Prologue

The Hourglass Turns

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Since the Dawn of Times there has been an order to the way the world worked. Something is born, it grows, it learns, and then it dies. As something learns, it passes it's knowledge onto those it knows and those that gain that information add it to what they know before passing it onto another in a never ending cycle of evolution.

-Antha Kirkland (Previous Ace of Spades)

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Once Upon A Time there lived four children. Each child lived in a different kingdom and belonged to it's royal family. Every year on the winter solstice, the four children would travel to the island in the sea that separated all four kingdoms and they would talk to The Gods.

It had become a tradition for each kingdom to send one member of the royal family to travel to the island and offer The Gods a token so that the following year would be bountiful for the four kingdoms. As the children grew, they became stronger friends and the stronger those bonds became the more The Gods favoured the lands.

One particularly hot summer, the southernmost kingdom had began to starve from food and water shortages and they were forced to attack their neighboring countries for supplies. Within two months, war had broken out across all four kingdoms and consumed the realm.

Desperate for peace, the four children begged The Gods for a way to end the fighting. The Gods pitied the children and granted them their wish. To restore the balance, each child was given the power over an element so that they may resolve the tensions without conflict.

The child that had power over the seas created a river that would flow throughout the southernmost kingdom so that they would no longer need to steal for food and water.

The child that could control flame quelled the burning mountains in the north so that trade with that kingdom would be accessible during all of the four seasons.

The child that could control the earth flattened the land in another kingdom so that farmers could grow crops and livestock could roam through grassy hills.

The child that could control the skies calmed the harsh storms that plagued the final kingdom so that the people could create lasting settlements and not fear their destruction.

In the end, the kingdoms returned to their peaceful ways and the children grew older, passing their gift onto the next person worthy of protecting the peace in their country and the realm, and thus, the Aces were born.

-Part Four of The Legend of the Deck: Creation of the Four Kingdoms, Author Unknown