At the beginning of all things, the Supreme God, omnipotent being and creator of all existence, shaped seven primordial beings to preserve the balance between all his creations.
They were called the Seven Archangels:
• The Archangel of the Divine Order.
• The Archangel of Light.
• The Archangel of Darkness.
• The Archangel of Truth.
• The Archangel of War.
• The Archangel of Punishment.
• The Archangel of Time.
Among them, Yshvar, Archangel of the Divine Order, was the wisest and most loved. Faithful to the Most High, he observed the universe with flawless attention.
But over the millennia, a new creation of the Supreme God caught his eye: man.
First fascinated, he gradually became disgusted by their hypocrisy, their violence, and their greed.
One day, he presented himself before the Supreme God and asked for their annihilation.
But the Most High refused.
Disappointed by this refusal, Yshvar fell.
He stole the Dasein Heart, one of the primordial stones, key to a forgotten world and sealed by God himself.
The other Archangels pursued him. Their hunt lasted for years, crossing galaxies and dimensions. Their fights shook the stars and broke entire worlds.
But during a confrontation, Yshvar merged with the Dasein Heart and was sucked into the forbidden world of the Dark Abysses.
The Archangels returned to the Supreme God, imploring him to open the doors of the Abyss to destroy him.
But God remained silent and simply ordered them to observe.
Centuries later, Yshvar opened the gates of the Abyss on Earth.
From these bowels sprouted the kings of the Abyss "the Twelve Apocalypses", accompanied by countless nightmarish creatures.
The world sank into great desolation.
The heavens bled, nations crumbled like withered leaves, the earth howled in agony, and the oceans spat out corpses.
For five long years, the earth's surface was devastated... and God remained silent.
But in the face of the desperate prayers of the Archangels and men, the Most High finally acted.
He chose five women to bear, within their very flesh, the future saviors of humanity.
Five children, bearers of divine marks, fragments of His power.
The Archangel of Light came down to announce the prophecy of the Five:
"Five children will be born to break this cycle of suffering. "
Ten years later, the promised children were born:
• Raiden, the child of the Light.
• Kaelis, the child of Darkness.
• Sylpha, the child of the Spirits.
• Garran, the child of the Force.
• Valen, the child of the Stars.
Raiden, Kaelis, Sylpha and Valen were raised by the Church, at the heart of the last human kingdom still standing: the Kingdom of Durkis.
As for Garran, he was born free into a nomadic martial tribe, forged by blood and trials.
The years passed, and their power became terrifying.
Garran was acclaimed by the warriors of his tribe, multiplying the exploits.
Raiden, Kaelis, Sylpha, and Valen each walked their own path, their powers growing with every passing day.
But the Church feared this power. It feared the influence of these divine children.
So she decided to break them, and transform them into docile tools.
The pillar of the group was Raiden.
All saw in him a brother of heart, a leader.
It is therefore him that the Church took as its target.
At the age of fifteen, he was forced into a union to give heirs. But Raiden refused.
So the Church threatened his companions to make him give in... and he gave in.
From this constraint was born a girl: Aryna.
Broken, Raiden turned away from the other heroes and became the docile weapon of the Church.
Kaelis, Sylpha and Valen tried to reason with him, but in vain.
Then, feeling betrayed, they left his way and took their own paths, thirsty for power.
The years still passed.
Raiden had a son, Kephran, from an arranged marriage.
As humanity regained hope thanks to the reconquests carried out by the four heroes, a nameless shadow swept away their dreams: an Apocalypse fell on them.
He devastated the entire kingdom alone, without the slightest resistance.
He beheaded every member of the royal family and the Church, displaying their heads in a show on the ramparts of the capital.
The heroes, away on a mission, rushed back to the capital to face the Apocalypse.
But the power gap was such that they were broken and humiliated in an instant.
While all hope seemed lost, the Apocalypse looked at them like insects... and left, sparing them.
After weeks of convalescence, the survivors, orphans of king and clergy, appointed Raiden as the new king.
Thus was born the future Great Empire of Ingrissia.
After his accession to the throne, Raiden asked his former companions for forgiveness, and renewed his ties with them. During the same period, he began to consider his daughter whom he had ignored until now, and took care of every member of his family that he had neglected until then.
Together with the other heroes, they rebuilt the capital little by little while ensuring the stability of the population.
Meanwhile, Valen went on an expedition, met Garran, the fifth child.
A titanic duel broke out in them, but the longer the fight lasted, the more familiar they felt with each other.
Valen having understood who he was, stopped the confrontation and explained everything to Garran. The latter was understanding, because he too felt a familiarity with Valen.
After that, Valen brought Garran and his tribe back to Ingrissia, and the five heroes were finally reunited.
Together they fought countless battles across the continent, and discovered at the same time new unknown lands.
They increased their power exponentially, thus preparing to face Yshvar, this fallen god among men, whose power surpassed that of the Apocalypses.
The years passed like a burning breath. Under the banner of the five heroes, humanity gradually took back the lands engulfed by darkness.
Raiden, Kaelis, Sylpha, Garran and Valen were torches of glory and power.
Their alliance pushed the monsters back into the mountains, seas and deserts.
Each battle won brought a breath of hope.
Each victory forged the legend of the five saviors.
The Ingrissia Empire, guided by Raiden's firm and luminous hand, covered almost the entire extent of the continent.
The peoples knolt down, the fallen cities were rebuilt, and the silver banner of the Empire of Ingrissia soon covered almost the entire continent.
But despite the land reconquered, the shadow of Yshvar still persisted.
The Thousand Wonders Forest was once a sacred place filled with magic and life. But since Yshvar made it her home, it has transformed into a perfect habitat for powerful monsters. A place where light never entered, and where rivers were tinged with blood. Even the once blue sky was tinged with an eternal purple.
It was therefore called the Black Forest, a cursed kingdom where neither wind nor light dared to penetrate.
The heroes knew that the world would never know peace as long as Yshvar lived.
So, the five heroes prepared for a final expedition. An army of one million men and women, knights, magicians and warriors from all the conquered lands, was gathered under the banner of the Empire.
Everyone knew that it would not be a simple battle... but the final battle, where humanity would play all its cards.
The day before departure, Raiden reunites Aryna and Kephran in the garden of their family home. They knelt down before him, listening to his latest instructions.
"Aryna and I will leave for the battle, and if we don't come back... I'm counting on you Kephran to live and continue to protect our people. You are my heirs... but above all my children. I hope your sister will survive, and that together you will carry our empire to new horizons. "
Aryna was resigned and Kephran clenched his fists. They swore together to honor his words.
After two long weeks of marching, the heroes and the huge army reached the gates of the Black Forest.
And at the dawn of the day following their arrivals, chaos broke out.
The Black Forest lit up with flames, screams and magic.
The ground trembled under a million steps.
The sky ignited under the cannons of Valen's flying ships.
The cry of the monsters covered the thunder of the swords.
The clashes lasted several days, gaining in intensity at each moment. The soldiers fell by the thousands, but the heroes, like living gods, continued to advance without retreating.
One of the Twelve Apocalypse, the "Look of the Void", appeared on the battlefield, massacring thousands of soldiers in the blink of an eye.
Valen then decided to stay back and stood up to face him alone, in a titanic duel that made heaven and earth tremble.
The other heroes went to the heart of the forest... where Yshvar was waiting for them.
When the heroes arrived at the heart of the forest, they fell head to head with a being they could not describe, but with his presence alone, they knew that it was going to be a confrontation where they had to give everything from the beginning to have a chance to survive.
That day, the fight that followed tore the world apart, a confrontation exceeding that of the legends themselves.
The earth, the sky, the seas were shaking.
The shock waves crossed the continents, and space itself cracked.
After several days of intense confrontation, a huge pillar of light visible in the four corners of the globe pierced the sky and climbed to the stars.
The portals connecting the earth to the Abyss closed, and the monsters retreated into the depths of the forest.
The capital immediately sent ten thousand men and its three remaining flying ships to rescue the survivors.
When the ships arrived, a scene of horror was offered to them. There were barely fifty thousand survivors out of the million who went to the front.
Kaelis, Sylpha, Garran and Valen were found in critical condition.
Raiden and Aryna were nowhere to be found.
No one knew what happened between Raiden and Yshvar...
Only the four surviving heroes carried the truth... a truth that could not be said.
When the rescue ships left the Black Forest with just over fifty thousand survivors of the million men sent, an immense mourning enveloped the continent.
The funeral bells rang for weeks, an unprecedented mourning to honor the souls who fell in the Black Forest. But more than the loss of a million lives, it was the disappearance of the hero king Raiden and his daughter Aryna that marked the minds.
The banner of the Empire of Ingrissia was soaked in tears and blood.
But, after Yshvar disappearance, the four remaining heroes disappeared in turn.
• Garran, nicknamed the martial god, was last seen in the direction of the icy lands to the North.
• Valen, nicknamed the magic god, was last seen in the west of the kingdom, but suddenly disappeared without a trace.
• Sylpha, nicknamed the queen of spirits, disappeared with Kaelis, nicknamed the reaper. They were last seen together at the gates of the capital before completely disappearing from the radar.
The world then entered a new era.
Remaining the only heir of Raiden, Kephran, son of the Light, took up arms.
At the head of the Empire, he led incessant campaigns, eradicating all the monsters that remained outside the Black Forest.
During his reign, the Empire of Ingrissia extended over the entire continent, unifying all the surviving peoples under a single banner.
Kephran generated heirs, built cities, erected statues in honor of the five great heroes...
Then, one day, he disappeared in turn, accompanied by his two most faithful soldiers. No one knew where he went... but his name became legendary.
~•~•~