Edlin, Joshua, and Albert were leaving Edlin's village, heading toward the White Castle.
And then Albert began revealing everything that Edlin's father, Strider, had told him.
Edlin says:
Edlin - Shadows? Who are they?"
Just then, Joshua speaks up.
Joshua - Shadows? I always thought they were just a myth. But if they're real, then what now?"
Edlin - Yeah, okay, that's fine… but can someone please tell me what shadows actually are?"
"Albert begins telling Edlin the story."
Albert - "People once believed it was just a myth... a story told to scare children or entertain old men by the fire. But I know better now. It was never a myth."
Around 400 years ago, humans, orcs, elves, dwarfs, and beastmen all lived together. Among them existed another race. They looked like humans but were physically stronger, and because of this strength, they grew more and more arrogant. They would do anything to belittle the other races.
Among them was a leader named ALDEBARON, a man of great intelligence. His people considered him a messiah. But ALDEBARON envied all the other races. Using his intelligence, he formed an army of his own people with the sole aim of ruling the world. To achieve this, he allied with dark beasts and made a contract to gain dark powers.
With these dark powers, he gained abilities like mind control, superhuman strength, superhuman speed, and even control over all elemental powers to a certain extent. Slowly, he distributed his power among his followers, who later came to be known as Shadows.
Then, he betrayed and killed the dark beast, as it had grown weak, making it easy to eliminate. After killing it, he absorbed its powers and became so powerful that no one could stand against him.
His terror spread across eight kingdoms. The kingdoms tried to fight back, but none of them could match his power. Finally, the eight kingdoms set aside their rivalries and formed a special team with the ten strongest individuals in the world, whose mission was to assassinate Aldebaron.
A great war followed — 10 vs 1. The battle was so intense it lasted nearly a week. In the end, after the sacrifice of six team members, they couldn't kill him but managed to seal him in a magical box. The strongest among them kept the box safe.
With their leader gone, the Shadows weakened, and the united kingdoms wiped them out completely.
But now... they have returned, and no one knows what their true objective is.
"Edlin listens to the entire story with deep seriousness, and then he speaks..."
Edlin - What an interesting story... truly. But there's one thing I didn't understand — where is that box now? The strongest one kept it with him, but... who was he?
Albert - No one knows that… because it was his plan all along — to keep the box hidden so that no one in the future could misuse it. It all sounded like a myth… but not anymore.
Joshua - I used to think it was just a bedtime story too… but not anymore.
Edlin - Aldebaron… hmm. He was such a powerful being that the entire world had to unite just to stop him. Wow.
Hmm, it's a really interesting story… but we'll talk more about it later. Right now, we need to pick up our pace.
Albert nods in agreement and joins them. The three of them quicken their pace, determined to reach their destination as fast as possible.
And just then, a bird comes flying toward them. Albert instantly recognizes it and raises his hand. The bird lands gently on his palm. He carefully unties a small letter attached to its leg — the message reads:
"From Commander Zack."
To be continue...