Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 630: The outer city of balhae i

The sun is shining bright on the sky, its sunlight shining down upon the meadows in the distance.

A large vast empty land with green grass could be seen from the distance. There are beautiful hills with a lot of trees and there is sheep and deer's running around.

There is also small stream of water from the river nearby where some of the people would use as a place to get their water. 

Most of the water in the lands of the three Kingdoms is clear and clean, it had a certain taste to it that is unlike any water in the Human Continent.

There is even hill water, water that come from the hills that is said to have great effect to one health 

The land of the Three Kingdoms, the land which is called by the Thirteen tribes as the Shadowlands

It is a land of the cursed. But before the Great Prophet Nasrana came onto these lands, it was a land of abundance and blessing.

The Great Prophet was persecuted, and was treated badly and upon them a curse was laid. 

Darkness shrouded their lands and while it gave the people of the Three Great tribes with great abilities, it is a sign of mercy and also a chain to hold them down in this accursed land.

The Darkness did not mean that it is dark as night. Everyday looks like a cloudy day in the Shadowlands.

To other outside of the Shadowlands, they would see an area of land that is covered by dark mist and dark clouds.

The people of the Thirteen Tribe called it the Shadowlands because some people said that when you enter the Shadowlands, if you are unlucky you would meet terrifying mystical creature that would rob you of your shadow.

And when they rob you of your shadow, they have a hold on you.

The only people that would not have their shadow taken is the people who were already in the Shadowlands since the beginning.

The descendent of those people of the past.

No matter whether they sail out from the New World and went to other continents, they would be haunted by dreams, calling them home. 

Of course, some of the stories that the Thirteen Tribe had said about the Shadowlands most of them are not the truth. 

But out of the many exaggerations of the things that lurks in the darkness of the Shadowlands, there is some that is the truth.

One of the misconception of people who have never been inside the Shadowlands is that the entire people living in the Shadowlands lives in a darkness

If that is true, then the people of the Shadowlands probably would have blinded themselves when the sunlight broke through the Darkness.

There is a Sun that shines upon their land. But unlike the bright Sun that illuminates all, where people of the world could bathe in its shine, the sunlight inside the Shadowlands, is like a sunlight that is dimmed.

As such, their crops are not as bountiful as the people living outside of the Shadowlands. It is for this reason that the Three Great Tribes had always traded food with the Ten Tribes outside of the Shadowlands. 

They exchange the cores of Darkspawn, meats of rare beast and all kinds of other exotic things that exist in the Shadowlands with grains and other food stuff. 

That has been the way of life for the Thirteen tribe in the New World, and the tribes in the Shadowlands. 

Thousands of years had passed, and some people forget the stories of the Pancadongeng, the tales of the elders of the good old days.

When the Battle between Good and Evil, of the prophecy of Asrana Mahava and Maharai Vasir nears, the Darkness of the land is stripped away and this accursed land once again revert to its appearance thousands of years ago, full of life, energy and blessings. 

And so many people now believe the stories. The land that is once called the cursed land of the New World is now one of blessing.

All of the Thirteen Tribes that resides on the fertile plains of the New World now all migrate toward the land that is once shrouded with Darkness.

A tall wall that appears suddenly, a sound of a horn that echoes in the sky, Darkness that covers the world and Darkspawn that appears in the night, all of it seems to prove the divine words of the Great Prophet.

One could see such beautiful hills and clean rivers not only outside the outer city walls, but also in the outer city. 

Arial marveled at the fertile lands that he had seen. It only has just been around a week or so and yet, he could see such drastic changes to the environment.

He has been in his castle for the past couple of days. And he had not ride outside of the castle 

But today, as he rides out toward the outer city, he could see that the changes are astounding. 

The Empire had Eden as the breadbasket of the Empire. 

But if he had the Shadowlands, it could probably feed all the people of the Empire and have a lot more excess than they could ever have

There is magic in this land. That is the only way to explain why the plant and trees here grow so quickly. 

He once read an ancient text that spoke of the world when magic is still prevalent and mages is everywhere.

At that time, it is said that even common people prosper. 

Trees back then is taller than today. 

And it is not only taller it is also bigger than it is today. 

Some trees are even said to reach the clouds and some of the fruit could only be plucked by mages that could control the wind.

The trees sprout such large and juicy fruit that it could feed a small village. Then there are the rivers in those magic era.

It is said that the rivers are clear and one could see to the bottom. 

Most of the common people back then live around these rivers and they catch the fishes that inhabited the fish

The sea is bountiful with all kinds of sea resources. 

When one breathes the air, one could feel energy rousing through one body. 

Anyone that breathes the air during that era could feel their mind clearing up and because of the air in the past is quite different from the air of today, even the common people had strong body and rarely fell sick.

When one bathed in rivers, all fatigue and dirt is washed off. 

Some scholars even think that the description of the world when magic was prevalent is too exaggerated.

But Arial seeing how the place he used to pass turns into such a fertile land suitable for farming, he could not help but thought maybe the ancient text did not lie. 

When he marched here with his army passing that forest in front of the Wall, while the land itself is full of green grass it was certainly not as like it is today.

And he is not the only one that is surprised. 

The soldiers that is coming with him, people of his Empire that follows the ship of the Two Great Generals, also look at this land with amazement.

Arial smiles.

Even he who had seen many things in this world is shocked. how could his soldiers who some had never even step out of the Human Continent not get shocked?

Arial had known that during the Days of Trial as it is called in some ancient text of the Thirteen Tribe magic would once again reign in the Novus Gaia.

But he had never thought that the effect of magic is like this.