The Epic Tale of Chaos vs Order Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Prologue (I)
In a secluded corner of a vast continent, a violent conflict was unfolding. Given the overwhelming military power of one side and their relentless slaughter of every man, woman, and child in their path, it was more accurate to describe the event as a genocide than a war.
Soldiers clad in heavy blue uniforms marched alongside tanks and various armored vehicles. Armed with guns, they surged into a massive city, butchering the inhabitants without mercy.
The streets of the city were dyed a deep crimson. This was the ancestral home of the Crimson People, a race distinguished by their striking white hair and red irises.
Centuries ago, the reclusive Crimson People had arrived in this desert. Despite the unforgiving climate, their tireless efforts allowed them to flourish, building a nation that stood firm against the test of time.
Regrettably, the prosperity they achieved in the desert eventually ignited the avarice of the Great Star Kingdom.
Previous rulers of the Star Kingdom had ignored these lands, believing them to be uninhabitable, but the Crimson People had proven them wrong.
Now that the desert was deemed valuable, the reigning Star King, Sunit the Great, resolved to seize it. Because the Crimson People were known for being incredibly stubborn and difficult to subjugate, he chose a path of total destruction rather than trying to integrate them into his realm.
Initially, the Great Star Kingdom attempted a diplomatic front. However, the Crimson People rejected the terms, as the conditions would have essentially reduced them to the status of slaves.
.....
The Star King had anticipated this refusal. After performing a political charade to vilify the Crimson People in the eyes of the public, he declared that diplomacy had failed. Using a fabricated excuse, he launched a war of total extermination.
The Crimson People fought with great courage, but they were no match for the sheer scale of the Great Star Kingdom. In less than a month, the invading forces had breached the capital city.
A young boy, barely five years old, sat atop a nearby mountain. His white hair and red eyes marked him clearly as one of the Crimson People. From his vantage point, he watched the annihilation of his city.
The horrors and atrocities of war are enough to leave permanent psychological scars on any adult, yet such a gruesome spectacle seemed to have no effect on the small child. The boy remained eerily still.
Within those small eyes, there was no trace of terror, no spark of hatred, and no sign of grief. There was nothing at all.
The sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention. Turning to the right, he saw five men in military uniforms cresting the mountain ridge toward his position.
He observed their weapons and noted the crazed, bloodthirsty grins on some of their faces, yet he remained unmoved. After a brief look at the five men, he turned his gaze back toward the burning city.
“Here is one of them. Let’s finish this small rat.” One soldier took aim at the boy with his rifle. A sadistic smile spread across his face as he imagined the moment the bullet would strike.
“Stop!” another soldier shouted, physically pushing the rifle barrel away from the child. This man, named Jona, had eyes filled with a mixture of fury and shame that he could not suppress.
Enraged that his fun had been interrupted, the first soldier turned on his comrade.
“What the hell are you doing, Jona? We have orders to eliminate every single one of these rats!”
The weight of guilt and anger intensified in Jona’s expression upon hearing those words.
“We are being ordered to slaughter women and children. How the fuck can we follow such madness!”
“You know the penalty for defying orders!” the bloodthirsty soldier barked, refusing to back down.
“We can just report that we didn't find anyone. We don't have to keep sinking into this depravity.” Jona kept a firm grip on the rifle and looked toward the boy. “Child, run! Get out of here now!”
The boy did not budge, his eyes remained fixed on the city below. To any observer, it would seem as though the child’s mind had snapped, leaving him unable to comprehend the danger.
“See? He’s already lost it. It would be a mercy to end his suffering now.” The soldier filled with bloodlust shoved Jona aside and took aim once more.
Before his finger could reach the trigger, the boy extended his hand toward the group and clenched his fist.
In an instant, sharp spikes of earth erupted from the ground, skewering all five soldiers and killing them where they stood. With a single movement of his hand, the child had ended both the merciful and the cruel.
Just as the sight of his people dying had failed to move him, the act of killing these men elicited no reaction. Once the interruption was dealt with, the boy’s focus returned to the capital.
“Had I dominated this power sooner, I could have saved them.”
Though the words suggested a man consumed by regret, they were delivered without a shred of emotion. He was simply acknowledging a fact, devoid of any sentiment.
He cast one final look at the city before standing up to depart. As he started walking, he gestured toward the corpses of the fallen soldiers, drawing the blood out of their bodies and toward himself.
Streams of blood swirled around the boy’s small frame before solidifying into a deep red robe. Across the back, two words were inscribed in threads of milky white.
“RED KING.”
At only four years and three days old, the Red King stood alone, having witnessed the end of everyone he had ever known.