PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 21: Wind of Vengeance

• In Erimos, one of the six High Flora territories on continental Grandis, a commoner named Tasha and her friend, Kinan, began protesting against the caste system, which deemed that commoners were inferior to Priests because of their lack of magic. Tasha would frequently pick fights with Priests and defeat them with her martial prowess in order to prove that the caste system was baseless if an ‘inferior’ commoner could defeat someone with magic.

• Tasha’s actions drew the attention of the Zealous, the protectors of Erimos’ lord. The captain of the Zealous, Laiyan, attempted to arrest Tasha, though he was defeated by Tasha’s lightning-fast style of fighting. However, Tasha gave up her acts of rebellion after becoming pregnant, disappearing underground while her husband, Jad, ran his weapons shop.

• While giving birth, however, Tasha grew deathly ill as a result of carrying a mutant - a commoner inexplicably born with magic. As the magic of the child would kill the mother, Jad planned to kill the child before it could be born. However, Tasha wished to let their child have a life, and so she allowed herself to give birth at the cost of her life.

• As mutants were considered a symbol of sin in High Flora society, Jad brought the child to Tasha’s friend, Anan, who was a High Priest. Unlike most High Flora, Anan believed in equality between commoners and Priests, and so he gladly took in the child, whom he raised with his own daughter, who had been born the same day.

• Tasha’s child, Khali, was raised alongside Anan’s child, Rasha, as twin sisters, who became inseparable as they grew up, with Rasha looking up to Khali as a role model. In their youth, Khali and Rasha had been saved from marauders by Ypsilon, the Lord of Erimos - and secretly an Apostle of Darmoor - for which they aspired to be part of the Zealous in order to protect his life and repay him for saving theirs.

• On the day that Khali and Rasha came of age, Anan took Khali to Jad’s weapon shop in order to secretly let Jad see his daughter for the first time since her birth. As a token of his affection, Jad gave Khali a scarf, which had once been worn by her mother, though he passed it off as merely a birthday gift from a commoner to a Priest. At Khali’s request, Jad gave her a second, similar scarf as a birthday gift for Rasha.

• After Khali presented the scarf to Rasha, she decided to switch scarves upon seeing that Rasha liked hers better. The two then continued to train diligently for the entrance exam to join the Zealous. On the day of the Test of Faith, Rasha and Khali participated in Syaman duels. Syamans were honor duels reserved for those who had magic. Though Syamans between Priests were meant for valor and glory, Syamans between Priests and Gods were true challenges that allowed Priests to become Gods if they successfully bested a God in combat.

• Khali and Rasha passed the Test of Faith, allowing them to be sworn in as Zealots, swearing their everlasting loyalty to Ypsilon. Over the next year, Khali and Rasha proved themselves by defeating the marauders attacking Erimos’ borders, which were actually members of the other races who were forced out of their native homes by the High Flora of Erimos.

• After proving themselves loyal, Laiyan and Ypsilon sent the twins on a special mission to bring several marauders back alive. Ypsilon then used his powers to extract the life force out of the marauders, shocking both Khali and Rasha. Though Khali swallowed down her reservations, Rasha spoke up and questioned Ypsilon, to which he reminded her that she had sworn to obey him without question.

• That night, Rasha told Khali that she planned to leave the Zealous, as she believed that Ypsilon’s actions - though no different from theirs - were motivated by greed, as there was no other purpose in him taking the marauders’ life force for himself. Because of this, she grew disillusioned by Ypsilon and wished to leave, despite knowing that she would not be allowed to leave alive after witnessing Ypsilon’s true nature.

• The next morning, Rasha gave Laiyan her resignation. Though Laiyan declared that Rasha would be put to death, Khali begged him to spare her life. Because of Khali’s stellar reputation, Laiyan allowed Rasha to live, provided that Khali tore out Rasha’s wings and stripped her of her magic.

• Though Rasha declared that she would rather be killed than to lose her magic and become a commoner, Khali tearfully tore out Rasha’s wings in order to save her life. Because of Khali’s actions, Rasha lost her respect for her sister and shut herself away in her room. Over the next year, Khali continued dutifully serving Ypsilon, estranged from her sister.

• Soon after, Laiyan and Ypsilon captured Kinan, Tasha’s old friend, who had been spreading rumors about the existence of a mutant in Erimos in order to rally the commoners. While interrogating Kinan, who refused to confess out of loyalty to Tasha, Ypsilon used his powers to extract the concept of loyalty from her in order to have her confess that the mutant was the child of Tasha.

• At Laiyan’s orders, Khali arrested Tasha’s husband and mother-in-law. Laiyan began torturing Jad and his mother, who revealed that the child had been given Tasha’s scarf, which had her crest on it. Laiyan called in Khali and examined her scarf, which she had switched with Rasha many years ago. Because of this, he mistakenly believed that Rasha was Tasha’s child, which was reinforced by the fact that Khali was a loyal Zealot, while Rasha was a traitor who was magically weaker than Khali, which lined up with her alleged commoner ancestry.

• After interrogating Jad and his mother, Khali requested that Jad and his mother be released, claiming that they were loyal High Flora citizens who had only been trying to protect their child. However, Ypsilon declared that mutants were sinful creatures, and that hiding one was equally sinful, for which he extracted their life force and killed them.

• Horrified, Khali came to realize that Rasha was right about Ypsilon and begged for forgiveness. After the two sisters reconciled, they planned to escape with their father, Anan, who asked Khali to continue serving as a Zealot in order to draw away suspicions about her loyalty while they planned to run away.

• During this time, however, Laiyan arrested Rasha and brought her to Ypsilon, who killed her as a punishment for being a mutant. When Anan learned what happened, he confronted Ypsilon, who declared that he would spare him because of Khali’s loyalty. However, he declared that he could no longer allow Anan to remain a High Priest, and so he began to extract his magic.

• Meanwhile, Khali returned to the palace and learned from Laiyan that Rasha was dead. Upon realizing that Laiyan had used their scarves to make his conclusion, Khali realized that she was the mutant all along, for which she fought and killed Laiyan before confronting Ypsilon. Upon standing close to Khali for the first time since they had met, Ypsilon sensed that her magical signature was ill-natured, which caused him to realize that she was the real mutant.

• Though Khali attempted to avenge Rasha, Ypsilon easily defeated her and extracted most of her magic. Anan then sacrificed himself distract Ypsilon, allowing Khali to spread her wings and run away as far as she could. Khali then escaped continental Grandis and traveled to Pantheon, where she collapsed in front of the Protective Shield.

• After the Nova learned her story, they allowed her to travel to Maple World in order to regain the strength that Ypsilon had drained from her. After training in Maple World, Khali was contacted by Nile, their family servant, who joined forces with her in order to avenge Anan and Rasha. Using Anan’s fortune, Nile began building an information network in order to learn more about Ypsilon.