there was nobody standing close to the doors or they would have looked like a tiny bug on the windshield of a fast moving automobile. The crazy thing was, the man that walked in didn't seem to have used any serious amount of effort in opening those doors. Actually, he seemed to be moving quite casually.
Everyone at the table stood up in respect and fear of the large man in front of them. He had on black pants with three red stripes running down from his waistband and into the top of his black and shiny boots. Some would say the bottom half of the man looked almost militaristic in a way. However, he remained shirtless, well almost shirtless. Right around the top of his pants was a ripped apart red shirt that flowed downward, but it never went any higher than that. Lastly, a massive scythe type of weapon could be seen being sported strapped to his back. The sheer sight of this man would send chills down any grown person's spine.
All of the clan heads addressed their leader in unison, "For the glory of the Black Dragon Guild and the almighty and ruthless warrior, Lord Thanatos!" The man then extended his hand out in front of him and slowly lowered it until his hand once again rested at the side of his thigh. Simultaneously, everyone sat in their seats and gave Thanatos their undivided attention. Thanatos spoke in a powerful low tone, "I won't waste time here today, as we have none left." He looked around at each of his subordinates in their eyes. "The Red Dragon Guild has taken over all of Shandiffen and I have just returned from the border where I saw them crossing the sea. I would have stayed to kill them all, but I'm afraid that's not possible this time. Their leader, Rain Nisho, is with them." Thanatos sneered after saying the name of his mortal enemy.
One elder mustered up the courage to speak, "My Lord, why is he crossing into our territory after our treaty? We had a deal!" Thanatos slammed his hand on the table, breaking it in half all the way down. He shouted with clear frustration, "The truce doesn't mean a damned thing to that coward! Enough is enough! They took over Shandiffen and now they want to get their greedy hands on all of us in Meetria! We will meet them head on in battle. Gather your warriors and meet at the northern gates at nightfall. We move in the stillness of the night."
When nightfall came, there was a sea of warriors, all dressed in black at the northern gates. Standing on top of the archways was none other than Thanatos himself. "You all need to solidify your resolve for me, for the Black Dragon Guild, and for Meetria! I won't care less for the lives of the people we will run into on the battlefield tonight." He paused before saying, "Neither should you. I know they won't care about yours. The last thing I will say before we head out is this. Stay alive to taste the sweetness of victory with me after this war. These people… no… these animals have already taken over the other half of this world. If we don't stop them, they will take it all by force… I refuse to let him take our home this way."
After everything was said, Lord Thanatos led them out of their stronghold and into the vulnerability of the open night. They marched for about an hour before spotting the first line of guards of the Red Dragon Guild. They knew it was them due to the guard's uniforms. They wore a white looking suit with golden trimming and a navy blue cape with the symbol of a red dragon on the back. Everyone then looked over at Thanatos to see what his orders would be, but they couldn't spot him amongst their forces. Someone then quietly said, "Look! The Lord is approaching them!"
Sure enough, Thanatos could be seen walking towards them as he placed his right hand on the handle of his scythe. "I can't stand the sight of you cockroaches crawling around on my land!" he yelled as a black flame enveloped the blade of his scythe. In the next moment, he swung his weapon at a speed that none of the members of either guild could see. A line of the flames swept across the land tearing the enemies apart and consuming them unextinguishably. As the flames made contact with the enemy, members of the Red Dragon Guild tried everything to get the flames to die out, but in the end, anyone who touched the flames perished gruesomely.
"Ah yes! The screams make this so much better!" Thanatos said as he looked down at the still burning body of one of his victims, "Remember, you stepped into my territory. Don't expect me to give a crap about your suffering… you filth!" He lifted his foot and stomped through the head of the man underneath him, which caused the head to break into a pile of ash. He then placed his scythe away on his back and gave the order to keep on moving. Everyone had a similar thought of being glad Thanatos was on their side rather than having to face this monster.
The Black Dragon Guild walked for another forty minutes roughly and came across another group of the enemy. Thanatos looked around for one of his elders and pulled him to the side before saying, "Yazzy, I need you to take your group and sneak around to the east. I want to set up a flank with the ability users you have. You guys are the least likely to be noticed. I don't think Rain is here, but if you see him, retreat and regroup. There is no other way for you all to live. I might be the only one capable of fighting Rain Nisho, but I will need you all to keep everyone else off of me. Is that clear?" Thanatos asked, but just as he finished, Yazzy's face started turning purple and shook violently as if he couldn't breathe. Eventually his head popped like a balloon and it took the Black Dragon Guild by surprise. Not just Thanatos, but everyone bore witness to the violent death that played out before their eyes. Blood flew all over Thanatos's face and chest, giving him the appearance of a grim reaper, but it wasn't something that Thanatos himself had done to his own man. Someone else was at fault for this and now was the time to find out who that person was.
"Black Dragons!!" Thanatos yelled and continued, "Ready yourselves!!" He swiveled his head around in all directions, but couldn't spot a soul that wasn't a part of his forces. With his tree trunk like legs, Thanatos bent down and leaped in the air to see if he could see anyone from an aerial point of view. The part that stunned Thanatos was after gaining the height in the air about one hundred feet, right next to him was a man just floating there. Dawned in a royal looking armor set in the white and gold colors was the man that Thanatos just got done telling Yazzy to run from if he saw him, the Rain Nisho, head of the Red Dragon Guild.
"Fancy seeing you here." Rain said nonchalantly, while cleaning some dirt out from under his fingernails. He then turned his gaze hatefully toward Thanatos. With a single flick of his finger, an invisible line of wind-like power left his finger and hit Thanatos forcing him closer and closer towards the land underneath them. Before hitting the ground, Thanatos pulled out his scythe and slashed black flame after flame towards Rain. Only a moment later, Thanatos hit the ground so hard that the ground was forced into a crater underneath him. Dust flew and the Black Dragon Guild were forced to cover their eyes from the force.
"That guy is a true monster!" someone said, while shaking relentlessly. "Oh am I?" a voice was heard right behind the man. "Well then, since I'm a true monster, I guess I'm justified in doing this!" Rain shouted with an evil smirk tugging at the side of his lips. The man's bones began to break one by one, almost as if a ghost was snapping them like twigs. A few terrifying moments went by and then the man was more than obviously dead, but folded like a pretzel.
Everyone saw Thanatos hit the ground, but after that, their attention was more on the attacker than their leader. Rain had already killed another member of Thanatos's army before the dust even settled. Once the remaining grains of earth fell back in place, Thanatos could be seen standing. His strong physique was what was keeping him upright. "Rain!!" Thanatos screamed at the top of his lungs, "Today is the day I take your life! You ruined our peace and I will never let you or your family know what peace is like after today!"