Over a billion years ago, planet Earth was hit by a wave of meteorite falls. 90% of humanity was exterminated by these falls. The contents of these meteorites, which contained a bacterium previously unknown to man, contaminated all living species on Earth and altered several ecosystems. The planet’s surface was reshaped. The symbiotic era began, and with it the creation of the world of Fantasia.  

Fantasy year 2476, city of Goliath. 

Danaée had been watching the old man for some twenty minutes now. The sun from the city of Goliath was hitting the back of his neck sideways, leaving a red mark that the young man was scratching vigorously. The alleyway in which he found himself was particularly narrow, the cobblestones on the ground upturned and worn, and the walls surrounding the young man obscured by dirt.   

The few passers-by were jostling each other, and the smell was so unbearable that it was advisable to wear a mask to avoid nausea. 

Young Danaée was there, crouching at the end of the alley, in the only place where the shade partially protected him from the extreme heat. Dressed in black, he wore a long cape that fell to his knees and tight long black boots. The hood over his head enveloped and masked the faint sheen of his light brown hair, slightly curly and covered in soot. He had fine, almost feminine features and equally fine but bushy eyebrows. Two beauty spots on either side of his right eye, starting from his forehead to the entrance of his cheekbone, formed an imaginary line on his face. 

Danaée ‘s saffron eyes were still riveted on the old merchant who ran a potato stall a few yards from the boy and directly to his right as he exited the alley. The thirteen-year-old's jaw tightened, and his gaze intensified; his dry lips mumbled inaudible sentences; he seemed to be giving himself words of encouragement.  

At last, the boy strided in the direction of the merchant, the sun hitting him completely now. Danaée found himself masked by the agglutinating crowd in the mall's central aisle. Every solstice, the city came together, and merchants from every corner had the opportunity to sell their best wares. The hubbub in the city was at its height. Between arguments and jostling, people could barely hear themselves think.

Danaée subtly hid behind a tall man in his forties and was now just a few meters from the stand. On tiptoe, he approached and managed to grab a few potatoes. The old salesman seemed to be deep in conversation with a customer and didn't notice the young boy at the time. Danaée folded his coat pockets as best he could and as quickly as he could. He managed to get his hands on a dozen of them before the salesman noticed him: 

 "Hey, you !!!" He snarled. "Put that down right now, kid!" 

 The old salesman's greying beard concealed the angry expression on his face. The young boy took to his heels, still pursued by the old man's shouts. Danaée navigated his way through the crowd. He wasn't being chased, but:

 "I'd better get a move on before the militia arrives", he thought. 

Whistles sounded; Danaée knew they were for him.

He suddenly turned right and crossed the side street to the central alley as quickly as he could. After crossing this street, he stopped behind a pillar and followed the militia at his heels, running in the opposite direction.  The boy took the time to breathe and wipe a few beads of sweat from his forehead before resuming his route, this time at a brisk pace. 

After a thirty-minute walk, the boy was finally out of danger, at the city's borders. As the sun was about to set, the metal dome closed over the entire city. With a loud crash, two enormous layers of metal rose on either side of the city. You could hear every lock and clasp of the layers of metal rising ever higher into the sky.  

Danaée paid no attention, nor did the rest of Goliath's inhabitants. The dome was a safety measure against monsters wandering about at sunset. For a moment, the city was plunged into total darkness, and then the light crystals throughout Goliath lit up.  

 "Dod! Here I am!"

Dod Allentown stood a few yards from Danaée, leaning against a wall under the crystal light. The violet glow reflected off his matte skin, revealing a slight discoloration on the right side of his face from his right eye to the bottom of his ear in the form of a cloud. His gaze was so cold, and his eyes were an intense black. Dod turned his attention to Danaée. Dod was dressed in the same black cape (and boots) as his friend. Below, you can see a white button-up shirt, well tucked into his black-and-purple cargo pants. He then removed his hood, revealing long black curls falling to his eyebrows. Dod approached his friend before saying:

 "What took you so long?"  

 " I'd like to see you there," replied an annoyed Danaée. "It's always complicated during the solstice."  

Dod smiled, and the two boys set off in the direction of the slum. The slum was the district in which Dod and Danaée had recently taken refuge. It was a small block at the far end of town. The poverty was extreme, and the neighborhood was particularly violent. The two boys lived in a small wooden shack, barely standing on its own two feet. The façade was dilapidated and unkempt, and when they arrived, Dod pushed open the front door, which collapsed at his feet.  

 "Ah, well done! " Danaée sent him in a petty tone.  

The following weeks turned out to be pretty boring for them; Danaée could not venture out of the slum because he was now actively wanted by the militia. Dod was now on “food duty” for them. One day, he came back to their house saying:

 "Dan, we need to move soon," began Dod, setting down a fresh stack of potatoes.  

 "Where to?"  

 Dod didn't reply immediately but moved to the back of the living room they used as a kitchen and picked up a saucepan, which he filled with water from a large can.  He then took a purple crystal out of his pocket and rubbed the underside of the pan repeatedly until the water inside began to boil.  

 "A royal delegation is due to arrive this evening", he finally replied whilst dropping each potato one by one into the boiling water. 

 "What's a royal delegation doing in a backwater like Goliath?" 

"I don't know about that, but it's all everyone's talking about in town today. What do you think? Could it be an opening?" 

 Danaée looked doubtfully at Dod before replying:  

 "Wait a minute, I thought you were sick of my plans?" 

 "Yeah, that's true", said Dod, scratching the back of his head. "But I've got a feeling we're in for a big score here. It's not every day that the upper crust moves into our countryside." 

Danaée grinned, as Dod usually hated his "screwed up" plans, as he called them. Our two friends traveled across the continent, alone, with no money or means at hand.  The plans Dod referred to were dubious situations in which his friend had put them for their own purposes: to make money or simply to survive.  

Danaée was the mastermind, managing their savings, food, clothing, and even haggling, but above all, he was in charge of their roadmap. Dod was a quiet boy by nature, just as capable as his friend, but he often chose to take a back seat and let Danaée make the important decisions. Due to a lack of desire and probably a little laziness, he was content to give his opinion to Danaée when he felt it was required or when Danaée asked him directly.  

The two boys were often on the same wavelength, except when it came to the unfolding of Danaée's plans. Dod was constantly voicing his dissatisfaction, to which Danaée always replied: 

 "Why don't you come up with something then?"  

Dod never came up with a plan, just followed his friend's lead and grumbled. He and Dod had been stranded in Goliath for several months now and were in dire need of money. Both boys aspired to reach Holytown in the hope of joining a guild of The Order. They could then continue to travel and discover new continents as knights of The Order. The only academy for training knights of The Order was located in Holytown, the capital of The Order and the human kingdom.  

Interaction with other continents and species on Earth was very limited. Humanity isolated itself on a single territory: the Ordinal continent. There were still several continents unknown to The Order, but here are those identified on the world map:  

Elven continent, the closest to the Ordinal continent, directly to the right, then we had the Marin continent, more commonly known as Atlantis, and finally the Bestial continent, which is still the most dangerous continent The Order has ever ventured onto.