In a tiny hut on the outskirts of the royal city of Xis, a child was born. Every aspect of this birth, from the extraordinarily high pain of labor to the lack of cries from the newborn, screamed of complications. The child’s young mother loved him anyway, seeming to not even notice the fact that he was deaf, dumb, blind and mute. When she laid eyes on her little Ecio, her face lit up with a smile that would bring peace to dying men, and all those that saw her felt a portion of her joy. All, that is, except the father of the child.

He was a good man, once upon a time, and were he not forced to live in the squalor and filth he currently found himself in, he may have been the greatest king the world had ever seen.

Were he not betrayed by those he called friends, he may not have become as paranoid as he was today.

Were he not misled by his advisors, he may not have become distrustful of all words spoken by those around him.

Were he not overthrown and nearly beheaded by the army he had built up himself, he may not have lost the kindness that was intrinsically part of his being.

Were even one of these things prevented, he may not have lost his throne, his castle, and his right to rule.

But, alas, Fate had a different role for him, and Lady Fate cares not for the wellbeing of a single newly crowned king in the endeavors of eternity.

His role was to become everything he once fought against, and when he saw the monstrosity that was his newly born child, he played his part perfectly.

That which the man longed for the most, an heir to avenge the royal bloodline, was mercilessly denied to him, and thus, he fell into a rage.

The former king saw the pitiful excuse for a child and immediately sought to relieve himself of his shame. He seized the small bed of hay in which the babe lay and, ignorant to the screams of his wife, ran to the Ethusian Chasm and threw little Ecio far into the abyss with all of his still considerable might.

As Ecio fell, the last his mother saw of her child before he was swallowed by the darkness below was his mouth opening in a silent scream.

She mourned her child for five years, after which she slit her husband’s throat and disappeared from the eyes of the world.

X X X X X

As Ecio fell, Lady Fate tried her utmost to ensure an end to the child, yet try as she might, she simply could not influence him upon his falling into the Chasm. For the first time in her unfathomably long existence, Fate could not affect fate. Any mortal upon losing control would find themselves uncomprehending and angry about their situation, yet for a Divine such as she, things were different.

She understood things that no mortal would ever know, and she knew that for her vast power to be nullified to such an extent would require the cooperation of at least two immensely powerful Elder Gods of absolutely opposing nature.

Countless times over the history of every world in every universe over all of eternity, other Divines attempted to affect her manipulations. It would take tens of full Gods, hundreds of Lesser Gods, or thousands of Demigods in order to limit the options of an Elder God such as Fate by just a small amount. For this to happen, however, was very difficult, as every Divine had their own aspects, and for so many of their interests to align was exceedingly rare.

In order to nullify Fate, the oldest Elder God in all of divinity, would require another Elder God to somehow surpass her in power, which was fundamentally impossible, as to Divines, age is equivalent to the might they possess. Thus, in order to restrain her machinations, two ancient Elder Gods must have had to irrevocably fuse their very beings in order to contend with her. This had only ever been done by Lesser Gods in order to forcefully increase their influence, and in every case, the two entities had to be of opposing aspects in order to create a stable and balanced being.

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Later, she mused to Muse, “What is that could drive the most powerful beings in all of creation to give themselves up for a mere mortal?”

Fate was very interested in this tiny creature known as Ecio.

X X X X X

When the child reached the bottom, he was immediately swept up in the white rapids at the bottom of the chasm. Through a combination of chance, sheer luck, and the tiniest hints of divine intervention, Ecio found himself steered away from every sharp rock, ravenous beast, and curious creature. He was carried far, far, far underground through passage after passage, until he finally stopped in a small cavern lit only by the glow from an incomparably imposing statue that could not have been built by mortal hands. By this point, he was weakened from hunger, the sweeping of the water, and most of all, heavily injured from landing in the water from such a height. Yet, when he was bathed in the glow of the statue, all his problems were slowly eased. His hunger pangs diminished, his injuries were mended, and the fear he felt in his heart was washed away by this light that caressed his very soul. Even more amazing was that he was given that which he never had, and with greater effectiveness than he would have originally had. By the time the statue finished its work, the child could hear the faintest whispers and clearly see the dimmest outline from miles away. His mind was sharper than a knife, and his every breath filled his lungs with strength.

The statue maintained the child until the age of eight, after which he instinctively understood that if he wished to continue to survive, he must learn to hunt for his own.

That day, the child went for his first hunt and came back barely alive but with the carcass of a beast. He had his first taste of blood and learned the art of killing while the statue healed his injuries.

When he slept that night, the statue dissolved into nothing while the glow became blindingly bright. The boy writhed in his sleep while the entire being of a fused Elder God poured into his soul. The power of the Dark Elder God Kes filled his body with boundless, savage strength and his soul shard became charged with unfathomable potential. The power of the Light Elder God Sil granted him infinite vitality and endless wisdom and knowledge.

When Ecio fully learned to grasp all of his power, he would become the youngest, yet simultaneously, the strongest, Elder God in all of creation.

For now, though, he is simply an eight year old boy.

X X X X X

It’s been almost ten years since my first kill and the night Kes and Sil gave their power over to me.

I still don’t know why they did it, but I knew then that to waste their gifts would have been an insult to their memory.

I’ve trained every day since then, and the entirety of the chasm has been conquered by this point. I’ve gone on many Hunts and come back from the brink of death hundreds of times.

The depth of my soul tells me that I have not even begun to scratch the surface of the powers which I will one day possess.

Tomorrow I turn eighteen, and I will leave this chasm. I’ve reached the limit of what I can unlock of my soul here, and the Aria Academies are the next step. Although it will be impossible to fully hide my capabilities in such a public place, I am confident that they will never guess what I truly am, that I can more than handle anything they want to throw at me, and in the worst case, that I can survive anything short of erasing this universe.

I look up at the sharp rocks that make up the walls of the chasm I call home, and feel a true sense of belonging.

Tomorrow I leave for good.

X X X X X