Inside the royal palace of the Umbra Kingdom, two figures were working amidst complicated magical instruments with a solemn look on their faces.

One, was a young child with gray hair and black eyes like the abyss and the other a young looking woman with crimson hair like blood.

These two were respectively:

Judas Verety, Third Prince of the Umbra Kingdom.

Elene Verety, Queen of the Umbra Kingdom.

The queen has been working on this project before even getting pregnant with the now 10 year old Judas.

This was her life’s work and she has been aided throughout the years by the most clever individuals in the entire realm.

She worked day and night on this project, an obsession that was respected by researchers of the wonder of magic by all who witnessed it.

Today was the day her work will be completed.

She decided to end it with her only son, Judas.

“Mother, am I really qualified to be finishing this with you…”

Elene, who was absorbed in her work abruptly stopped and then slowly looked at her son with a loving smile.

“You brat, of course you’re fine!”

She patted him in the head and after a pause continued speaking.

“I’ve been working on this for too long. If I didn’t think you’re good enough I wouldn’t have brought you here whether you were my son or a dragon.”

Upon hearing her answer, Judas smiled a bit but quickly hid it away under the amused expression of his mother.

“Even so, you have been working on this before I was even born. To even risk it being ruined by my inexperienced hands seems unusual of you”

It might seem that Judas didn’t want to help his mother but he actually was rather happy that he could finally do something for her since she had a tendency to be overprotective of him.

He stared directly into her eyes with determination and after sighing he continued speaking.

“There’s…something else you haven’t told me,” he said while staring at his mother for confirmation.

She locked eyes with him for a couple of seconds before giving up and sighing at him as well.

“Too smart for your own good, son,” she answered before grabbing a pendant she was wearing and making it float with magic before the two of them.

“This is my life’s work,” the ancient silver pendant was plain looking.

It had no style or beauty to it, simply an old pendant made of silver.

Judas was confused for a bit but after looking at his mother’s serious expression he waited for her explanation.

“The pendant dates to the…Tay Kong dynasty? I can’t really pronounce it correctly. Anyway, this ancient clan were masters of the space element and made this necklace as a gift to the emperor at the time”

The queen spoke with a determined gaze as if she made up her mind about something.

“The day after the emperor received the pendant, he abdicated the throne to the clan of craftsmen that gifted it under his perplexed descendants and followers.”

The story took a different turn than what he expected.

‘Usually these stories end up with the monarch wielding immense power from said mythical artifact then achieving unrealistic deeds that will be exaggerated for the future generations’

‘.........’

“Why would he abdicate the throne? That would be utterly insane and especially so in the ancient sovereignty climate. That would lead to bloodbaths and conflict for no reason.”

Elene looked at her son’s focused expression with a serious look but deep down she couldn’t help but think.

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‘I just played around at ten and he’s analyzing ancient politics at such a young age…’

“Yes, his descendants thought that he became insane due to the effect of the pendant but after multiple medical tests they concluded that he was, in fact, perfectly sane. The emperor allowed them to do their tests so that they knew he was rational before gathering all the important members of his empire and declaring in a firm voice.”

The queen stopped talking for a second and took a sip of water before continuing.

“ ‘The heavens favors those who meddle with The Truth thus they shall rule us so that we may yet help them in their path even a little bit’ , this was the exact line that was spoken at the time. I’m sure because it took me a few years to translate it.”

“The emperor had a glimpse of [The Truth], Judas. Do not ask me how I know this. It will take even more years of background knowledge just to begin the technicalities of how I got to confirm this piece of info,” she took a breath of air before continuing.

“[The Truth] is not as simple as we think it is.”

Stunned wouldn’t explain how Judas felt at this proclamation, [The Truth] was said to be a newborn entity from the Cosmos thus its interest towards the realm could be explained.

[Twisted Shadow] and [Liberation] were the same at the start before they stopped responding…favorably to communication.

Besides the Orthodox/Unorthodox gods, there should be no entity old enough capable of directly interacting with the realm.

It is so proclaimed in The State of The Universe.

The book his ancestor wrote with the help of an ancient dragon.

A chill went down the spine of Judas, a horror even his young soul could recognize even before experiencing the dreadful nature of life.

The meddling of the Cosmos has led to positive changes to the world.

Cultural significance, advancements to magic studies, medical revelations and a lot more reasons to argue that it isn’t all negative.

BUT…there is a reason even a child feels horror towards the Cosmos.

Once upon a time, humanity angered one of the Cosmos.

After the end of [The Century of Growth], the eldtritch of the Cosmos are bound by some universal law to stop having direct contact with the realm.

The time spent in those hundred years was always a productive time in which both the different races of the realm and these newborn entities would work together to prosper and grow and yet…humanity angered the newborn [Flood].

Thus a new ocean was materialized upon the realm while a continent disappeared.

That is why we fear the Cosmos.

“M-mother, if what you are saying is true then,” Judas couldn’t bring himself to continue speaking.

Elene looked at the pendant wistfully.

Silence stretched between them for a while before Elene said out of nowhere.

“I do not belong to this realm, child.”

“What do you–TIME STOPPED.

THE EARTH RUMBLED.

THE HEAVENS SCREAMED.

Out of nowhere, a raven appeared before the two humans, its red eyes settled upon Elene.

It seemed to be contemplating things for a while before finally coming to a decision.

TIME RESUMED.

The Queen had disappeared from the face of the realm.

A dark feather lay beside the pendant that was suddenly dropped to the ground with words written in blood on it.

You will not speak of what you heard, Spawn of Error.

Even we dare not think of it carelessly, so how could she even dream to speak with it.

Lay low for this life and in the next you shall receive The Blessing of Urverus.

The second you speak of this to anyone, Umbra will face ruin.

Do not hate me, child.

Hate destiny and fate for bringing this upon you.

Judas dropped to the ground while reading the ominous message before he started wailing.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------—

25 years later

In the south of the Leaf kingdom, there was an enormous forest known as the Forest of Serenity.

This forest was the home of the elves said to be extinct by the hands of an ancient wizard who was obsessed with their beauty and immortal lifespan.

Inside the hidden village of elves, lay a dark tower made of rare magical stones that would drive any mage crazy upon witnessing the sheer amount of volume the tower was made of.

This was the home of a human mage.

If you told any resident of any race in any place around the realm that the elves allowed a mage to be living with them, they would call you a lunatic and yet…

Here, approximately 150 meters beside [Yggdrasil, Mother Nature], slept Judas Verity, Archwizard and Exiled Prince of The Umbra Kingdom.