[Synoria Outlook, moments before Gramek's arrival]

Seika lay resting on the bench Kaito left her on, nearly drifting off to sleep. An explosion rang out in the distance, yet her mental fatigue made her barely pay any attention to it. 

"I wonder what that was...", she briefly thought before quickly writing it off as unimportant.

At this hour, few people traversed the streets of Synoria Outlook, such that any passerbys, no matter how few, were easily noticeable. 

A young man stepped off the cart rental lot after returning from a recent journey, waiting for a short moment before another, whom Seika presumed to be a friend, approached. After exchanging brief greetings, they stuck around conversing for a while, allowing Seika to pick up on their conversation.

"Did 'ya hear that explosion a few moments ago?"

"Hear it? You've gotta be deaf to not hear it! The real question is, did you see it?"

"Nah, I was busy unloading my cart. I couldn't see anything special by the time I turned around"

"Well, I saw it. Looked like some sorta bright red meteor or shooting star"

"Think it might be the return of the 'Scarlet Comet'?"

The two stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter.

"Now that's funny. C'mon, let's get going"

The two began walking away, continuing to laugh at their joke.

"Pfff. Scarlet Comet? Haven't heard that one in a while"

Their conversation soon faded out of earshot.

Regardless of her condition before, Seika now felt wide awake and fully alert. Those boys might have treated the name as a joke, yet just hearing it brought back vivid memories to Seika.

...

[7 years ago]

"Scarlet Comet", or better known as "Scarlet Comet Ezirok", was one of greatest calamities that ever descended upon Orientalis. Contrary to the Ezirok known in the present as a clan of corrupted beings, Ezirok himself was a single corrupted who bore the strength to rival armies alone and gained his title through his infamous entrances onto the battlefield that resembled a red comet crashing down from above.

In Greater Magius, Ezirok's presence had led to a war historians termed as the Third Calamity Event, which lead to death tolls in the tens of millions. Throughout the war, Ezirok held only a single goal: to become the Herald of Greater Magius.

Centuries ago, for the sake of maintaining political balance between the territories of corruption and the territories of humanity, a pact was made that led to the emergence of "heralds". The title essentially made a corrupted into an honorary shardbearer, being a position given to a powerful corrupted being, with each of the territories of humanity having one herald. In exchange for being given a shard of the Key of Creation and considerable political standing, these heralds who held influential power in the territories of corruption agreed to maintain peace between the borders, keeping away from human society. Of course, over time, respect for and compliance to these terms weakened in the minds of the corrupteds, many of which believed that with their power, they should be the ones to rightfully rule over humans rather than bending into mercy. As the culmination of the corrupteds' discontent, Ezirok made his presence known in the year of 765. Coincidentally, this was the same year Seika landed in Greater Magius.

Ezirok's trail of destruction began from the Southernmost point of Borealis, aiming to travel East through Orientalis before eventually conquering Orientalis' ports, which served as Greater Magius' connection to the other landmasses. He managed to blaze through two of the three major cities in Orientalis: Synoria of the Snow Guild and Arelium of the Shadow Guild, yet was defeated before being able to conquer Chalytus, the port city of the Steel Guild. 

Before reaching Chalytus, Ezirok was held up by members of the Steel Guild and brave civilians, all of whom were armed with mage-tech weapons from overseas. Despite incurring massive costs from destroyed stock, the slight delay allowed for armies from both Occidentalis and Divinus Imperium to arrive, finally cornering Ezirok and putting an end to the bloodshed. 

Following the Third Calamity Event, the massive human losses throughout Orientalis meant that most of its more minor cities and towns were no longer sustainable without sufficient manpower to run their infrastructures. As a result, almost all the population concentrated into the three major cities in which the guilds resided, allowing the reconstruction and advancement of those cities to rapidly flourish while the abandoned settlements crumbled into ghost towns and ruins.

***

"At least, that's the version the public knows-"

Now spurring herself into action, Seika forced herself off the bench and pursued the adventurers who were conversing nearby just moments ago. If anything, by completely halting her aura usage, she was able to minimize the discomfort she felt in action. Catching up to the adventurers from before, she tapped one of them on the shoulder.

"That red meteor you two were talking about from before, what direction did it land in?"

The adventurers glanced at each other and stifled a chuckle.

"I think she's one of those people that believes Ezirok still exists", one of them whispered in the other's ear.

With an almost mocking grin, the other adventurer replied to Seika while pointing in the distance, "Up to the North and a bit to the East over there in the forest"

They quickly turned and walked away, now cackling with laughter, no longer able to contain themselves.

"Little brats..."

Now equipped with information, Seika ran back to the cart rental shack.

"To think I'd have to try negotiating now of all times..."

Seika's thought trailed off as she remembered something else.

"The damage to his core was supposed to last at least 20 years... just what happened in the time that's passed..?"