The Lord of Dominion stepped back toward the glowing glyphs hovering in the air—symbols drifting like embers caught in slow motion.
"Long before this world… before even your stars were born," he began, voice quiet but resonating like a forgotten hymn, "there existed a plane beyond comprehension. A realm where creation itself was still raw. Unshaped. Untad."
The glyphs began to spin.
A projection flared in the air above them—a glowing image of a vast sky lit with swirling galaxies, fractured continents floating across void currents like islands adrift in the sea of eternity.
Joshua—no, Zaryel—stared, his breath caught halfway between denial and wonder.
"This place," the Lord continued, "was known as Caelestia Magna. The Origin Realm. The cradle of everything."
As he spoke, the image shifted.
Dozens of colossal figures walked the realms—so with wings that eclipsed cities, others with horns curling like mountains. So looked human. Others were beasts of myth and light. They clashed. They talked. They ruled.
"Gods and Devils," the Lord said. "The first two forces to rise."
Alice murmured, "They look… terrifying."
"They were. And still are," Aurora added quietly, eyes fixed on the image. "The Trueborn Gods—children of creation itself. And the Devils, their mirror born from destruction."
The image split into two halves—blinding radiance on one side, obsidian flas on the other.
"But there were more," the Lord said, waving his hand.
New beings appeared—towering dragons wreathed in lightning, phoenixes bursting into rebirth, radiant beings cloaked in stardust with halos of law and order.
"The Devas, Ashuras, Celestials, Dragons, Phoenixes… The second generation. Not as ancient as the Firstborn, but powerful in their own right."
"And the humans?" Joshua asked, slowly.
"They ca later. Fragile. Curious. Endlessly adaptive. Like embers trying to burn as bright as stars."
Alice looked over. "Sounds familiar."
The Lord chuckled. "Well… so humans, at least."
The image faded.
The room dimd again, but the pressure in the air hadn't lifted.
"I'm telling you all this because it's where you co from," the Lord said, facing Joshua. "You were born in the higher realm. Not to a king. Not to a general. But to balance."
Joshua blinked. "I… what does that an?"
The Lord's expression softened. "Your parents… were a True God and a True Devil."
Silence.
You could've heard a feather hit the floor.
Alice gawked. "What—like—together?!"
"Yes," the Lord replied simply. "It's forbidden. Unthinkable. It should never have been possible."
Aurora murmured, "But they did it anyway."
He nodded.
"The God of Eternity and the Devil of End. Two beings so far apart in power and belief… yet drawn to each other across millennia. No war. No chaos. Just… love."
Joshua stumbled back to a chair and dropped into it, hard.
"I need water."
"You need more than that," Alice said, staring at him like she was seeing a different person.
"You were hidden," the Lord went on. "Your existence was sealed. Protected. Because the mont either side knew you existed, they would stop at nothing to claim or destroy you."
"They'd see you as a threat," Aurora added. "Or a weapon."
"Your parents entrusted ," the Lord of Dominion said, "with your safety. I took you and brought you to the mortal realms… where your power would lie dormant. Where no god nor devil would sense you."
Joshua looked up slowly. "My family…?"
"…were a cover," he admitted gently. "A projection to keep you grounded. You were placed there as a newborn. The relic seller you called father was part of the shield spell. He never knew."
He paused.
"And now… that seal is breaking."
The Lord nodded. "The blood of the two oldest forces is waking up. You won't be able to suppress it much longer."
Alice leaned forward. "Okay, so what happens now? What does this an for him?"
The tower creaked slightly—its wards trying to hold back the ripple of energy surrounding Joshua like a storm beneath the floorboards.
"It ans," the Lord said, "the higher realm will co for him. And so of them won't ask nicely."
Joshua looked up, a strange calm settling over him. "Why now?"
"Because," Oracle answered for the Lord as she appeared in the tower, "there's been a shift. A throne was left empty. One of the Pillar Thrones—seats of absolute authority in Caelestia Magna. And the mont that happened…"
"…your existence registered," the Lord finished.
He turned to the window.
Outside, the sky had changed. Not dramatically. Just… subtly off. Like the constellations had blinked, or the light had shifted hue. A sign only gods and seers would notice.
"They know now," the Lord said. "And soon, envoys will co. So will offer friendship. So… will co with blades."
Joshua slowly stood.
"Then tell everything. From the beginning. Who I am. What I'm supposed to do."
The Lord gave a half-smile.
"I thought you'd never ask."
The room dimd, the air thickening like a veil drawn over reality. As the Lord of Dominion raised his hand, ti around them buckled—not breaking, but bending… folding. The glass walls of the tower shimred, colors bleeding out like watercolor on wet paper. Everyone blinked—and when they opened their eyes, they were no longer in the study.
They stood on floating platforms suspended above a vast cosmic sea—stars drifting below their feet like lazy fireflies. Mountains hovered upside-down, rivers flowed through the air in glowing loops, and colossal creatures passed through the sky like they were swimming in space itself.
Joshua—or rather, Zaryel—stumbled back. "What is this place?"
The Lord of Dominion turned to him with a distant look. "Welco back to the Realm of Origin."
Long before Earth, long beforethe universe, before Virelia, before the known systems of stars… there was Aetherion—the first realm, the crown of existence. Created by the First Will, Aetherion was where the primordial races awakened.
Here, True Gods were born—not made, but shaped from the essence of creation itself. Among them was Azarion the Boundless Fla, Naelis the Infinite Bloom, and Veylos the Star-Splitter.
On the other side of the divide—far, far below, deep within the Abyssal Fold—the Primordial Devils stirred. Not born, but forged by pressure, darkness, chaos. Entities like Kaor the Endling Maw, Lilivara the Sorrow Queen, and Obek-Thar the Whispering Spire clawed their way into the realms, hungry for balance… or destruction.
In the beginning, it was not war.
It was curiosity.
But power tastes like honey to prideful tongues.
The First Clash, known simply as The Sundering, shattered one-third of Aetherion. Moons bled, stars scread. And in the aftermath… the lesser races awakened.
Elves, born of light fragnts.
Dragons, from molten veins of collapsing stars.
Phoenixes, flas given thought.
Devas and Ashuras—twins born of divine and demonic echoes.
Celestials: caretakers of ti and order.
Humans: seeded across minor realms, fragile but unnervingly persistent.
Warlocks: fragnts of forgotten gods sealed in mortal skin.
And Vampires and Werewolves—cursed children of a failed god's experint.
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