Past and Prologue

The Tale of the Untouchable Law

Long, long ago in the Kingdom of Cyster, there was a good king. He fathered two children, a son and a daughter. However, there had been a disagreement in the family, concerning a magic that the daughter had begun to be caught up in. Nights were spent quarreling instead of resting eyes and minds. During one of these quarrels, the symbol of Cyster, the Crystal Grand Sword, was dislodged accidentally from its mantle over the hearth. The luminescent shaft shattered and the hilt became black.
Feeling fault for the incident, the princess fled the nation. Historians would later condemn the princess for her “evil and treasonous” act. She was exiled, and never heard of again. From that day forward, by decree of the king, no woman was to touch his father’s sword, under punishment of exile.

Prologue

There once was a generous and good-hearted man named Marcus Brightwill. And ever since his days of adolescence, he admired and longed for the lord of the land’s daughter, Roselia. She was a fine woman, much the same age and disposition of Marcus. Having run the gauntlet of her father’s expectations in a man, Marcus began to court Roselia. And they had only eyes for each other.
But another man longed for Roselia. He was Randolph Vankern, the son of a wealthy merchant. He tried to tempt Roselia with riches and fine ornaments of estate, but she felt no love for him.
Marcus and Roselia were later married. Randolph was enraged, but made no act against the pair. Not at that time.
The newly blessed pair moved far away from their hometown, mostly to Roselia’s request. She loved her family, but they tended to smother her. Finally they decided on a town called Landvein, across the Great Plains. It was not a very large town and it gave them the privacy they desired.