In whatever place you came from, there always would be good and evil. If there was one thing constant, there would always be monsters and heroes. But how would we know which one was the one? Simple, history and perspective.

The world we were in was called Dlimor. The name was universal and their meaning was always the same, it would always be translated to “The Great Dwelling”. Nobody knew where the name originated and intellectuals from all races speculated that it came from the gods.

Dlimor was split into two huge landmasses, one in the east and one in the west. The division wasn’t cause by the environment but it was because of the wrath of the gods.

In the east was where the people of Shaina resided. This included the humans, beasts, elves, and borgos. These races were peaceful as they followed the rules and commands of Shaina, who was the most benevolent. You could call it their paradise.

In the west was where Bnakir resided and his monsters lived. Not much was known what was in the west but almost all believed only evil could possibly thrive there.

To keep the peace and balance within their lands, Shaina handpicked one person on each races and decided to grant them knowledge and power. Aronbuara, Tramku, Bonohan and Slora were the ones who were granted.

Aronbuara was an elf. He was granted profound knowledge and overseer the lands of elves. Tramku was a beast. She was granted the power of incredible strength and she was given the right to rule the beasts. Slora was a borgos and she was given the right for the infinite amounts of resources that were sleeping deep Dlimor. She was also given the right to rule her people. Borohan was the one who received the least for as he only received a right to rule within his people. Shaina was the one who looked over their work and to see if they were doing it right. Shaina was also the one who ruled over humans. Together, they helped each other to create a peaceful and harmonious world.

To counter his enemy, Bnakir spawned his own ghastly monsters within the thousands, possibly millions, of monsters he had created. He had created: Onian, an undead, Twunia, a Phimim, Foboa and Fias, a twin child-like monster and Thorop. Bnakir called these monsters “Lords of the West”. These monsters were the ones who controlled and created a twisted order in a world full of chaos.

Bnakir’s goal was straight and simple; conquer the world and make Shaina bow down to him. With the coordination of Bnakir and the strength of his armies, one by one they conquer their foes.

Nobody truly knew what happened but the Shaina’s four races and rulers fell out. Nobody helped the other and that was why Bnakir was able to breeze through them. Tramku was captured. Borohan and Slora were slain while Aronbuara was able to escape. Needless to say, their lands were raze to the very ground and their people were either mutilated or killed ruthlessly and mercilessly. Only few were able to get to the safety of Shaina.

With everything she built about to be destroyed, Shaina decided to battle Bnakir with all she got. After a fierce battle that lasted for a week, Shaina won and managed to destroy Bnakir. As for the Lords of the East and his army, she drove them back to the place where they came from. But her victory came with a cost as all of her powers were mostly drained. As a result, she was forced to hibernate away for thousands of years, her return unknown and in the place only she knew.

With the defeat Bnakir, the Lords of the East’s powers withered away. Before they left Shaina’s paradise, legends said that they would return and when they do, their god would be alongside them, creating that same despair and hopelessness that the four races had now long forgotten.

When Shaina departed, she wasn’t able to relay any commands on what the four races should do, so the four races returned to their lands. Once harmonious, the four races were straying from each other more and more. Eventually, they cut off their relationship with each other. Overtime, humans and borgos built a relationship while beast and elves also built their own.

Witches were created by Thorop. The captured humans, elves, beasts and borgos were used as fuel for their experimentation. Tramku, the captured beast, was used as a power source in order to feed power to the said witches. With the ingenuity and insane creative mind of Thorop, he was able to create them. They were the first witches.

Witches always had the kind and gentle flesh of Shaina’s races while Bnakir dark blood ran deep through their veins and life. In other words, they were a hybrid. But they were not free and they only obeyed the sinister commands of their god, Thorop.

At first, they called the west their home. They were sent to cause and create destruction within the east but as time passed, they begun to question themselves. They’d noticed that they were similar to the beings that they were killing and thought to themselves that what they were doing was wrong.

When they returned, they told what they were feeling to Thorop but that was a mistake. Thorop thought of this as betrayal and ordered to kill themselves. They didn’t listen and instead escaped, bringing along faithful and loyal monsters with them.

When they returned to the east, they wanted to talk to the four races but obviously, they hated them. In the end, they found themselves with nothing to call home.

Currently, there were five witches living in the east. Some were hiding and some were being violent. The five witches were; Shakna, Castella, Mania, Nata and Ashia. That was all what Shakna had told me.

*

It was the night after the attack on the town. Everything had pretty much returned to normal but the peoples’ fear was still visible and their cries for the dead could still be heard.

Risa and I were in a forest when she told me about the history of this world. She had known that all of us, except for Merry, had came from another world and thus she told me this world’s history. The forest was dark with only the moon illuminating everything. We didn’t want to risk bringing along any light source as we were not sure if the forest was safe. I didn’t even want to go here in the first place but since she insisted, there was nothing I could do. I just had to stay vigilant.

Though she did tell me the history of this world, she never told me her history. What had happened that caused her to hate humanity so much? Why didn’t she tell me more about the witches? There were just too many question that if I’d known they wouldn’t be answered, I would have chosen not to know them instead.

“Why are we even here? Couldn’t you have told me this in the inn?” I said. The leaves of the tree swayed as the cold wind breeze through them. Even though I was wearing winter clothes, the wind could still penetrate through my defenses.

“You moron,” Risa crossed her arms. She was so small and it was so dark that I could barely see her. “That’s not the only reason why Shakna’s with you here.”

“There’s more?”

She nodded, “Remember when Shakna said that Shakna’s going to talk about that “agility” power Shakna has graciously bestowed upon you?”

“Oh yeah,”

Though it was dark, I saw her brows furrowed with my nonchalant tone. It wasn’t her fault, though, something heavy was weighing on my mind and I wasn’t eager to listen to things that were not of importance to me.

“Look,” her tone sounded gentle, as if she was worried about something. “Shakna knows what’s on your mind and honestly, Shakna’s worried about that, too.”

“…You know what’s on my mind?”

“Yup,” her reply was quick and strong, “Shakna’s connected with you, remember? Anyway, Shakna had perceived that your party is utterly weak, especially you since you’re the leader.”

She was right. Fuyuki’s shriek was still ringing through my ears. The moment she got impaled kept replaying in my mind and it was driving me insane. If it wasn’t for that captain, she would have been killed and I would have watched her got impaled helplessly.

“That’s why you have to listen to Shakna right now. This power that I’m talking about would greatly boost your fighting capabilities.”

“Wait a minute,” I noticed something. “You said you’re ‘worried’ about that, too, right? Does that mean you’re worried about my party?”

“Not really,” Although she truly sounded cold, the moonlight revealed that her face showed otherwise. It might have been subtle but I noticed it. “Your strength is Shakna’s defense. You’re all Shakna has to worry about.” Her clothes drifted along with the wind as a tinge of smile formed on her mouth. It was quite the scenery.

“Right, right,” her face had definitely lifted some of the worries I had stored in my mind. “So, what are we talking about here?”

“Lower yourself first.”

After I lowered myself, beneath the glistening moon and surrounded by glittering trees, I felt a warm embrace. The eerie sounds of animals and the whistles of the wind rang louder as I questioned Risa what she was doing. Although I said embrace, she was touching my chest, specifically on my heart.

“Stay still,” I could smell her hair from this angle. It smelled nice. She probably took a bath before going out here. “Shakna’s adjusting something in your heart.”

What did she mean by that? Was it figuratively or literally? Although if it was literally, I’d feel something but at that moment, I wasn’t feeling anything.

Though, I spoke too soon.

As she hummed a catchy tone that she probably learned somewhere, I felt a tweaking in my heart. The sensation and pain was all too familiar. It was as if she was rearranging something in my heart. I didn’t know why but all of it made me strangely nostalgic and at the same time made me…emotionless.

“There, all done,” she wiped her forehead as if she had done something to make her sweat. “Shakna thought that would be difficult but Shakna should have expected less of a human heart.”

“What exactly did you do?” after she removed her hand on my heart, I could feel myself feeling again.

“Basically, there was resistance,” she touched my chest again. “Your heart wouldn’t accept one of the offerings Shakna gave you. That’s why you didn’t improve when you came to this world.”

“You’re not making any sense…”

“You don’t have to understand anything, just know the problem is solved. Now, try out what you’ve been given.”