Craesti City/Monster Island Prologue

****************Craesti City*****************

The Aether projection began to flash orange, startling Darkness away from the book he was reading. “What now,” he growled, gesturing to bring it to his hand. “How did a mindless Beast become a Primordial?”

“Here,” Light said, stepping up next to him and pointing. A spot in the center of the ocean magnified, “a dungeon under the ocean. That should not be possible.”

“There must be a source of sapient life there,” Darkness gestured. “I do not know what it is, though. It may predate us.”

“I will seek to provide the location to the Craesti and Ashkha peoples. They should be able to close it,” Light said, turning to leave.

“Hmm, the Primordial is being driven. It is simple, and moves with the storm,” Darkness said, laughter in his voice. “The Craesti are sending it to the Illyrians as a gift!”

“Good,” Light said, death in her voice. “They are feeding the dungeons that appeared in their territory. We may need to incite the other nations to war to stop them.”

“That will weaken the world, when we least can afford it,” Darkness replied.

“Better to fight our enemies piecemeal, than all together,” Light said softly.

Darkness nodded, frowning at the projection. “Only four summoned heroes remain, and one a slave. Will they be enough?”

***********************Monster Island****************************

An ethereally beautiful woman clad in a diaphanous dress of pure white stepped out of a glowing circle into a cavernous expanse of silvery metal. She stepped forward, walking towards where a cloaked older man was gesturing at the floor. She was careful to step over the glowing lines of his Inscription. Each of the meter long runes was formed of dozens of smaller runes, which were formed of yet more runes, and she made sure not to damage the work.

“I have been unable to locate all of the dungeons, and several are in locations where heroes will be unable to destroy them,” Light called out as she approached.

“I suspected as much,” Darkness grimaced. “I also witnessed the first birth of a native Dungeon. Those spawns of Chaos will now be a part of our world forever. All is not lost, though. I believe I have devised a way of separating them from Chaos, and bonding them to the world. Come, join me.”

They spent the next two hours talking, discussing his massive Inscription, and then the next week improving and tweaking it. Finally, they reconvened in the center. Two circles defined their starting locations, and dozens of Aether crystals sat in other locations throughout the kilometer long room. With a gesture, streams of Aether sufficient to destroy an entire kingdom flowed from each of the deities and power flashed through the Inscription. Hours of channeling followed, culminating in a massive flash of Aether that circled the globe at a speed that was many times the speed of light.

The gods slumped to the floor, exhausted. “Let us hope this worked,” Light said, “and did not merely hasten our demise.”

“If nothing else, the dungeons will strengthen people,” Darkness panted, “and give them a fighting chance against Chaos.”