<~(The Timeless Void)~>
Order had been restored to the multiverse at large due to Xaradel and his Court’s efforts-which took some time to accomplish since the War-but even the primordial deity understood that there would be no lasting peace. He had only completed this task as a side benefit when his main focus had been to find the Dragon King who had vanished from the multiverse some time ago. Every world he personally checked held its own trials and tribulations, though it turned fruitless when there was no evidence of his aura anywhere. It infuriated Xaradel to no end when his search bore no fruit and for the time being, he resorted to merely watching over the Timeless Void.
This particular plane of existence acted similar to an overall map of existence ranging as far as the furthest reaches of the Far Outer Realms to the center of the Core Realms. Every single star, planet, constellation, galaxy, and other celestial events showed up here to provide a real-time map to everything. Xaradel, his siblings, and the Elder Gods were the only beings in Creation that have access to this plane though not many use its other functions-many of which require conscious thought to access. He even remembered helping Zayaden and Yaldamir set up a multiverse-wise construct called a “Nexus Hub” which connects the various worlds together utilizing physical gateway structures called “World Gates” that can be locked or unlocked at any deity’s discretion. Not that anyone higher than a Regent needed to utilize them since they could already travel across worlds at will.
Xaradel floated over towards the section where the Core Realms were depicted since he often caught Saratas looking over those worlds with a vague interest. They were relatively safer than the worlds outside of the Core Realms and by far more hospitable to many lifeforms-as is their design-but that did not mean their residents weren’t capable of dying violently. Many of them suffered in their daily lives that bordered on violating the Accords-a set of rules created by the Elder Courts that limited deity interference to specific circumstances-though never crossed that threshold. Even Xaradel and his siblings were not left unaffected by these rules since it had been agreed at the start of the Cycle-when the multiverse starts all over again-that no deity of any tier would be allowed to utilize omniscience as a passive ability. It had even been implemented into the Eternal System-another multiverse wide construct-as a blacklisted ability to add an extra challenge for all deities which added the unintended consequence of keeping secrets.
He disliked the rule of omniscience being an outlawed passive ability by both the Accords and the System, but it did not mean he couldn’t tolerate it. Xaradel-despite being the youngest of the three primordials and harbinger of Chaos-understood needing some sort of order or structure to things since there had to be balance. Zayaden-the middle sister and the primordial embodiment of Balance-made it quite clear to her siblings and the Elder Gods that no action should be without reaction though it had to be proportionate to each other. Chaos and Order could not overpower each other for long despite neither having the ability to exist without its opposite force. Even Yaldamir-the oldest sibling and the primordial of Creation-agreed.
Despite their primordial natures, Xaradel and his siblings often got along with each other. He loved them and sometimes argued like siblings often do, but they were siblings. Even as they all grew up and gained wisdom over long periods of time, none of them could remember their exact ages. It also applied to the Elder Gods too though they got around that by deciding who was more powerful than the other. He remembered Saratas earning his place among the Courts by proving that no one could deny the sheer raw strength of Time and Void. They started calling him the “Dragon King” because he possessed enough strength and wisdom to reign over the Elder Courts while also being ruthless if wronged.
He even managed to gain Xaradel’s affection that day too though Xaradel would never admit it to anyone except his siblings. It was a very personal thing to admit to anyone except those he trusted absolutely and even now, his feelings did not fade-still burning strong. Xaradel cherished those feelings and even made a vow to himself that despite their inability to be together romantically, the primordial would not permit anyone to take him away. He will even destroy entire solar systems if it meant protecting his love from any who would dare harm him. That kind of passion motivated his search and kept him going.
As he inspected the depiction of star systems and galaxies which made up the Core Realms, Xaradel faintly observed events that were of little relevance to his search. Worlds where their timelines looped multiple times, entities manipulating events around mortal lives for little else than amusement, creatures of low divine energy spawning as some sort of great change, people using small stones imbued with aspected energy as magical foci in their spellwork, cosmic war breaking out over billions of planets, and even other sources of conflict reigned were passed over at his glance. He determined long ago that Saratas sought out a place where there was minimal conflict by the gods’ standards and most likely found a world of a whole multiverse full of them. It was finding that specific world which caused him no small amount of grief.
As a primordial deity, Xaradel understood that powerful forces like Time brushed over him with no issue. He knew at a fundamental level that literally nothing could permanently kill him-a barely known concept called “True Immortality”-and time meant nothing. Patience came naturally to him just as easily since his siblings were also familiar with the concept, but despite being truly immortal, pain still existed. From the vague understanding of mortal life from previous Cycles, Xaradel knew mortals often confused two similar concepts.
He did not-however-understand the reason why they did.
The concept of immortality means that a person was unable-or have the inability-to die. It did not mean-by its own definition-anyone who is immortal could not feel pain or suffer injuries. That particular concept was invulnerability which is different from immortality. He did not bother trying to understand the mortals’ faulty logic and their inability to discern the meaning behind words since it would only cause him to suffer further confusion.
After passing over a world that he knew had little significance with its yellow star and eight planet system, Xaradel received an alert. Mentally opening his notifications, Xaradel nearly cursed at himself. He had forgotten the dinner party his Court began to organize in celebration of their hard work restoring order. It did please him a little bit that the alert came from one of his advisors who understood the fickle nature of deities and their inability to keep clear track of time in a linear path-at least while not in a physical vessel.
He despised the inherent need for a mere puppet made of crude matter to interact with the physical realm and constantly tried avoiding situations that required even creating one. There were deities on various worlds who did not inhabit a physical vessel to interact with their followers though they were extremely limited on influencing the mortal world. Some chose to utilize mortal imagination or dream apertures-constructs utilizing magical energy that act similar to lucid dreams and change the environment depending on the caster’s desire-for contacting their followers, but it had its flaws too. Others utilized the System to send messages or grant boons to their followers-considering they had spells and abilities of their own to use at their discretion with no administrative privileges-which has considerably fewer flaws than dream apertures though not like inhabiting a physical form.
Xaradel wished he didn’t have to assume a form, but he had no choice in the matter since his advisors pleaded for attendance by their patron deity and gave that as a promise. The value of promises could only be kept by beings who knew their own worth and honor-which is difficult to keep if events proved they were unable to uphold their word. With a gruntled sigh of defeat, the primordial closed his awareness within the Void and reopened his vessel’s eyes. All six of them.
His eyes examined the room around him which recalled a vague memory of where he left his meat puppet. Xaradel got up to his feet and started walking down the seven steps to the floor of his throne room-reminding himself that the first few moments of reinhabiting a vessel were always getting reused to limb and joint movements-while he recalled prevailing issues concerning worlds outside of the Core Realms. Most of them were caught between the opposing armies and suffered for it as innocent people died. Some of their inhabitants were dying by spellfire, storms that ripped apart worlds, blades, or projectiles-which marked those worlds as extremely inhospitable to most lifeforms. A lot of them at the farthest reaches are still burning from the aftermath, but it did not require immediate attention by the primal courts since other gods can restore those worlds. The kind of gods who are on the brink of dying and have nothing left to lose.
By the time he finally reached the seventh-and final-step, Xaradel got reused to his vessel. This specific form stood at around nine feet and six inches-or 290 centimeters-tall, has ashen gray skin bordering on dark gray, long raven black wavy hair, three pairs of pure red eyes with dark magenta irises, pointed ears similar to elves, body built to be slightly athletic with mild muscle definition, and dressed in regal attire. Long robes decorated with the symbol-a circle with arrows pointing out in all directions-and colors of his Court-black with purple trim-adorned his vessel with a necklace that was also decorated in a similar fashion hanging around his neck. He wore no crown upon his head since there isn’t a need for such headwear and did not ask for one to be commissioned. It also looked ridiculous since mortal monarchs tend to commission very extravagant and flamboyant headwear as if compensating for something.
The humor was not lost on Xaradel and he could not help but laugh every time he saw a crown that looked a bit too extravagant. After reaching the final step, Xaradel made his way towards the main ballroom. With each step he took, the primordial harbinger of Chaos noted how his creations revered him in awe. He tried fervently to dissuade them from bowing in his presence since that usually was reserved for those who deigned to dishonor themselves or provoke him with self-acclaimed arrogance to a degree of success.
Most of them were similar to rabid dogs in intelligence compared to their more mature older siblings, but none of them were still above basic functions like hunger or thirst-no matter how hard he tried to cut that out of their genetic pool. These beasts of hunger-which were affectionately named the Vultark-stood upright on two legs though slightly hunched like werewolves. They had pure black eyes that saw anything less than itself as food, bodies covered in dark primal shadows where light could not pierce them, and assumed the general form of a wolf. They also had three rows of teeth-razor sharp like obsidian and nearly unbreakable-which could fully consume flesh and bone to pieces. He granted them the ability to evolve past their beastial forms and minor sentience into their more refined evolutions once they met specific conditions for advancement since Xaradel designed the Vultark to be adaptable towards foes and hidden enemies of their creator. After a few months in how mortals understand time, some of the Vultark evolved into their promised evolved selves.
Those first people became known as Vil’thrum and while they lost some of their previous racial abilities, others swiftly replaced them-including the ability to cast magic. Vil’thrum were designed to take up traits of their creator-such as high intelligence and wisdom, able to blend into shadows and spy on potential enemies, adapt to powerful arcane forces like Shadow or Oblivion, possess the ability to revive themselves in a limited capacity, and understand science-though still retained some primal elements of their original form. They were not able to be rid of their hunger, but found out that mortal or artificial souls sufficed to sate their hunger to manageable levels-even partially restoring their health, energy, and stamina after combat-over long periods of time. Another trait that stuck around post-evolution was their pointed ears and sharp black teeth which gave them a vampiric look that made Xaradel pleased since he too has pointed canine teeth in his vessel. Much to Xaradel’s disappointment, neither Vultark or Vil’thrum had three pairs of eyes and only one pair.
Over time, they bred and continued to evolve as they adapted to their home plane. Most of this plane Xaradel created-which is called the Maelstrom of Oblivion-generates chaotic energy that has influenced Vil’thrum spellwork for eons to a degree that any spell conjured through speech or motion by an inhabitant of the Maelstrom gains a powerful destructive quality which affects living, undead, and artificial souls alike. Vil’thrum has even helped to teach aspiring Abyssal Mages-or Cursed Souls-from the Crux Court how to harness chaotic energy in their own spellwork before the God War, but since Saratas’ disappearance, no new aspirants have come to learn from the ancient inhabitants. It pleased Xaradel greatly to hear that they were teaching Saratas’ creations what they learned over time and much like other Vil’thrum, he wished for more students to teach.
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As he reached the main ballroom, Xaradel saw most-if not all-of his Court present. Every Vultark and Vil’thrum filled tables that were spaced evenly across the floor with celebratory decorations hanging between the court banners-which held his Court symbol and colored with his Court’s colors-nearly bringing the old god to tears. He even saw every table filled with food for his humble creations and some Vultark were chewing on big pieces of boarkin meat in their wolven form. One of the advisors-a well aged Vil’thrum female who sat between another female dressed in a black dress with black lipstick on her lips and a burly ripped warrior male who looked less than normally pleased to be sitting down near the ballroom throne-rose to her feet and with a light tap on her wine glass, she silenced the entire ballroom.
“Today,” she announced with a sultry seductive voice of an enchantress who can convince an entire horde of succubi to take notes on how to attract attention. “We dedicate this celebration to our benevolent Creator and Lord, Xaradel, who has graced us with his divine presence this day. Through his infinite wisdom and grace, we-his eternally loyal servants-have accomplished the great task of restoring order to a war-ravaged multiverse and culling the presence of lesser deities who dared to rise higher than their station.”
Xaradel gave her a small nod to continue as he crossed the room towards his throne. He did not wish to interrupt her very obviously prepared speech or derail her spotlight during the celebrations since it was their idea to host this formal gathering. Once he made it to his throne and sat down, his aura washed over the ballroom in a subtle yet insidious manner that forced their attention towards the front-enforcing a calm silence from the more rowdy Vultark. It even helped to carry her tone across the room quite easily since she was the only one still speaking.
“We have fought, bled, and lost lives during that war alongside the other divine Courts who have suffered innumerable losses. Many of whom earned the right to reincarnate through their dedication and service, but as we celebrate today, we also honor their lives. To that end, it is time to celebrate!” She finished off a wickedly grim smile.
Xaradel retracted his aura and after a few seconds, the entire ballroom started devouring meat and drink. He let his creations enjoy their hunger-sating feast as the old god overheard his advisors’ discussions. A couple of them were talking about scholarly pursuits concerning the nature of structuring living matter using chaotic energy, two others talked about who won the last race in their wolven forms, but the most interesting discussion took place between the last three advisors. The burly warrior-whose name is Arcadian Helion-discussed with his female peers about possible strategies to train new warriors and mages.
The black dressed woman-whose name is Cyrilla Helion and Arcadian’s elder sister-gave her younger brother a sidelong glance of annoyance when he suggested training them in the Core Realms first before travelling to the Outer Realms. Xaradel knew that wasn’t a great idea since his plane provided challenges that are similar to the Far Outer Realm worlds and Cyrilla understood that more than her brother did. He remembered when a young innocent Cyrilla had been caught in a very dangerous part of the Maelstrom and cried out for help out of her fear. Xaradel considered all of his creations children, so when her cries reached him while on a different plane, he immediately rescued her and brought her back home to heal. Since then, he reprimanded her parents’ careless disregard for her safety and gained her undying loyalty.
Cyrilla adored her Lord and often expressed a desire to serve him further than just as a meager civilian-almost insinuating a hidden desire to become a wife for him-but when she learned that Xaradel preferred males over females, her burning desire to serve him compromised to the level of a respected advisor. Once she reached a suitable age to marry, her attractions grew to include some females and Cyrilla found her first wife weeks after the God War ended. Since then, her family grew into a whole pod with a few children on the way from a couple of wives. Each time their pod married a male or female into their group, they requested permission from Xaradel himself to bless their union-which obviously met with acceptance.
The last participant of their discussion was the woman who made the speech. Her name is Arielle Vandelle and by all accounts, a skilled enchantress. She utilizes speech enchantments to enshroud crowds with hidden intent like an insidious viper laying in wait to strike, but intelligent beyond her years since like Cyrilla, Arcadian, and other veterans of the war, Arielle fought on the front lines. Xaradel remembered the devastating power of her magical skills wrought upon entire worlds that defied her Lord’s will and how exhausted she looked afterward due to energy exhaustion. She looked to be bored of the discussion happening around her and more interested in sating her growing hunger.
The old god didn’t mind their antics or mortal concerns as he started to browse the System codex for anything that jumped out at him. From what he understood about the Codex, it helped to act as some kind of library linked up to the Eternal Archive-a construct designed to store information like a giant computer hooked up to endless shelves all containing immense servers with terabytes of memory that resides within the Crux Court-and allows access to all collected information across the multiverse. When it was first created before the start of the present Cycle by Saratas, he had been a tad skeptical about having a multiverse-wide construct to help govern mortal life. Since then, he learned a fair bit about mortal life and individual races that formed naturally outside of primal influence-including humans, dwarves, orcs, faeries, elves, demons, and their respective religions. Xaradel even learned that all of the Elder Gods and Primordials were System administrators and can appoint trusted advisors to act as a ruling council in their stead if they were too busy-running the daily work.
While the feast began to escalate further with fresh meals pouring in to the hungry partygoers, Xaradel started reading about the cultivation codex entry. He never heard of cultivation before-even in previous Cycles-and with a piqued interest in the subject, Xaradel mentally clicked open the entry. Another screen popped up detailing general and specialized cultivation information that most people couldn’t access without specific permissions, though since Xaradel is a System administrator, he gained unrestricted access to the information. In the entry, it detailed some tertiary channelling system spread out all over the physical body that worked semi-independently of normal energy channels and the respiratory system. It made the old god rather curious so he turned to Arcadian, Cyrille, and Arielle to approach the subject.
“I’ve never heard of this either, my Lord,” Arielle replied back, her curiosity piqued.
“Is it some kind of new energy system that allows for advanced spellwork?” Arcadian wondered-clearly also intrigued by cultivation. “Or arcane armor and weaponry?”
“Not what it says on the entry,” Xaradel replied to Arcadian’s query-his voice sounding slightly rough and hoarse. “It appears to be some kind of tertiary system that works semi-independently of normal energy channels and the respiratory system. There’s also some kind of notation for this tertiary energy which has a multitude of different names for it.”
Cyrille raised an interested eyebrow towards Xaradel. “What are the names for this mysterious energy, my Lord?”
“Qi and madra seem to be the most popular terms for the energy used in cultivation,” Xaradel responded quickly. “From what I’ve been able to deduce, it seems to be a method of refining physical forms to their highest peak. Increasing vitality, strength, agility, and the like while empowering themselves.”
“It sounds rather similar to levels and evolution, my Lord. Much like how you created all of us in this image,” Arcadian noted while gesturing to the people still feasting and paying no attention to the conversation at hand. “Perhaps this ‘cultivation’ is simply another science of refinement by mortal invention? We could start to research it and discover methods on how to counter people who use it.”
Xaradel returned to the codex entry and shared it with them-who seemed to place the entry off towards the side for reading later. He observed their action and gave them no hassle over it since they should have time later to properly research the topic-most likely right after the party. To a god like himself, he could not help being curious since it is a new discovery for the present Cycle to throw his way and potentially bring to his creations. He even knew without bringing up the System to examine his creations that all of them were at least within the high eight hundreds to low nine hundreds level range since a very significant majority of them lived through the God War and lived in a very brutal environment from birth. Still, the god understood that knowledge is a dangerous weapon if wielded correctly which he hoped his creations might wield to defeat their foes without issue.
After wrapping up the discussion about cultivation with his advisors, Xaradel returned to reading the entry by himself. He learned that cultivation was indeed a science of refining mortal bodies and spirits towards peak evolution, but it also carried heavy costs per cultivation tier. Pills, herbal remedies, tinctures, and a variety of cores-which Xaradel knew immediately translated to monster souls given physical crystalized vessels-were required by themselves for the first few tiers though later stages required more additional resources for advancement. When he reached the stages of advancement portion of cultivation, Xaradel blinked in shock. There were fifteen different stages of cultivation mortals could acquire before reaching the peak of advancement.
The first four stages were dedicated to metal: Bronze, Silver, Iron, and Gold. Next, there were three stages dedicated to gemstones: Quartz, Emerald, and Diamond. The last eight seemed to be dedicated towards royalty of a sort: Knight, Duke/Duchess, Underlord/Underlady, Archlord/Archlady, Sage, Monarch, Herald, and finally Demigod. It seemed-at least in Xaradel’s mind-that the stronger a cultivator’s madra system is, their bodies are refined properly in accordance. From what he also read about in the codex entry, cultivation seemed to work semi-independently of the person’s levels which results in stronger cultivators going up against high levelled people quite easily.
Xaradel grew a tad concerned over this fact for a moment before he remembered that any race directly created by an Elder God or a Primordial was considered an Elder Race-which meant his Vultark and Vil’thrum naturally had stronger abilities than the mortal races. That fact reassured his confidence in his creations, but Xaradel knew it was better to be over prepared than not at all. With that, he made it clear to his three advisors his expressed desire for them to research cultivation and develop counter methods-essentially creating Dark Cultivation at that moment in history. Xaradel knew they would do so after enjoying the festivities and let them continue celebrating. Then a red System prompt with a gold trim border appeared in Xaradel’s vision-interrupting the festivities.
<~-(+)-~>
SYSTEM WARNING
Attention all System Administrators!
A recent spike in Elder Energy has been detected within the Core Realm world of Earth (Sol 3) in the designated timezone of: 21st century (2017). Currently working to address the problem.
Current temporal coordinates (as interpreted by Earth’s systems): 10312017
<~-(+)-~>
Xaradel’s eyes went wide as he suddenly jumped up to his feet-causing all the partygoers to look in his direction in surprise. Their shock-filled wonder became evident when Xaradel observed them all, but once they saw him beginning to speak, the entire place remained silent.
“I have an announcement to make for you all-veterans and young squires alike. Through a sudden alert given to me by the Eternal System itself as one of its administrators, I have learned the location of a sudden spike in Elder Energy! This can only mean one thing for all of us: the Dragon King has awakened! To that end, I will be taking my leave for the planet of Earth and shall allow two others to come with me as we learn more behind the resurgence of Saratas, the Dragon King!” Xaradel exclaimed-his voice full of fire and joy.
The entire ballroom responded by erupting in howls and raucous shouting of celebration. Xaradel did not mind their response as he heard both Arcadian and Arielle volunteer themselves to embark on their latest journey alongside their Lord. He then created a party using the System’s Party Interface ability and added them. After that, Xaradel and his party teleported across the multiverse to twenty-first century Earth where he knew Saratas re-emerged.