Long ago, before humans came to be, Mother Earth created Her children — the Immortals.
These beings had the power to shape the elements and create life.
Despite their great power, they were granted free will.
Through their will, they developed new skills, harnessed new powers, and formed clans.
Despite their many differences, there was peace.
But as time passed, ambitions grew.
One Immortal, Azazel, became greedy and wished to rule all — even the Mother who had created him.
His voice was soft. His words, sweet.
He spoke of destiny, of order, of rising to claim what was rightfully theirs.
And many listened.
Yet many others opposed him, led by one called The Elder — the first of all Immortals.
In the end, a war of unimaginable scale was waged.
The skies burned. The ground split. Rivers were swallowed.
In the chaos, new life took shape.
Some were wild and directionless — beasts born of pure power.
These became the monsters: feral, instinctual, dangerous.
Others were formed with thought and will.
These were the creatures — beings who had reason and could speak.
As the war raged on, the world began to fall apart.
Even the creatures of the earth and the monsters of the deep were drawn into the storm.
The Immortals, once wise and wonderful, became violent, vengeful and sorrowful.
Seeing the ruin around him, the Elder resolved to end the war by facing Azazel alone in a final duel.
The battle was catastrophic — shaking the mountains, splitting the oceans, cracking the heavens.
After three days, the Elder triumphed, and Azazel fell.
But victory came at a terrible cost.
For the first time in all of creation, Immortals had died.
Their brilliant light faded, buried in the arms of their Mother.
Grief and fury filled Mother Earth.
She stripped all her children of their powers.
She took the twelve core aspects of their strength and sealed them into gemstones — sacred, radiant stones, each one holding the essence of a gift once freely given.
Without their power, the Immortals became humans — fragile and limited.
But the gems remained — scattered across the world, each hidden within a trial born of the power it contained.
These came to be known as Gem Dungeons.
And so the legend says:
If a person — a mere human — finds all twelve gems…
They will awaken as an Immortal once more.