Zachania

Joseph Henry Gaines

Copyright © 2012 Joseph
Henry Gaines

All rights
reserved.

Smashwords Edition

www.zachania.com

I dedicate this book to
my wife Suzanne and my Children

Sophie, Angel, Sonny,
Manny, Honey, and Cassius

Tome
1

Taken from the
Diaries and Chronicles of Talon the Zararhakzar
& the Tome’s of Epicania.

From the Holy book of
Pang
the Chronicles of Zanchek
& the Tusarian Oracle.

In the beginning Kratos
was a lifeless land.

Until five Gods,
CLADAS, APOLLO, ANFINNIS, ZIKON, and CRECKAS ordained its
creation.

The Lord God Cladas set
forth giving tasks to his fellow Gods,

Creckas, brother of
Cladas was given the task to breathe life into the land, when
Creckas had completed this, Kratos flourished in fertile bloom, the
valleys were carpeted in dew soaked grass, the hills were filled
with the aromas of flowers and pines and after thousands of years
animals roamed the land and fish swam in the rivers and seas.

The Lord God Cladas
pleased with what he saw deemed it was now time to create
intelligent life to tend and harvest the land.

Cladas gave his other
brothers Apollo, Anfinnis, and Zikon the tasks of creating three
life forms.

Apollo created mortal
man and gave them the fertile northeast realm as their home, Apollo
himself lived amongst them as a mortal where he gave them his
teachings on how to farm, fish and tend their livestock and under
his charge the Man tribe flourished and multiplied.

The God Zikon created
the second tribe to which he named The KESAINS, they were created
half man half bear, immensely strong and suited to their chosen
mountainous and forest realm in the south. Zikon like Apollo also
took on their form living and teaching amongst them.

The third and final
tribe was created by the God Anfinnis, their chosen home was to be
the harsh desert region of the southeast. This ruling by Cladas
angered Anfinnis, Apollo and Zikon were given lush and fertile
lands to create their tribes Anfinnis was given barren wilderness.
So he created a race called the DEGRAINS who was a mixture of Man,
Mountain beast and the desert lion.

Anfinnas like his
brothers lived as one of them where he tutored them in the ways of
the land.

The three Gods remained
among their tribes for over ten millennia, Apollo’s man tribe built
many towns all across the north of the island, they became very
skilled and excelled in tendering the land.

The Kesain’s chose
solitude and remained contented in the vast Forest of Deceit.

The Degrain’s however
preferred the taste of the kill; they became clannish and ferocious
as the nature of the beast in their blood prevailed. They searched
in huge packs to fulfil their insatiable hunger for blood; many
species of animal were hunted to extinction as they plundered the
land.

Anfinnis many times
tried to calm them but his creation could not be tamed, before long
the whole region of the south east was extinct of life hunted and
killed by the Degrain.

Then on one tragic day,
a day that would be forever known as ‘the darkest day’, the Degrain
entered the realm of man.

A clannish tribe of
Degrain named ‘the Aclan’ crossed the great river in their search
for blood, upon the river banks they stumbled across a nomadic
tribe of men, women and children.

A savage onslaught
commenced and the man tribe were killed with no mercy as their
herds of cattle were feasted upon.

After the Aclan’s
massacre, the Degrain’s returned to their own land, word quickly
spread that vast amounts of food could easily be found to the
north. The Degrain flocked north in their thousands, hundreds of
man tribes were butchered and annihilated.

When the God Apollo
learned of the Degrain exodus he immediately demanded a conference
with his fellow god Anfinnis.

Anfinnis arrived
feeling shame and embarrassment from what his tribe had been doing.
Apollo argued fiercely with his fellow God which resulted in a
battle between them which lasted two man years.

When the Lord God heard
of his brother’s feud and how they had actually fought with each
other, he became so outraged He forbid them to never again
interfere or return to Kratos, from this day forth Kratos would
stand alone.

For over one thousand
years the island of Kratos was in chaos as the Degrain’s
continually hunted and killed the man tribes until one day they
attacked a nomadic tribe ruled by a man named TUSARIA.

‘Tusaria the Great’ he
was later to be known.

He was a fiercely
strong man with a calm and placid nature. When the Degrain attacked
his small tribe they brought out his other side. Witnessing the
deaths of his wife and children he became fearsome with rage and
killed every Degrainian beast.

Alone and delirious
Tusaria swore revenge, he fashioned his farming tools into weapons
and travelled the north where he gathered together strong and
vengeful men from different clans until he had amounted a small
army.

Then on one historic
day later to be known as ‘The day of Tusaria’,he and his army
attacked a large clan of the Degrain, as the day ended over one
thousand Degrain were slayed. Many of the nomadic man tribes upon
hearing of this man’s resolve flocked to Tusaria begging him for
protection and after many years of battles the whole region of the
north east became known as the land of Tusaria, the region
flourished under his leadership.

The blood thirsty
Degrain’s continued for decades without success to attack the land
of Tusaria. Frustrated by the resolve of Tusaria they turned their
attention west where they discovered the peaceful race of
Kesain.

Tusaria the great lived
to the age of one hundred and eighty seven, he never remarried but
he fathered many sons.

One of which was
blessed with great wisdom who also became Tusaria’s first King.
Under the reign of ‘Tasolock the wise’, the land of Tusaria became
a civilization, he formed a council of ten Lords to protect the
realm and formed councils for farming, fishing, education,
building, and war.

The Tusaria family
dynasty lasted for over eight hundred years during which time the
land became vastly populated.

The last of the Dynasty
was Ilkut who was killed tragically on a hunting trip while still a
boy. The whole land mourned his death.

The head of the
education council was a man called Lord Bakro, who was chosen to
take the throne of Tusaria. A fierce protest came from the head of
the war council. Lord Kutic demanded that he should become King
stating that a warrior and not a teacher should rule the land of
Tusaria. For months tensions rose as Kutic and his soldiers
boycotted the coronation of Bakro and refused to take his orders.
Finally the other nine members of the war council sided with the
new King and Kutic was ordered to obey or be banished. Kutic
resentfully yielded but over the next few years the arguments
persisted as Kutic and his men’s allegiances were questioned.

King Bakro after many
confrontations was finally forced to banish the wayward Lord Kutic
and his men from Tusaria.

King Bakro declared to
his people that this action had broken his heart but what he did,
he did for the stability of the realm.

Lord Kutic’s exit from
the land was one of great shame, in a rabid lust for vengeance he
formed an allegiance with the Degrain, and in his rage he betrayed
his people and gave Degrain the knowledge to defeat Tusaria.

The abrupt war was over
quickly, with the siege on Tusaria mighty and full of surprise.
Lord Kutic murdered the King and pronounced himself leader and a
new age, the Kutic dynasty begun, an age of oppression and
pain.

The Kutic Dynasty
reigned for over one thousand years; it was a time of tyranny with
deep resentment and suffering for the Tusarian’s

Thousands of Tusarian’s
were thrown into subjugation and held in huge slavery camps outside
the vast city’s while the Kutics built huge walls around their
Palaces and homes.

The Tusarian’s secretly
built connecting tunnels to their homes and camps, generation after
generation they became more desperate and determined to end this
tyranny. It was at this time that the first wizards appeared. At
first they were known as preachers and makers of faith where they
held secret meetings preaching to the masses about hope and
salvation.

Soon these wizards
became immensely respected within the slave camps, they became
leaders, men of hope, men of resolve, men filled with the blood of
Tusaria the great.

When the Kutic’s
learned of these wizards they engaged in a savage reign of terror,
countless wizards were found and butchered as well as countless
followers with men suspected though falsely of being a wizard.

For two centuries this
brutality persisted, the Kutic’s became obsessed with wiping out
this faith but for every man they killed, ten would rise in their
place to continue the work. This was known as the ‘Age of
Martyrs’.

Then a new kind of
wizard suddenly evolved, his name was Dalafin, a man with a
hypnotic nature, god given luck and divine wisdom who dabbled in a
strange art with herbs. Dalafin gathered a small army of Tusarian’s
around him, men considered resilient and strong

The Kutic family began
to lose control of the slave camps, in an effort to discover the
men behind the revolt the Kutic’s ordered one thousand slaves to be
murdered every day until the people gave up there leaders.

After two days Dalafin
finally surfaced, he called a huge rally with over a hundred
thousand slaves attended.

Dalafin gave a speech,
a speech that was to change every life of every slave in
Tusaria.

Listening in the crowd
was a orphan boy named Bolson Hanoster, a young man now who was
adopted by Dalafin from an early age, his heart ached as he held
onto every word of Dalafin’s speech

“
When a man is
enslaved by another man,
In time he will no longer feel the pain that his tyrant can
plague.
In time he will no longer care for his own existence.
He will care only for his freedom.
His freedom of thought.
His freedom of life.
A yearning that consumes a man till he no longer becomes a
man.
Our time has come to yearn no more, follow me into battle, and
follow me into salvation.
Fight for your friends.
Fight for your Fathers.
Fight for your wife’s.
Fight for your children.
And fight!, fight for your right to live.”

That night young Bolson
Hanoster carried by the words of Dalafin crept silently into the
Palace grounds, without a care for his own life he scaled the walls
and entered the bedrooms of the Kutics, by morning not one Kutic
family member breathed life.

As word spread amongst
the camps the slaves saw their chance for freedom and began their
revolt. The Palace was taken and young Bolson Hanoster was chosen
as their saviour.

A new Tusarian leader
under the guidance of Dalafin was born.

The new leader’s first
task was to send a message to Degrain that any intrusion into
Tusarian land would now be met with force. The Degrain’s took great
offence at this message but as they prepared to invade they were
surprisingly attacked by the Empire of Kesain .unable to risk a war
with two tribes at the same time the Degrain were forced to focus
their attentions fully on their attackers from the west.

By a strange act of
fate the land of Tusaria was left to flourish while the war between
the Degrain and the Kesain raged.

Bolson Hanoster was
crowned King, he rebuilt the city, formed the councils once again
and created an order of wizards to which they were given positions
of power and respect. Years passed as Tusaria blossomed; it soon
became an Empire again with the King and Dalafin instrumental in
new ideas and inventions.