Chapter Text
Long ago, there were two races that ruled over the earth: humans, and monsters. They got along as a people united, sharing all they had with one another and working together toward a better, brighter future. They worked side by side in the fields and cities, the sweat falling steadily from their brows; they dined at one another’s tables, and exchanged the fruits of their labor; their children learned together in the schools, every one taught just the same; they married and formed families, living not only in peace but in love. Humans and monsters were seen as nearly one and the same. Their lives were serene and calm, and together in brotherhood they enjoyed a long age of prosperity.
Until the terrible day that everything changed.
One day, war broke out between the two races. Nobody could quite recall what sparked it. An angry word? A thoughtless gesture? Or perhaps unease and dissension among the humans had been brewing quietly underneath the surface for years, unknown to all but those whose hearts were already bittered and twisted by fear and jealousy.
It likely didn’t matter, anyway. Regardless of what began it, the humans were quick to take up arms against the monsters when their leader gave the word. It was friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife. Families were torn apart at the very seams by the frothing, bloody dispute that quickly overtook the land like a blight out of the old holy books. Bodies of the dead and the gravely injured littered the streets where once humans and monsters strolled together hand-in-hand. Heartrending cries of agony pervaded the air for what seemed like months on end, and indeed, the fighting lasted so long that those involved began to fear that it would never cease.
However, after a long, arduous battle, the humans emerged victorious. Having no kindness or mercy in their hearts for the monsters they once loved as brethren, seven of their most powerful mages sealed the monsters underground, beneath the towering monolith of Mt. Ebott. Tired, defeated, and consumed with sorrow, the monsters had no choice but to carve out a new life - meager thought it may be - underneath the earth. They rebuilt from the tattered ruins of existence the humans had left them, bravely marching forward but refusing to forget the pain they’d suffered at the hands of those who had once been their closest allies. Someday… somehow… they would see justice done. And they would see the Surface again.
Legends say that those who climb Mt. Ebott never return. They simply vanish off the face of the earth, as if the very mountain itself swallows them up into its great, dark depths. These legends, however, have mostly been lost to time; the years and years have worn them away and reduced them to dust, almost completely erasing them from the minds of the modern-day humans who now populate the city several miles from the mountain’s base.
Perhaps that is why, on a windy October day, two human boys climbed Mt. Ebott. With no whispers of the ancient rumors in their ears, they cheerfully hiked up the winding trail, thinking only of reaching the top and looking down on their miniature city below. It was a fun outing, one they didn’t have time for very often; after all, what better way to spend a Saturday than to immerse oneself in nature? Sometimes the city’s thick, smoky atmosphere became too much for even natives such as themselves.
When they stumbled upon the hole which led to the Underground, they had no idea what to make of it. Why on earth would there be such a large opening in the middle of a mountain? Was it organic? Man-made? The boys couldn’t recall ever seeing construction teams go out this way; they couldn’t recall seeing anyone go out to the mountain, if they were being honest. It wasn’t a place most people liked to talk about, for whatever reason. Most simply ignored it. But the boys had always been curious about the giant that loomed above the skyscrapers, hence their eagerness to explore it on this particular day.
As they bent down at the lip of the crater to study it further, a sudden, vicious gust of wind kicked up around them. They only had time to cry out and throw their arms to the sides to try and steady themselves before the wind, combined with their unbalanced momentum, thrust them into the yawning mouth of Mt. Ebott. They fell down a long, long way, longer than either of them could fathom, and landed with a bone-shaking thump atop a small bed of golden flowers. The impact jarred the breath from their lungs and sent stars spinning in front of their eyes - at least, until a tide of blackness completely overtook them.
Down there on the bed of flowers, neither boy knew just what series of events were about to occur, or, more importantly, what type of journey they were about to embark on. Of course, they couldn’t know yet; they were unconscious, after all. But they would know soon enough, and they would later find themselves thinking what a marvel it was that it was all started by a simple gust of wind. A gust of wind, and their own insatiable curiosities.