Chapter 2: Zoriah

-----

A/N

Introductory chapter for everyone to know all about Asteria and Zoriah… Enjoy!

I'm really sorry for not updating the story regularly. I've had so much work lately. But that said, I promise to do my best.

-----

Asteria was a planet about 11 times the size of the earth in another dimension. Asteria's home dimension was a 'special existence' as a result of its high tendency to experience dimensional fissures. Its positioning around these cracks between dimensions resulted in an excess of divine energy, chaos energy, magic energy and basically turning Asteria into a hub of energy and turned the flora and fauna into conduits of energy.

Land covered 3/5's of the planet's surface in the form of a single continent. Other small islands also dotted the planet's surface. Ice caps at the poles existed as well. Floating islands littered the sky and normal topical islands dotted the sea.

-----

A/N

I'll frequently be using flora and fauna for plant and animal life, respectively. Other terms I use can be easily checked up. Other word choices I use which are problematic can be reported in the comment section. Thanks!

----

The elementals and later the guardians were the preservers of the earth in more ways than one. Asides from preserving mankind from external threats or existential crises, they also preserved the other inhabitants of the earth. Be them flora, fauna, or even natural landmarks.

Whilst creating Asteria, the elementals brought together the various extinct, dangerous, mythical, mysterious, magical animals they had taken to preserve throughout their travels and put them on the planet. They were introduced to Asteria a few months before the exodus of the guardians to adapt to their new environment.

At the time of the guardians inhabiting Asteria, the planet had several varieties of mythical and 'unique' flora and fauna. Phoenixes, griffons, leviathans, dinosaurs and many other species naturally populated the central continent, dwelt on the numerous islands, roamed the skies and swam the oceans. The planet served as the home of the guardians as well as a conservative museum of nature for all citizens of the earth.

The city of Zoriah covered most of the continent within a circular wall. It covered about 70% of the central continent in a city wall. Zoriah contained the guardians as well as the animals and plants. After several years spent there, the animals and plants bathed in the dimensional energy and began to evolve into new species or same species with an evolved intelligence as well as physiology.

This brought about the age of magical beasts and plants. Dryads, pegasuses, Unicorns, dragon, and other magical creatures were the evolution of the normal earth creatures. They developed so much that they were able to perform magic and formed an integral part of guardian society. Beast tamers those who were gifted with the ability of communication with plants, animals and nature in general, lived among the animals watching over and living together with an ecosystem suitable to them. Those animals who evolved up to a certain degree of intelligence and sentience took the oath of the guardians and aided the beast tamers to oversee the other beasts. They also assisted in times of war. Some stayed in the city of Zoriah, other lived on the various islands and some even lived under the ocean.

Floating islands also provided additional space for the millions of plants and animals. Each island or preserve containing animal and or plants was watched over by a pair of beast tamers. Basically, they would spend their lives guarding them, maybe even settle down on their various duty posts. The only times they could leave were when they were needed to go to battle, when they were called to the city for a gathering issued by the elementals or the council or during the annual inauguration anniversary of asteria. The festival lasted 7 days and during that time, only threats which surpassed the D.S scale would call the attention of the entire population, any other threats would be handled either by the elementals or the council. The beast tamers began practicing magic with the animals as well, and soon they recruited beast guardians to their cause.

The elementals essentially ruled the guardians together with the council of the elder 12. The oracle passed on the rules and commands of the Gods to the rest of the people. The guardians were a people whose race was made for war. with the incorporation of magical beasts into their society, it was decided to structure their entire civilization with the Elementals first and directly under them they had generals. Each general was in charge of a certain unit or platoon of unique guardians who were dubbed 'the 24 elders. The magical beasts had their own 2 generals among the 24 elders. There was a bigger council which consisted of the elementals, the council of the elder 12, and the council of the 24 war elders. The beast elders made it their life's work to add the magical beasts to Zoriah's strength.

The presence of the dimensional rift also brought about the problem of the creatures of the void. Those creatures were beings born from the chaos energies of the void and lacked intelligence. Their most basic instinct was to cause chaos and destruction. They used their 'negative' chaos energy to erode matter and other 'positive' energies. The link between Asteria and the Bermuda triangle-another dimensional rift- further increased the problem. The guardians therefore had a special division trained to deal with the void creatures. That division was headed by one of the 24 elders.

----

A/N

Council- the sum of the elementals, the elder 12 and the 24 war elders

Council of elder 12- the council of Oracle and his other friends

Elementals- the elementals

War council- the 24 elders

Sorry for the confusion….

----

The elementals often brought children who had survived wars or other disasters. They also took all the Gods bestowed under their wing and as such, they formed a place to keep these kids. The orphanage served as a safe haven for all these kids to connect with each other and heal the wounds of conflict and pain. Over time, these children were trained by all the members of the Council and they became the elite in all the arts which they learned. The orphanage was placed directly on top of an energy geyser. This led to the children basking directly in that energy and learning how to manipulate it. The orphanage had one of the heads of the council as its den mother. 12 of those children were taken as the mentees of the elementals while the rest were the apprentices of the rest of the council. Though the elementals were kind, betrayals were treated with extreme prejudice- beheading- and as such, the number of jealous children and apprentices was extremely low. That said, the children were trained with such harsh discipline that would put even the US marines to shame. Navigating of mountain ranges in pairs, heat resistance training in volcanoes or with phoenixes was also quite common.

----

A/N

Dimensional fissures which were connected to a physical place like the earth will be better referred to as energy geysers…

----

In the end, Zoriah was a fortress city in its own right. The walls were composed of impenetrable material, which most referred to as Hephaestus steel, though it was much commonly known as Elementium- the only material capable of shapeshifting. The city's defenses were all round. From a circular dome around the city, anti-chaos rifles and even a stealth setting. Techno-sorcery, another branch of magic taught by the Elementals, was a perfect amalgam of technology and magic and that caused the city to shine all the more. Elementium had a storage property and as such it absorbed the dimensional energy over time so much so it was said even the 'big three' of the Gods- Zeus, Hades & Poseidon wouldn't have an easy walk in the park if they were attempting to get through. The gates of Zoriah were even more dangerous with all species of carnivorous plants.

Teleportation gates made possible with space magic were used as a transport medium for the whole of Asteria, but even those gates used a recognition system which was monitored in real time with an artificially intelligent program so complex it made a quantum supercomputer look old-fashioned.

The buildings in Zoriah were a mix of design from different time periods and regions of earth. Skyscrapers were generally absent due to the desire to keep air traffic de-congested. Cars and other vehicles were generally rarely used for transport as between the guardians'' powers, the magical beasts, and the teleportation gates, there was practically no use. They were still a standard part of the armory to be used in case of a war where all the magical beasts were participating and there was still a need for mounts. This situation, though, was quite... rare.

All in all, Asteria was unmatched in beauty and grandeur, Zoriah unmatched in awe-inspiring sights and defense, and the guardians unmatched in unwavering devotion to their oath.

----

A/N

The link to my discord server is in the novel synopsis. There you can talk, comment, indicate typo errors and have fun with the art of the novel.

----