CHAPTER 2

Scholars estimate that the length of the great rift is something around two thousand miles, at his widest approximately five hundred. How deep it is, has not yet been determined, those who are brave or insane enough to try and find out what lies in his depth simply disappear. And though that is a known fact to people, scholars and adventurers alike still to this day try and find out what awaits in the darkness of the great rift. The reason for that insanity, as I see it, is quite obvious. It is estimated that at the ground of the great rift incredible amounts of crystallized moonstone are waiting. And while normal moonstone is common and generally used for art and other more functional tools of everyday life, crystallized moonstone is unbelievably rare.

Those crystals ground to dust can be inhaled and function as a focus amplifying substance.

“About the great rift” by Rial Inar, a wandering scholar.

“We know that all those beings who survived the thirds fall were as effected by mutations as we were, what we do not know is in what scope those changes occurred. Even today, after more than two thousand years of living on the surface we are still finding animals who are so far removed from what they had been before that they are almost unrecognizable. For all that we know it still needs to be said that what we know about the world from before comes from sources so fragmented that they are unreliable in most cases. So, we have to assume that there are dozens, hundreds, probably even thousands of mutated species we have not yet discovered.

But it is assumed that if life evolved at the ground of the great rift it will have become something truly new. Sadly, at this point, it is still impossible to verify that theory.

“Changed life” by Danil Tarif, Professor of the species.

They screamed, they raged and as I listened, I was overcome with pity for those poor and lonely souls and so I stepped over the edge to keep them company, to appease their loneliness, down there in the dark. But before I could fall my brother, who had come with me, pulled me back, asking me for what in the thirds name I was doing.

And I asked him; “Brother do you know no mercy? Do you not hear those pitiful souls screaming for help?” And my brother just looked at me, and in his eyes was fear. At that moment I knew every single thing the Wiseman had told us about the great rift had to be true, for my brother knew no fear.

Excerpt out of “Desperate Voices, down the in the dark”, Author unknown

A Bedtime Story

It did not take her long to arrive at home. The house she stood before her was built in the same way as most houses of Edge. A square form, a few meters across and build completely out of sandstone. A flat roof so that over the day washed clothing could dry. It was not much by any standard, but the people of the desert did not need much, and were thoroughly accustomed to a life full of hardships for the desert did not gift anyone anything.

Ankira took a last step and had her hand already raised to open the door when it became obvious to her that her mother was already waiting. And from what she could feel it seemed Asria was not happy about her wayward daughter in the slightest, yet it felt more like annoyance than anger. Though Ankira knew or at least had an idea why that was. Her mother had always disliked it when she explored the near vicinity of the great rift.

A sigh escaped her; she already knew what was waiting for her. It was after all not the first time that they would have this conversation and it would not be the last time, after one second of hesitating she opened the door.

Asria did not look happy at all as her daughter trotted into the house, head hanging low and eyes that looked just about everywhere but Asria. A foot tipping on the ground Asria regarded the small form of her child. It had not been the first time that Ankira had disregarded her words.

If she was honest to herself, she could not even remember how many times they had stood exactly here. Her daughter dodging her eyes, and dancing in the entrance of the door, while she, Asria just stood there watching. Though seeing Ankira’s antics almost brought a slight smile onto her face. Asria knew that there was no bad intent behind Ankira’s exploring, she just did as she wanted. And if she was honest, she believed her daughter capable enough. Yes, she still was of the opinion that a young of just ten moons should not be anywhere near the great rift but she felt no anger. Her turquoise eyes squinted as she watched the roaming eyes of her daughter.

Asria shook her head, it was not as if she could truly forbid Ankira to explore on her own. She had always known that her daughter was a free spirited, wild thing and trying to lock her away would most assuredly lead to nothing good. So, she pushed her worries aside and opened, with a small smile on her lips, her arms to receive her daughter. Ankira returned the smile, though it had a bit of mischief in it. Since it had not been the first time this had happened, she had known that her mother would not really be angry with her. She put her arms around her mother and hid her head in her mother’s midst.

“So, daughter of mine what do you have to say to your defense?” “I’m sorry!?” Ankira leaned her head back so that she could look up into her mother’s face, violet eyes big. Asria had to snicker; “Was that a question?” Shaking her head from one side to the other Ankira remarked this time with conviction in her voice; “I’m sorry mother!” “And you still will do it anyway.” Asria sighed. “At the very least remember to ….” “Be careful when I go out! I know mother, and I am, always. You know that.” Asria raised a grey eyebrow over the righteous indignation she heard in her daughter’s voice. “I suppose you are but it does not hurt to remember you of it, and now come in the moons are already fading.” She pushed Ankira into the house, and with a last look at the fading moons, she closed the door and followed Ankira back into their home.

The insides made it clear that this was a humble home. Just a few feet across it was split up into two major sections. The front area was used for work, here a great table stood. A Crystal grinder on top of it, and directly next to the door was a shelf where Asria stored not yet processed crystals. In the back of the house to the right side, you could see a fireplace, a cooking pan hanging over it.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

To the left, a sleeping area had been set up and against the far wall, you could see the stairs that led up to the roof. Everything was well used but not overused. All in all, it was not much but it was enough for just the two of them.

Ankira let herself fall at the fire, kneeling next to it, she watched as her mother put away the last working tools. Her mother was with one meter forty not much bigger than Ankira’s own, one thirty. Her hair instead of Ankira’s white was a light gray, her eyes a brilliant turquoise. Ankira had never seen people who had any different kind of hair color. The people in Edge all had hair ranging from dark gray to her own moon white. She assumed that all the people of the Shahasi region had this kind of hair since the traders who came with the caravans wore hair of the same color. Asria finished cleaning up and then stepped to the fireplace on the opposite of Ankira. Looking at her daughter through the fire, she remembered all the obstacles she had overcome just so this small person could have a life in relative safety.

Once she had lived in one of the great cities of the green Jewel. Atum, also called the trading city, had been her home. A good life it had been, her family was wealthy through her mother’s position as a truth seeker and her father, well her father had been an explorer which had meant that he was seldom at home but still, life was good. Then she had fallen in love with someone, a mistake as it had turned out. His name was Kalu Kando, and though he was one of the lords of the Will, he had seemed like a genuine and good person. But time as passed, and something had changed. Kalu had become obsessed with the notion of power and the time from the before had seemingly occupied all his thoughts.

Later on, he started using his will more often, not in a guiding way but a more direct manner. Not only did he use it to make people submit before him which was something quite common among the great houses, no he started experimenting for ways to engrain his will permanently onto other beings.

Asria shuddered, she had tried to ignore it, but when she had become aware of her pregnancy she had fled. Her child should grow up without the worries of the lords and ladies of the will, without a father who had lost all reason.

Almost dying on her journey alone through the desert she had been found by hunters who had brought her to the village of Edge. She would be eternally grateful for the generosity the people here had shown her in those first days. Asria smiled to herself lost in her memories, as she began to prepare their evening meal.

"I saw Desert Walker!" Ankira suddenly remarked. Another of those things her mother did not like though she had no idea why that could be. For her Desert Walker were the most interesting thing yet after the great rift of course. A sigh could be heard. Ankira could feel a variety of things coming from her mother, there was a bit of fear, then something she assumed was nostalgia and at last amusement. "Did you now, and as I know you, you probably tried your game with them did you not?" Ankira nodded a smirk on her lips, then as fast as it had come it disappeard. "They almost catched me, I think." And while eating she told her mother of what had happened in detail.

Later when they both had finished and the moons had become almost invisible on the day lit sky, Asria and Ankira moved for the bed. Leaning on the wall behind her Asria pulled her daughter to herself and started combing through Ankira’s white hair with her claws. Ankira turned her head to stare up at her mother, a question in her eyes.

As always, just before sleep, she would tell Ankira a story. Closing her eyes, her head leaning back she thought about which story she had not yet told her daughter. She had told Ankira about the silent cities, where people almost exclusively used the silent speech, about the clans who lived in the bare lands between the green jewel and the desert and how they were the ones who tamed the great sand lizards which most people used for their travels.

Of the lords and ladies, of whom some were rumored to never die.

And of the sea, the great ocean which spanned around their great continent.

But today she decided she would go back, to a time of myth and legend.

And so, she began.

“A long, long time ago, when the desert was not yet a desert,

when where today is but sand and dust, still an ocean of green ruled over the lands,

raging rivers gave life and corn danced golden in the wind, the world came to an end.”

“It is told that the world from the before ended without any warning, that our ancestors had not known what would eventually come to find them. But know my daughter that that is not the truth. No, it was not a sudden death, for over their world a great war was fought, and though the people from the before knew about the war in the skies they did not see it as a danger for themselves. The mighty, those powerful beings who lived in the sky would protect them they thought. Heads held high, with pride bordering on arrogance in their eyes, they looked to the heavens, the flickering lights, the signs of the war, and admired the dancing colors on the firmament.

Then, however, they turned away, sure that the illustriousness of their world was untouchable. So long they had lived in peace and harmony, protected by seemingly unbeatable guardians, that they had forgotten one thing, that nothing will go on forever. And so, it was, that the day on which the world ended, began just like every other day before it.

The sun rising, taking her place in the sky, enveloping everything with her warm gaze. The three moons faded and the stars were banished back into the black of the void. The dark of the night gave way for the dawn of the day and colored the sky into all the shades of fire. The cold nightly winds yielded and instead a gentle breeze blew through the awakening metropolis of An-fang. Carrying with it the smell of still with dew covered grass.

Gleaming in the light of the sun the city was surrounded by a nearly endless sea of iridescent green. In the distance, forests could be seen with trees a hundred meters high.

Though the city itself stood in stark contrast to the seemingly untouched nature that was all around it. Buildings, made of glass and steel reaching as high and higher as some of the trees. Reflecting the light of the sun, An-fang created the impression to be made out of crystal towers. Bridges connected some of the buildings and balconies high up in the air, reached out into the emptiness. If you looked closely you could see air gliders, which the people of An-fang used for traveling, landing there, delivering people and messages alike. And high up, higher yet great airships floated about. White and massive they threw their shadows onto the city. From all over the world they had come to trade and to bring people who had wanted to see the marvel of An-fang. And right they were for wanting to see this enchanting sight since An-fang was the greatest of all the cities from the before.

And while the sky over An-fang started to get lively, down in the streets people started wandering through the city, each person following his or her own daily routine.

The people of Naskaria were tall beings, up to two meters, with hair not as ours but ranging through a wide variety of colors. And in between those towering beings’ little ones could be seen running, laughing with each other.

All in all, you could see that they lived a happy life and a harmonious one as well.

An-fang buzzed with the thoughts of hundreds of thousands of people, some of which thought of the near future, others of the far, and yet no one seemed to think of the threat for all clear to see, there between the stars.

And so, the air was not filled with the desperation of people who had to believe that their doom was impending instead it was filled with hopes and dreams of the future. A future that would never come to reality, because even though the people of An-fang believed themselves safe and almost outright ignored the battle that took place, destruction it would bring their world non the less.

The first sign, the thing that announced the end for all beings on Naskaria was the birth of a second sun. A blinding light that enveloped the whole world.”