Chapter 1: Prologue
"Long before the era of stars, the world of Corus sat alone in a deep, dark void. While it was dark, it was overflowing with energy, called Ether. Ether was the life blood of the world and thus, gave birth to the first race. The Ing were a formless race of creatures born in a starless world. The Ing, despite their horrifying forms, were kindly creatures. Being the first race in the world, they had the power to create others, to keep them company. The first they made were the Shadowkin. The Shadowkin was a race made in the same formless image of the Ing. For millennia, these two races lived in peace and pure darkness... that is, till the day the first star was born, causing the light to Illuminate the world. The light scared the Ing and caused most of them flee under ground back to the Ether that created them while the Shadowkin were left to burn in the light, which nearly wiped them out..
As the Ing submerged themselves in the Ether that brought them life, one decided not to abandon the Surface. She was a much older Ing, known as the Mother of None. Mother stayed on the surface as the light revealed a bare land, a blank canvas that was in need of a painting. Curious, she went looking for the being that made the light, and what she found shocked her. It was a crying ball made of pure Ether, just like herself. But instead of a being black as night, it was a child was made of light. An the moment the child saw her, it stopped crying, and reached out to her. So she reached back, with all her tentacled hands, and took the child as her own, naming it Liebe, the Ing word for Love."
A hooded figure read aloud these words from an ancient yet surprisingly well kept book. The figure sat on a throne of stone, and as he read, the sounds of creatures were heard roaming the miasma-filled halls of the castle he called home.
"Why must you read from those useless books, Master?" A deep voice said from just outside the closed-off room, the loudness of the question interrupted the other noises.
"Because if you don't try to know the past, you'll never learn from the present. Now, Xord, what brings you back to the Domain?" The Master asked, as he drew in a breath of the thick cloud of the miasma as they spoke.
"Fraudrin sent me. The Miasma around the Kingdom of Rinehart is lifting, allowing Alivast to move in." Xord replied.
"Alivast has never been a problem before..." The Master mused. "The Miasma surrounding Rinehart rises and fall all the time, but it never recedes farther then the Crafting District. Unless..." The Master turned to look at their minion. "Has the miasma receded farther now, Xord?
Xord did not respond to the question.
"Xord? Have you gone deaf?"
"No, my Master."
"Then, why haven't you answered me? Has the Miasma retracted past the Crafting District?"
Xord began to shift on his feet nervously "It has, m-m-my Master. It's receded far past the Crafting District and into the Clergy and High Residential Districts." Xord Replied scared of his masters response
The Master's shape twisted and writhed with anger, but then stopped just as suddenly as it started. "Xord, take both Galland and Greyroad with you. Rush there and take as many of the Blighted with you. Alivast must not find the Octavia before the Eclipse."
"Yes, Master." Xord said, followed by a buzzing of insectoid wings as he left the building leaving the figure alone again.
The Master sat on their throne, the anxiety and anger churning deep within his stomach. "The Miasma's never retracted this far before..." He muttered incredulously. "For two thousand years, it stayed put, and all of a sudden it has the gall to move now !?" He ranted, seemingly to no one, as they stood up to pace. "And only two years before the Tri-Star Eclipse..." They shook his head. "Okay, calm down.. it isn't like you don't have time, and the likelihood of anyone finding it and the isn't very high... But with this all happening now. I might have start the culling earlier then expected." As the were planning. Suddenly, they felt a massive surge of pain shoot through his body like lightning, attacking his nerves with the strength of an army. They fell back down in his seat as they coughed violently, inky black fluid staining the ground as they spat up the blood. "God, how immortality stings..." They moaned. They sat in their throne staring into the darkness of the room. Then spoke again "What am I to do, dear Sister?"
"Don't worry ." A disembodied voice told him. "Just stick to our bargain , and wait for the Tri-star Eclipse. An don't worry even if the Octavia is taken . Just make sure to keep your end of the bargain and you will get what you deserve brother." Said the voice.
"I trust you." The Master nodded. "You've never led me down the wrong path, dear Sister." He replied, still panting as he tried to catch his breath. With the wave of one hand, he summoned up a view portal, to watch Alivast as it moved towards Rinehart. No one could truly understand how fate worked or why it did what it wanted, not even an immortal like himself could figure it out. But the Master knew one thing, and it was that he wouldn't let Fate ruin his plans for ascension.
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