The beginning of creation.
Long ago, when nothing existed in this world, a golden light descended from the sky. This light enveloped the land, sprouting a Great Tree with golden leaves. Over a millennium, this Tree gave birth to countless flora and fauna, filling the world with life and possibilities. It marked the beginning of creation.
As time passed, the Great Tree created more sophisticated life forms. With each iteration, its golden leaves grew dimmer. The first of these was the True Dragons. Pleased with its creations, the Great Tree bestowed upon them a gift: the ability to use wild magic, a lesser form of the True Magic wielded only by the Creator of all things.
The Great Tree continued its creation, giving rise to heteromorphic species, demi-human species, and human species. Each subsequent creation further dimmed its golden leaves. Eventually, the tree was distinguishable only by its sheer size and divine properties. Though it no longer created life, it continued to produce life essence in the form of its fruits. Fruits that the true dragons were able to monopolize due to their near-infinite lifespan.
The dew from the Great Tree was also said to cure all ailments, rejuvenate and extend one's life, and even raise the dead. Because of this, the different races fought for centuries to control the tree, resulting in countless deaths and suffering.
During the last of these wars, the Great Tree, unbeknownst to anyone, bore a fruit. This fruit was a deviation from the original timeline. As a result, the dragons, who ruled the skies and ignored the petty wars of the inferior species, were unaware of its creation.
This fruit was found and consumed by a child from one of the human-like races. With the power it bestowed upon her, she unknowingly sacrificed herself and thousands of her kind to gain the ability of Wild Magic and used it to destroy the Great Tree, ending the wars and suffering it had caused. This marked the end of creation and brought with it a thousand years of peace.
This event drove the True Dragons mad. But instead of waging war like the inferior species, their madness was of a different sort. The dragon emperor, who had become unhinged due to the loss of his creator, ordered his followers to find a way to restore or bring back the Great Tree. To this end, the True Dragons conducted many thousands of experiments and rituals using wild magic and the salvaged parts of the smoldering remains of the Great Tree.
A Thousand years later, during one of these experiments, the dragon emperor conducted a ritual that allowed his soul to penetrate space and time. During this ritual, he witnessed The Magnificent Tree, it was just as he remembered, its leaves bathed in gold and its branches adorned with dozens of exotic fruits. However, no matter how hard the dragons tried, it was impossible to bring the Magnificent Tree into their plane of existence. They concluded that their magic power was lacking, and instead required the magic of creation, True magic.
Seeing this, the dragon emperor gathered over ten million of the Great Tree's creations. He ordered one hundred of the most powerful dragon lords, including the dragon empress herself to assist him, along with the remains of the Great Tree and all the fruit that remained from the time of creation. He gathered all these things as his ingredients to bring back his lord, his creator.
Rituals are typically conducted when the user needs to access power beyond their capabilities and can have a long casting time. This means that the caster must have a strong mind and understand the cause, reason, and effect of the magic they are attempting to make use of. The Dragon Emperor's ritual of creation took a full change of the moon to activate and then over four hundred more to be completed. However, on completion, Instead of the Magnificent Tree the emperor had envisioned. A single individual emerged, and as if the gates from hell itself were opened waves of demons and monsters appeared. This marked the beginning of The Players.
