Endless Journey: Infinite Realms 176 Volume 4 Prologue Part 2: The Three Factions

The old man did his best to ignore what his granddaughter just said as he continued his storytelling.

[Once the Blue Moon appeared, everyone noticed something with its color. The blue color of the Blue Moon… was exactly similar to the blue color of Princess Nessa's hair!]

"Did the princess become a moon? That's cool!"

[At that time, nobody was sure if the disappearance of the princesses were related to the appearance of that Blue Moon. Sure, the color was the same, but it could only be a coincidence. So everyone thought of the Blue Moon was something that was just there. But that idea of theirs changed a day after the Blue Moon appeared.]

[All of a sudden, some people gained a power beyond anything normal. What was astonishing was the fact that the power that they gained were all similar to each other. They all gained the same power.]

"…."

[These people gained the power to use Symbols and Written Language to bend the rules of reality around them. Their mind and their Symbols were their weapons, making them a force to be reckoned with.]

"Oh! They're the Symbolists!"

[Yes, once these people were able to sort out what their new power can do, they immediately banded together, calling themselves the Symbolists. With their power, they immediately took control of the whole world, bringing all of the non-powered mortals under their rule.]

[Their reign brought prosperity, as their power gave rise to innovations ahead of their time.]

[The emergence of the Symbolists was the blessing that the Blue Moon gave to our ancestors. But just like what I said before, the disaster came knocking for their door next.]

[100 years after the emergence of the Symbolists, the Blue Moon, which was now being worshipped by most of the Symbolists, suddenly let out a bright blue beam of light.]

[This blue beam of light hit the ground in this world, manifesting something that our ancestors surely will not forget.]

"…."

[A blue-tinted portal appeared at the place where the blue beam of light hit the ground. That blue-tinted portal was the source of the disaster of the Blue Moon.]

"Grandpa, is that the First Calamity?"

[Yes. From that portal came out horrifying beings who started to lay waste to our world. They were so powerful that many died under their hands. Only the Symbolists were able to fight back, but even their presence was not enough to quickly destroy these horrifying beings.]

[The fight between the Symbolists and these horrifying beings continued for a year, and it was only at that time that the Symbolists were able to defeat their enemies.]

[Our ancestors won, but they paid a terrible price.]

[Half of their population was killed, and the Symbolists were barely able to keep a portion of them alive.]

"Grandpa, why did you make the story dark? I thought this will be a good story…"

[…... The damage caused by those horrifying beings were too much, but even with that damage, our ancestors were able to recover!]

[10,000 years later, and our ancestors were able to fully revert all the damages made by the horrifying beings. Symbolists flourished again, reestablishing the powerful Empire that they had before!]

"Yay!"

[…They called the arrival of those horrifying beings as The Calamity, and all of our ancestors strived to prevent that from happening again.]

[But that conviction of theirs disappeared when out of nowhere, a second moon appeared in the night sky.]

"A second moon? Is it the Green Moon or the Yellow Moon?"

[The next moon that appeared that time was the Yellow Moon. And to the massive surprise of the people at that time, some of them gained another kind of power.]

[That time, some of them gained the ability to harness the energy from the Stars, taking them as their own. This power allowed them to create a new line of powerful beings that can stand up against the dominant Symbolists.]

"Energy of the Stars? Grandpa, are you talking about the Celestials?"

[Yes, the new group of powered people that appeared after the appearance of the Yellow Moon were the Celestials. With their ability to harness the energy of the stars, most of the Symbolists considered them as a threat and they wanted to cut them down. Of course the Celestials at that time resisted, with them banding together to face off against the Symbolists.]

[But before they two factions could start a war, disaster arrived once more.]

[10 years after the emergence of the Celestials, the Yellow Moon shot out a yellow beam of light. Just like what happened with the Blue Moon before, this yellow beam of light opened another portal on the ground. And from this portal, horrifying beings went out again.]

[That, Kierra, is the Second Calamity. Unlike the First Calamity, the horrifying beings that came out of the Second Calamity were much more powerful compared to the monsters before. Even when the Symbolists and the Celestials were forced to cooperate, they were almost annihilated in the Second Calamity.]

[It was only through a stroke of luck that they won, managing to kill of the beings that invaded at that time. That is how the Second Calamity has ended.]

"…"

[Peace came after the Second Calamity. The Symbolists and the Celestials, who were rivals before, made a truce with each other to create an alliance. In that alliance, the Symbolists decided to reside on the ground, while the Celestials decided to live amongst they sky, where they can harness the energy of the stars better.]

[5,000 years passed by after the end of the Second Calamity, and people thought that there will be no more disasters that will arrive. But they were all wrong.]

[The third moon suddenly, appeared, with its Green color pulsating slightly in the skies.]

"…."

[Just like what happened with the first two moons, another power appeared among the residents, which gave rise to the third Faction, the Devourers.]

[This time around, both the Symbolists and the Celestials wanted to eradicate the Devourers, as their power was something that the first two factions loathed and feared. But the Devourers were able to fend off the threat to their lives by saying that their help will be needed for the Third Calamity, which with the appearance of the Green Moon, will obviously come.]

[The Symbolists and the Celestials were left with no choice but to stop waging war with the Devourers, but only under the condition that the Devourers will live under the sea. The Devourers accepted this demand, creating their country under the sea.]

[What happened after that was the whole world preparing for the Third Calamity to arrive. The three factions knew that the Third Calamity will arrive, but they do not know when.]

[So they waited, and waited, and they waited…]

"…"

[After 1,000 years of waiting, the Symbolists, the Celestials, and the Devourers started to relax, as they thought that maybe there will be no Third Calamity this time.]

[But once again, they were wrong.]

[At the instant that the 1,000-year mark has appeared, the Green Moon opened a green portal here in this world. Just like the first two calamities, horrifying beings emerged once more from the portal, and they were monstrously strong compared to the first two Calamities.]

[Their power was so great that even with the cooperation between the Symbolists, the Celestials, and the Devourers, 90% of the world's population was killed at that time.]

"90%! That's too many grandpa!"

[But just like the first two calamities, our ancestors were able to survive the Third Calamity. They were able to kill the rest of their enemies, and out of the ashes of their destroyed homes, our ancestors did their best to recover.]

[And that brings us to the present. Today is the 13, 907th year since the appearance of the Green Moon, the 13,907th year of the Third Calamity Era.]

[The End]

"….."

****************

After saying these conclusive words, the old man let out sigh as his body relaxed a little bit.

As for Kiera, even though she seemed to be overwhelmed by her grandpa's story, she still tried to talk to him.

"Grandpa, since you mentioned the Princesses earlier, are you telling me that their disappearance was related to the moons?"

"There's no conclusive evidence, but scholars think that the two cases were definitely related." The old man replied as he started to become animated.

"Nessa, the blue-haired princess, loved writing and painting. Look at the Blue Moon. Its color was said to be similar to the color of Nessa's hair! Not only that! Look at the Symbolists! They appeared when the Blue Moon appeared! Look at their abilities! Their power relies on symbols and writing, which was suspiciously similar to Nessa's talents!"

The old man then continued speaking, as he ignored Kiera looking at him with a blank stare.

"The Yellow Moon's color can be attribute to Safirra, the yellow-haired princess! And Safirra's interest lies on observing the stars, which aligns with the power of the Celestials! The Green Moon? It's similar to Drea's hair color, and her love of eating obviously parallels with the abilities of the Devourers! Can't you see it Kiera? The moon and the princesses are definitely related!"

The old man then started to wheeze after saying these words, prompting a slightly put-off expression on Kiera's face.

"But Grandpa, if what you say is correct, then will a Red Moon appear too? There is still Claret, the red-haired princess, right?"

"Nobody's sure of it, but many believe that in the future, a Red Moon will appear too, completing the line-up of the four moons." The old man replied as he let out a sigh.

The old man then looked at Kiera, ruffling her hair with affection as he said,

"If you're scared about the Red Moon appearing now, don't be. It's been 13,000 years since the Third Calamity, and even if the Red Moon does appear, I don't think it will be in our time. So… just enjoy looking at the pretty moons, ok?"

"Un!" Kiera replied as her worried gaze disappeared under the old man's advice.

"Sigh…" Once he successfully calmed his granddaughter down, the old man looked up to the sky, wanting to see the majestic appearances of the three moons once more.

But at the instant that the old man looked to the sky, his eyes went wide with fear as his breathing began to hasten.

"No f**king way…" The old man started to tremble in fear, as his mind could not accept what he was seeing now. "This is not true!"

"Grandpa, what's the problem?" Kiera asked as she saw the old man's horrified expression. "Did a monster appear, or-"

Just like her grandfather, Kiera also froze on her tracks as her gaze passed through the night sky.

"Grandpa, why are you lying to me again?" This was all that Kiera could say as she could see that right now, there were four moons floating in the sky.

Yes, four moons. Not three moons.

"I'm sorry Kiera."

"…."

Both the old man and Kiera could only hug each other in an attempt to console themselves.

Their eyes were tearing up, observing the color of the fourth moon in the sky.

The moon was blood-red in color, staining the sky with the color of violence and death.

As the fourth moon spread out its red light on their hut, the old man could only lean against the wall as he let out a despairing smile.

"The Red Moon has appeared. The Red Moon has appeared. Oh gods, please spare us from the calamity…"

Chapter end

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