No matter what legends the bards sang or what desperate fools whispered in taverns, the truth remained unchallenged: None who ventured into the Forbidden Lands ever returned.
This accursed realm existed beyond the borders of empires, untouched by kings or conquerors. A place where the very air hummed with primordial malice, where the earth itself seemed to breathe—a living, hungry thing.
The Forbidden Lands answered to no ruler, no god, no Sage. It was a maw waiting to snap shut on the arrogant souls who dared trespass, believing themselves special, chosen, or simply too powerful to perish like the countless others who had vanished within its mist-shrouded borders.
The Forbidden Lands mocked these empires and their guardians. No Sage, no army, no artifact had ever tamed it. Some whispered it was the graveyard of gods, or a door to something older than time. But all knew one truth:
To enter was to erase oneself from existence.
Yet still, the desperate, the greedy, and the damned tried. And still, the land swallowed them whole.
The Five Great Empires were each under the dominion or protection of one of the Six Sages—beings who stood at the apex of all creation.
1. The Asura Empire
- Ruler: Lucifer the Morning Star, the Demon Sage.
- A realm of volcanic spires and blood-red skies, where the strong devoured the weak in endless tournaments of slaughter. Lucifer, a being of molten gold and smoldering arrogance, ruled from his throne of crystallized screams.
2. The Wood Empire
- Ruler: The Elven Emperor, a saint.
- Protector: Caelan the Warlock, the Elven Sage.
- A labyrinth of sentient forests and silver rivers, where trees whispered secrets and shadows danced without masters. Caelan, clad in living vines and hollow-eyed wisdom, ensured none disturbed the empire's eerie harmony.
3. The Fenrir Empire
- Ruler: Vulpeon the Savage Queen, the Nine-Tailed Fox Sage.
- A land of endless autumn, where foxfire lit cobbled streets and contracts were sealed in blood and trickery. Vulpeon, a creature of silken laughter and teeth like shattered mirrors, played games with fate itself.
4. The Dragon Empire
- Ruler: The Dragon Emperor, a Saint and son of Daghara the Devastator, the Dragon Sage.
- A soaring citadel of floating mountains and molten hoards, where ambition was measured in the weight of one's scales. Daghara, a tempest of obsidian wings, slept coiled around the empire's heart—until woken by war.
5. The Longinus Empire
- Ruler: The Human Emperor, a saint.
- Protectors: Daren the Grimblade and Aria the Death Maiden, the only empire guarded by two Sages.
- A sprawling dominion of steel and smoke, where ambition festered like rot in wine. The other Sages had raged, schemed, and even waged wars over this imbalance, but none could fracture the bond between Daren and Aria—the mad couple who had turned the tide of every battle with intertwined hands and shared, slaughterous grins.
This was the basic structure of the 5 empires. And then at last there was the Adventurers Guild that operated in all five empires.
25 saints sat at the hem of the organization, ruled by 5 saints from each Empire. They had a small branch in every city and town, anyone who was of eligible age could apply to become a adventurer.
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After sitting and asking around for hour's and still not getting any valuable information about the couple agitated kent. He couldn't believe it, there was close to no information on the couple, from where they came, who they were or what their purpose was to come here. No. Nothing at all.
He finally decided to leave his search here and keep watch over the couple.
At the top floor of the building there was room that was reserved for the branch master. There inside sat a man on the chair by a table covered in all sorts of documents and papers.
He looked like someone who was in his mid 40s with a tall and broad chest with a rough face which gave him a look of a brute.
He radiated the unmistakable aura of a grandmaster. But he wasn't focused on his work rather he was using his divine sense to spy on kent who was sitting down stairs. He had heard from his sources that someone new in the town was going around asking information about the inn couple.
What others didn't know, he knew. He was well aware that the couple were no ordinary person, they were both Sages who had more authority in this empire than the emperor himself.
He just like others didn't knew anything about the couple at first, but one day that man..... no, Sage Daren the Grimblade himself came to meet him and he said that he was going to live in this town with his wife Aria in seclusion.
He wanted that no one come and disturb them so he gave him this task to keep an eye around if someone comes here asking about them. And he was even rewarded for accepting this task, he wasn't a grandmaster from the begging.. He was just a diamond rank cultivator.
But Daren gave him the resources to ascend in his cultivation path and reach this rank. He was indebted to him and so he performed his duty strictly without slacking off. When he was informed that someone was going around asking about the sage couple, his first thought was to eliminate him but he didn't do that and started to follow him, wanting to know his reasons for his search.
Right now he was keeping an eye on this person, watching his every move. His best option right now is to go and inform the heavenly couple about this person. And that's what he'll do.
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Daren and Aria had finally ended their morning exercises and opened the inn. There was a huge crowd of daily customer's waiting outside.
They had complained a lot made a fuss about how they have been waiting here for hour's for their morning meal but a single gaze of Daren had silenced them all.
Right now Daren was arranging the bar counter while Aria served the drinks and food to the customer's.
Aria was still wearing the butt plug, but this time Daren knew about it and he was really very aroused by it. He couldn't wait for their next session to come as the couple didn't have sex on a daily basis to keep thing's a little spiced up and not to make it boring.
Daren watched as Aria walked around swaying her hips sensually knowing full well that he was staring intensely at her ass. She was enjoying this moment by teasing him this way.
Daren felt a wave of intense obsession and possesiveness surge from him thinking about that her Aria was walking around this people while wearing the butt plug.
But what he failed to notice was another feeling that came with his possessiveness and obsession, it was something new, something he didn't know about, something 'very Dark'.