Prologue 3: Age of the Gods and Rise of the Dark One
The mortal races had grown, built their own kingdoms and prospered. Then the Demon and Dragon Wars broke loose, and the gods were left as the ruling race of the world. In mortals, they saw not living beings to watch and to care for; they saw toys and pawns to play with. And they did just that. Imposing themselves upon mortals, they turned kingdom against kingdom, race against race. Non-humans were specially hated by the gods, who used humans, their favorite pets, as tools to do their bidding, assaulting and enslaving non-humans.
Zealously and blindly following the commands of the gods, humans then turned on each other: brother on brother, father on son, all simply for the sake of their entertainment, because human conflict was particularly amusing to them. Gods were the cause of so much pain, so much suffering, genocide and nameless torture committed in their name, and when humans would turn to them with teary eyes and begging for their mercy, they would receive none. Gods also mated with humans, and from this union, the Children of the Gods were born. Females were maidens of all faces of nature; very pure daughters of the elements, they were called Fairies. Males were titans of huge size and strength, they were called Giants. Despite being their offspring, gods looked down upon them, considering them lesser beings like the rest of mortals.
There was one fairy who stood above all. She was not half human half goddess, rathe she was the daughter of a goddess and Seath the Worm, and the rest of her kind dubbed her The Fairy Princess. Powerful and fair, the rest of the goddesses hated her because of it, and as punishment, she was imprisoned on a lonely castle upon a mountain. Many would come to gaze upon her, for even the moon and stars envied her beauty, they all would look at her, and then leave her alone in her golden cage. Then a man came one day, he was a warrior from one of the many kingdoms felled by the arrogance of the gods, and he became smitten with the fair maiden. Every day he would return to her, they would talk about everything and nothing, and the fairy princess, who until his arrival was miserable and lonely, found the will to smile and live again. "Such beauty shouldn't be caged like an animal." He told her. "You should be free and wander the world as you will. Why did the gods imprison such pure soul as yours?" "I am the daughter of a dragon and a goddess, they think I'm impure, tainted, a half breed. They fear and hate me, that why I'm here." She answered.
Unable to bear it anymore and wanting nothing more than to have her by her side, he set forth to find a way to free her, so that they could be together. He got from a dwarven blacksmith a magic key, that would open any lock, and he returned to his Fairy. He opened the gate, and they were free to wander the world as they wished, but the gods wouldn't let them be, and so they sent creatures to get her back, and kill the knight. After a battle, he was left gravely wounded, and the fairy was taken back to her cage. "They won't allow her to live, neither will they let her die." He bitterly thought. "Enough." He said. Gods had taken his home, his life, his family, but he would not let them take her. But how, he asked himself, how could a mere human challenge them? Then he remembered, tales told by the elders in his village, tales of a Dark Spirit who had descended from the heavens, that inhabited deep and dark caves and held power beyond that of the gods. Thus, he ventured, into the heart of the world, armed with naught but his sword to defend himself and a torch to see in the dark. Very deep he delved, far into the black pitch, for what seemed like days, when he found him.
The god formerly mentioned, the one who stole the Dark Soul, was now reduced to a spirit trapped in stone. "Who are you?" the spirit asked, "Why have you come to me, what do you seek?" the man responded, "I wish to end the gods' tyranny, I need power to do so. I came for the power you hold." "Foolish man, you are not the first to come here looking for my power, nor will you be the last, what makes you different, why do you seek the downfall of the gods? Vengeance? Justice? Sheer ambition? Do you wish to be the hero that bring freedom to mortals?"
The man gave him his most honest answer. "My homeland is no more, my family lies all buried in a crypt, I care not about honor or power, the world and anything on it can burn for all I care. But there is this woman, when I met her I thought she was beautiful, but she was also sad, I just wanted to see her smile, hear her laugh, her happiness is everything to me, more than my own life. But the gods wanted to take that form us, the little joy we shared. I care not about the world, I only wish to protect what little matters to me."
And the spirit answered, "You are the one I have been expecting. Come, warrior, and embrace your destiny. Take the shard of black crystal you see and bury it in your chest. Let us die together and be reborn as one."
The man watched in amazement as from the stone sprouted a black and sharp looking crystal, that seemed to have fire trapped within. He grasped it firmly in his hand, and with one swift movement he pierced his own heart. Fire erupted from it and coursed through his veins, consuming him from the inside out as he and the spirit ceased to exist as themselves. When the flames receded, he rose as something new. He and the spirit had died together and were reborn as one. A man who held the power of the dark, who could challenge the rule of the gods. A man who would be known as The Dark One.