Northern Myth

lero, Vineno, Senisa.

The Three Kings, as people called

them, were the founders of many

kingdonms on the northern continent.

Many myths tell of the birth and fall

of the Three Kings. The one closest

to the truth is the following:

Legend says that the northern

continent becamne as it is now

because of the descendants of the

winter god, Kuatra Galiau. He was an

ice beast with long black wings that

could cOver the sky, a mane as red as

fire, and a white body. When the ice-

covered god settled on the northern

tip of the land, an unending winter

Swallowed the north.

A long time passed and Kuatra Galiau

became a mountain range where the

snow never melted. Upon learning of

his transformation, Nuadga, another

god, planted a bay tree next to him as

a farewell.

The bay tree bloomed and bore three

fruit. East Wind, West Wind, South

Wind, and North Wind looked after

the fruit with great care, and soon

three children tore through the skins

of the fruit and came out into the

World.

Their names were lero, Vineno, and

Senisa, in order of birth. The three

entered adolescence in two weeks

and were fully grown in ninety days.

They then went their separate ways

to found their own countries.

lero ruled with fear, severely

punishing convicts. His strictness

bought him both reverence and

hatred from his vassals, so he had to

constantly be on the watch for their

Swords.

Vineno poisoned criminals in an

effort to give them a clean death. But

a vassal who feared his poisoned

wine secretly gave his cup to Vineno.

Thus, the kingdom lost its king.

Senisa burned his own flesh to

absolve all sinners of his land. His

vassals were not afraid to sin, so he

eventually turned into ash.

Hence, the three kingdoms fell, and

the great divide in the north

Commenced.

Hundreds of years later, the son of

Yeigan from Rarke wrote that the

Three Kings myth was actually "three

roads of a king."

Every so-called king in the north

hears this story at least once.

There are three thrones in the world.

All those who call themselves kings

are forced to choose one of the three.

Which would you choose?

Funereal oration

Vano oredalak Nuadga, muin janlisas

guire Rarkaddanya. Nuadga of death,

lead us to Rarkaddan.

There is a tale of a utopia passed on

from the ancient Rarkalia Dynasty.

When the great ones under the

protection of Nuadga draw their final

breath, they go to Rarkaddan.

A land where there is no hunger,

disease, or pain, at the cost of one

gold coin.

All the great generals will meet once

again past the gate, in the free land.

So ye who listen, do not fear death.

Love as you will, rejoice as you will,

fight as you will.

Rarke in the north did not fear

fighting mighty enemies.

The glory of the utopia where all

loved ones gather is their old faith.

preface of mariposa

This tale begins with a queen from

two hundred years ago. A tragedy and

a comedy of a queen who madly

loved her country, a brother who

worshipped her, and a man who loved

her as a woman.

The time will come for the dance of

the swords that could not leave the

battlefield,

For the arrival of those who come

back through the stream of time,

And the return of a lost butterfly,

When a blue flower that has not been

seen before blooms.

part 1 fallen glory

It all began two hundred years ago, in

a small country in the north.

Rarke was a kingdom on the border

between the north and the west of

the continent. Dolomete III was the

twenty-fourth king of the kingdom,

which remained a weak country a

quarter of a century since its

foundation. He had eleven children:

three children from the queen, and

eight from two concubines. The

eleven children were all intelligent

and talented, but the most beloved

was the first princess, Swan Sekalrid

Rarkalia.

The princess had the king's fiery hair,

and she loved Rarke more than

anyone else. The soil, the air, and

even the grain from Rarke were her

source of pride. She shared her bread

with the hungry and gave her clothes

to the cold. The people widely

praised her for the mercy and love

she displayed not with her words but

with her actions. Hence, the king

adored and trusted Swan very much,

and the rough-natured nobles

admired her as well.

As a merciful ruler to all she decided

was hers, Swan was a royal born to

reign. The old nobles and the young

all agreed about her. "Though she

has the body of a woman, she has a

better nmind and charisma than most

men," they would say.

Swan followed the cunning Thick

Black Theory, an eastern philosophy

that emphasized developing a thick

skin and a black mind, encouraging

followers to pursue their own

benefits while thoroughly hiding

themselves behind a thick mask. At a

young age, she was sharp-witted and

aggressive, believing in the blood-

and-iron policy.

She grew up on the rough land,

gulling her brothers into thinking of

her as a friend by volunteering to

train with them and thawing her

sisters' cold hearts with calculated

generosity and appeasement. Even

her natural beauty became a weapon,

for the nobles could not resist her

smile, which was like a single rose on

a rocky land.

Only a couple of years after she first

bled, she became the only princess

who knew how to utilize her sex,

instead of considering it an

irreparable weakness.

Though she was beloved by all her

blood, she did not truly return their

love in the slightest. Her brothers

were talented and gifted with the

masculinity she was not, but they

had no ambition, like satisfied fish in

a little pond. The concubines'

children who dared to get in line for

the throne were imbeciles Wrecking

Rarke.

Such were her opinions about her

siblings, except Peijak Dollehan

Rarkalia, the sixth prince of Rarke,

five years younger than her.

"Rest assured, brother, I will protect

you from now on," she told him.

"And I will protect you, sister, when I

am groWn. I swear it."

She smiled at him. "You've got a

snake's

child."

tongue,

She took note of her half-brother's

potential. She gathered all the love

that could have gone to her other

brothers and sisters and gave it to

Peijak, who looked just like their

father and therefore like her.

"I will protect you." As she had

spoken, Swan eliminated the

remaining supporters of her two

brothers, who destroyed each other

fighting for the throne. She was soon

praised as the sole true heir. Thus,

she solidified her road to the throne

even before the age of nineteen.

When she reached twenty-one, the

king met an untimely death not long

after his fortieth birthday.

After the king's funeral, Swan

married the margrave from House

most beautiful throne in the world.

In the process of securing her

accession, she destroyed her

professor, Yeigan, and handed those

young sisters who remained in the

palace to her supporting houses.

Brionake, the largest house of

warriors, and sat on the coldest and

It seemed as if a peaceful era under

the rule of a queen was to commence.

But alas, her ambitions did not aim at

a peaceful reign.

A year after a bitterly cold winter, the

most horrifying war since the

beginning of time began.

"Until when should the people of

Rarke fight over small lands in this

cold?" she declared. "Shall we leave

the rich, fertile lands with golden

crops to the hillbillies in the south

and continue to hold our breath for

the coming of winter? If you truly are

patriots, shed your tears and rise. If

you understand the duty of force,

follow. Raising my shield and sword

for you, even at the risk of my owWn

life, is the future I seek. I will fill your

bellies with food and let you strip off

your thick coats and run about the

fields freely. Prince Consort Margrave

Brionake will be given a dukedom

and will rule Rarke as regent. Sir

Peijak Dollehan will go to war with

me as the commander of my army."

Her unexpected ambition thus

commenced.

Countless nobles stood by the queen

Hall.

In the solemn, suffocating

atmosphere, the queen placed her

Sword on the left shoulder of her red-

haired and blue-eyed half-brother,

Peijak, who was said to be a superb

swordsman. The two, soon to be

written as the worst queen and

knight in history, swore to each

other.

in front of her throne in Norte

"I, Swan Sekalrid Rarkalia, as the

successor of the Bay Tree and the

Queen of Rarke, swear to be fair to

you. Your life, death, glory, and

everything will be as they are done in

my hands. All you will achieve from

this day on will be in my name."

"As you wish, my queen. Saturga

guire Rarke."

Thus, Peijak Dollehan officially

became the queen's knight.

No one dared to oppose the twenty-

six-year-old queen with the greatest

knight in the country, Peijak

margrave in the north, Belbarote

Paseid of Brionake, House of

Dollehan, on her left, and the best

Warriors, on her right.

A conquest began that would last

eleven years. After five hundred years

of peace, neighboring kingdoms fell

without even putting up a fight at the

sudden invasion. Though Rarke

retreated from time to time, they

were never defeated.

"All rise and stop the queen of Rarke.

Else, you will meet your doom

splattered with blood," exclaimed the

king of a small kingdom at death's

door.

No one could stop the cold-hearted

queen, who developed new ways of

war, burning castles, changing or

blocking water supply routes, and

building roads in the mountains

instead of declaring a war and then

fighting out in the field as the others

did. One by one, her enenmies

succumbed.

Even the nomadic country in the

west swore their loyalty to the queen

after being chased to the edge of the desert.

She finished her preparations

to march to the fertile south. This

only took her two years.

Swan was like a goddess of war, as

good or better than men at sword

fighting, archery, horseback riding,

spear-throwing, and even hand-to-

hand combat. She also had the

merciless ghost of war, Sir Peijak

Dollehan, by her side. The queen

stood at the front of her army and

granted love to her soldiers and

shameless death to her enemies.

Peijak worshipped his only sister and

kissed her blood-soaked hair. "I

respect you for your love for Rarke. I

love you with all my worthless body

and mind,"

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