The Beginning.

"At the beginning of time, there was the one and he was the light. He was alone for a long time and his name was Alkahiri," Jaishu Kokozu started to narrate the story of how Alkahiri created the universe for the children.

The children were all sitting on the wooden floor, paying attention except one who was dozing off. All the children of the noble clans must go through schooling and when they turn ten they get shipped off to Camp Shitori for military training.

"I remember my grandmother telling me this story over and over again. Even now I can still hear her gentle voice in my head," Karui mumbled and smiled briefly.

"What I remember most is how stubborn and inattentive Konoiki was during those classes, and of course your beautiful grandmother," Hana replied.

"He was always dozing off too, just like that kid over there," he pointed at the dozing kid and chuckled even more.

Hana joined him and the smiling turned to a peal of loud laughter. They both laughed for some minutes.

"Have you seen him since you got back?" She asked him.

"No, not really," the smile faded off his face.

"You're not a very good brother, you know?" she murmured and slapped him on his shoulder.

"Well, I hope he is responsible now, at least."

Hana coughed jokingly. "That's like asking a Shinzubi to fly, Karui. You are the serious one, perhaps too serious and he's the funny one. You guys are so different but he's your brother and you can actually learn something from him." She asserted, staring at him mischievously.

I have nothing to learn from my foolish brother, Hana. What could he possibly teach me? How to be an irresponsible spoilt fool?" Karui blurted.

"How to have fun, Karui. How to enjoy life. You are a great warrior, probably the best swordsman in the whole of Snowlandia.

"I know being from the ruling clan means you place service to the country above all, but it shouldn't stop you from at least trying to enjoy the things you are fighting for other people to have and be free sometimes," Hana responded.

"Fun? Fun is a luxury I cannot afford, Hana. The highest obligation and privilege of a man is to fight for his country. I have men who rely upon me and believe in me for their survival, Hana, there are those who would see to the destruction of these lands, so until they are all in graves I can't have fun," Karui snapped.

Hana glanced at him, she wanted to say something but stopped halfway. She then turned and started walking toward the children's study hall

"That didn't end well," he whispered to himself. He wanted to apologize but decided not to. He turned and started walking toward his dragon.

"Ikari! Let's go to the white halls, girl."

The beast bent its giant head, allowing Karui to get on its saddled back. It flapped its enormous wings as it soared into the air, roaring.

The children and everybody else in the Hanara castle stared at the magnificent beast as it flew away, and they all hailed.

"Snowfalls. This city was founded in the coldest and harshest part of Mundillum. It is one of the last human-inhabited cities to the north and the capital of the kingdom of Snowlandia, the only region of Snowlandia that falls to the north is the home of the yellow haired lords, one of the founding clans of the kingdom. Formerly the most powerful empire in the whole of Mundillum, one of the Mashirotzus decided to let go of some of their territories after a long civil war that left the empire in in ruins."

"The first Mashirotzu, Shitori Sanada founded Snowfalls when he decided to move his clan and four other clans away from the freezing wetlands and move southward because of the raiding orcs, unbearable climatic conditions, and other things that threatened their survival like resources which the clans used to fight over.

"The six clans were once sworn enemies, always waging wars against one another, but the strongest of them was the Saberuta clan. The Saberuta clan waged war against the other five clans and succeeded in pushing them out of their territories. The Saberuta clan somehow succeeded in allying with the orcs and they were free from all orc aggression as long as they provided them with human slaves from the other clans.

"Shitori Sanada was the first son of Oroi Sanada, who was the chief of the Sanada clan. After losing his parents and four of his five brothers to an attack by the Saberuta clan and his only surviving brother getting enslaved. He became the clan chief at a young age of sixteen and befriended the other four clans.

"The Hanara, the Yokozuna, the Hirotoki, and the Aokami clan all came together to defeat and annihilate the Saberuta clan then they all decided to leave the wetlands, pursued by the orcs.

"They migrated to the isle of beasts and even the orcs wouldn't dare follow them there. The isle of the beasts was feared all over Mundillum, the place was feared so much that even the Elves and the Dwarves wouldn't wander near the place because it was home to the most feared monsters ever seen, and chief amongst them were the fire breathing air dragons. What made the dragons so dangerous was their intelligence, and this made it so that powerful beings like even the darkened lord himself was unable to tame them.

"When the orc raiders saw that they were heading for the isle of monsters they stopped pursuing them. Snowfall was founded and Shitori was the first Mashirotzu, the white dragon.

"The first Mashirotzu was the first man to ride a dragon and he made the magical pact that bonded the dragons to his bloodline, legend has it that for this to happen, he had to battle the the strongest dragon for ten days and night before subduing the beast, but a more sensible story says that he had help from one of the mages of the first order. The title Mashirotzu was given to him because of this and the silver hair, typical of the Sanada clan. "

"Excuse me, Jaishu Momoshi. Can you please tell us about how all the clans chose their pact beasts too? And also, why some people from the noble clans are riders and some aren't?" A skinny boy with blue hair asked from a crowd of students who were listening to the learned man with fixed attention. Some of the other students protested the interruption by murmuring and staring at the skinny blue haired boy.

"Well, that'll be a lesson for another time, but before then, you should see what you can find out about the topic, Jian," Momoshi replied.

Four men in black armor and hoods on their heads, armed to the teeth walked into the study hall and went straight to the Jaishu. They whispered to him and he followed them.

"What are the black hands doing here?" Jian asked another student called Bushui.

"Well, they are allowed only to operate in foreign lands, except when there is an immediate threat against the realm," Bushui replied.

"I wonder if the Jashui is in danger," Jian mumbled.

"Well, your sister is a black hand, shouldn't you just ask her instead?" Bushui retorted.

"She's a black hand, yes. That means she's always somewhere far away from here assassinating a bunch of people or whatever the hell they do, you dummy... I've not even laid eyes on her in several months," Jian explained.

He wanted to continue talking but was suddenly interrupted by the loud sound of an explosion that sent him and everybody else in the study hall flying. He landed on his face and couldn't hear anything. He managed to get up but he was feeling dizzy.

"Bushui!" he screamed his friend's name.

"Over here, Jian!"

He turned toward the voice and saw Jian still trying to get up. He quickly helped him up.

"What the hell just happened, Jian," he asked, breathing heavily.

"How do you expect me to know, Bushui?" Jian blurted.

"Well because you always know everything," Bushui replied.

"We really need to get out of here," Jian whispered.

They made their way to the front door, and they were met with such destruction. A very big crater had been made by whatever had exploded and dead people were scattered in pieces around them, the black hands inclusive.

"This is the work of magic, it's the only thing that could have done this. Who would dare attack Snowlandia like this? " Bushui asked.

"It must have been a really powerful Mage, the type you only hear about in stories. A dark mage." Jian replied.

"I thought they were all wiped out in the last great war, or at least that's what's in the history books."

They both heard a voice call their names. And turned in the direction of the voice.

"Jian! Bushui! Thank Alkahiri, you're still breathing," Shosho screamed and hugged them both.

"Easy there little brother, we're hurting," Jian grumbled.

Oh, I'm sorry, but we need to get out of here before another Jaishu explodes himself to avoid being captured and exposed as a traitor, Shosho explained.

"Wait what?" both Jian and Bushui exclaimed.

"Yes, Jaishu Momoshi used magic to cause the explosion, killing the black hand squad that came to arrest him," Shosho replied.

"The army is moving in, we are really under attack," Jian said.

They heard roars and immediately looked up.

"Even the dragon riders are here now, we really need to get out of here. This is the beginning of something."

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story. Vote and comment as you read, though. I'm kind of new and I welcome polite criticism. Thanks.