The Holy Kingdom of Polonia... One of the numerous nations that had been subjugated and conquered by the continental conquest that the Neugomian Empire had long sought out for. Like many of the other countries that had been vassalized by the prowess of imperial might, the kingdom had not been excluded from the rampant abuse and discrimination that the empire would often display to its colonized states.
However, Polonia had one important thing in its possession that made the empire's treatment towards it quite marginally better than that of the many vassal states under the heel of its hardened boot: a thousand years ago during the ancient wars of old, Polonia's lands had remained relatively unblemished and unscathed from the conflict's devastation due to a myriad of unknown reasonings, and because of this fact, the nation had retained a great many of its natural landscapes and resources... One of the many perfect places to be a sight for majestic exploitation.
Most importantly however, the Holy Kingdom of Polonia had one more exclusivity that made it a nation of great significance... An important vassal in the Empire's eyes: the richness of valuable ores within its beautiful lands, sources of excellent iron, gold, any many other precious items that the Empire could use for a myriad of purposes...
As such, it had been the reason why the Kingdom of Polonia had been designated as the Pearl of Xathra- so many natural resources were available within this country's lands, that the Empire had spent a great amount of time, effort and resources on the infrastructures of the kingdom's lands alone in order to better govern such an important vassal state of theirs...
Unfortunately though, this was also simultaneously one of the reasons why this nation was going to be assaulted by a new, foreign enemy in a nearby future that was not too distant from the current time
period...
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"I got ya!"
"No fair! How'd you do it so fast?"
In one of the many open avenues within thr vast road network of Polonia's massive, capital city, 2 children were playing tag with each other as they ran barefoot through the streets, with both their faces and clothes enveloped in grime and dust as they chased each other in a game that would seemingly never end- fortunately though, the streets that the 2 children were playing on weren't currently being used too much by the countless horses and carriages that passed by.
In truth, Szymon and Bazyli were brothers belonging to that of a peasant household: their father was a dedicated carpenter who was often busy with work, while their mother was a talented tailor who had been earning quite well as of late in her profession. Due to the time-demanding nature of their jobs however, both of these hardworking parents would often be away from home, and because of this, the 2 children would often try to find ways to relieve themselves of the boredom that would often come creeping into their lives.
Today, the brothers had decided to play a game of tag, and the place they were currently playing on were the same streetways that were right in front of their home. It had been several hours now since they had first begun their little game, and even then, the 2 children had seemingly not even grown tired of playing.
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"It's because I'm quicker than you, Bayzyli! Even when we're just walking, I'm always still faster than you!" the elder brother Szymon teased, quickly annoying his younger sibling in the process. "You're even slower than our fat old neighbor, and she's supposed to be a tub of lard who can barely even walk!"
"I-I'm not that slow! You're just always so fast..." Bazyli argued. "How come you can run so quickly anyway? It's like you're training to become a pickpocket or something..."
His older brother smirked as he would then quickly scoff. "It's simple actually." Szymon told with a smug tone evident in his voice. "It's because you're a weakling! Hahahaha!"
"Y-You...!"
Another chase would then ensue, though this time, it would be Bayzyli who would give chase this time, as Szymon swiftly seized the opportunity to run away and easily outpaced his younger brother without much issue- they had been doing the same thing again and again every day for the past 3 years, and while they were able to play with some of the other kids at times, today, the only playmates they could currently find for their little game today were the both of them.
Today would have been a day like any other: eventually, they would get tired and return home, where they would finally do their chores and clean up the place in preparation for the return of their parents. It was a relatively simple life, and a rather great one at that when compared to the lives of the less-fortunate peasant folk of their nation- after all, ever since the empire had colonized them and made them their vassals, a lot of terrible things started to transpire within the Holy Kingdom's lands as a result.
... Today, though, something terrifyingly unique would suddenly transpire before their eyes: an event that would forever mark this day as a core memory within their minds as an experience that they'd never be able to forget no matter how hard they tried.
"Look, brother! Do you see that?" from the skies, Bazyli could see a noteworthy sight suddenly taking place, and the little boy began pointing his index finger towards the general direction where the point of interest he had seen was taking place.
"Don't distract me, I know you just want me to stop so you can tag me!"
Bazyli quickly retorted, as he truly wasn't lying this time around. "No, it's real! Just look! Look up! Look up!"
Curiosity... It was the weakness of many children: a seemingly built-in mechanism that would take years of developing maturity in order to properly mitigate such a dangerous feeling... Szymon couldn't help but become curious a bit about what his little brother was saying to him as he suddenly stopped amidst their chase, and so he too would finally cease running and look towards the skies to see just what exactly Bazyli was referring to.
"... W-what...?"
And as soon as his eyes saw the massive, flying object that had quickly caught the attention of his little brother, Szymon quickly became befuddled as his mind fell into pure belief of what he was seeing right now: surely, the very thing he was seeing was impossible, right? It can't be...
"It looks like a dragon, right brother?" Bazyli then shifted his gaze to his older brother as he said this. "... H-hold on... It's not going to destroy the city, is it?"
A massive, jet-black, flying creature encased in what seemed to be metal was soaring through the skies above the city: so massive was its size and so fast was its speed, that the 2 young boys had quickly mistaken it for a dragon that was about to lay waste to their small country amidst its flight.
"... W-what the...? It's dropping something... W-woah, there are so many of them!"
"I-is it attacking right now? N-no, are we going to die?!"
From the rear end of the majestic creature of metal, small, white fragments began raining down from the sky in a slow, descending approach, and the 2 brothers couldn't help but panic at the sheer sight of the countless pieces that were slowly making their way downwards: was it perhaps some sort of attack or magick that the metal dragon had caused? Ultimately though, they couldn't say for certain just yet.
To the wild imaginations of these young boys, it would seem that the dragon had caused the sky to fall in on itself as its shards began slowly raining down upon the kingdom, and because of this, the 2 children quickly ran home out of fear due to perceiving that something terrible was about to happen...
"L-let's go home! I don't want to die! I don't!"
"Y-yeah, let's run! We have to tell father and mother about this!"
In reality though, the falling little things were not fragments of the sky; rather, they were harmless pieces of paper that had been made for everyone within the kingdom's lands to see and read as soon as they had finally managed to reach land.