GhostBlade - Prologue

Heaven Eye

Long, long ago in Neraland, the pious humans built a great tower as an epitome of their faith and reverence to their Goddess, Nera. 

The Goddess, deeply moved by the human's piety decided to reward them for their devotion. With her grace, she opened an ethereal door that was connected to another world at the very top of the tower, it was known as the Heaven Eye. 

Soon after, it was from that door visitors descend from the world beyond, the creatures known as the Feather race. These transcendent beings shared the same figure as humans, yet possessed unworldly beauty and a pair of graceful wings with a levitating halo above their heads.

These beings of the feather race soon opened an alliance with the humans. They had come bearing with them varied stones precious beyond measure, each piece foreign and unique to this world.

They instructed mankind in the ways of the steel-making, forging, and craftsmanship. It was from them the human race learned to make armour for protection, skills in self-defence, weapons for combat, essential tools for daily life, crafting jewellery and ornaments.

Among other things, they also shared their vast knowledge in agriculture improvement, lore, arts, literature, architecture, alchemy, mathematics, science, history, a common alphabet and language. By applying their methods, the crops grew in abundance, resulting in a bountiful harvest far more than the past and an end to starvation of women and children. Scrolls, books and scriptures became widely spread as every human regardless of age or gender were taught to read and write.

The inhabitants that live surrounding the great tower soon started to construct magnificent buildings and comfortable homes with the advanced architecture they had learned from the feather race whose designs they had attempted to mirror. Gone were the days of muddy huts and fragile barns, for in its place the landscape now stood tall hard buildings that scrape the skies with spires and solid arch roofs.

Many statues of the feather races stood erected around city and the streets below were always swarming with life. The vicinity itself never seemed to sleep as every district was illuminated with light of candles be it day or night.

Thus the human societies and civilizations surrounding the Heaven Eye became a symbol of progress and limitless potential as it thrived and prospered by leaps and bounds, all thanks to the generous guidance of the benevolent feather race.

To show their love and gratitude to these heavenly beings, they gave the feather race a beautiful name; a unique name that would perfectly embody all that they are.

The feather race were forevermore known as "Angels".

The glorious future of mankind seemed to be as bright as the light of the sun itself.

However...

In the light of the glory of the alliance between the angels and the humans, drunk on comfort and pleasure that the humans had begun to forget their past hardships and the gratitude that they are in debt to the angels.

Humanity's greatest weakness was greed, and their unending greed that can never be satisfied proved to be their downfall.

Regardless of how long they try or how hard they struggle, mankind could not change what was in their nature.

They kept craving for more and more, until the day mankind's fall from grace took place...

One day, a man called Guld kidnapped an angel, all in order to demand more treasure and power for himself.

Despite being restrained and bound, the angel did not yield to his demands. And when she had refused every last one of his requests, Guld brutally murdered this innocent angel.

The moment her lifeless hand fell to the ground and her blood soaked the earth, the fate of the humanity was sealed.

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When word of this atrocity reached the ears of the King of Angels, he was enraged beyond words and swore to cast this ignorant, greedy and ungrateful race into oblivion.

What was once worshiped as Heaven soon became Hell.

In the course of a single night, the world as mankind knew it became a purgatory; in the place of the once kind angels from Heaven Eye to nurture and teach them, mankind received powerful avenging warriors of the feather race, bent on punishing the human race with their annihilation.

With the alliance now broken, the once proud cities that stood at the pinnacle of human civilization were set aflame as they fall to the onslaught of the angels.

The streets that used to be full of laughter and happiness was now replaced with chaos and the screams of confusion, horror, and terror while the burning fires raged on.

Despair filled the very air as many lives were extinguished that night, and countless more bloodshed followed suit. The air was thick with the smell of burned flesh as hot blood ran freely on the cobblestones. 

The skies were bolted out with armies of heaven as angels clad in armour swoop down and pierced through the retreating inhabitants with their spears, covered from their wings to their armour in a deep crimson.

Structures crumbled and fell to ruin, the smoke from the burning shops and houses choked the air and painted the night sky with clouds of black, adding depth to the darkness.

As the howls of the city inhabitants died off, the screams of the following city sprouted anew, and repeated so to the next, and the next... the angels did not stop.

Eventually, Neraland was engulfed in dark days and fear as the remaining humans had either attempt to repel the angels, escape from their reach or simply fought among each another for supplies to survive. Family, relatives, friends, loved ones, many were slaughtered and untold lives were lost, neither women nor children were spared from the angel's wrath.

The land was nearly drowned in the blood of the fallen, and humanity itself was driven to near-extinction. Those few surviving refugees were forced to seek shelter deep beneath the underground caverns and caves to hides from vigilant eyes of the angels. Without a stable supply of crops and hardly any fuel left for warmth, the demise of the human race seemed imminent and most began to lose the will to live.

This was the darkest age of mankind.

Yet, all was not lost.

It is said that chaos and despair breed the greatest of heroes.

So it was that from that conflict, the hope of mankind was rekindled with the emergence of Ostin, a winged human who was the son of a man and an angel. He called and gathered various warriors around the world, both far or near, to join his great cause and led them to fight back against the angels.

There were many setbacks in the beginning, as the angels still proved too difficult to defeat. Nevertheless, as time passed and more allies joined the battle, they started to turn the tides of the war.

Many brave souls willingly gave their lives for hope of peace, to reclaim their world from the angels once more. Never before had humanity been thus united.

Inspired by the hope of Ostin's bright charisma, more and more brave human warriors begun to join Ostin's banner like moths drawn to a flame. With his leadership, mankind was able to rise from depths of despair and defeat, banding together and fighting as one against the angels with renewed tenacity and vigor. Gradually, the human army began to win more battles against the feather race.

Finally, humanity won the war and forced their defeated angelic foes back to their own world through the Heaven Eye.

The long, hard arduous war was at long last laid to rest in human history. The dead were mourned as lives lost to end the war was the price for the future paid in blood.

This historic event was marked as "Adam's Heavenly War".

After their victory, Ostin personally handpicked five hundred of the most powerful human fighters and led them as a special guardian force.

These brave souls who patrol the Heaven Tower are known as the "Templar"; the most renowned and respected people in the world.

200 years passed in peace,

Until...