Prologue
The End of the Age of Gods
With a tear in his eye, King watched the world burn from his throne of stars. Without turning, he asked his fellows, “How many are left?” Life answered in a grim tone, “Barely a few million sapients, and they'll all be dead from exposure to the new climate within weeks at best. The tougher animals and monsters might fare a little better if they mutate fast enough, but most will also die.” They sat for a while, looking down together, but there was no silence. Apocalypse was still laughing uproariously. “I told you!” she finally crowed. “I said I'd get you back, but noooooo, you didn't think I could do it. Well how do you like that! After all these years, how does it feel to be on the losing side for once? To watch your precious people get what they deserve? Sure, you've had the run of the place for all this time, but now? Ha! SO worth it!” She went back to her mad cackling, while the others silently wept at the loss of the world. Apocalypse didn't see the slow nod that passed between Time and Karma. After a few moments, the gods realized that the laughing had stopped. They all turned to see Apocalypse frozen like a statue, Time's hand on her shoulder. Karma, unsurprisingly, spoke to them all. “It is true. As is your nature, you had no power until now, at the end. And now you have your moment of glory. For what it's worth, as your brother, I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. But now your time, also, is over.” “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! LET ME FREE!” Apocalypse couldn't move her mouth, but she didn't need to, as a god. “No. I don't think we will.” “What is this, Karma? Time? I understand your anger, but this is our role as gods. She did what she was meant to do.” All silently agreed with Life's statement, but to the surprise of all the gods, Time was the one who spoke. Time never spoke. Everyone listened. “Apocalypse has acted; the battle has finished. The primary world enters its final hours, and the Age of Gods is at its end.”
King, sitting upon his throne, called for his court to begin for the second time that day. All the gods stood in a circle, metaphorically speaking, except for Apocalypse, who was still suspended by Time. Time, for his part, stood in the center and addressed the crowd of gods. “Many millennia have passed, under our rule. Sudden as it may be to some of you, today is the end. Our purpose from the beginning was not to rule for eternity, but only for this one cycle of many. As the keeper of Time, I have had no role to play until today, much like our destructive sister. Now, I will tell you of what came before, and what comes after. Before we began, there was another cycle. Other rulers, other subjects. Not gods, but something else. After today, there will be others. Each cycle has its stewards, some cooperating, others warring, some similar to us, others as different as can be. But all come to an end. Today, I give you all a choice. If you choose, or if you do not choose, you will leave this realm for eternity. I cannot say where we shall go. Perhaps Death knows, but he is not permitted to tell us. Or, if you prefer, you may cease to be. In doing so you may leave behind a fragment of yourself here, for the next cycle, but you will no longer be a god. You may be a part of the environment. A person, perhaps, or a spirit roaming the earth. You may simply expend your energy on one last, great miracle. It depends upon your nature, as well as the whim of the next rulers. You have some time to decide, and you will feel it when the end draws close. That is all I have to say.”
The gods mingled and discussed. Some trying to convince others to come with then to the next life, while others discussed the merits of becoming a “fragment.” Time, for his part, refused to speak of what would happen exactly if they chose to stay, but he sought out Life for a conversation. Life was almost shocked out of his melancholy by the sudden change in demeanor of Time. “I'm so ready for this to be over. Nice to talk to you all, by the way. Feels like we never really met before this.” Time slouched over a balcony, staring at the earth with Life as he continued. “I know what you're going to ask, and no, I won't tell you what you're going to choose or how it will go. I will tell you the decision is about to become easier, so don't worry about it. There's plenty of future to worry about already.” Life, confused, opened their mouth to speak, but was cut off again. “I can see the past perfectly; every little detail in every little place. The present, I can effect same as any of you. But the future, while I can see it, is an infinite, twisting pile of messy noodles. No, it's not a nice neat tree. If it was I might actually be able to control the entire future, and even for a god that's a bit much. But I do have some influence. So let me say this: I've invited a guest to the court today. I won't be able to make my own decision, so please make sure my guest can make it for me. If things play out well, there is much potential for flourishing life in the next cycle, but it'll need help. Oh, and don't let Prankster... frick, I'm out of tim...” With a sound like shearing metal and nails on a chalkboard, Time crumpled to the ground, flickering like a glitch in the matrix. Everyone turned to Apocalypse as she tore free from her temporal bindings. “Another cycle? After the apocalypse? What a load of crap! There is nothing after the apocalypse! I am the end of EVERYTHING!”
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Besides the gods, there were few who could enter their court. Most had died merely hours ago. The last, the most powerful mortal in the world, was a great crystalline dragon, and the best mana manipulator that had ever been seen. Besides the god Magic herself, of course. After receiving an invitation to the court of the gods from Time himself, the dragon was soaring through metaphorical space to join them. When it arrived, however, it had not been expecting the battlefield it saw before it. High in the sky, Apocalypse and King exchanged blows, raining fire upon the others fighting below. War and Destruction battled Life and Warrior, Adventure and Karma were holding back Death. A few of the gods were missing entirely. Others lay still on the ground. The dragon was not kin of the gods, but it was their equal in raw strength, and surpassed some in wisdom. Seeing quickly what was happening, it flew up to join the battle of the gods.
One hour later, few remained. The small group of less than a dozen gods stood around the broken forms of Apocalypse and Time, deciding what to do. Death had surrendered, and agreed to carry the other broken gods with him to the next life. Those who remained would become part of the next cycle. But what of Apocalypse? There was enough of her spirit left that she could be felt refusing to move on. She wanted to remain behind, and contribute to the early annihilation of the next cycle. But could they let her? She was obviously very powerful, but Time was not able to tell them what her fragment would be, not in his current state. Life spoke to the crystal dragon, and after his short explanation of events, it replied. “Hmm... I can see why time asked me to come today. There is something I can do. All of you must move on or be fragmented. Technically, I am a mortal, but unless killed I am unlikely to ever die. Thus I am in a unique position to remain behind between cycles, and I have the skill in magic to influence even you, though my power is perhaps slightly lacking for what must be done. I fear I must ask a great sacrifice from you all.” The others nodded. They had all decided to be fragmented: their attachment to the world was too great to leave it behind, even if they must become less in order to remain. And so the dragon worked its magic. First, great waves of mana were felt washing over the mangled bodies of Time and Apocalypse. They slowly faded, and the green and red of their eyes began to shine from the crystalline scales of the dragon. Next, the other gods felt the mana pulling on their own minds, and they let it drag them into the spell. Life felt the power leaving him and looked around at the other gods. Restraint was clearly uncomfortable, but his powers were probably important to holding back Apocalypse and so he had decided to stay, whatever may come. Bounty was full of energy, and seemed to drain excessively fast to compensate. Architect and Adventure were taking things well, at least. When the dragon began to work with Stone, however, things went horribly wrong. “LOL sucks to be you!” Prankster cried as he grabbed the injured Stone and threw her as hard as he could. The dragon roared as Stone sailed down towards the earth, but the other gods were all sapped of power and could do nothing. “Thought I was on your side? HA! The great Prankster is on his own side! Both sides, actually! Without me and ol' rocky, I bet you haven't got enough power now, huh? I got you, yes I got...” the grinning Prankster thought he had been taunting from just out of reach but was proven wrong as the great crystal dragon's tail whipped around his neck, cutting off his celebratory dance. A low growling voice was the last thing Prankster heard before the Age of Gods was over. “On the contrary, I've got you.” Using the last of it's own strength to draw in Prankster and finish the spell, the dragon shattered, pieces of itself spreading out and falling across the world like large glowing gemstones, falling from the sky. As the fires raged across the earth...
The Age of Dungeons had begun.