Over 6000 years before the story...
In the abyss of nothingness that existed before the universe's creation, the being known as God decided to make a world that would harbor the many races that He desired to create and walk amount. God breathed life into the abyss, and the world of "Vera" was birthed. Soon after, He created many races that would inhabit this new world's vast surface.
First made was the Angels. They were known as beings of "light" and "true righteousness" who praised God all throughout the day and through all the night. The Angels brought messages to the other races, telling of the roles and responsibilities they all would be given by their Creator. Some Angels had the appearance of many eyes. There were some who had multiple wings and some were the most beautiful things you had ever seen. Through all their days, worshiped God for all he had done.
Second to be created were a race known as the Demons. They balanced the light of the angels with the darkness of the night and brought punishment on those who did not follow God. These punishments included things such as sickness, sadness, and on some occasions death.
Then God made being who were called the humans. They were a race of people who could use magic in their everyday lives to make the world better, channeling the mana around them to make things such as streams of water or the blaze of the fire. They had a close relationship as God's "children" and worshiped him for all he had made.
After this, God made the Spirits. Unlike Angels, Demons, Humans, the Spirits used their own "Spirit Essence" to work in daily society. This process had the Spirits channel their own "life force" throughout their body and then sending it out as supernatural power. Their society had the Spirit of Light as its ruler, followed by the spirit of darkness and then ending down the list with the Spirit of Plasma as both the lowest ranking and weakest among the race no matter who held its power.
Fifth was the Monster. They, like the previously mentioned Demons, brought punishment upon those who did not follow God. They acted as servants to God like the Angels, only much more brutal in their work.
Next to be made were a race called the Beastmen. These creatures were a combination of both the animals and the Human race. From Catmen to the Merpeople, these beings worked more as a tribe than a civilization. The Beastmen lived in forests and chose to be more of a "tribal people" unlike the other races.
Finally, God made the Dragonmen. This race could take on the form of a Dragon as well as that of a humanoid creature and were described as insanely beautiful. Many other races honored them as God's noblest creatures on Vera and some even treated them as that of mini-gods.
All this created by God was peaceful. That is, until one day when everything took a turn for the worst...
An Angel called "Lucifer" who had once acted as one of the highest ranking of his race decided he that was more powerful than God and deserved to recreate a better world under his leadership. Leading the Demons, Monsters, some humans, and Dragons, Lucifer rebelled against his former Master and tried to take over Vera. Due to these actions, he was then nicknamed as the first "King of Chaos" to walk Vera.
God saw the disobedience of Lucifer and soon called forth an army of His own to deliver judgement and end his plans. This group was called that of "Heroes"...
The Heroes were powerful Humans, Spirits, Beastmen, and Angels who were born once a century to defeat the King of Chaos and his forces. With their divine weapons and powers bestowed upon them, the twelve Heroes and the one Great Hero went on to fight and soon take down the Angel Lucifer.
With their supernatural and amazing powers, they ended the run of the King of Chaos and his intentions. Then, they sentenced the other races who had followed Lucifer to eternity in the Underworld, a place which lied under the mainland of Vera and one that burned with eternal fire.
From that day on, every century, a new King of Chaos would be born and to try and take over Vera once again. To stop this, along with the King of Chaos, the twelve Heroes and one Great hero would come to stop this being...
A little over 6000 years later...
In the present day of Vera, a total of nine nations run by the Humans exist. Two of these nations are the kingdoms known as that of Stashin and Kushida. Inside of Kushida, three different "sectors" divide the land into the Noble Realm, the Common Realm, and the Forsaken Realm, their ranks being in order mentioned.
In the Forsaken Realm, the village of "Kantor" lies. A small village with a population of only sixty three people, it was home to a number of eleven families. One of these said families belonged to Leopold, the protagonist of our story...
"Emy, please stop tugging on my arm!" The kids of Kantor were playing in a field near their village. Leopold remembered each of his friends as Cici, Emy, Lily, Jack, Peter, and his sister Ceil.
The girl known as Emy was tugging on Leo's arm as she play wrestled him. "I won't stop until you give up, Lee!" Emy protested.
"Fine! I surrender!" Leo pleaded. "So please just get off me already!" Emy smiled at her friend's state of defeat and soon got off of Leo, beaming with pride.
"That makes it twenty three for me and zero for you, Lee!" she exclaimed
"Leo, you really need to try harder to beat her!" Peter exclaimed. Peter was Leo's best friend, along side Jack, and the only person who didn't patronize him and tackle him every single day! Unfortunately, he did still think Leo was a bit weak...
"I do try!" Leo cried. "But I just can't win! It isn't like I have the talent for this and you know that!" He pouted, annoyed at everyone heckling him.
"But you should at least be able to defeat one of us, right?" Emy asked. "Your total record in all our matches is zero wins and eighty nine losses! You need to win at least once!" Emy was the second youngest of the group, apart from Ceil, and was quite the hindrance. She was also Peter and Cinder's younger cousin.
"You really are pathetic, Lee." Cinder mocked. "Why can't you do better." Out of all of the kids in the village, Cinder was by far the meanest to Leopold. She would always tease him for his lack of magic or his clear weaknesses or the fact that he was short.
"Stop being so mean, Cinder! I'm sure Leo is trying his hardest!" Lily cried. Out of everyone, except Ceil, Lily was Leo's favorite. She was the youngest sibling of Cinder, Peter, Amy, and herself. Still, she'd try to push her fears of them aside to help Leo.
"She's so sweet..."
Also, if Leopold was being completely frank, he had just the smallest crush on the girl. Unfortunately, since he was scared of what she would think of that idea, Leopold had never admitted that idea to her directly.
"Let's just stop teasing Leo and go back to the game!" Jack pleaded. Jack was Emy's older brother. He was more "eccentric" than most of the kids in Kantor and the other big leader of their group, aside from Cinder. Jack smiled as he looked at Ceil who was next to him.
"That's another thing to watch out for... This guy has a mad crush on my sister. Luckily, I don't that she's figured that one out yet."
Finally was Leopold's own sister, Ceil. The girl was known for being fairly shy and not being able to talk with people aside from Leopold and his parents. She had more magical power than anyone else in the village and was nicknamed "Kantor's prodigy" as many hoped she would be able to actually achieve a fairy stable life someday. "Unlike me, she's so cute and so special..." Leo clenched his fists. "I'll show everybody that I can be strong! Just you wait!"
====================
Leo was resting on his sleeping mat within his family's small hut. It was the middle of the night and everyone except for his father and some other guys watching for enemies who may attack the village were asleep. However, Leo couldn't mind any ability to nod off as all he could think of was gaining strength!
"I have to become stronger! Then, Cinder won't make fun of me and I can be the one to defend Lily!" He wanted that, but Leopold knew that it wouldn't easy...
He rolled over onto his side, thinking of what he could do to better himself. Training perhaps? Unlikely considering that there wasn't really anyone he could ask other than Cinder herself. It was a pretty annoying situation.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a loud crash sounded from outside of the hut where Leopold and his family were sleeping. He looked up, narrowing his eyes as he tried to figure out what was going on.
Ceil jerked up when she heard the sound, frightened. The girl looked over at her older brother, shaking. "Big brother, w-what was that???" She crawled over to him, grabbing onto his arm.
"I don't know..." Leo said, worried about what was happening as well. What if something bad was going on outside? He looked over at his mother who had also been awoken, hoping for an answer that she might be able to possibly give him. "Mom, do you know what that is?"
Leopold and Ceil's mom shook her head. "I don't know kids. Stay here and I'll look." With those few words, she slowly left the hut to see what was happening.
Only moments later, one frightening sound could be heard...
"SLASH!"
After, a thud hit the ground and the faint scent of Leo and Ceil's mom became that of a rotting corpse. Their was only silence that followed, even the slightest sound of the woman's breath unable to be heard by either one of the children that she had left behind in the hut.
"Mom?" Ceil whispered. She didn't know what was happening, but Leo knew exactly what was going on.
The boy stood up, his body shaking even more than it previously had been."It's an attack!" Leopold gritted his teeth and then looked down at his sister.
"Ceil, stay in the tent!" Leo ordered. "I need to go see if mom needs help. Just go back to sleep and we'll be back soon."
"O-okay." Ceil mumbled.
"Wait!" Before the boy could make it even a few measly steps, he stopped. worrying of if they came for Ceil, he looked back at her and slightly smiled. "If you hear the same thud you just did, then head over to the field we usually play in. I'll come and get you later, alright?"
Ceil nodded and then put her head back down on her sleeping mat. As she did, Leo exited the small house and went to see what was going on outside. He crept slowly, making sure that nobody could either see or hear him.
And sure enough, Leopold saw the dead body of his mother, his father, and many others from the village strewn all throughout the village. His body felt tense as he looked at them, wanting to puke
"Mom... Dad... Who did this?"
He didn't see who it could have been, the person who may have done this to all of them. He kept snooping around the village for a few moments as he hoped to just maybe find the culprit. Who could have done this to all of them? What was going on? Leopold needed answers to the many questions swirling around in his head. However, as hd continued looked around, there didn't seem to be anyone.
That was, until...
"VWOOSH"
A green light headed straight for Leo at shocking speeds. It looked to be some sort of group of arrows, although Leopold couldn't fully make it out in those few seconds. Things such as trees and houses that were in its way were burned in the blink of an eye by the incoming light.
"There's no way for me to get out of the way!" Leopold panicked, wanting to move but not having near enough time. "Am I going to die?" Leo thought of all that had happened in his eight years of life. He felt sweat drip down his body, fear washing over him in such a rate as he had never felt before this. "I haven't gotten to do much in my life, have I... I'll never be strong enough to take on Cinder. I'll never be able to be with Lily. Ill never see Ceil again..."
"Have I failed?"
And then it came for him. Leopold heard the sounds of what he expected to be the light hitting him, his ears ringing with it as he did. However, something was off... Something was definitely not right.
"SLASH"
Leopold opened his eyes. He had heard that sound correctly, right? He could have sworn that the sound of that light crashing into him had just gone off. And yet...
"Why doesn't my body hurt?" He looked at his body, and strangely there was no damage in sight. Other than the sight of his already ripped clothes and the sweat on his body, he was completely fine. How? "What the heck happened?"
He looked up. The only explanation was that someone had stepped in front of Leopold and that they were able to block the blast while saving Leopold in the process. But who could do such a thing?
"Ceil... Ceil!"
It was none other than Leo's own little sister, Ceil! She had multiple holes in her body that had left her in a horrible condition and barely breathing while blood spilled out of her body at a rapid rate. The girl quickly collapsed to the ground from the injury, her eyes faded and on the brink of death.
"I-I protected you, b-big brother..." she barely got out as she laid there.
"Ceil!" Leo cried as he ran to her side. "What are you doing here?! I told you to run, didn't I?! Why did you come here?!" He looked at her body again, his hands covering in blood as he touched her injured wounds. "At this rate, you'll be dead in a few moments! We need to get you healed!"
There has to be something that he could do for her, rights? It was his fault she was in this state! He had to help her, as both a man of morals and as her older brother! If he didn't, the surely she would be...
"Dead! She's going to die!"
However, despite her state, Ceil was able to keep speaking. "N-No, Leo... You need to run." Ceil said as she coughed up blood. "I'm as good... as dead now. You need to survive... and become strong." She looked up at Leopold, starting to cry. "For me... Please?"
"No!" Leo refused her offer, still desperate to get her out of there. He couldn't just leave her behind while he got out alive! "I'm not going to let you die!"
"You have to..." Ceil protested, coughing up even more blood.
And as if a sign, another blast of green light hit part Leo's arm. The flesh quickly disintegrated into nothing, no skin or bones left. "Agh!" Leo cried in pain, clutching his injured limb.
Ceil was right, unfortunately. He needed to run so that her sacrifice wasn't in vain! If he didn't, then everyone from Kantor was sure to be wiped out! Leopold got up and looked at her for a few more seconds, and then turned to run.
He started to flee from the now burning village as his sister had commanded, but all he could think in the moment was... "I'm such a horrible big brother. Me getting away while she dies? How pathetic..." He laughed at the idea, still kind of wanting to go back and at the very least die alongside her.
And then, after he had gotten out into the forest behind the small village, another blast of green light came into view. Leopold looked back, watching as it followed Leopold along. It hit his eyes directly, blinding him in an instant and causing him to trip and fall to the ground..
"GAH! It hurts! Ceil, you can't die! I'm so weak! It hurts... Ceil you can't die... I'm so weak..."
Leopold felt himself roll over into his side, blood all over his damaged body. He did think that he could still bring himself to cry, although he was surprised when the feeling of what he thought to be water covered his face.
"It hurts so much. Ceil, you just can't die!" He gritted his teeth once again, holding his only other hand to the sky. "I'm sorry..." And then his hand fell back down and he faded into an unconscious state. Whether he would survive the attack and whether everyone else would be alright were nothing of concern to him anymore as he was completely drained.
And he was asleep.