Fire blazed,
water flowed,
wood grew,
and metal was tempered.
Yet one energy had not yet awakened.
It was the earth itself.
The land that would support all else had not yet awakened.
At the center of this world, that place still lay silent.
In the south, flames soared.
In the north, a great current surged.
In the east, trees stretched toward the sky,
and in the west, steel flaunted its own order.
But the center was not shaken by them.
The center held everything within it.
Now, it too could no longer remain silent forever.
The earth had been watching for a long time.
Watching fire blaze and illuminate the world.
Watching water flow and moisten the world.
Watching trees flourish and breathe life into the world.
Watching metal be refined and create order in the world.
And at last, the time had come for another energy to awaken, to embrace all of it.
First, a small tremor arose.
It was a heavy resonance transmitted from the depths.
It did not burn fiercely like flame,
nor did it flow violently like water,
nor did it grow vigorously like wood,
nor was it tempered solidly like metal.
It was only “movement.”
Slowly, quietly, yet powerfully.
The earth exhaled.
And at last, it awakened.
Cracks formed, and the earth surged upward.
As though an enormous boulder were slowly drawing breath, the earth grew larger and larger.
Rocks gathered and began to take shape.
Stone and soil clumped together as one, as if a colossus that had slept for ages were slowly awakening.
At last, it formed a single figure.
Its skin was like the earth, and its eyes were like deep caverns.
What made up his body was rock, soil, and a part of this land.
Beneath his feet, the earth looked up to him, and with his breath, clouds of dust rose.
His name was Terramont.
The lord of soil, and the creator of the earth.
It repeated its own name.
“Terramont, Terramont……”
A heavy and profound name.
That name belonged to a being that could never be called lightly.
For he was soil, he was land, and he was the center that embraced all things.
Terramont perceived his own body for the first time.
His body, made of rock, was the earth itself.
Massive boulders and stones were joined as one, forming his figure, and his skin was like the surface of the land.
Even his muscles were made of soil and stone; whenever he moved, dust scattered, and the ground rumbled as if answering his motion.
Each time he exhaled, the earth breathed with him.
His existence could not be separated from the earth.
He was part of this land, and at the same time, a being who would rule it.
He slowly raised his arms high.
The movement was slow, but overwhelming.
When his fingertips brushed the air, a wind arose.
It was not a rough, sharp wind, but a signal announcing that the earth was alive.
The earth supported him.
Wherever he went, the soil was compacted and the stones grew firm.
He was a being who made roads upon the earth.
Terramont began to look around the world.
In the south, a red energy blazed,
in the north, a black and blue energy flowed,
in the east, a green energy fluttered,
and in the west, a white energy shone.
And the one watching all of it was none other than Terramont himself.
And in that moment, the earth began to move once more.
Soil roiled, and rocks surged upward.
Before long, it began to form a single shape.
Enormous stone pillars raised themselves up, and the land piled layer upon layer to create a colossal form.
A structure like a fortress crafted by nature.
It was a throne for Terramont.
Terramont slowly took a step forward.
Dust rose again, then soon settled.
He stood before the throne.
He knew that this throne existed for him.
“Hmmm……”
Terramont slowly moved his body and ascended the throne.
It seemed as though he had become one with the earth.
Terramont sat at the center of the world.
He was the emperor of the Empire of Soil.
Soon, Terramont’s cry shook the earth.
“All beings upon this land, listen. My name is Terramont. I am the earth, I am the foundation, and I am the endless cycle.
This is the center of the world. This place is Terra. From this moment onward, Terra shall be my empire.
I exist. I embrace all things, and I support all things.
I have already witnessed other beings in the four directions. Fire, water, wood, and metal. And now, in their midst, I, Terramont, have been born.
When fire blazes, it blazes upon me as its foundation. When water flows, it flows along me. When wood grows, it takes root within my embrace. When metal is tempered, it grows strong within my furnace.
Thus, I am the one who upholds the world. I am the beginning of all this, and the place to which all things return.
Answer me. What is true strength? A vast and enormous flame? A swift and flexible wave? Life that stretches endlessly outward? Metal tightened into hardness? Those may also be answers. But I shall add one more answer here. True strength is to face all of these things and yet never waver or collapse.
I possess the ability to embrace all of this. I am the beginning of all things, and the end. There is nothing that was not born from me, and there is nothing that will not return to me.
Soil is strong. And that strength endures, circulating without end. Watch and see. Fire without soil will blaze alone and die out. Water without earth will lose its direction and scatter. A tree unable to take root will soon fall, and steel without a foundation will simply shatter helplessly.
But the citizens of our Terra Empire are different. We will not disappear. We will not stray from the center. And from this place, I will support the world and all of you.
I am not the ruler of the world. I am already faithfully fulfilling my role as the foundation of the world. I was not born to govern soil. I was already born into this world as a being one with soil.
I do not fight. I do not conquer. I do not scatter. For I myself am already the foundation. I am the endless cycle.
So remember this. Soil does not seek to test you. Nor does it seek to reject you. Soil will enfold and accept both me and you. But that does not mean permission. Even if soil embraces all things, in the end, what is light will fly away, and only what is heavy will remain.
Our Terra Empire is we ourselves. We will not change. We will never be shaken from the center of the world. Thus, there is no need to hurry. There is no need to fear disappearance.
We do not collapse. We accept all things, and embrace all things once more.
Now this land will no longer be shaken. The Terra Empire is the center of this world, the eternal balance, and the conclusion of all things.
I am Terramont. The earth, and the center of this world. So long as I exist here, Terra will be eternal. Terra will endure forever. Unchanged, until the very end……”
When Terramont’s declaration ended, the earth quietly answered.
There was no great upheaval.
No flames surged upward,
nor did waves come crashing in.
It did not grow like a tree,
nor was there a dull sound as if something were being tempered.
The earth simply, silently, compacted itself.
The land was put in order.
The rough, cracked earth calmly settled and hardened firmly.
A moment later, Terramont spread both arms.
Mountains rose up to form natural walls, and valleys were leveled and compacted.
Sunken ravines were filled in and packed down.
And the majestic rocks that rose from the ground interlocked with one another to form ramparts, while the soil was compacted, revealing a vast land that seemed to have existed for ages.
It was the fortress of the Terra Empire.
The Terra Fortress was situated beneath the surface, as if it were part of the earth.
Before his fortress, Terramont spoke solemnly.
“This place is Monterra. The center of the Terra Empire, and the greatest earth. The beginning of all things.”
Terramont slowly rose from his throne and stepped forward.
Before him lay energy cores.
Those energy cores, shining with clear light, were what remained after giving birth to Terramont upon this earth.
“Energy cores that allowed this great Terra Empire to be created, you too shall now become part of us.”
He extended his hand.
As if dust were rising from his fingertips, small stones lifted and floated.
But they did not scatter at random; they formed a single flow.
Beneath his hand, the energy cores reacted.
The surfaces of the cores slowly changed, beginning to emit a warm and heavy energy.
The energy cores, transformed as though into stones, held the essence of the earth within them.
They had now changed into Earth Cores.
Monterra, the center of the Terra Empire, did not move.
It did not tremble.
Monterra was a land that could firmly withstand any change or external influence, a place that grew harder as time passed.
Now, that place was preparing to welcome a new age.
Terramont sat upon his throne once more and declared quietly and solemnly.
“This is our Terra Empire. You and I begin from this place.”
At last, the balance of the world seemed complete.
The empires of fire, water, wood, and metal had each taken their places in the south, north, east, and west of the world, and in the very center, the Empire of Soil had arisen.
It seemed that, like this, the five energies would each form five empires and achieve balance.
But that balance did not last long.
As time passed, fire desired expansion,
water advanced along its ceaseless flow.
Wood grew beyond its own place,
and metal broadened its influence through endless tempering.
Soil embraced all things, but it too was gradually changing.
At first, each nation had not been conscious of the others.
They focused on expanding their own territories and governing their own energies.
But the larger they grew, the more invisible forces began to collide little by little.
No one noticed it at first.
It was nothing more than an extremely subtle collision.
But it undoubtedly existed.
And slowly, it was growing larger and larger.
Fire melted metal,
water extinguished fire,
soil blocked the waterways,
wood drove its roots into the soil,
and metal cut down wood.
All of it was an utterly natural principle, yet no one had foreseen that this naturalness would soon turn into chaos.
The balance was already collapsing.
From this moment on, another new chaos began.