Threats of Fate

Humanity had united in a great alliance, and this war had been waged for centuries—a war whose origins had long been lost in the shadows of history. No one could say exactly when the enmity began, but the old scriptures of the alliance described humans as the only ones fighting for peace and order. The "Others," as they were called, were portrayed as alien and cruel beings, entities that sought only chaos and threatened humanity.

In his childhood, he had often heard the songs of the alliance, sung with pride about how they "defended the light against the darkness." He had been told countless stories of the horrors these beings would unleash if left unchecked. The elves with their cold, piercing eyes and steely hearts; the dwarves who tore apart the land to exploit the earth's blood; humans were described as the last bastion against these threats. But in all these tales, one thing was missing: the reasons. The reasons for this hatred and this war.

The young soldier had never been given the opportunity to question these reasons. It wasn't long before he was taught that such questions were dangerous—like a flaw in a sword that would cause it to shatter in the first battle. So he learned to swallow the questions, to bury them deep within himself, and instead to embrace the image of the heroic soldier who fought for what was right. Yet the questions lingered, quiet and hidden, like an old wound that occasionally surfaced.