1077 N.B.

The last time people saw Az was the first day of Floréal. He greeted to the gatekeepers with a simple statement: “It is a nice day to go somewhere new,” and then walked out of Azria. Somewhere around the Elynend, he disappeared. Some said that he went to the Sea of Storms and transformed into a whale; some said he went to the Star Woods, morphing himself into a roc; some said he went to the Loong Hide, altering himself to become a Loong and then headed east.

 

1095 N.B.

The new Parliament of the Three had been elected. Seren, Harmon, and Raven were the chosen.

 

Seren proposed a more isolationist policy for Azria.

 

Hermon, contrarily, proposed building more connections with the outside world and trade.

 

Raven, Hermon’s Soul Mate, proposed that they should fight for more rights.

 

Even though they held different opinions, they stood as a united front for their people.

 

1097 N.B.

Commerce taxation in Azria was relatively low compared to the Ferry, so more merchants chose to ply their trade in Azria. Thus, the The Ferry’s economy was weakened. But with every fortune ebbs a ripple of misfortune. This golden age of Azria came at the cost of the Ferry, engendering hatred and envy from its now diminished royals. Gordon, king of the Ferry, had long desired to destroy Azria, but he dared not enact any of his plans while Az still reigned in Azria. However, Az had been missing for twenty years by this point, so most people thought he would never return. Gordon seized the moment: he sought Rock, Jr., grandchild of Rock the Stone Face and the current leader of the White Cloak to deliver upon Azria their long delayed revenge.

 

 

1098 N.B.

During the Thermidor, several days straight of constant rain caused a disastrous flood. Azria opened the gate and offered sanctuary for many refugees.

 

One day, a man enwreathed in shadows sought out Gordon, offering him a black box. The man told Gordan to open it inside of Azria and station the White Cloak outside in wait for a certain invasion.

 

Gordan didn’t trust the mysterious man, so he had a meeting with Rock, Jr. Rock, Jr. told Gordan of a dream he had the night before. It of his grandfather, breathing whispers of coming revenge across from the other side of oblivion When he awoke, he discovered a piece of paper with Azria’s emblem on it. It burned to dust as he tried to pick it up.

 

They came to an accord: now was the time to strike. Gordon hid the black box in the relief supplies and sent some White Cloaks to infiltrate the city in disguise as refugees.

 

That night, one of Gordon’s men opened the box. Several Shadow Soul Worms came out and took control of his body. This man, now corrupted Shadow, started a fire in the city and spread the corruption to more people. The guardians of Azria did their best to put out the fire and purify the Shadows, at the cost of being distracted from guarding the gate. The White Cloaks killed the remaining guardians watching the gate and flung it open..

The attack had begun.

 

Harmon and Raven led the guardians in a stalwart counteroffensive, while Seren guided citizens to safe zones. The fire was beaten. The White Cloaks, for all their advantages and subterfuge, found themselves wanting and breaking before the wrath of Azria., and the White Cloaks were almost defeated.

 

However, right at this moment, countless Shadow beast emerged from the tar-black darkness, led by the long-missing Rock. As it came to be, he offered himself to the Shadows as a Shadow Servant rather than perishing in the war. The army of Shadows headed directly to the Nexus and corrupting and slaughtering all those tin their path.

 

Rock, Jr., shaken by the sudden turn events, diverted his efforts to cull the Shadows rather than Azria in a feeble effort to redeem himself from this conspiracy. His grief reached an apex when he beheld his grandfather, a distorted remnant of the man that he once was. Without a room for recourse, Rock, Jr. faced him in battle. But he wasn’t enough. His grandfather laid him low with a Shadow Strike.

 

Rock arrived the Nexus, long since covered by the Nine-leaf. He cleared out some space, gathered the full might of the Shadows flowing around him, and set to work corrupting the Light Nexus. If he succeeded, the Current itself would be eternally polluted.

 

By the time Harmon and Raven realized Rock’s plan they and the guardians were long since spent from their constant battles. In desperation, an idea came to them, as mad as it was potentially effective: they would fuse the powers of two Soul Mates to inject into the Nexus to the end of creating a blast wave powerful enough to leave the area a glass crater.

 

They gathered the Soul Mates who were willing to martyr themselves and told the others to run as far as they could.

 

The Soul Mates  joined together, intertwining their spirits one final time as they fused their life energies Light as radiant as dawn flowed in rivers of golden to the Nexus, which in turn brightened a thousand times more and ignited with a flash of brilliance that split the night. The resulting blast wave extinguished not only all the Shadows in Azria, but also the remaining White Cloaks along with guardians, soldiers, citizens, and priests who failed to get out of the city in time. By the end of that fateful day, the magnificent edifices of Azria was reduced to rubble and ash.

 

At end of it all, stood only one amidst the wreckage.

 

Rock.

 

A shield forged from the power of Shadows had shielded him from the brunt of the blast, giving him one last chance to corrupt the Nexus. Gathering the paltry remnants of the Shadows’ power—specifically that which remained hidden within himself—Rock set upon delivering an eternity of darkness upon the world. Or he would had if he had not found himself impaled from behind with what was once his old sword. Gaping in disbelief at the Sword of Light emerging from his chest, Rock began to turn to dust as Rock, Jr. drove the blade deeper into the thing inhabiting his grandfather’s body. Culled of the shadows within, Rock faded with the breath of the wind in motes and particles.

 

All that remained now was Rock, Jr. No one knew where he went after the battle.

 

The War of Azria, ever brief as it was, came to its calamitous end.