The world of Almos was brought into existence long before men, dwarfs or even elves walked its surface.
Before Almos, there was nothing but darkness and chaos. The vast void of space was ruled over by formless abominations that writhed and twisted against each other. Like maggots, they fed on the festering dark energies that proliferated the unending void, growing ever stronger, yet their hunger never ceased.
By their nature however, the abominations could not last forever. They were creatures of pure chaos and darkness, chaos could not exist without change, so change they did.
Two of the ageless creatures collided, their energies both melding together and rejecting each other at the same time. As they merged into a singular entity that chaotic nature was inverted, creating the first god of order, Tundeval.
Thus order was born from chaos.
Tundeval forced its formless body into a shape, becoming a sphere of pure magical energy. Then it created more spheres of energy in its image, trying to fill the chaotic void with shape, with order.
The formless chaos did not take kindly to this disruption, they descended upon Tundeval and tried to tear it apart. But Tundeval was stronger than each of them and started fighting back with all of its power.
This battle lasted for untold centuries before Tundeval began to tire, its energies drained by the sheer numbers of the seemingly endless horde. In an act of desperation, Tundeval seized one of the formless creatures of chaos in its power and forced upon it the energies of order.
Instead of removing the being’s chaos however, it removed the creature’s darkness. Thus the first god of both chaos and order was formed, Chershemall.
Like Tundeval, Chershemall also forced its energies into shape, yet it never kept to a single form. A cube, a circle, a one-thousand sided shape, the like of which you could never imagine, Chershemall chose to be all of these things and more.
Together, Tundeval and Chershemall defeated the formless chaos, absorbing their energies and becoming the only two entities in the endless void.
Now with the battle over, Tundeval turned to the spheres of magical power it had created and found itself to be displeased. While the energies now had shape, they still danced and fluctuated within that form.
Tundeval found itself wanting more order, so it forced its near unlimited power upon the spheres, commanding them to solidify, to take a form that could never change itself.
Thus, all the spheres of power were turned to stone.
Chershemall watched this and felt insulted. While it did not desire formless chaos, this mindless order was just as unpleasant for it.
The god of chaos and order pleaded with Tundeval for permission to change the spheres into something more. But the god of pure order refused, stating that the perfect world had already been created and that change would only bring ruin to this perfection.
Tundeval forbade Chershemall from transforming any of the stone spheres, yet Chershemall would not let itself be denied this. To work around the law set by its fellow god, Chershemall created two more gods weaker than itself. It bestowed upon them the name Thumel and Faumel and tasked them with bringing chaos to the spheres of order.
Thumel’s and Faumel’s first attempt at this was met with an interesting result, when they used far too much energy on trying to bring the powers of chaos to one of the spheres. Their vast well of magic turned the dull stone shape into a blazing inferno of heat and light.
With this act, this happy accident, the first sun was born.
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Thumel and Faumel made many suns after that, for their power was simply too great and untamed for them to do much else. Yet over time they learned to control their power, until eventually they could do far more than make countless stars.
Unfortunately Tundeval had finally detected the shifting of the spheres, from its formless masterpieces to the blazing suns the two new gods had created. Realising its fellow god’s betrayal, Tundeval confronted Chershemall intending to strike them down.
The two gods charged each other, channelling all of their energy into a single blow against the other. With this power they shattered each other, scattering pieces of themselves all over the void, extinguishing many of the new born suns in the process.
Now the only two gods left in existence, Thumel and Faumel decided to create the ultimate memorial to this battle, their finest creation that would trump all other in its complexity.
Wielding their power with delicate yet firm concentration, the two gods turned one of the remaining stone spheres into a molten ball of magical potential. Like two smiths working a forge, they heated it until it could go no further without catastrophe, then they covered it in soft flowing water, allowing the planet to go cold.
From there they built islands, forged continents, excavated valleys and raised mountains. Tirelessly they worked until the first phase of their plan was completed, only then did Thumel and Faumel allow themselves to step back and admire their work.
Together, they had created the world of Almos.
But while the two gods worked, the hundreds of floating remnants of Tundeval’s and Chershemall’s power began to form together. Over an untold amount of time these specks of energy began to form into new deities.
Some of these gods were content to wander the void, becoming the outer gods, while those that were drawn to the power being wielded by Thumel and Faumel would become the deity’s most commonly worshiped on Almos.
Now with a base formed of both chaos and order, Thumel and Faumel began to propagate the world of Almos with a variety of plants and animals.
However, when the time came for them to create more… magical creatures, they became divided against each other on what they should make.
Not wanting to end up in a battle to the death like their predecessors, the two gods eventually agreed to split the work. Thumel created the civilised races, such as the humans, the dwarfs and the elves, while Faumel created the monster races.
When their work was finally done, both of the gods found themselves to be satisfied.
Time passed and both the civilised races and monster races flourished on Almos. Yet only the civilised races would create great works and proud cities that would stand the test of eons, while monsters were content to live, eat, breed and die.
As if a sickening seed of envy had been planted in the soil of its mind, Faumel found itself growing jealous of its partner god’s creations.
Faumel wanted its creations to grow beyond their current weakness and create greatness. With that in mind, Faumel hatched its plan.
Copying some of the designs Thumel had used in its creations and combining them with the magical power of some of its favourite monsters, Faumel created the first dungeon core.
It was a small red gem that was not only capable of channelling great power to shift and control the world around it, but had such potential for growth that Faumel believed it would one day rival or even surpass its partner god’s creations.
So enamoured with its new creation was Faumel, that it poured a portion of its very being into the gem, giving it a sense of self and a true chance for greatness.
Its work complete, Faumel cast the dungeon core down upon the land of Almos…
Only for the precious core to leave Faumel’s sense mere seconds after it landed.
Though upset by the loss of its greatest solo creation, Faumel tried again. This time it crafted multiple cores, all of them simpler than the original and with no sense of self.
This time when Faumel spread its creations across Almos, most of them survived.
These dungeon cores would go on to create dungeons that would house both great monsters and great treasures. Adventurers from around the world challenged these dungeons in the name of fame and profit.
Dungeons became a normal part of the world.
Time kept moving forward and eventually even Faumel forgot about its first lost dungeon core.
But that core never truly died, how could it when it carried a piece of the very god that created it?
No, it had merely been sleeping.
Sleeping, for a very long time.
This is the story of the very first dungeon core.
The lost dungeon core.
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Authors notes: Hello everybody!
My name is J-B-W and I will be your author for this story.
I’ll be the first to admit that there isn’t much to see right now, but since I’ll be keeping to an every Wednesday update schedule… well, there should be much more here to read once a few weeks have passed.
Feel free to leave comments and reviews, in fact I’ll be happy if you do. Advice and criticism are an important to me as they help me become a better writer, even a simple “This is good” or something like that encourages me to keep on writing this story and tells me if I’m doing a good job.
Personally though? I hope that this is the start of something magical.