On the far side of the sultry deserts of El Fior there is a big mountain range that separates them from mysterious highlands of the Golden Lands. One of the peaks hidden in the clouds became a shelter for an ancient fortified monastery. That was the residence of the Order of the Smashing Light. Those who wanted to go up to the monastery would have to follow the only path that led there, overcoming all obstacles, steeps and rocks. The path began from a stone saying “Only those who have fallen, can rise up”. Those who found their way to the residence above the clouds, understood the true meaning of those words. Gerhart, one of the strongest knights of the Order, learned this meaning too, but he paid a high price for that.
The war of the Ten Kingdoms to the south of El Fior deserts lasted for a long, long time. Thrones changed one another, cities were burnt down, armies marched through lands, and there were names known to everyone in those dark times. One of those names was the name of Gerhart the Merciless, a mercenary and a murderer. A skilled warrior and commander, he had no family of his own and had spent his early years in military camps, where he found his mission. He never knew love or devotion – he was always the first one to fight on the battlefield and to share a loot. He was different from his fellow mercenaries, true war dogs. His gang, consisting of utmost daredevils, followed him without questioning where or why, driven only by blood thirst and desire to enrich themselves. Gerhart would overthrow kings and support their heirs, lead rebellions and put them down, serve his masters and betray them if he saw a benefit for himself in that. He would spend all his money on drinking in taverns, boasting about his mercilessness and telling the old story about how he once lost his memory and how it made him invincible, over and over again.
It seemed that his bragging reached the gods' ears.
Gerhart regained his memory the same way he lost it – with a strike of thunder. In the middle of a battle, when Gerhart was standing in front of a house he had just set on fire, he suddenly realized - it was his own house he was burning down. He had spent his childhood under these trees, and it was his brothers who had just been killed by mercenaries such as himself. He suddenly remembered how he was kidnapped by a gang, how it became his new family and brought him up as an enemy to those he was supposed to defend. He saw every single drop of blood, every coin taken away from the poor. It all suddenly came upon him and he realized that, in fact, he had never been strong.
He was simply blind and unbelievably cruel.
That day, Gerhart the mercenary died forever. Instead, a warrior was born and rushed like a bloody hurricane through the ranks of invaders, smashing heads with his huge battle hammer. Gerhart's gang stopped existing that night, and there was no one to tell where their leader disappeared.
The war of the Ten Kingdoms went on, day after day, but rumours spread in taverns about Gerhart's ghost, a huge warrior who punished mercenaries and pillagers. They said he was the living image of the heartless murderer, but he was completely different at the same time. Many villains fell victims of his anger, there were already thousands of them.
And then the war was over, and peace was restored. Grass grew on the fields covered with blood, and a man came to the peak where the monastery of the Smashing Light was situated. He spent a long time in front of the stone on the path up to the monastery and then set off for the peak. Gerhart knew he could not fall any lower and there was only one way for him now.
Years passed. The Residence of the Smashing Light became Gerhart's new home, and its inhabitants, the warrior monks were his brothers now. They taught him how to use the power of Light hidden in the very heart of the Universe itself, and direct it at his enemies. Gerhart made an oath to defend the innocent from the Evil he himself knew so well, and set off for new adventures.
When an ancient spell freed the Golden Lands and opened passages that had been blocked before, Gerhart was already on his way there. His knowledge of human nature told him that gold would inevitably attract greed that would, in its turn, awaken the Darkness of the Ruins. When it was awakened, he, rthe warrior of the Smashing Light, would be fully armed and prepared to confront it.