When the flyers first appeared, there was a wide range of reactions from different parts of the
Emerrane Pass and beyond.
Anxiety
Understandably, there was some anxiety from several different communities and organisations within the
Emerrane Pass and
Borta. When the
Zapassnee Order of Knights stopped taking calls, they left a gaping need. Some countries hadn't put that much effort into their own armies, relying instead on paying for protection when needed, so a large number of training academies of various types and private enterprises popped up to fill that hole.
Many of these training academies and private security firms felt a level of anxiety at the news of the potential return of Zakkazana Island. The potential loss of revenue from those willing to pay for their services was a fear almost as great as that of the likelihood of employees or trainees abandoning their enterprise in order to try out to be one of the famous Zapassnee Knights.
Some sent out ships searching for it, to verify the truth of the flyers, while other sought to shore up stronger contracts with the people they were working with, being paid by or employing.
Concern
The world had changed a lot in the last 500 years, and some argued it had become a safer and less unpredictable place since the disappearance of Zakkazana Island. Princesses were no longer torn from their beds, monsters didn't prowl the land with the same ferocity. Sure, there were still wars, people could still be mugged, and occasionally strange things happened - the weirdness around the Spindles a few years back was a prime example. But for the most part, the world was a calmer place.
So what did the return of the island and the knights mean? Could it be a gift from the gods, a warning that the knights would be needed once more? Was the world about to become an even more dangerous place?
Confusion
Many scholars had theorised over the years that the disappearance of the island and its knights was in fact a result of a large amount of tectonic, volcanic or magic activity. The island was not missing, but had instead been destroyed by some great disaster. How, then. had it returned and from where?
Several well known Zakkazana scholars had breakdowns when the flyers started appearing, and when the invitations appeared on those 13 doorsteps, one scholar threw himself off the top of Neckfort Library in Lortem, as it disproved all of his hypotheses of demonic magic being the cause of the disappearance wrong.
Disbelief
It was clearly a hoax. It had to be.
There were some who struggled to believe that the knights had ever existed in the first place. Of course, there were stories of them and songs about them, but there were also songs about talking eggs, and no one thought that was real.
Others believed the knights had existed, but that the flyers were an elaborate hoax. Or perhaps a marketing scheme for some new training academy that wanted to ride on the coat tails of the infamous Zapassnee Knights. Either way, there was no way this was real. It couldn't be.
Excitement
The day the flyers first appeared, work across the Emerrane Pass ground to a halt. Most people were too excited at the prospect of the knights returning to do anything but talk to everyone they could about the appearance of the flyers. Sales of wooden swords increased by nearly 200% and children in every land could be seen charging through streets or across fields claiming that they would be Zapassnee Knights one day.
There was also a sense of muted excitement among the upper echelons of society. The potential return of the island would give them a resource they had not had for a long time, and that could only be a profitable thing.
Relief
Many were relieved at the news of the return of the Zapassnee Knights. In a world were the drudgery of today was only outdone by the drudgery of tomorrow, the world needed heroes. And the Zapassnee Knights were known for their loyalty, bravery and honour. They would save a world in desperate need of saving.
Bards also experienced a high level of relief. They were making a pretty penny off the requests for songs about Zakkazana and the knights who trained there, and the idea of more daring deeds to come was certainly a welcome thought.
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