Aerith: Daughter of the Earth and the Sky

"Let me tell you the tale of Aerith, daughter of the sky and the earth, and the tragic beauty from which the Aerethia Archipelago was born."

_{-Oriric Cherrybottle, Bard Extraordinaire}

Countless ages ago, when the world was still young, Alyrath was a land of verdant fields and thriving communities. But its unity was a mere illusion. Kingdoms clashed for dominance, their wars scarring the land and unsettling the delicate balance of nature. Famine and storms tore at the fabric of life, and the cries of the suffering reached the heavens. It was in this fractured world that Aerith was born- a princess of ethereal beauty and unmatched grace.

Aerith was a child of love, pure and unbridled, yet forbidden. Her mother, Queen Cerys, ruled Alyrath with wisdom and strength, but her father was not Cerys' king. He was a wanderer, a rogue of unknown origin that used the name Dranor and carried the wild freedom of the skies in his soul.

Aerith’s birth was a revelation of their union. Though she bore her mother’s regal features, her back was graced with magnificent eagle wings, a testament to her father’s otherworldly lineage. Aerith was the first half-eaglor to walk the lands of Kena’an, a living miracle born of a love that defied boundaries.

The king, consumed by rage and humiliation, demanded to know the identity of the child’s father. But Cerys, steadfast in her love, chose silence over betrayal, even as the kingdom descended into greater discord. When a terrible plague descended upon Alyrath, the king saw it as divine punishment for his queen's indiscretion. He sought the wisdom of the prophets, desperate for a way to restore his realm.

But the prophecy he received was cryptic, and his pride twisted its meaning: the child was a herald of his own downfall and the land would be cleansed only by the sacrifice of the child born of sin. Blinded by wrath the king took Aerith to the fiery heart of Mount Ignis, casting her into the molten abyss as an offering to the gods.

As Aerith’s life was extinguished, the skies darkened, and the earth trembled in response to the sacrificial act. But the death of the child did not go unanswered. In the moments before the volcano erupted in fury, a great light descended from the sky. The king, still standing over the burning pit, shielded his eyes from the blinding glow. He was overwhelmed by a presence greater than any mortal could bear, his knees buckling in awe.

The true identity of Aerith’s father was revealed before him and the king trembled. Because this man, was not a mere drifter, but Idril, god of the elements and balance, who had walked in disguise to restore peace to the land. He had come to Alyrath not as a rogue but as a savior, seeking to restore harmony to a land ravaged by pride and ambition. Aerith, his daughter, was meant to unite the warring kingdoms, her wings a symbol of hope and her voice destined to lead them into a golden age of peace. His divine fury erupted as he appeared before the king, and the earth shook with his wrath.

"You have destroyed the balance meant to heal this land," Idril thundered and with a wave of his hand, He summoned the full fury of the elements. The volcano erupted, its molten fury consuming the kingdom. The earth quaked, splitting the land asunder, and the seas rose, swallowing its fractured remains. Winds howled, sweeping away all traces of the king’s rule.

Grieving, Idril gathered the remains of his beloved daughter. From his tears and sorrow, he scattered her essence across the Azure Expanse, and from it arose the islands of Aerithia; a fragmented paradise born of tragedy. He named them after her, so her memory would endure for all eternity.

To this day, the Aerithia Archipelago is a realm of breathtaking beauty and unyielding peril. Its jagged cliffs and restless seas reflect the heartbreak and divine fury that birthed it. Sailors swear that when storms rage, they can hear the mournful cries of Aerith carried on the winds, a lament for a love that sought to mend a broken world and a kingdom that could not accept its own salvation.

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