The Ancient Elders

The Old World Saga: Chapter 2
Written By: Taylor Howe

After stepping into existence upon the plains of all reality, the Ancient Elders were at the forefront of the beginnings of creation. The Old World had been birthed upon the horizon in the void, and they, the Elders were the first beings from the Void Hollows. Manifested from ether and cosmic dust, they themselves could only be one thing; Deities.

The Ancient Elders were beings of purest light and deepest shadow; and all variations in between. Each one walked upon the Old World with a purpose, a vision, and most importantly the power to manipulate their respective Realm; a piece of the collective whole.

This was the very moment the nine Realms truly began to take shape.

It was these great beings that made the lands fertile and abundant. They began carving mountains from ethereal dust to the west, filling oceans with spiritual lifeblood to the north, sprouting vegetation to sprawl with fervent energy to the east, and to the south, use molten lava to generate the heat necessary to maintain life within the cosmic void.

To say each of the nine Realms were made in all equality, we do not know. For what we do know, from that of our Ancient Texts, is that all nine Realms were made in perfection from within the eyes of their creator.

And what perfection they were, each unique with their own sources of Majik in their respective forms. And it was this Majik at the centre of it all, when it came to laying the foundations for the Old World.

For it was, and still remains to be, in the centre of the Old World that lay the ninth Realm, the keystone that holds all things together within the void. The Elder that first walked upon this Realm was the youngest of the nine Elders, the one our Ancient Texts simply refer to as The Ninth Elder Of The Dawn.

The Ninth Elder Of The Dawn was gifted one thing from The Illustrious Dawn, that was not given to "His" fellow counterparts; Cosmic Majik, that of the purest form. And legend has it, "He" used this astonishing gift with more restraint and hesitation then that of "His" siblings, as if "He" knew it was somehow, not limitless. 

To definitively describe "His" power beyond of that of the other Ancient Elders, in all of their glory, would be considered blasphemy. For the other eight Ancient Deities have only ever been witnessed in their full forms once, and that was by their sole divine creations of intelligent life; the Originals.

As for The Ninth Elder Of The Dawn, it has been prophesied that "He" elected not to manifest an Original in "His" image, like that of "His" cohorts, but instead proliferate Majik throughout the nine Realms.

The Ninth Elder Of The Dawn did this by using "His" Realm, that we now refer to as the Bounty Realm, as an amplifier for "His" great gift of Cosmic Majik.

However, the other eight Deities ignored their youngest sibling and collectively moved forward with their divine creations of the free thinking, intelligent life, known to us as the Originals. 

The Originals were made in an attempt at allowing the possibilities of these great Realms to further themselves in a natural state of being; that of evolution. And through this evolution, it has allowed for things to grow and advance to the point in which our ancestors were able to write our Ancient Texts, and from this, our history of the eight Legions were born.

They, the Originals - were to be, in all intents and purposes, the parents and caretakers of these bountiful new worlds, and thus our forefathers and mothers. They were to be observed by the Elders closely. Studied and analyzed, to see if free will and forms of thought were to be the ways in which life could carry forward.

Instead however, after the creation of these intelligent beings, the Ancient Elders found themselves weakened for the first time since their inception. For as if the Originals sapped them of what appeared to be limitless power.

Some would believe, this is what the young Ninth Elder Of The Dawn, was privileged in foreseeing. A weakened state of power that followed the hubris of being a great Deity. A cross they would have to bear while "He" watched on.

The eight Elders of the surrounding Realms, grew heavy in their steps, as their worlds before them continued to teem with possibilities. Weighted by the irreversible error in their collective ways, the eight Deities were forced to witness these possibilities become distant with each passing moment.

Feeling evolution in ways they did not anticipate, and reeling from their regrets, they stumbled their way to their youngest, and somehow wisest sibling. They pleaded with "Him" to share the Majik that he still held, to keep them from fading. For their existence now became garnished by the ticking of time as it quickly eroded beneath them.   

The only thing their "Brother" could offer them now, as their respective Void Hollows looked to claim them back into the emptiness that once birthed them; was "His" refuge. A refuge upon the borders of each of their respective Realms, within reach of the ever binding Bounty Realm that "He" created. Places to be hidden by Cosmic Majik, away from the imposing Void Hollows, and eventual future seekers of historical truth. They were to be left undisturbed for the next millennia, or until they were able to regain their power. 

And so with these options limited, they obliged, as the choice seemed clear to them; that they would rather continue to exist, than to be erased.

In turn, reluctantly earlier then they had wished it to be, the eight Ancient Elders could only see one solution. Passing on the duties, they thought they could manage themselves, to their solitary free thinking creations before them.

Their Originals were to now to be tasked with the future of The Old World. A great place that was a blank canvas for the essentials needed to sustain a multitude of sprawling lifeforms. A canvas for these divine creations to paint in whichever direction they saw fit. Whether that be in good intention or malicious action, the Elders could not be of witness any longer. As either outcome was to be unhindered by their Deities watchful eye. These were to be a series of tall tasks, that lay before the Originals. Tasks to be completed using the unyielding power, to which was thrust upon them far too early in their lives. 

The Ninth Elder Of The Dawn knowing the end of this story before any other, could only stand idly by and witness what this power would do to these naive Originals. "He" knew what this rapid influx in Majik, to an unprepared free thinking mind, would inevitably lead to...corruption.

It was at this moment that the Illustrious Dawn had drawn to its first conclusion. The time of the Ancient Elders drew to an end. For their aspirations were endless, but unfortunately their power, not quite as equal. They found themselves fall into what we refer to in our Ancient Texts, as the Eternal Slumber. 

The Eternal Slumber fell as fast as a weighted stone into a bottomless ocean. It was definitively deep, and so was the division that came from it.

The axis of Light and Dark, or Good and Evil, could not help itself, but be manifested on this day. And for the first time, in this early creation, there was uncertainty...uncertainty of what was to come next, as the once brilliant light of The Illustrious Dawn seemed to fade upon the horizon. 

The Old World found itself enter into...The Obscurus Dusk."  

- A faded passage of The Defacto Dawnius Illustrudius