At dusk, Vites Town in Trissa Territory seemed to bathe beneath a veil of falling gold.
The place was extraordinarily prosperous. Though called a town, its size and splendor surpassed those of many capitals. After all, in this age of war and turmoil, most cities were controlled by the military, occupied only by garrison troops rather than ordinary residents.
Shops run by the Fulin Taiyou People, riding grounds, taverns, teahouses, cafés, ornamental gateways... almost every kind of establishment could be found here.
Vites Town was a miracle in Trissa Territory. Only elders who had lived here for more than fifty years understood how precious and hard-won it was, and knew of the nightmare decades ago that the rest of the world had forgotten.
More than fifty years earlier, another town had stood here. Its name had evidently been forgotten by the world, lost in the river of history.
That town had been roughly the same size as Cloud Ink Town before its destruction. Small but complete, it had everything its residents needed, with a little over a hundred households and around six hundred people.
War had burned everything to ashes. The residents were slaughtered, burned, and robbed, their homes swallowed by flames. All its laughter and dazzling prosperity had been destroyed in a single night.
Vites was the name of the town rebuilt on this land. In the ancient language of the Holy Temple, it had another meaning: "Pearl of Hope."
Within just a few years of its reconstruction, Vites Town flourished, growing faster than anyone had expected.
"Perhaps God watches over this new town built upon the ashes of war." Even now, many people still spoke of Vites Town's story, though they had never been there, though they were thousands of miles away.
The sun sank, and the sunset