The island of Tahlat is known throughout the Empire of Man as only a place one goes to either die or disappear. There are records and texts dating back to the beginning of the Warring States period, when the empire was just a conglomerate of tribes, of the same phenomenom going on. It's safe to say that anybody who has heard of the glory of the empire, has also heard of the pebble in her shoe.
The pebble of Tahlat had long been forgotten by the higher-ups in the empire but ambitious upstarts would always find a reason to gather up a few hundred men in hopes of securing the island for glory or some bullshit. Most soldiers who are worth anything will tell you that any assignment other than a marine scout in the area of Tahlat is administrative suicide. Those who have sailed around the island will tell you that it is heaven on Maka, in appearance atleast. One can never fully enjoy the beauty in the beast after all.
After Makan knows how long the island of Tahlat regained its peaceful tranquility of ancient times. This peace lasted maybe 300 years until the first-ever king ranked individual since the Warring States period declared the island of Tahlat as his personal domain. The king named Denos came from the southern territories of the empire, more specifically the castle town of Deadford. This providence was already famous for being a barren grassland where the empire has been fighting the Dragan Theocracy for the last millennia. Denos earned his stripes in the imperial military hereby proving himself time and time again, he supposedly wiped out a small scout troop of Draganians by himself. Some say he met with Elven cult members to increased his strength exponentially through unknown measures, furthering his rise in personal glory and power. The imperial court pleaded with Emperor Leon to look into it, but he had grown complacent over the years. After many years of council arguments and debates, he was granted a noble title which came with a providence of choice. Everyone including the aging emperor to the ancestors of the empire thought that he would choose his home providence of Deadford which had an extremely long border with his biggest enemy. But as you could have guessed, he went with the wild card, the thorn of the empire, Tahlat.
Many men who lost ancestors to the beast of Tahlat rejoiced, those who already questioned the loyalty of Denos were convinced he was planning to secede once he took control of the island. Either way, it was accepted once those many ambitious upstarts started showing up by the masses to take part in what they thought would be the greatest conquest since the first Emperor Micheal first united the tribes of man. Denos gathered and organized his troops for close to 4 years before departing towards the island which was 350 miles north of the city Dawview, which was located on the northern coast of the empire and the only port of the empire.. Many men were lost on the journey as the naval tradition of the empire was not much to speak of due to focusing on the conflicts on their extremely long borders with the Dragon Theocracy and the High Kingdom of Elvar respectively. Also not to mention the non-forgiving nature of the Tahlat Sea. It was almost as if Makan herself didn't approve of the journey of Denos. Eventually, he and his troops arrived on the beaches of Tahlat, they reported seeing bodies of soldiers of the past from all the back during the Warring States period in perfect condition with only plain clothing. and tried to recover the remains but every soldier that touched one of their fallen brethren ends up with the same fate. Even those with actual backing who tried with spatial storage rings and kingly treasures found that their treasure would be wisped away the second it connected with any one of the soldiers.
This lead to a huge morale drop within the army and many weak-willed individuals who only came for the bragging rights back home tried to return immediately after witnessing so much death around them, even the king Denos couldn't stop them from their panic. But what came next was a bigger shock, those who retreated all drop dead and were thrown overboard by the huge waves hit the boats. All the bodies that floating back to the coast were stripped of all there belongings only left with the clothes on their back. This lead to futher chaos amongst the ranks but non were to stupid to try were the other have just failed. Denos awaited his scouts to return while he order other troops to begin constructing a camp. Futher chaos insued as the soldiers soon found that the prestine boreal forest of Tahlat was home to creatures which were similar but different than the animals of the mainland. The infantry of the empire showed to be no match to the average wolf or tiger. Bears could take out a whole section before even being injured. Many animals were quick enough to escape even if seriousuly injured. The only person who was unfazed was of course Denos, but even he had to expend huge amounts of mana to kill off a king level beast.
King Level Beast!!
There was no such thing on the mainland, atleast in the empire. Once the troops knew that even their commander wasn't invicible, all hell broke lose. Only the elites who grew up and trained alongside Denos in Deadford kept their calm, at least on the surface. Denos who was still slightly injured from all the altercations with the many king level beast of the island, eventually called rallied his troops and called a meeting with them to discuss their next actions. After a few days of heated debate they decide on trying their luck on leaving once again. The troops unanimously choose to leave while only a few fanitically loyal elites argued to stay, they single handly held up the entire troop with their status making every common soldiers hate them even more. Denos was silent throughout the matter and only agreed when the end result was decided. This cemented in the minds of the soldiers that their commander had truly lost his will to fight. Not to mention that his previous kingly aura had begun to fade. Once everything was decided everyone jumped on the nearest boat and tried their best to catch wind to the only port of the empire, Dawview.
Luck was on the side of some but for most it was a diferent story. Almost half of the men dropped dead with the first month of the journey slowing down the convoy of broken spirits even futher. Not even a half of the jourmey was completed when the group was hit with another round of deaths this time affecting even those of the low duke rank. Morale pummeleted with the troops within wills and heirlooms becoming the most common recreation with the army. Even Denos secret wrote a will and tried to prepare a kingly inheritence only to find out his king rank power had dropped to qausi king rank or more commonly known as the saint rank. Although this was stll considered a powerful characte, it wasn't king ranked. If he was still back on Tahlat, he would be fair game just like the rest of his troops.
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This humbled Denos to the point that he begun considering his fellow saint rank soldiers as advisors. There were six when he made his decison but only four were found alive when the announcement was made. This shocked the entire army to core as even Denos was terrified by this point. The hysteria contiuned until the army docked and collectively ran to gather on the mainland as fast as possible. As this was the first time anybody had heard from the group in over five years the messengers stationed there by the empire were slow to react. Atleast that is the official is history books. The locals like to believe it was because of the hagard appeareance of the now the saint Denos and his once mighty fleet of conquerers. Either way word spread throughout the empire soon after. Denos had no choice but to report what happen back to the emperor. He quickly made his was along with now two advisors to request a meeting with the emperor.
The journey to Snowfals, the captial of the empire of man was not nearly as long as the one to Tahlat, only a mere 130 miles from Dawview. The only problem is that the roads are ravaged by bandits and weaker versions of the beasts of Tahlat. The journey would have taken longer if the army was still full capacity, but with 5% of his troops left, Denos knew he could move quickly. With haste Denos gathered his hagared troops and made his way to the capital with haste. After travelling for a 10 full days and nights, he could finally seeing the glistening snow cover peaks over the mountain which the captial is based around he felt a little weight lift off his shoulders as he got closer to the granite walls of the captial. He and his group went through the security checks unimpeded as they raced towards the inner gates of the city. They only slowed once they reached the inner gates and was forced to go through a rountine check that all who must go through when entering an imperial section of any city. It was then that one of the guards reveal both of Denos's advisors as not one but both of the empire's longtime enemies, a Draganian and an Elven respectivelly.
All three saints were arrested by the emperor's own personal guard and escorted deep within the emperor's castle. The last the public saw of the army of Denos was his ragged sheets for clothes and torn shoes disappearing behind a wall infused with the almost mythical emperor's mana masking anything from being seen clearly. His muffeled screams for mercy were ignored by all except those who witness him fight on that damned island. They quickly fled the scene though as they were no match for the emperor's forces. As far as historian are concerned, this is considered to be the spark that ignited the fire of civil strife throught the empire as a whole. But that won't be until much later.
News quickly spread from those who lived in throughout the ordeal, with stories of count ranked rabbits and crows, aswell as duke or even saint ranked bears and tigers. The legend of the king ranked wolf of Tahlat spread like wildfire along with myths of emperor ranked apes and serpents. Some stories were even confirmed by officials reports publicized by the empire with confessions from the undeseriables aswell as written accounts from now pardoned Saint Denos, although he was still stripped of all his noble titles and placed under permenant survalence by emperor's decree. He was placed within the prestigious Imperial Military Academy gave the role of guardian which basically bound him to the academy as long as he lived. This wasn't considered controversial by the common folk as most would never even see the gates of the academy, but the nobility of the empire didn't take to kindly to a discarded noble lording over their children no matter what his strength is. Denos address these concerns during the opening ceremony of the academy for its next term of somehow convinced the nobility of their trust. After all he was one of the few men to visit the beast and come back alive.
A few decades went by before the next shocking event took place. A roar louder than the most powerful thunder or lighting to ever hit Maka's soil reverated throughout the entire world. Even the most backwood common folk heard an echo of that shocking noise. Most people assumed it was just a battle in the not so far distance. Some even thought they were under attack by one of those beast they use to hear about a during their youth. Those in the now desolate Dawview port-town were all pushed out by the by the huge waves coming from the north from the Tahlat. Nobody thought about the incident that happen years ago except one grim guardian who stared out the northern window at the sky of his tower, with a look of pure terror. Only he knew the true power contained behind that roar. He then did what any man in fear of death would do in this, cultivate and prayed to Maka.
More importantly, the source of the roar which was heard around the world did indeed orginate from the island of Tahlat. It wasn't some king ranked tiger or an emperor ranked ape, It wasn't a beast at all actually. It came from deep within the forest on that secluded island. Pass the mellow rivers and swampy marshes, through endless trees and an incredible amount of power beasts. Below the huge mountain on the island deep inside at the end of a canyon lay a village. It was well put together and well keep, it even had a nice sized gate covering the only entrance to the village. There were five wooden medium size villas towards the front of the village with a huge wooden manor situated at the back of the village.
On the second floor of the manor, a beautiful broze lady, who was no older than 30 with the most amazing slate eyes that perfectly match her naturally kinky black hair. By her side sat a man with brown skin, who carried the aura of an emperor, but looked no older than 35 with black hair and eyes too match. Their were multiple people surrounding the couple, two were clearly older, and the others look around the same age. The couple were chatting as lovers would until that same roar which terrified the former king Denos, that same roar which made the whole world stop, echoed out from that ordinary-looking baby that they gently cuddled in between them.
"Waaah!"
"Oh, Okay now dear, this is only your first week and you are already making demands."
"He's a warrior indeed, I'm afraid our family won't be able to lie low now that he is here. Maybe--"
"Haha. No maybe's now boy, your grandmother already predicted that the third son would be a child with no fate. Now that he is here, there should be no questions. Tell him honey."
"He's right son, even I can feel mana circulating towards him as we speak. I think our troubles are only now beginning."
"I know.. I just want him to be happy."
"That's the thing boy.. Once he grows up it won't matter what we want."
"Waahhh!"
"I wonder what is bugging our little legend." "Makan knows."
"...."
"Well whatever it is was, it seems to be gone now." "Maybe he is just sleepy."
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'..uh thanks..'