The Dead Wars

A non-canon sequel to Shadow of the Colossus and ICO

((WARNING: Contains spoilers and non-canon theories to the original games))

"It all began in the land of our birth; a land whose name is lost to history itself. This land, created from blood, young sprouts and sky, was ruled by two twin gods who were the only children of the late Goddess of Death herself, Xektera. They were called Dormin and Osariel. While they were both compassionate, wise and just, they too had their differences. Dormin was ambitious and daring while Osariel was more serious and down to earth, so they would bicker on occasion. But nobody minded really. All the people cared about was the fact that there was peace and they would always be protected by their leaders. And indeed there was peace. But even peace doesn't last forever.

You see, Dormin took on a human wife and they had a child (the wife died in childbirth unfortunately). When the child was only five years old, something happened. A rebel alliance that was sickened by the peace attacked Dormin's palace in an attempt to rid the land of half of their government (which was controlled by the brothers). During the attack, someone stood in the way of killing Dormin. It was none other than Dormin's son himself. Being a demi-god, Dormin's son jumped as high as his father's head, taking the blow for a flying sword thrown by a swordsman. Despite the fact that Dormin couldn't be harmed by normal weapons, his son, being a demi-god, was killed when the sword impaled his chest. Enraged and saddened, Dormin unleashed his wrath upon the rebels, killing them in the most gruesome and horrifying manner. After that, even if he could bring back the dead, he could only bring back the souls of mortals and not demi-gods or gods. He became depressed for weeks. Nothing could cheer him up, especially Osariel's comfort. But what Osariel didn't realize was the darkness in his brother's heart slowly growing, swallowing him whole. Dormin eventually came to realize that the humans were a menace to this world and should be eliminated. One day, he took an army of shadow-like creatures (which are said to be the souls of mortals) and began destroying the cities across the land. Many tried to stop him... and many failed.

Grieved by his brother's actions, Osariel immediately began constructing a plan. A plan he knew he could not do alone. He took as many able-bodied men and boys as he could and began constructing an enormous building. The building was called by many the "Shrine of Worship". They also added in a bridge, for that was part of the plan. It took many years to build it, but it was worth it. When it was finished, he put his plan into action. His plan was to evacuate his people to the lands beyond while he imprisoned Dormin with the help of a young enchantress name Fiara.

After all the people were evacuated, only Fiara and a group of warriors remained, patiently waiting for Osariel's arrival. Finally, after waiting for a while, Osariel, wounded and exhausted, came, dragging an unconscious Dormin into the temple. He chained up Dormin and taught Fiara an ancient incantation that would imprison his brother. Osariel also gave her a sword that was powerful enough to kill even a god. However, he himself could not use it for reasons only known to him. He forged it during those long years of building the Shrine of Worship. He warned Fiara that this ritual would cost her her life and that her soul would be fused to his for an eternity. Fiara told him she was willing to risk that. He then instructed her to climb on top of Dormin's chest, recite the incantation and then plunge the sword into his heart. She did these commands with ease. After it was done, a light engulfed them and shot through the ceiling in the wall without destroying it and high above the structure where people could see it for miles. The light then split into thirty two lights. Sixteen for the idols along the wall, and sixteen for the colossi. When he and the warriors left the land, Osariel announced that this land was forbidden to travel across and should never be trespassed for whatever reason. Osariel decided to go back to the realm of the gods, feeling that the humans were ready to rule themselves.

Skip to two thousand years later. One day, a young man on a horse and a dead woman covered in a cloak arrived into what was now called the Forbidden Lands. The man's name was Wander. His mission? To resurrect his love, Mono. You see, Mono was believed to have a cursed destiny. They say that she was to be responsible for releasing Dormin from his prison, so when she was old enough, they poisoned her, thus killing her. Upset, Wander set out to find the Forbidden Lands. When he found it, he came across a disembodied Dormin. Wander asked the disembodied god to resurrect Mono from the dead. Dormin laughed at this request, knowing he could not since his power was sealed away. Noticing that the young man possessed the ancient sword used to seal him away, he formed a plan. He made a deal with the young man, telling him if he could slay the sixteen colossi across the land, he would bring back Mono from the dead. But he warned him that this would cost him dearly. Ignoring his warning, Wander set out across the land in search of the sixteen colossi. He found them all and, using his strategic mind, slayed them all. He thought that Dormin would keep his word. He did... but at a price. Enter Lord Emon and his men. They noticed that the ancient sword had gone missing, and so, pursued the young man to the Forbidden Lands. But they were too late. All of the colossi had fallen, thus destroying the idols they were incarnated from. When they found Wander, his physical appearance was deteriorated, his strength faded and he had grown horns on his head. Emon ordered his men to put him out of his misery. They did. But they realized that they were too late in preventing Dormin's return. Dormin transformed the body of the young man into his own original body. Acting quickly, Emon and his men retrieved the ancient sword and made their way to the spiral staircase that led to the entrance of the building. At the top of the staircase, Emon threw the sword into a small pool of water at the bottom of the staircase. It sucked Dormin in, sealing him once again. Emon and his men then left as the bridge to the Forbidden Lands was destroyed. But as for Wander... his spirit left his body once Dormin took it over, therefore, killing him. And Mono, you ask? She was revived... but not with her original soul. Instead, her soul was replaced with that of Fiara's, the woman who sealed away Dormin all those years ago. While wandering around the shrine with Wander's horse, Agro, confused, she stumbled across something in the pool of water which the sword was thrown in. There, she discovered a baby boy with horns. What she was not aware of though, was the fact that Dormin's soul was sealed inside of this boy.

Now what became of this boy, you ask? He grew up. But when "Mono" and Agro eventually passed away, he tried to climb the rock wall that led out of the Forbidden Lands, believing that there was nothing left for him there. However, he slipped and fell eighty feet down to the ground, killing him. Realizing that the fall had cause the seal to be broken, Dormin, in the shape of a dark cloud, left the boy's body and the Forbidden Lands. While traveling, he tried to think of some idea to restore his body and his power. Eventually, he came across a young woman who was dying from fatigue. Dormin then had an idea. He carried the woman to an enormous abandoned castle and gave her a piece of what was left of his power. Revived by his gift, the young woman became the queen of the castle. Under Dormin's orders, she rampaged across the lands with an army of souls. She destroyed many villages and killed many people. The leaders of the lands, tired of the constant terror, decided to make a bargain with the queen.

Requested by Dormin, she told them that she wanted all horned children (who possessed remnants of Dormin's power which was scattered when he was sealed a second time) to be brought to her castle and sacrificed. She also personally requested that once every hundred years, a beautiful baby girl was to be brought to the castle. They did as she requested. For the next thousand years, all children with horns were brought to the castle to be sacrificed as well as beautiful young girls without horns every one hundred years. Though the girls were not sacrificed. Instead, when the Queen's body became deteriorated, she would remove the soul of the girl and possess their body as her own.

As mentioned before, this tradition lasted for a thousand years. That is, until it was his turn to be sacrificed. Yes. I am talking about the horned boy named Ico. When he was left alone in the castle to die, he sought a way to escape with the help of a mysterious girl named Yorda and her powers to access certain parts of the castle, a gift that was given to her by the Queen (her self-proclaimed mother). After a series of adventures within the castle, the two became separated. Yorda's body was petrified while Ico was sent back the tomb where he began his quest to escape. But this time, he had the Queen's sword, which was used like a key in the castle. Eventually, he made it to the throne room where the Queen resided. There, she revealed her plan to take over her "daughter"'s (really just about to be one of many human girls whose bodies were possessed) body in order to preserve her youth. Ico and the Queen fought to the death, with the boy as the victor. Before the Queen died, however, she used the last of her strength to use her powers to throw the boy against the wall, breaking off his horns and knocking him unconscious. Once the Queen had died, the castle started to crumble. Yorda, who was released from the Queen's petrifying spell, was consumed by a shadowy force, giving her an appearance similar to the souls that served under the Queen. What she didn't realize was force covering her was Dormin, who was sucking away the power given to her by the Queen so she wouldn't be powerless when she possessed her, repossessing it as his own. Yorda traveled to the Queen's throne room, where she found the unconscious Ico. She took him underneath the castle and place him on a boat and pushed him out to sea, saying farewell. But when Ico's boat landed on shore and he awoke, he made an amazing discovery. Yorda had in fact miraculously survived. How she survived is and will forever be, a mystery to us all.

But when the castle crumbled, Dormin, still in the form of a shadowy cloud, escaped, having already repossessed the powers of Yorda, the Queen and all of the dead horned children. But there was one horned child whose powers he had yet to repossess. That child was Ico. He then began searching the world, trying to find the one child whom, if he died, would instantly surrender his power to Dormin. But they had to be in the same area in order for it to work. The child had the last of his power that he needed. After many years of searching, he had finally found Ico, who was now an adult living with Yorda and their children in a small village. One day, Ico caught a deadly illness that cost him his life. They say that on the night that he died, Dormin was hovering over him, absorbing his power as he died. When the absorption was complete, Dormin wandered into the middle of the village and began transforming back into his original body, laughing loudly. At long last, he had finally regained all of the remnants of his power. The first thing that he did with his new found strength, was destroy the village which Ico and Yorda lived in. Nobody survived that night.

After that, Dormin declared war on all humans. The war has lasted for two hundred years. Many have fallen victim to the chaos. So far, Dormin is winning this war with his army of souls. The odds are against us; loss seems inevitable. However, as of recently, hope has been restored. After so many years of exile, Osariel has returned to us in order to stop his once just brother. He comes to us with several weapons in hand. These weapons, like the ancient sword, are powerful enough to injure and kill any god. He asked the king of the land to summon the greatest swordsman, bowman, shaman, fist fighter and spear wielder. The king did so and now, all of the warriors are gathering here, to the palace in order to receive their weapons and set off on their quest to destroy Dormin once and for all. They will need more than just luck to defeat him. I only pray that the gods stand by them throughout their adventures."

-- Lord Yonderso, High Shaman of the land of Venestheria