A long time ago, when the different races were just beginning to grow and claim territories to establish their own homes, the world was a very different place from the one we know now.
Back then, life was much more peaceful.
Humans, elves, dwarves, beasts, and the other races coexisted in a world that still did not know the great wars that would later mark its history. The territories were small and the borders were still not completely established. The cities were just beginning to grow and the kingdoms were still in their early stages of development.
There was no constant fear of being invaded.
There were no armies marching from one kingdom to another.
There was no fear of waking up one morning and discovering that your home had been destroyed.
There were also no great slave markets or people forced to work until their bodies could no longer endure it.
Death was, of course, part of life.
But for most people, it was simply the natural end of a peaceful existence.
That peace, however, would not last forever.
While the different races continued developing, something began to grow in the shadows.
An evil that no one could see.
An evil that no one could stop.
In the depths of the wizards' kingdoms, some mages began to become obsessed with a single goal: obtaining a power that was far beyond the limits that any mortal could reach.
At first, their research seemed harmless.
They studied ancient texts.
They searched for forgotten knowledge.
They explored ruins.
They tried to understand the secrets of magic.
But as time passed, those desires stopped being simple research.
They became ambition.
And ambition eventually became madness.
The sorcerers came to a conclusion.
If mortals could not reach the power they desired by themselves, then they had to seek it from those who were above them.
The gods.
Thus the rituals began.
For years, the sorcerers gathered forbidden materials, sacrificed lives, and used knowledge that should never have been discovered.
Until they finally obtained what they were looking for.
They summoned the gods.
But they had made a mistake that no one could have foreseen.
Those beings were not benevolent gods.
They had not descended into the world to grant wishes.
They had not come to protect mortals.
They had come because they were bored.
And, to them, watching the suffering of inferior creatures was a form of entertainment.
The gods began to play with the world.
Some destroyed entire cities simply to observe how their inhabitants reacted.
Others pitted different races against each other.
Some granted small amounts of power to certain mortals and then forced them to fight among themselves.
And others simply destroyed everything they found in their path.
In a short time, the world fell into war.
But it was not a war between two kingdoms.
It was a war between all the races trying to survive and beings who could not even understand the meaning of the word mercy.
The forests were consumed by flames.
The cities were reduced to rubble.
The rivers were stained with blood.
The mountains were destroyed.
Millions of lives disappeared.
And while the world suffered, the gods watched.
They were entertained.
To them, that war was nothing more than a spectacle.
A little amusement that would someday end.
However, among all that desperation there was someone watching from a much farther place.
The Goddess of Beginning and End.
The one who had seen the world be born and who would someday witness its final moment.
The goddess watched the cruelty that was consuming the land.
She saw the innocent die.
She saw entire cities disappear.
She saw children lose their parents and entire families being separated by a war they had never asked for.
And she decided to intervene.
But she could not do it directly.
Her power was too great.
If she descended into the world and used all her strength, she could destroy the very thing she was trying to protect.
Therefore, she decided to create something different.
A weapon.
But it would not be an ordinary weapon.
The goddess created a weapon that could only be used by someone whose soul was truly pure.
A kind person.
A person capable of looking at their enemies without allowing themselves to be completely consumed by hatred.
Someone who could receive an enormous power without ending up corrupted by it.
Someone capable of resisting the temptations of the gods.
The first weapon was a sword.
A sword capable of piercing even the defenses of those beings.
But the goddess understood something.
A single hero would not be enough.
No matter how powerful they were, they could never fight all the gods at the same time.
So she created three more weapons.
A bow.
A spear.
And, finally, a mage.
The latter was not created to destroy.
Her purpose was different.
It was a power capable of healing the wounds of the other three heroes and, at the same time, keeping herself alive.
Thus the four heroes were born.
Four people chosen to change the fate of the world.
The Sword Hero.
The Bow Hero.
The Spear Hero.
And a mage whose power was impressive.
The four appeared when the world was on the brink of destruction.
At first, no one believed in them.
How could four people change the fate of a world that was being destroyed by gods?
But the heroes moved forward.
One battle after another.
One kingdom after another.
Every time they fell, they got back up.
Every time they lost something, they continued moving forward.
And finally, they reached the gods.
The battle that followed lasted several days.
Some say it was months.
Others claim that it lasted for years.
No one knows the truth.
The only thing that was recorded was the result.
The four heroes won.
But they could not destroy the gods.
Instead, they imprisoned them in a place far away from any civilization.
A place no creature could reach.
There, the gods were trapped.
And to keep them imprisoned, they used the sword.
The Sword Hero drove his weapon into the center of the seal.
The sword became the key.
As long as it remained there, the gods would not be able to escape.
The world finally knew peace once again.
The races began rebuilding their homes.
The forests began to grow again.
The cities were rebuilt.
Life slowly returned.
And then something strange happened.
The four heroes disappeared.
No one ever saw them again.
There were no graves.
There were no farewells.
They simply disappeared.
As the years passed, their names began to be forgotten.
Generations changed.
The kingdoms grew.
Wars returned.
The stories became legends.
And the legends eventually became simple tales.
Until finally, no one spoke of them again.
No one remembered where that place was.
No one mentioned the imprisoned gods again.
And no one remembered the four heroes who had saved the world.
Or, at least, that was what everyone believed.
--------------------
Kael continued moving through the cave.
The place remained dark and silent.
His footsteps echoed faintly against the stone walls as he walked alongside the others.
They had been walking for some time when, suddenly, a sound broke the silence.
A scream.
—AAAAAH!
Everyone stopped.
Kael raised his head.
—Did you hear that?
The others had also heard the sound.
There was no need to say anything else.
Everyone began running in the direction of the scream.
Their footsteps echoed through the interior of the cave as they moved faster and faster.
The sound had clearly been one of pain.
Someone was injured.
Or perhaps...
Kael accelerated even more.
They finally reached the place from which the scream had come.
But what they found was not what they expected.
There was a small group of adventurers.
They all seemed to be in good condition.
None of them appeared to be seriously injured.
However, around them was something that immediately caught Kael's attention.
Blood.
There was blood everywhere.
The ground was covered with goblin corpses.
Some had been pierced.
Others had been mutilated.
Bones could also be seen scattered across the ground.
Kael stood watching the scene.
—What the hell happened here?
No one answered.
The adventurers seemed just as confused as they were.
Everyone looked around, trying to discover where that scream had come from.
But there did not seem to be anyone else.
—Who screamed? —one of the adventurers asked.
Silence.
No one knew the answer.
Then...
BOOOOM!
A huge bolt of lightning struck the cave.
The roar was so loud that everyone had to cover their ears.
The energy struck the ceiling and caused enormous fragments of stone to break loose.
A huge gap appeared in the upper part of the cave.
Dust began falling over everyone.
Kael raised his gaze.
And then he became completely still.
The sky that had previously been clear was now completely dark.
The sun was no longer there.
Instead, two moons illuminated the night sky.
Two enormous moons.
Kael felt a shiver run down his back.
—What...?
He understood nothing.
He had entered the cave when it was still daytime.
How could it have become night so quickly?
But there was something even worse.
The two moons.
Kael had never seen two moons in the sky.
Never.
—This isn't normal...
His heart began to beat strongly.
Without thinking too much, he ran toward the exit of the cave.
He needed to check what was happening.
When he finally came out, he was left speechless.
The forest he had seen before had disappeared.
Or, at least, it was no longer the same.
The trees were still there, but they were dead.
Their branches were bare.
There were no leaves.
There were no flowers.
There were no animals.
He could not even hear the singing of the birds.
Everything was completely silent.
The wind passed through the dry branches, producing an unsettling sound.
Kael looked at the place in disbelief.
—What happened here...?
He took a step forward.
His gaze traveled across the forest.
Everything seemed dead.
As if life had been ripped from that land in a matter of seconds.
The dark sky.
The two moons.
The dead forest.
Something was happening.
Something Kael could not understand.
And then he saw it.
In front of him.
A few meters away.
There was a person.
They were completely still.
They did not seem affected by what was happening around them.
They simply remained there.
Waiting for him.
Kael felt his entire body tense.
That person slowly raised their head.
And then smiled.
It was not a kind smile.
It was a macabre smile.
A smile that sent a shiver through every inch of Kael's body.
The person finally spoke.
—It's time to repay the favor I owe you, Kael.
Kael did not answer.
He could not.
Those words were enough.
For some reason, something inside him immediately recognized the danger.
His body began to tremble.
An indescribable fear ran through his entire body.