At this point in history for the people of Calzyn…the future was looking dicey.

Ever since the unification of the first tribes under Ava, there had only ever been war and battle against the magical beasts and never against other people. But now, under the stagnation of the Coalition's governance the future was looking questionable. Conflicts and skirmishes between the factions within the Coalition were getting close to the point of open warfare, and it wasn’t a scarce opinion that a new and terrible age was making its way over the horizon.

But Zhorr changed all that.

Zhorr, or Zhorr the Conqueror as he would come to be known, had been born the third son of a mid level member of the Trade Association and from what is recorded, lived a fairly regular life for a young boy of that period. He was however the only one of his brothers and sisters with the talent to become a sorcerer. His father, having this bundle of future potential, pushed him relentlessly to make him strong and powerful, as well as elevate his own prestige in Bank’s eyes through his son's accomplishments.

It is noted however, that this agenda soured their relationship.

Zhorr’s father wanted him to become a powerful sorcerer and use his strength to support him and his own faction within the Bank. Zhorr, in contrast to his fathers wishes, wanted something much different.

By this time tensions were simmering within the Coalition but they weren’t bubbling just yet, so as all members of the Coalition do at some point, Zhorr spent some time with the Corps, developing his personal battle style as a lightning sorcerer, obtaining battle experience and earning some of his own resources. This was only meant to go on for a period of time until he was well versed enough in his spells and method of combat that he could return to the Bank a useful and powerful sorcerer who could then incorporate himself into their structure and contribute to their strength.

But that wasn’t what happened.

Against his family and especially his father’s desires, he passed on his guaranteed position with the Trade Association and instead pledged himself to the Martial Association. From what I was reading, it seemed that during the time when he was honing his combat skills he found for himself that instead of the fear and struggle one was supposed to have when they started endeavoring into life and death battles, he enjoyed it. In fact, he became obsessed with it.

With this unignorable passion now present in his life, he turned against his father and his entire family and instead devoted himself to a life of blood, death and combat.

Due to this most ties with his family became severed. Despite his sacrifice however, amongst those of the Corps, he was treated as an outsider irregardless of his now severed connection to the Trade Association and was nonetheless placed at odds with the political factions of the Corps.

As a result, while he lived his life for the Corps, the Corps and its members were rather suspicious and standoffish of him. And so it was that Zhorr, ostracized and alone, spent the majority of his time diving into the battlefield all by himself, devoted to becoming stronger and deadlier.

Like this, time passed. Tensions within the Coalition grew worse and more ugly as the factional disputes started affecting the coherence of society. Be it the Institute withholding newly discovered information, the Bank denying funds, the Corps misreporting the availability of resources, etc, etc. Realistically, the entire civilisation was on the brink of civil war and the only ones holding it together were the political influencers literally working their bodies to the bone within the Bordello.

During this time, with the fate of the world on a knife’s edge, Zhorr had completely isolated himself. He spent all of his time in the wilderness honing his powers and growing his strength, only occasionally reemerging into human society again to sell or buy specific resources.

It was only when the powers of the Coalition were at the utmost brink of civil war, that the fate of the world seemed to be utterly hopeless, that he emerged in all his glory and triumph.

The first Shevani, the one and only Supreme.

His appearance shocked the world. All the leaders of the Coalition and their different factions were astonished. For ages they had tried to find the way to the next stage of the Paths through every means they could think of, but it was finally overcome by an eccentric loner who had recused himself from the world for years on end. Emotions were mixed and everyone felt everything ranging from relief at a civil war no longer being necessary, their conquest now able to start back up again, to anger at not being able to settle all the grudges that had been built up by that point.

But they quickly put that aside and the Coalition factions, now all friendly and civilised, dedicated all of their new efforts to winning Zhorr over to themselves. The Bank called on his familial relationships, the Corps his battle sympathies, the Institute on his prodigious genius and accomplishment, and Bordello on his close relationship with some of their members.

Despite living in the wilderness for years on end, every man has his needs after all.

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But Zhorr turned them all down, adamant at every turn of cutting off their desire to obtain his methods to ascend to the Supreme stage at any offer they made.

The reason he gave was that the tensions from the suspension of conquest were still very much existent in the Associations, and that he was in no way confident that if he shared his knowledge that they wouldn’t just go ahead and push for civil war again. This was at least, what he said was his reason for withholding his secrets.

Still very much aware of the toxicity that still remained, the Coalition leaders accepted his claim and at his suggestion, turned all of their efforts to reorganizing their forces into the greatest campaign ever launched in the Coalition's history. Headed by Zhorr himself, who now gave himself the name Balelight after the ominous destructive color of his lightning.

Soon enough with Zhorr at the helm, the Coalition launched its new conquest into the wilderness. For the next fifty years Zhorr and all the others would battle onwards, slaughtering their way through hordes of magical beasts as well as being slaughtered in turn.

It was also discovered at this time that locations of peak atmospheric mana concentration also carried inherent affinities. The affinity of the location that they were assaulting at the time just so happened to be the one that Zhorr himself wielded, and his proximity to this “Blessed Land”, as these places came to be known, is attributed as one of the main reasons why he was able to break through the previously unbreakable bottleneck.

It was nearing the end of their conquest when they reached the heart of this Blessed Land, after fighting for decades through armies of magical beasts, did the armies of the Coalition come upon their most terrible and final hurdle.

What would come to be known as a “Guardian”.

They were the absolute peak of the food chain of Calzyn… and they weren’t just one being either. The Guardian was only the most powerful member of a specific family of magical beasts that occupied each heart of every Blessed Land. As it came to be discovered later the size of these animal families differed depending on the Blessed Land itself and the beasts that occupied them, but that’s beside the point and something that was important later.

In the case of humanity’s first encounter with a Guardian family, it was a family of eight winged serpents that they faced for the very first time.

Upon this encounter, humanity was almost wiped out. All eight of these magical beasts were equivalent in power to Zhorr, most even stronger than him, and when facing them for the very first time almost two thirds of the human army was wiped out. Zhorr himself almost included amongst those devastating numbers.

When they retreated the Coalition spent the next twenty years rebuilding their forces again until they launched their next assault, only managing to kill one of the winged serpents and again being almost decimated.

Then they rallied again.

And again.

And again.

Until on the twelfth assault, they finally killed the last three winged serpents and the Guardian altogether.

Of course over time the leaders of Coalition asked, demanded, then finally begged Zhorr to enlighten them how to become a Supreme so that their battles would not be so bloody. But every time he refused, always saying that when they conquered the Blessed Land would he share the secret.

So you can imagine, when humanity finally defeated what had been their most devastating adversary and claimed their new Blessed Land for themselves, the sheer unbelievable joy and triumph they felt was incomparable to anything ever felt before. It was written down as one of the greatest days in human history and was supposed to be the prelude to the glories that were destined to come.

But despite its magnitude, its significance and its gloriousness, this wasn’t what was to be. Because while it was a prelude, it wasn’t for glory.

No.

It was a prelude to one of the most devastating events in human history. What would come to be known as…

The Great Schism.

The responsibility of which can only be laid at the feet of one man.

Zhorr Balelight.

For you see, when Zhorr first emerged and told the Coalition that he would only share his knowledge after completing their great conquest as a means to allow tensions within the Coalition to ease and prevent civil war, that wasn’t his true reason at all.

His true reason was that instead of the reverence every other member of the human race had felt for their governing authority, the Coalition, he instead felt contempt.

His whole life he had borne witness to the corruption and follies made by the leaders of the Coalition and how they had soured his own life along with it. But the worst about them had been their bringing of humanity to the brink of its own destruction.

That had been the last straw for Zhorr.

So, when he became a Supreme and then endeavored to travel further into the wilderness and see what lay beyond, just so happening to find a Blessed Land, one that was practically tailor made for him, he hatched a plan.

With his promises and prestige, he manipulated the Coalition into supporting his goals to defeat the Guardians and claim this new utopia. Although he was strong, Zhorr knew he could by no means do it by himself and needed the Coalition's support to even have a chance of succeeding.

But at this point, having now accomplished his goal, he turned on his supposed allies which he so vehemently despised.

When the leaders of the Coalition approached him about finally handing over his secrets, he denied their request spitefully. It is stated that he said that he would uphold his promise but would only share his secrets with his descendants and the members of his own, now newly established, dynasty. Remaking himself in an approximation of Ava the Beginning’s image.

Having learnt that all their loss and suffering had ultimately been in vain, the Coalition leaders were naturally outraged. They rallied themselves and their troops to attack and kill Zhorr for his betrayal with hopes of salvaging the secret of the Supreme from the remains of his body.

But it was to no avail.

Zhorr had been the figurehead of humanity’s conquest for over a century. In that time he had learnt much and had collected those from the forces of the Coalition who shared the same affinity as him, binding them all together under his leadership into force of his own in what would come to be known to the world as the Balelight Dynasty.

The battle quickly fell into a stalemate. The Coalition wished to destroy Zhorr but he was the most powerful man alive and had fed upon the remains of all the guardian beasts he had killed, making him even stronger. Plus the fact that he was now in a Blessed Land that was tailor made for him and his followers, their powers drastically rose enough to hold back the Coalition despite how few there were of them in comparison.

Likewise Zhorr wished to destroy the Coalition and rule over all of humanity himself, but their numbers were far too vast and he only had enough power to combat the full force of humanity if he remained stationed in his Blessed Land.

Eventually, after a few skirmishes, both sides realized that they couldn’t do anything about the other. The Coalition withdrew and then focused their efforts on expanding past Zhorr’s Blessed Land and leaving him alone, though under a watchful eye. Zhorr and his followers instead remained in their new land now called Zhorr itself, after its first ruler, because they had no need to leave.

The best resources for their mana affinity were now at their fingertips. So they stayed and cultivated their land and grew their population under the now new King Zhorr of the Balelight Kingdom.

A kingdom that still remains today and occupies one of only two Blessed Lands conquered by humans and holds the prestige as the most powerful faction outside of the Coalition in all of Calzyn.