Chapter 2 The Four Giants Of Aetherion

Ever since that night Nathan's life had changed for worse, everything started with his mother's death. By the time he woke up he was back in the car, hurried there by the guards where he found out his mother was found lying in a pool of her own blood right beside him.

She had died trying to protect Nathan who was already unconscious but the guards were unable to find the strange man who killed her, Nathan's father Kingsley went on a rampage when he found out his wife was murdered, issuing a bounty with a rough description given by Nathan and a few surveillance found in the area only for them to yield absolutely zero results!

The search went on for nearly a week after which Kingsley withdrew the bounty and search party, as for the reason he stopped searching? Nathan never knew, the identity of the killer remained a mystery and everyone moved on like it never happened, like it was just an insignificant issue that was casted aside easily, Nathan cried out his eyes for months, blamed himself but there was little to nothing he could do about it, his mother was already dead and it was because of a silly mistake he made.

"If I didn't go over to help him, would mother still be alive? If I had been a little more reasonable." Nathan muttered with closed eyes then reopened them a split second later, walking towards the mansion with wide strides.

'Whatever happened back then is gone already, but I'll carry this blame till I can find him or whatever happened to him.' Nathan thought with clenched fists, the man's face was still buried deep in his memories, he swore he could never forget it no matter how much time passed.

He walked into the mansion then passed through the reception room straight to the master's suite, where a bath was already prepared ahead for him, after taking his bath he returned to the dining hall for lunch then retired to his bedroom scrolling through documentaries recording past history events and it's current state of prosperity.

Nathan had always been curious about the ambiguous history of Aetherion, the events over five hundred years ago still remained unclear to him even till the present date but everyone knew about the main event that transpired back then, creating the current power structure and ushering in a modern era of prosperity.

A war featuring the collision of over thirty different countries had swept across Aetherion, taking the lives of over five hundred million people, the losses were so devastating the effects still remained even after five hundred years of peace.

'It's evening already huh?' He had been immersed in the records he totally lost track of time, walking towards the balcony he could see the sun gradually approaching the end of it's journey for the day.

The sun dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky aflame with gold and crimson as night quietly approached.

He returned to his room, put on an overcoat then walked towards the Mansion's entrance with light steps.

"Young master Nathan, are you going somewhere?" Silas asked from his position near the doorway.

"Yes, don't worry I'm just going to take a stroll around then return in a bit, it won't take long." Nathan said then walked out of the entrance without hesitation.

Silas let out a bitter smile, he knew he couldn't persuade Nathan to stay behind if he really wished to go out alone "Just remember what I told you and be careful out there, if you're not back in the next three hours I'll burn down the forest to drag you out."

"Alright, alright, you aren't my mother stop nagging, you speak like an old man jeez."

"Sure, sure whatever you say but I stand by my words, don't stay out late."

"Alright I've heard." Nathan said before disappearing into the distance.

---

Walking across the forest, his footsteps muffled by the thick carpet of leaves beneath him. Moonlight filtered through the canopy overhead, casting pale shafts of light between the trees and stretching long shadows across his path.

A cool breeze rustled the branches, carrying with it the distant chirping of crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl. Despite the darkness, he pressed onward, his gaze fixed ahead as the silent woods enveloped him.

His mind drifted towards the current so called power division of Aetherion. The four families ruled over everything, splitting their areas of control among each other, they could be considered allies but at the same time each watched out for themselves and were wary of each other.

The Frostmoon Family, renowned for their control over modern technology, impacting the lives of everyone across the continent, the various daily amenities, vehicles, and modern technology required for their day to day lives were controlled and produced by the Frostmoon family.

The Ash family thrived on trades across the continent, they facilitated relationships across the different territories and had the most resources earning a stable position as the wealthiest of all four families.

The Raven family was built from the remnants of the militaries from the warring age, a coagulation of people who believed in power and warfare, they had the highest military power, focusing most of their efforts into building a solid and functional military power that surpasses all the other three families, over time they developed various weapons and even Bio genetics, electromagnetic weapons and human mutation.

It could be said that even though the Raven family lacked the financial capabilities of the Ash family and the technological capabilities of the Frostmoon family they were the most lethal and dangerous among them all.

The fourth of them, the blackwood family held various diplomatic positions across Aetherion, they functioned like the regulators and government to keep peace and fairness among the other three families, they were considered as the weakest of all four families but the reason they survived the warring era and became such a huge behemoth could be attributed to a single factor.

Close to the end of the warring era, the current leaders of the blackwood family were nearly wiped out when they discovered a fallen meteor hidden on the planet for an unknown number of years, an ore was found in it known as Ranicis, Ranicis was the main core component for most of the technological equipments of the modern era, the main reason their technological level advanced rapidly within just a short few five hundred years, the blackwood family survived as a result of the trade which involved them as the sole supplier of Ranicis to the other three families.

The four families stood firm for over five hundred years, their power and influence gradually permeating all through Aetherion so much their rule couldn't be shaken, unless it was initiated by one of the other families.