Corrin looked down, taking in the name. Lukas Hisstion was not a name he recognized.
"There are loads of people with the last name Hisstion, though, right?"
Omna sighed.
"Actually, not exactly. You're still naive, aren't you? Tell me, what do you know about the name Hisstion, the Anees race, why the gods disappeared 1000 years ago, the Cornimax, and Resonance?"
Corrin scratched his chin and looked up, deep in thought.
"Well… Hisstion is my last name, but I don't really know anything else. The Anees race is endangered because of some kind of war 1000 years ago, the Cornimax is a powerful relic of sorts…"
Corrin tried to remember the Cornimax; he had only just learned about it a day prior.
"...that was created by the Holy Goddess a very long time ago. It was split into four pieces for the guardians, even though there were five of them. And… Resonance, as far as I know, is some kind of… enhanced connection with the power that's in the air."
Omna nods his head.
"Allow me to tell you of the true stories passed down by our people. I would advise that you get comfortable; there is much to discuss."
Tutsoi quickly jumped in.
"Omna, are you sure this is a good idea? What if he's with… Lukas?"
Omna raised his hand.
"I can see no malevolent nature in his eyes; he can be trusted for now."
Omna begins, Corrin readies himself.
"When the world was created thousands of years ago, the Holy Goddess of all the realms had exerted nearly all of her power. She knew that with the power left in her, she could not rule over the mortals. So instead, she created five more individuals. These were guardians over the mortals; each guardian was to protect one race."
Omna's voice was sagging, and he cleared his throat for a moment.
"Erthari, Oshari, Mostiis, Shem, and Anees. Five guardians were created for each. The Holy Goddess, with the last of her power, created the Cornimax to aid the guardians in controlling the mortals."
Corrin could see it, the goddess destroying herself to create the cornimax. Not literally, of course. But the thought that the Holy Goddess wanted the mortals to feel safe touched Corrin's heart.
"The guardians chose to split the Cornimax into pieces, one for each of them: Time, Power, Realms, and Life. However, the goddess and leader of the guardians, the Anees protector, Rotix, did not trust the god and Shem protector, by the name of Katan. According to the old scrolls, Katan was a rude, impatient man. He constantly wanted power, and Rotix was wary of this. Katan created the idea that they were not guardians, but gods over the mortals. That they had the right to punish and massacre mortals should they disobey their commands."
Corrin already didn't like this, 'Katan.'
"As mortals do, they began to worship the guardians. Which is something The Holy Goddess never intended to do. Despite this, every guardian, even Rotix, couldn't deny the pleasure found in being worshipped by millions. As the years passed, Katan became greedier and greedier. As he was the only one without a shard of the Cornimax, he found his own way to gain power."
Corrin began to wonder which type of shard each guardian had, but figured it wasn't very important.
"Katan was the first to develop Resonance. His Resonance was the ability to transform into any creature he wanted. This could include people, mortals, animals, even mythical creatures that have not walked these realms in millennia."
Corrin could understand the power behind the Resonance, the ability to shapeshift into anything like that must have been incredibly dangerous when in the wrong hands, and Katan must have been the wrong hands.
"Katan soon hatched a plan to steal the Cornimax and become the god of this world. The plan, despite Katan's best efforts, failed. He did, however, gain the shard of power. That alone, paired with his Resonance, turned him into one of the most powerful beings to ever walk the realms."
The thought of it frightened Corrin. Somebody with so much power flowing through them.
"He started a war between the guardians, often referred to as the 'War of the Gods.' The war was devastating for the mortals. The power that was exerted destroyed mountains, sank islands, crushed cities, and more. Katan personally hunted down as many Anees mortals as he could find. He blamed everything on Rotix and the Anees race."
Corrin could only imagine the horrors that the mortals went through.
"The war ended when Rotix sacrificed herself to imprison Katan in a single realm. The remaining guardians are either dead or too afraid to show their faces. Now, let me go back and explain the Hisstion bloodline to you, Corrin."
Corrin had already had so much information, he wasn't sure if he could handle more. He was, however, interested in his bloodline's history.
"The Hisstion bloodline originated from an island in the Cirlou Sea, thousands of miles away from here. The first man to take the name Hisstion, back before last names were less of a way to learn who you are, and more of a boast of who your family was, was a man by the name of Ok'li. That is an abbreviation. I'm not sure how to pronounce his full name."
Corrin felt the weight of the man's name was numbed by the comment afterwards. Corrin also didn't know what the Cirlou Sea was, but he felt it was rude to interrupt so deep into the explanation.
"Ok'li is the farthest back we know of the Hisstion bloodline, which was a few thousand years ago."
Corrin was impressed by the ability of the Hisstion bloodline to survive so long.
"Now, you may be wondering why I possibly memorized your lineage. This is because of its significance. You see, Ok'li was a fine man, and quite the… lover, if you understand what I'm saying to you. According to the scrolls, Ok'li had a child with Rotix, the guardian of the Anees race."
Corrin's jaw dropped. He looked at his hands. Did he have the blood of the gods running through his veins?
"As far as we know, he only ever had one child, and it was with her. That child became the reason the lineage was so powerful. The Hisstions gained heightened abilities to connect with the Anees, leading to more Resonances, alongside an easier ability to harness a shard."
There's an awkward silence for a few moments before Corrin raises his hand slightly. Omna calls on him.
"I used a shard of the Cornimax."
Everybody in the room's jaw dropped. Tutsoi grabbed his shoulders.
"Tell me you're making that up! There's no way!"
Corrin shook his head.
"No… I'm telling the truth. It was a family heirloom. I used it to enhance my abilities when fighting against a… very bad person."
Corrin recalled the fight. He had not had much time to really think about it. He had pushed too far to keep his body going afterwards. The only reason he had won was because of some kind of enhanced connection he had near the end of the fight. He hardly remembered anything after he nearly fell out of the palace walls.
Omna leaned forward.
"What was the power like, Corrin? What happened?"
"I felt faster… no, everything felt slower, actually. But the Queen of the Shem Empire, the woman I was fighting, could keep up easily. It wasn't just me who fought her; I had trusted comrades aiding me."
Corrin didn't like to relive those moments. The gods only know what happened to Edwin, and his other friends had died. Omna scratched his chin.
"So the Shem and the Anees are still fighting one another to this day, huh?"
Corrin suddenly remembered a question he wanted to ask them.
"How did you guys.. Get here? And where the hell are we?"
Omna lights a candle as the light in the window dims more.
"We're in the Fali Realm, a realm plagued with constant snowfall. It's vastly different from the Holy Realm, the one you likely came from. Where mortals reside."
Corrin nods.
"But how did you get here?"
"Katan sent our people here one thousand years ago with a trap."
"How did that happen?"
Omna lit a few more candles silently before answering.
"Mollou, the god of the Mostiis, gave him the shard of realms, which can transport anyone or anything through the realms. They were secretly in an alliance with each other. But Mollou was soon discovered and killed. The shard of realms fell into this realm with us."
"Does that mean you have it!?"
Omna shook his head.
"No, it's been lost for far too long of a time. Due to the snowstorm and cold, it's nearly impossible to go looking for it. Even if we did know where it was, it's too dangerous to leave the walls."
Corrin was going to speak up, but Tutsoi interrupted him.
"Because of… Lukas Hisstion."
Tutsoi seemed unsure of what he said. Corrin turned to him.
"Who is he, anyway? What did he do?"
Tutsoi looked at Omna, and Omna nodded. Tutsoi turned back to Corrin.
"Lukas was found out in the cold just as you were when he was an infant. He was raised by a swordsman, who turned a warrior out of him. But Lukas soon far surpassed the swordsman's other pupils. Aside from myself."
Tutsoi seemed to be recalling something; clearly, this was a delicate subject for him. There was a significant lack of confidence in his speech.
"Lukas wanted to leave this realm more than anything. His greed led him to press the council for the whereabouts of the shard of realms. Of course, they weren't sure. But Lukas didn't believe them. Later that day, he… killed half a dozen of our soldiers looking for documents in the castle. He hoped for information regarding where the shard of realms was, but he found nothing."
Tutsoi shut his eyes earnestly, though he spoke with a hint of doubt in his voice.
"He killed many people escaping the city walls. He's been terrorizing the outside ever since. He has, somehow, managed to befriend the wild beasts that roam this realm and use them against us."
Tutsoi looked down, deeply saddened.
"He's killed many people. It seems his morals are… gone. He's not the same person he once was."
Omna spoke up.
"Lukas used to be quite a good kid, to some degree. And I must admit this is not the full story, but you do not need to know everything there is to know. In time, more will be revealed to you."
Corrin wondered what had happened to Lukas and why Tutsoi seemed so saddened and doubtful. There must have been more to the story that they wouldn't tell Corrin.