A WAR BETWEEN NATIONS DOES NOT ALWAYS INVOLVE ITS LEADERS. Sometimes the countries involved are oblivious to the war outside of those caught in its crossfires. In the case of the war between the Kenshi and Mujihina families, these sentiments could not be more real. To capture the full history of this smaller scale conflict, we must turn to a small island off of the coast of Crenon known as the Unkempt.

Within one of the many small houses in this area, Zeronius Kantoku III sat in his room, reading. The hardcover book he was looking through told of Crenon’s history, from its time as a single unified nation to its eventual split following the death of Emperor Ettan Attling IV. The book was published far too long ago to provide information beyond that.

On the other side of the house, coming through the front door, was his father, Zeronius Kantoku II. He carried a large burlap sack filled with metal into the house before laying it onto a table. This metal had a reddish hue to it, much like a garnet, hence the maila giving it the name “garnium”, with the maila being the sapient creatures that inhabit the Unkempt. They have pointed ears and skin tougher than diamond. This latter trait, however, does not fully develop until a maila reaches 100 years of age, which is roughly equivalent to a 10-year-old human given the great differences in life expectancy.

Returning to garnium, it possesses a strong magical property. This power is so immense, in fact, that the molecular structure of any human who touches it would immediately disintegrate. The maila have enough innate magic on account of their ability to change their physical form to avoid these effects, while humans have a much smaller pool to draw from.

“Zero!” the elder maila called out. Zero III came down the hallway and met his father in the dining room.

“What’s the matter?” Zero III asked him. “Did you mix your wonder-metal with nitroglycerin again? Should I have brought a water bucket?”

“Very funny,” Zero II sighed. “No, I have another shipment of garnium for you to bring over to Aotoshi.”

“Are you kidding me?” the younger maila complained. “I just took the last shipment over there a week ago. Does that mine ever run out?”

“We’ve yet to see,” the elder replied somewhat sarcastically, “but the odds are the answer is yes.”

“Can’t you get somebody else to do it this time?”

“I wish I could, but we’re the only suppliers of garnium,” Zero II answered as he took a chunk of the material from his sack. “This metal is vital to Akuni and Aotoshi if they stand any chance in the Great Trifecta War.”

“Can’t I go some other time?” Zero III continued to bargain. “If I have to keep making these errands, I might just end up working myself to the bone. I need to replenish.”

“The more time you waste delivering these materials, the more likely it is that Akuni and Aotoshi will fall.”

“But Dad-”

“Don’t ‘But Dad’ me!” the four-hundred-thirty-seven year old maila grunted, irritated by his two-hundred-one year old son’s immaturity. “The Great Trifecta War isn’t going to end itself! Those humans would be helpless if we didn’t mix our garnium into their weapons.”

“Which is exactly my point,” Zero III responded. “They can’t even hold garnium without dying. Why do we even bother helping out that pathetic lot?”

“Zero,” the head of the household began, this time in a calmer tone, “you’ll learn that humans are stubborn. Very stubborn. This stubbornness led to the Great Trifecta War in the first place. If it weren’t for Doglib assassinating the Emperor of Aotoshi, his son would’ve never declared war. Regardless, you’ll find yourself helping those stubborn creatures out some day.”

“Yeah, right,” the youngest scoffed. Little did Zeronius III know, this prophecy was to be proven true very soon.

“How much am I taking over?” he continued.

“I have what you’ll need right here,” garnium’s discoverer said as he tossed the bag of said mineral to his son. It soared through the air gracefully on account of garnium being very nearly weightless. “You should be able to catch the next ferry.”

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“Alright,” the son answered as he started toward the door. “I’ll be back here before you know it.”

The younger maila paused at the doorway and turned to his father.

“One more thing,” he began. “It’s getting a bit stuffy here. You could use some fresh air.”

With his remarks finished, Zero III went through the door and headed toward Orban’s Ferry. Zero II sighed before opening a window and continuing to experiment with functional garnium alloys.

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Zeronius III, from this point referred to simply as Zero, boarded Orban’s Ferry toward the country of Aotoshi from the coast of an area of the Unkempt named the Jardiesh region, so named as it was the word in the Mailan tongue for “west”. The ferry promised a journey between The Unkempt and Crenon of at most two days, just as long as it took for its namesake discoverer of The Unkempt, Samuel Orban, to travel between the two locations. As he boarded, he saw a young man with skin the shade of mahogany. To blend in with the rest of the humans that were aboard Orban’s Ferry, he took up his guise, mixing in a few traits from other people to craft a truly unique identity. He took one man’s stature, another man’s eye color, a young girl’s hair color with her father’s length, and whatever other traits he could find until he was distinct enough from any other person on board. Whenever he needed to keep the guise of a human, he would use this appearance as the one he took on.

Those two days aboard Orban’s Ferry eventually passed and Zero reached his destination of Aotoshi. By this time, he had used a majority of his energy reserved for shape-changing and found himself reverting to his natural form as a maila. Fortunately, nobody had seen the reversion and he was largely ignored by his fellow passengers.

The ferry’s gate opened and the passengers began to slowly pour out of the small opening. Watching this sight would surely evoke the vision of a large number of rodents catching the scent of the same meal and pushing one another to be the first to reach the food in the next room. Zero decided to stay back, waiting until the hustle had quieted down a little before continuing.

Eventually, he joined the line. Zero had reached the docks, but getting off of them was an entirely different matter. The line before him, and thus the line into Aotoshi, was elongated to an incredible degree, so much so that Zero could hardly see the customs officers at the border of the country.

“Stop right there, young man,” the first man commanded. “We’re conducting a random bag check.” This man was rather large in stature and held a fairly wide stance.

“A what?” Zero interjected. “This is outrageous!”

“You’re on Aotoshi land, boy!” a second guard sneered. “Hand it over!” The guard had a large grey beard and breath that smelled strongly of alcohol, most likely a cheap beer. Suddenly, he reached for the bag. Zero dodged the man’s grasp for the bag very swiftly, avoiding any contact with the men with himself or the bag. The first guard responded by forcing Zero’s arm behind his back by grabbing his wrist. The maneuver caused Zero to drop the sack. A third guard, a rather gaunt young man, reached for the bag. As soon as he touched the bag, the molecular structure of his body split as he evaporated into thin air. Only a small mist of blood could be seen before it floated into the skies above.

“What the hell?!” the second officer stammered at the sight of his colleague’s death. “What is that thing?! How dare you bring such a dangerous weapon into Aotoshi? Are you trying to kill us all?!” He grabbed Zero by the shirt collar as he continued to yell at the maila.

“That is enough,” a low voice emerged from behind the officers. “Let the young man go at once.”

Upon hearing this man speak, the guard froze before letting go of their grasps on Zero. They turned and bowed toward the man. He was a clean-shaven and well-toned specimen with brown hair and a pair of black bifocals. He was also rather tall, standing roughly six feet two inches tall at minimum. He wore a rather puffy black coat with a fur lining on the inside during that cold afternoon.

“Emperor Kral,” the first guard responded. “I’m sorry that you had to bear witness to such atrocities. We were just about to take this terrorist into custody-”

“That will not be necessary,” Kral interrupted. “We do not greet our guests with prison cells. You will learn this well, officer.” He then went over to Zero and placed a hand on his shoulder after helping him up from the docks.

“This is Zeronius Kantoku III, and he is a maila,” he continued. “The bag he has brought here is filled with a rare metal called garnium that only he can hold.”

“My deepest apologies-”

“You are dismissed,” the emperor demanded.

“Of course,” the guards responded before leaving.

By this point, Kral was annoyed by these guards’ behavior. This was not an isolated incident, as these guards were often known for nationalistic violence and he was considering firing them at some point in the future. Seeing that they had left, he turned to Zero with a warm smile.

“I’m sorry about that misunderstanding,” the emperor continued, his low voice becoming more welcoming than threatening. “Your metals mean a lot to our country. Now, are you ready to head to Jidi?”

“Uh…sure, I guess,” he responded with a somewhat confused tone. “Lead the way, Emperor.”