"In the heavens, where God and his angels abide, there exists the records of life and death..."
According to the book, the world had once been a place filled with light and darkness alike.
Back then, humans had existed all over the world alongside everything else god had created.
However, an incident occurred that changed everything.
A group of powerful angels descended onto the earth and began procreating with humans to birth powerful, twisted beings called the Nephilim.
They also created twisted, profane life forms, defiling the earth and going against the Divine will.
They taught men how to create fire. They taught them the secrets of alchemy and metalwork, as well as the art of divination with the stars.
Most importantly, they had taught them sorcery.
In their ignorance, the angels had incurred the wrath of god. The Divine Will ultimately decided to punish the earth and mankind with a great disaster before turning its eyes away from it.
Till today, nobody knew what the disaster was.
The angels themselves were cursed to be forever bound to the earth alongside their children and the abominations they had created.
Since the names of these beings were not recorded in the records of life and death, even their souls could not escape the earth even after they died.
The earth had become their eternal prison.
Over a period of eons, these souls became corrupted with the madness of Eternity.
Unable to die, their only other choice, was to become horror and madness personified. Of course, some of the angels and Nephilim wisely chose to seal themselves away. However, the book didn't mention much about that.
Thanks to this, however, the humans had suffered greatly and were almost wiped out at a certain point in time. Luckily for them, a small portion of grace remained and they had continued to survive with the help of the crafts taught to them by the angels who were later called the Gryghori, albeit just barely.
Nero sighed and closed the book.
It was supposedly a portion of Divine scripture translated, that explained the history of the affliction that plagued their world.
The Abominations that roamed the land were creatures born of twisted angelic hands. With souls that could not die, they lived forever, taking on all manners of unholy, twisted forms.
They were not creatures created by god.
"It is strange." Nero muttered to himself.
Despite his lack of knowledge, he could clearly see the holes in the story, one of them being, that an all-seeing 'god' surely would have seen it coming.
But forgetting those details, the church painted out this 'god' to be some benevolent entity. Nero didn't believe that was the case.
After all...
'What sort of benevolent god turns its back on everything it created just like that?'
Not like he would ever get an answer...
He was broken away from his train of thought by the sound of a loud bell breaking through the silence.
The sound spread throughout the entire town, signifying the start of a new day.
It also signifies the twenty minute time limit Nero had to reach the doors of the church. If he failed to do that, the consequences were not one he would like to bear.
He let out a tired sigh and quickly stood up.
Strapping the holstered sword to his waist, he pushed open his door and began heading in the direction of the clanging bell through the early morning fog.
The town of Gor was a small settlement located close to the easternmost edge of the Torme Empire. Compared to other towns in the empire, it was one of the lucky ones as not only did it have a church, it also had a few sorcerous enchantments that kept the Abominations of the world away.
Thanks to this, the men and women didn't have to spend most of their days living in fear of an eminent attack.
It was a mostly unimportant town, but the existence of a nearby blacksteel mine meant the empire still had some use for it.
The presence of the mine meant most of the town's inhabitants found their daily bread from mining the unimpressive blacksteel. The entire town's economy and future ran on it.
However, in recent years, less and less ore veins were found within the mines. It was becoming clear that very soon, the town would stop receiving the backing of the empire and would slowly become just like all the others.
When he thought about that, Nero couldn't help but shiver.
He was not ashamed to admit that the thought of encountering the Abominations frightened him to no end.
He had once seen their terror and even now, their twisted visages plagued his nightmares. Even worse, he had come to learn that the ones that had attacked that unfortunate night, nine years ago belonged to the least abominable class of them.
According to the rumors, that same night, an ancient Abomination the likes of which had never been seen had tried to attack the capital. Luckily, it was driven away by the combined might of the Templars.
However, it had cost the church and the Empire dearly. Even after so long, they were still recuperating their losses.
"That doesn't mean they get to work everyone to death." He muttered.
"Talking to yourself again so early in the morning, Nero? You really might be going mad."
Nero tilted his head slightly.
At some point, someone had joined him on his quiet morning walk.
Although the fog was still heavy, he could recognize that voice anywhere. It was one he had heard everyday for the past two years since he had joined the town's guard.
Nero sighed,
"You being up early is rather unusual, Declan."
A head full of wild brown hair entered Nero's vision as a hearty laugh split through the gloomy atmosphere,
"Eh? What do you mean by that?"
Nero remained silent.
Declan sighed, "You are as cold as ever, Nero."
Nero frowned, "I don't think I am cold."
Declan chuckled,
"Of course you are. Those dark eyes of yours. Although you might be handsome, you are clearly scaring all the ladies away. That is more than enough proof—"
Nero sped up, trying to get away from him as soon as possible.
In his mind, he let out a sigh.
A new day had truly begun...