Twenty Years' Past

This is the tale of a great journey.
But this is not the tale of one person, one hope, or one fear. The times won't allow it. Outlaws and cultists thrive in the forests, where the Alasthian kings cannot reach. They cast many shadows, many doubts, and now a crime soon to be committed against a lone country-girl may well implicate the world at large.
In these lands, symbols of faith, family, and destiny appear in ponderous displays on days of festival as assurances for the past and the future. But amidst looming shadows, those assurances turn deviously into curses. The country-girl's destiny will show her as much, to cross paths with the cold whims of a renegade prince and the perils of a mysterious expatriate. It means her part in this great journey will be difficult, but not in vain. Wrath and injustice, it is hoped, are but auspices of goodness and love.
This is certain - adventures bear a risk to breed vengeance, history a habit to cast echoes, fates a penchant to intertwine. These subtle movements of will may make themselves known in an instant, and yet, more often, they appear but over the course of many years. In this tale - where it begins and where it ends - these movements will form a legacy out of the sacrifices and perils of twenty years' past. It will be the kingdoms' only chance to break free of the shadows.