There came a time when power was greatly needed. A great beast from parts unknown threatened the lives of those living in the Giant Tree. The peaceful people of Anima had no idea how to protect themselves, and the healers of Unda were no more confused than they were. However, the warriors of Solum and Ignis drew their weapons against such a creature. It was on that day that Zhen received his title.

   At the age of 12, Zhen drove off the great beast and saved everyone from annihilation. Zhen has taken on many other titles since. Now, he is the King of Solum. 

   As king, he attended summits more often than any elder or any of the other three rulers.

   In the land of the Great Tree, each area had a ruler of their own appointed by the elders among their people.

   For the Anima, they developed a royal family descended from the first Anima. However, over the years, the blood of the First has been completely diluted. Nevertheless, the King and Queen ruled over with immense magical prowess.

   As said before, King Zhen ruled over his people. Although he was called king, the people of Solum were more akin to a tribe. They called their leader, Chief. More specifically, he is a Chief of Warriors as all Solum learn to fight.

   In the rivers, royalty made no sense to them. Instead, the Undas bestowed the title of Priestess to their most powerful daughter. The ability to see far into the future was gifted to the descendants of Unda. Not recently, the title of Priestess was given to a child who had foresight stronger than her mother. So, the elders felt, she was to be appointed immediately.

   Though leaders of each kind were often advised not to fall in love with someone, not their kind, Zhen fell in love with the Priestess. Since they were not the first mixed couple, the elders reluctantly allowed it.

   In her premonition, the Priestess saw how King Zhen would one day hold a torch lit by a man he calls his best friend.

   This man was Cini, the nephew of the leader of Ignis across the river. The Ignis people fought for the role of leader which they entitled "Lord". Lord Tigran was the strongest Ignis though he was not the descendant of the First. For the people of Ignis, the skill to fight was like the ability to breathe. Everyone could do it and everyone could then fight for the title.

   Cini had grandiose plans to become leader and thus became nephew to Lord Tigran.

   Lord Tigran took many nieces and nephews under his tutelage. Many of them throughout multiple cycles became gärds, blessed by the Lighting Tree to protect the chosen Seed.

   In this new cycle, the Priestess of Unda foresaw that each land would lose their leader of the future as each would be bestowed a gift from their creator.

   Zhen would become the Seed. He would have to travel with his four guardians, his gärds.

   The first to be appointed was Cini at the age of only nine. A burning sensation woke him up in the middle of a dark night. At the age of fifteen, a couple years after the last Seed was sacrificed, Crown Princess Pola of Anima awoke, out of breath with a new mark on her body. Then at sixteen, Priestess Jei, announced to the people that all gärds had awakened and introduced a boy of only seven years old as the Solum gärd.

   When asked who the Unda gärd would be, she first looked to her beloved then to the elders, who'd known all along all these years.

   "I am," she said.