Prologue

**Prologue** is a chapter in *Pax Regalis*. In this chapter, Angela Delvecchio, a former Warrior of Light who wielded the sacred light sword Artiria and whose mission was return to her home castle after she and the army run away when the dark prince Lyon invaded it and captured the princess and her brother Tony, and after successfully counting the help of young fighters who also heard the sad news of it, and after having liberated the kingdom from the hands of evil during the Great War, and also, one of the main protagonist of this story, tells the story about what will happen in the coming Sinayan Crisis to readers.

## Transcript

**T**HE Great War ended with a deafening silence from Artiria, defeating the dark prince Lyon and the forces of Grado into process. Angela Delvecchio and her band of young fighters may have been triumphant, but Sinaya mourned the loss of millions of lives.

The world moved on. And in the silence, we forgot.

Once upon a time, in a world far, far away, there was a planet called Sinaya, a beautiful place filled with fairytale-like kingdoms, princes, princesses, dashing uniforms, crowns, tiaras, carriages, fantastical creatures, plants, diverse races, swords, spears, cannons, muskets, sailing ships, peasants, nobles, steam engines, sorcery, powdered wigs, fancy clothing, horses, airships, classical music, sleeping in formal clothing, magic, knights, dragons, kings, paintings, queens, villages, pirates, cowboys, revolvers, cowgirls, tribes, temples, and even diverse biomes. However, there is no such thing as a "happily ever after at all."

But when the Sinayan Crisis was over, what if we can be able to use modern firearms, modern vehicles, modern aircraft, modern watercraft, modern spacecraft, modern weaponry, modern medical equipment, modern food and modern apartments, including futuristic ones? Well, that'll be the technological turn for Sinaya.

With older powers dying and the power-hungry empires rising, we would face a new war that's large enough to be called the Second Sinayan War. Or... the Sinayan Crisis.

But war, war never changes... at all.

After rescuing him a few months ago, my brother Tony asked me if I was truly ready to go to war. He told me that the good soldier kills without thinking of his enemy as a human being. In the moment he sees him as a fellow man, he is no longer a good soldier. And I was a good soldier.

Apolaki help me.

Within each of us lie the seeds of an undefined greatness. We are the fathers and mothers of our own future. That future must be chosen, nurtured, guided. It must be driven with convinction. Lest our lesser nature let it stray into shadow.

The new war would throroughly explore every Sinayan's potential. Finest moments. Darkest hours. Summits of courage. Depths of hatred. Hope. Endurance. Atrocity. Death.

We fought everywhere, in every condition known and unknown, using weapons we had either dreamed or never dreamed of. Whenever they're bladed, bows, crossbows, magic, siege weapons, horses, cannons, gunpowder weapons, and most recently, modern weaponry, including modern vehicles. But life is life, and death is death, and as if we cherish life and/or death, it's no matter the cost, no matter where you are, and suffering is the same in every language.

With the Isu technology powered and the Asnamon trees ignited into such an accident from archaeologists who rescued their projects on digging Sinaya's deepest secrets, technology moved faster than you could think how to use it. Yours, theirs, mine, ours, its, him, hers - it didn't matter. This new war would prove that from ocean-bed to mountaintop, and even outer space, the greatest killing machine is a person of any kind of a sapient species.

Total war brought death home. It wasn't just about soldiers, knights, warriors and fighters in the front. This time, the crosshairs found the workers in the workshops, blacksmiths, fletchers, bowyers, stablers, alchemists, wagonwains, airship builders, scientists, engineers and siege engineers. They found the commuters in the horse carriages, sailing ships, boats, trains and airships. They found the presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, princes and princesses in castles and palaces. They found the nobles in mansions. They found the peasants in houses, huts, farms, mines, quarries, logging camps, lumber mills, orchards and taverns. They found the dragons and unicorns in dens. And they found the children in schools.

Airmen. Infantry. Volunteers. Conscripts. Knights. Musketeers. Jaegers. Grenadiers. Minutemen. Knights. Pirates. Vikings. Wizards. Witches. Mages. Pistoleers. Pikemen. Swordmen. Archers. Legionnaires. Footmen. Axemen. Redcoats. Sailors. Navigators. Explorers. Warriors. Barbarians. Arquebusiers. Samurais. Cossacks. Crusaders. Cavalry. Cannoneers. Cuirassiers. Askaris. Fifers. Drummers. Freischars. Gladiators. Harquebuisers. Hessians. Hoplites. Immortals. Impis. Ninjas. Peltasts. Privateers. Riflemen. Soheis. Spearmen. Lingeers. Ueekatas. Amazons. Them and us. It didn't matter where the danger comes from - the threat of death unified everyone. Victory meant staying alive.

Sinaya's unworthy creation. What lead it back it to us? Does a hidden hand guide it? Birthing us in violence, blood and newly-introduced technology. Ending us in fear, alone. Until you've either stabbed, thrown something, released the bow or pulled the trigger on an enemy, you're not ready for war. You're ready to die.

Beginnings... endings... in between one and the other... between first, and last... always searching... sometimes finding... brothers and sisters... sons and daughters... mothers and fathers... we have no Sinaya without them. And there is no other world.

***PAX REGALIS***