章 4: End of Chapter One || Determination

[ Story has been MOVED to Wattpad for temporary exclusivity during the 2020 Wattys contest period. Read the COMPLETED book by copying the link in the Authors Note at the bottom or search for "Canaan: Promise of the World" on Wattpad. To understand this change, please refer to the auxiliary chapter titled "October 1st, 2020 - Completed Story Update".]

Below is the official account of the history of Sol'h'meyr from the very first version I wrote of this story. ( I'm only putting this extra here so that I don't have to fill the space with random gibberish. This is not a spoiler, just an bonus of sorts for new readers. c; )

Tymlune, the timeless one, forged Earth and brought forth five elemental beings: Water, Light, Earth, Warmth, and Cold, into the universe to admire Time's newest creation. In awe of Earth, and bestowed with Time's imagination, the elemental gods shaped a world of their own and named it Sol'h'meyr. They ruled separate eponymous kingdoms: As'wyde, As'lyte, As'eryt, As'fyre, and As'iyse, and fashioned the inhabitants after themselves called the elementals. They were similar in likeness to Earth's humans but were not blessed with ingenuity. Only Time, known as Tyml, could give creatures the gift of imagination.

The subkingdoms As'glyfe, nature; As'ayre, wind; As'spyke, lightning; and As'nyte, darkness; emerged shortly after Sol'h'meyr's genesis and fell respectively under the main kingdoms of As'eryt, As'iyse, As'fyre, and As'lyte. Each main kingdom and subkingdom had a line of especially powerful elementals descended from the gods themselves and were known as the royals.

Because the elemental gods personally oversaw the world, Sol'h'meyr prospered with millenniums of peace. But one day, it was discovered that Water and Light, had fallen in love and conceived a new god. The other elementals gods decreed that the two forfeit the child god because it would imbalance the world. However, Water and Light refused, and a war which would last centuries began. Several years after the start of the fighting, the new god was born. Right before its inception, water which streamed like light engulfed the world, and this element became known as rain.

Unlike the original five, this new god acted more human than divine. She was curious and needy and could feel loneliness and anger. Her name was C'rienne, also spelled Cyrienne, meaning 'born from rain.' Even though she was inherently superior to the original five, until her powers matured, she was young and vulnerable. Thus, she was stowed away by Water and Light in a small castle surrounded by potent illusional magic.

It was a losing battle, and after seeing the great destruction wrought upon their kingdoms, Water and Light resolved to split from Sol'h'meyr. By withdrawing, the war would cease, and they could protect Cyrienne from death because only she could fill the elemental void generated by their egress. So, with a great sword, they fractured the land and took the fragments with them into another dimension. And above where the forsaken sword had pierced the ground, a spacial tear traversed to Earth, creating a portal which dragged countless humans into Sol'h'meyr. The human influx soon begot new creatures known as demons and spirits, the embodiments of the dark and light recesses of their souls. This war would later become known as the Great Elemental War.

The departure of Water and Light enabled the remaining elemental gods to easily discover Cyrienne's castle. Upon breaking the castle's protective spell, rain magic surged across the surrounding lands. To stem the cascade, the gods sealed Cyrienne's power with Water and Light's abandoned sword. The sword then became known as the Sword of Cyrienne. Afterwards, they relocated Cyrienne to a remote human village in a barren land. Finally, the weary gods decided to merge themselves with Sol'h'meyr as it was the only way to restore the broken world.

Over the centuries, Cyrienne's rain power revitalized the lands around the poor village, and it flourished into an economic hub. From there she established the center of her new kingdom, As'rien. She blessed the original human villagers with elemental rain power, and the family she stayed with became the royals. She also founded As'pyze, the safe haven for humans, and the Knight Mage Academy, the premier school of magic and combat, with her closest aides, the original Knight-Mages.

One day, Cyrienne peered into the portal to Earth and spied a young man. She fell in love and crossed over to Earth to pursue him. The Sword of Cyrienne remained in Sol'h'meyr in order to sustain the lands. Today's world now persists without the presence of the elemental gods and follows the royal rule of the five main kingdoms: As'eryt, As'fyre, As'iyse, As'rien, and As'pyze. Sol'h'meyr has existed for eight thousand years.