In this fantastical realm of the world of Roztock, three main lands were created by an unknown power that is still debated to this day. Scholars from this world would commonly say that a being of the Highest Order created the planet: the Unnamed One, a being of great strength, courage, and ferocity. Much like the origins of our world, the beginning of the world of Roztock is still a discussion with no certain conclusion.
Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Roztock had learned to keep to themselves over time. Crossing borders was strictly prohibited and was mostly limited to royalty, recognized traders, and the like. The three kingdoms were Wontaria, the birthplace of our four heroes; Derahan, also known as the Upper Kingdom with its unforgiving winters and rich sources of minerals; and the underworld simply called the Deadland, where Skullors roamed and were prohibited by the Roztock Order to ever see the light of the sun.
Roztock and its inhabitants all lived in peace, but beneath the veneer of this seemingly organized and beautiful exterior, an evil lurked and waited, thrashing in the dark like a fish trying to break free from the grip of an unkind human.
Perhaps, since the creation of the wonderful world of Roztock, a malignant entity had simultaneously been born, a dark fetus that grew and thrived in the pregnant belly of the earth, feeding from the slowly dwindling peace and order of this broken earth. After all, like all evils, such a monstrosity and awaiting tragedy could never fully satiate their hunger for chaos and destruction.
This entity, the god of the Skullors, occasionally made its presence known, causing earthquakes big and small, violent vibrations akin to the rumbling belly of a hungry and thirsty child, summoning tsunamis with waves rising higher than the tallest of skyscrapers, even controlling the rising and setting of the sun. Some days there would only be dark, the sky sprinkled with the twinkling stars. Such beauty, however, indicated a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Roztockian skeptics would try to explain these seemingly natural phenomenon, providing conjecture that was closer to science, practicality, naturality. Their studies and conclusions were taught in schools and in universities, although their findings were really just to gaslight themselves into thinking that no dangerous being lived deep under the hard and colorful shell of Roztock.
Wontaria and Derahan were the two supercontinents that lived in order and civilization. The Deadland, however, was like a living hell. This wretched kingdom did not have fires and red devils with forked tongues, but they lived under the soil, its despicable citizens having learned to live in darkness. Their eyes that had once glowed green, blue, even orange, had retracted back into their heads and gone blind, adjusting to the infinite blackness that covered their land. While the people of Wontaria and Derahan spoke one language, Skullors had developed their own, perhaps to keep their secrets to themselves, to keep the good people on their toes.
To keep them scared.
In the Deadland, only one god was worshipped, revered, feared, the child that lived inside the core of Roztock, a darkness that bid its time like a snake waiting to strike at the perfect opportunity. Wontarians and Derahanians mostly believed that this being inside the earth was merely a myth, a legend, but the Skullors believed--knew--otherwise.
Their god was alive and breathing. Soon, it would awaken, and the Deadland would expand its reach, its territory, and Skullors would rule Roztock, the creature in the belly of the earth lording over them, bringing nothing but the beauty of the dark and chaos.
It had been growing for millions of years, ever since the first second that Roztock was created. Since the creation of time, it had gathered strength, feeding on the malevolence and terror of foolish Roztockians. Now, it was slowly awakening. It was only a matter of time. Eventually, cracks would form.
Eventually, cracks did form.
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While Wontaria and Derahan were seen as the two good and equal kingdoms, Wontaria was undoubtedly considered the superior of the two and the main continent of Roztock. After all, Wontaria was where the Roztock Order resided, its nine members each living in the center of Korbina, the Wontarian capital.
Wontaria was divided into fourteen territories, each led by a Majesty, a member of the Royal Wontarian Clan. Their responsibilities were very similar to that of a mayor or a governor in our world, all leaders that ruled over a certain portion of Wontaria. One of these Majesties, of course, was King Heralla, simultaneously acting as the Majesty of the Oraphim Territory and the king of Wontaria.
Wontaria had had eighteen kings before King Heralla. Unlike the traditions of royalty in our world, the next kings and queens of Wontaria wasn't a role assigned by blood or lineage. Upon retirement or the death of a king--which had occured eleven times before, all under mysterious circumstances--the Roztock Order would scour the country and be in search of candidates noble enough to carry the title of king or queen. Wontarians could also nominate someone and submit it to the Board.
Of course, blood was still a major influence in their decisions, but only if an offspring was deemed worthy and was following in the footsteps of their royal mother or father.
Such exercises of democracy held Wontaria in a place of unity and pleasantness. All Wontarians seemed to get along with each other, as if they were all neighbors in a tight-knit village. Crime rates were low, and usually the citizens who would commit such heinous acts had a motive. Random and violent attacks were scarce and mostly unheard of.
The world of Roztock was much smaller than ours, and Wontaria was as big as the continents of Africa and South America combined. Each territory was bountiful, yet still differed in levels of progress and development. Unsurprisingly, the Oraphim Territory was one of the most advanced, King Heralla prioritizing it over all the other territories.
As great of a king as Heralla was, his subconscious bias for the land he was ruling over was one of his flaws. This would become the first crack in the fragile shell of Roztock. The evil that slumbered under the ground fed on negativity and terror, after all.
Unbeknownst to King Heralla and his family, for the past eight months, the people of Wontaria had been getting more frustrated with his ways of lordship. Complaints had reached the Roztock Order, and the nine members were in discussion about it the same day that the Unraveling took place.
The same day that Skullors would trespass the borders and kidnap King Heralla.
The same day that Khamene would be thrusted the responsibility of saving his father.
The same day that would set the course of the change of the world of Roztock, for everyone would soon see that the myth of the demon under the dirt was no myth at all, that their world wasn't so beautiful after all, perhaps it never had been beautiful.
The cracks were getting bigger. The demon below everyone's feet was slowly awakening, and it was hungry.
Soon it would be time to feast.