Post

Kkhano wrote:

July 12th, 1971: somewhere in the far north of Dissopoloforia. A man wearing a long gown and a large crown on his head is sitting down in a chair, with a small boy in his lap. Despite the age difference, they have some similar facial features, such as their jet black hair, similarly dark eyes, and pale, almost ghost-like skin tone. The two are sitting in a tent on the top of a hill, the older man overlooking soldiers doing drill practice in the fields below while the little boy laughs hysterically at something his father just told him.
“Ahaha! You’re so funny daddy, tell me another story!” At this request, the man stroked his beard in thought for a moment.
“Well... what story do you want to hear?”
“Hmmm... how about the story about home?”
“Ah, that’s a good one, now let me remember...”

“Many years ago, in 1636, four men in the northern regions of Hungary were not happy with the current state of the Svarizian government they were living under; so they hopped on some boats and escaped to a place far to the south. They called this place Kkhano - the Svarizian word for scales, like balance, and there they set about creating a far better place than the one the had come from. Unfortunately, these four men soon fell out due to their different ideals, but one - our ancestor, Terrasov Mítlis - outsmarted them all, and he restored balance to Kkhano. After this, the Mítlis family continues to rule the region, even through a brief occupation by the Kingdom of Hungary; and as Mítlis had always done, it was Kkhano’s duty to maintain the balance in the region, whatever state it may be in. However as the rulers of Kkhano in the 1800s looked out at the world, they realised that not just northern Wasaru was out of balance, but the whole world was: troubles, torture, and terror wrecked every corner of the globe; and we wouldn’t stand for it. Kkhano set out to takeover as many places as they could to rectify the wrongs of every other nation: however they couldn’t see what we could and around a century later, the nations who hadn’t been cured of their wrongdoings formed a coalition and drove us away, putting the world back where it was before. We would not bow down to this however, and we ran away first to Jadefall, then to northern Dissopoloforia to hide from the rest of the world, so they wouldn’t attempt to crush us before we could fix them again. As we left Jadefall, we took some of their best soldiers as a... parting gift, and they were made to have families that too would grow up to be soldiers: we gave these people a home they wouldn’t have otherwise, in return for them loyally serving in the new Kkhanoese army as born and bred soldiers. And that:” he pauses to tap his child on the nose, who up until this point has been staring at him in admiration “is the story of our home”
“Wooooow... but, why are we in charge?”
“Ah, you see, that’s something Mítlis had that everyone forgets about - or chooses to ignore, perhaps. Sure, he was smart and devious and a brilliant strategist; but he had a more... unorthodox power. He could use the energy from specific, unknown power sources to convert energy from his mind into different kinds of what would normally be referred to as spells, but it would be more accurate to call them mind-beams: or scientifically, Zodiac Energy. The Mítlis family has this power, up until the war of the Third Coalition, when the object used to control it was stolen from us by the king of Svalbard, Yggdrasil Hakoen. For our family to regain this power, we must regain this item - and reopen the sources of power for this energy, which have been closed for over a century now out of fear”
“Amazing... I’m gonna do that dad, I’m gonna restore Kkhano and our own power!”
“Hehehe, I’m sure you would, if I didn’t do it first ahahahaha!”
“Ahahahahahahaha...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Present day, almost the exact same location, in a similar tent
“Hah... hmm, perhaps that day may actually come sooner than we thought” A now middle aged man was sitting in a makeshift ‘throne’ overlooking the same hill he had been almost 50 years ago; with a distinct lack of his father’s lap to sit on. He was now sat tightly in the chair, gripping viciously on the arm rests. He sensed something... many things, actually. A conflict between some extraterrestrial powers, millions of voices crying out for help suddenly being cut short, people of power feeling insecure and unprepared... all this and more told him one thing: “The world’s balance is falling apart, our time to rise again will soon be here” Was what he said to... absolutely no one, because he was sitting in a private tent on top of a hill where no one else could possibly here him. Realising this, he scoffed at himself. “Well, I certainly do a good job at sounding melodramatic, should be good at scaring other people then.”
“Anyway:” He said while getting up, picking up some kind of radio transmitter in the process “if that’s the case then I should probably start acting on that intelligence our spies have brought us for the past, what, 80 years? Yeah, should be good. Ah good, she picked up”
On the other side of the transmitter, an exceedingly tall woman with long blond hair picked up on the other end of the line. Her enormous black overcoat with a Kkhanoese scale pinned on to the upper left corner signified her as a commanding officer - and a high ranked one at that. When she picked up the transmission, her voice had a slight hint of annoyance in it, and an even greater hint of malevolence
“Who is it? it better be good because you disrupted the 10th division’s training session.”
“Settle down there Lily, we don’t all like high strung ladies you know?”
“Ugh, if this is another prank call Ladislaus, there’ll be hell to pay”
“Oh no, quite the opposite in fact, this is a call of utmost importance!”
“Then what’s it about?”
“I’ve decided to put you in charge!”
“...this is a prank call isn’t it?”
“No no, I mean it! Well, it won’t be a permanent arrangement, let’s just say I’m taking a... vacation... somewhere, the details aren’t important. Anyway, I need someone to run things while I’m not here; and you know you, you’re strict, efficient, scary, tall, loyal to the cause, all the good things, so I thought who better to be temporary first in command than you?”
“Well... if you say so then, I’ll get to it”
“Excellent! You do that, I’ll do whatever I’m doing, and you’ll wait for me to come back: all’s good!”
At that, both parties turned of their transmitters and went back to what they were doing: Lily returned to drilling, whilst Ladislaus packed for his trip, then went to his private helicopter
As he stepped inside, the pilot leaned back and asked him an obvious question:
“Where to, boss?”
“Svalbard; go over the north side, there’s a smaller military presence there and it’s got want we want”
“I’ll just get to it and not ask why you want to go there”
“Heh, you know me so well already - then again, most do, or they don’t end up being on this mortal plane for too long”

Above the skies of Svalbard, near Brascon abandoned nuclear reactor. Ladislaus stared out of his helicopter at the surrounding area below. Most of the settlements surrounding the northern town had been abandoned, and still were despite the now relative low risk of irradiation. There were, however, still a few who lived around the area - one of those people was of great interest to Ladislaus. At that very moment, he was reviewing the notes on said individual: his papers fluttering and flapping in the wind.
"'A woman named Marle Mcclarindale went to the Brascon abandoned nuclear reactor to study the Svarizian-born anomaly of Zodiac powers. After a decade into her research, she found a young Sikh boy who had been cast away from his community in a local village outside the town for reasons unknown; she took him as an apprentice, and he learnt how to use the powers exceptionally quickly. However, his and her ideals were opposed: he wanted to use his power to take revenge on those that had wronged him - she believed that was irresponsible: they shouldn't 'abuse' their power and be more responsible.'" Ladislaus suddenly paused his reading to make a comment about what he just read, before picking the papers back up and continuing. "She wanted them to live like rats; how undignified for people of such power - 'this led to the boy leaving Marle's research, and never being heard from again.' or so it says"
As he put the papers down for one last time after finishing his reading, he leaned over and took another look down at the ground below him, then spoke to the pilot of the chopper "In case you haven't noticed, this is the landing spot"
"Yep"
"You know standard procedure right? Keep out the way of any people, and if someone starts asking you question, unless they look like the target" Ladislaus then handed the pilot a loaded handgun "Don't let them ask another one, got it?"
"Got it"
The helicopter then landed, and as Ladislaus stepped out, he breathed in the rusted air of the abandoned town. The surroundings were decrepit and totally rundown - lifeless and empty buildings at every turn, whilst the road beneath his feet had born the brunt of the elements for many decades without any care from anyone. The sky above was bare and barren; dark clouds reigned above a sad town, and it seemed the same was true as far as the eye could see. The only hint that anything had once been alive in this place was the occasional groaning of a defunct pylon or loose door swaying in the wind. It was difficult to believe any sort of life forms ever used to inhabit this place; yet inhabit it they used to do.
"Well, no point going for some gaily sightseeing, I've got an old man to find... now where would could someone be hiding in this hellscape?"
Thus, Ladislaus began searching the abandoned town. He spent an hour walking around empty houses, shops, restaurants, and churches, but he came up fruitless. Mildly disappointed by his lack of results, he resigned to sitting on a bench which seemed to have survived this place's apocalypse, and pulled out his bottle of water for a drink. However, just as he did...
"It's not often I see another human being in this place. What is your purpose here?" Ladislaus immediately snapped his head around to face the source of the voice. His eyes were met by an old man, he must have been around 50 or 60: his dastār on his head and Kirpan at his belt signified he was a Sikh. His slightly wrinkled face was marked with multiple scars, as well as a pair of bushy eyebrows sitting atop strikingly golden eyes. All of his clothes were extremely worn, like they hadn't been replaced for multiple decades - all of this matched perfectly with the description Ladislaus had been reading about, confirming to him that this was the man talked about in his reports.
"We-hell, funnily enough that has to do with you, my friend!"
"That's another one I don't think I've heard for a long time - go on, you've intrigued me" Ladislaus then took on a more sombre and melancholic tone, raising the Sikh man's suspicions about the who was in front on him
"Ahh... you've really had a rough one haven't you? You had such potential, yet you've been forced to live in the darkness, a stowaway when you should have held greatness... a great shame, really..."
"How the hell do you know anything about me?"immediately the Sikh man didn't trust whoever this was in front of him, and took on a cold tone with him from this point.
"But you know, really it's her fault isn't it?" At the mention of a her, the Sikh man's hands slowly drifted down towards his kirpan. Whoever this person was, he clearly knew more than he let on. "Ah yes, she had such power, but lacked the vision or the strong will required to do anything with it. All she wanted was to keep people safe; but you, you knew what you should have done. Those bastards really would have got what they deserved had you had your way. Alas, if only you had been Marle Mcclarin-" Ladislaus' final syllable of his sentence was cut off as a blade was suddenly centimetres away from his throat.
"You should not know that name"
"Oh just like I shouldn't know your's, James?" at that, James flinched, but still kept his kirpan pointed at the mysterious man's neck. "You want to know how I know them, right? Well... let's just say that if you hang around in the gutter" He pointed around the bleak surroundings. "You pick up some dirt"
"I think I would rather know why I shouldn't start an excavation into your throat right about now"
"Ah yes, of course of course, how could I forgot?" at that, Ladislaus placed a finger on James' kirpan, then gently moved it down so it was no longer pointing right at his neck. "I have a proposal for you James, something you should be very interested in"