Shilen's Captivity

Shilen, the child of Einhasad and Gran Kain, was seduced by her father, the god of chaos. Learning that her daughter was pregnant by her own father, the goddess of creation stripped her of all power and banished her in disgrace.

Hiding from the mother who had cursed her, Shilen, consumed by rage and despair, gave birth to evil spirits, the offspring of Gran Kain. Some time later she waged war on the gods who had banished her. Shilen suffered a crushing defeat. Having sent her own children into the last battle and lost them, she created her own world — a world of suffering and death — and since then all the dead have gone there.

The instincts awakened in Shilen by her union with Gran Kain pushed her toward destroying all that exists, and even defeat in the war and the death of her children could not stop her impulses. To prevent the destruction of the world, Einhasad placed seals on Shilen, contacting the angel Anakim through Emperor Shunaiman and gaining his support. These shackles came under the control of Shunaiman's blood, and the goddess of destruction was powerless to free herself.

After the emperor's death, people craving the power of the gods began breaking Shilen's seals, and she got a chance to leave her place of imprisonment.

Shilen's Return

Because of human greed, 4 of the 7 seals were broken, and Shilen, bound in darkness, opened her eyes again. She began looking for a way to break the remaining shackles holding back her power.

To remove the seals she needed to divert Einhasad's attention, and for that she needed Darkness, which restores strength.

And Shilen conceived the Great Sacrifice. First she ordered her servants to ritually kill the adepts of the necropolises and catacombs, then she created the Black Moon, which became her eyes in the darkness that followed.

Shilen began seeking new sacrifices in Elmoreden. The goddess's long-held breath burst into the world together with her blood as she chose her victims.

The dark elves were the first to sense Shilen's awakening: all the signs of her coming written in the Book of Revelations had come true. They began praying for the rebirth and coming of their patroness.

Meanwhile, Amadeo Cadmus, King of Aden, summoned eminent scholars and ordered them to learn everything about Shilen. The results of the research were very discouraging. Filled with fear, Amadeo turned to the prophet Einhovant. He told the king that in the war with the gods the giants had nearly won; this meant that whoever obtained the power of the giants could prevent the destruction of the world begun by the awakened goddess of death.

Einhovant

Having lived for several hundred years, Einhovant was a prophet the gods spoke to. He gave Amadeo advice that confused and bewildered the king.

Einhovant claimed that people who had the power of the gods would become the strongest beings once they obtained the power of the giants.

Giants

The race of giants appeared at the beginning of time. No one knows for certain where they came from, but some sources say they came at the same time as the gods.

Although their might wasn't of divine origin, it was very great. And when the giants challenged the higher beings, the advantage was on their side.

The gods, weakened by internal strife, were forced to retreat before attacks full of irresistible fury. Only when Shilen was sealed and all forces were turned against the giants did luck turn to the host led by Einhasad and Gran Kain. In the course of the struggle the shapes of continents changed, and new seas appeared, in whose depths the peaks of the highest mountains vanished. In the end the giants were defeated. The last of them, Hermuncus, stole part of Einhasad's power and hid it in a neighboring dimension. For this, the captive king of the giants was deprived of his arms and legs, and his spirit was sealed on the Heavenly Island.

The power of the great giant

The power of the giants was of a different nature from that of the gods. The spirit of the heroes of the giants' era, preserved in a scroll of the otherworld, could awaken this power in someone capable of using it.

Shilen found the spirit of Hermuncus on the Heavenly Island and awakened it. Her offers to bring him back to life found no response, as he decided to use the power contained in the scroll.

Solar Eclipse

Almost immediately after the sky turned blood-red, a solar eclipse began. The black moon completely covered the sun, and darkness reigned. It was Shilen, who had been biding her time, entering Elmoreden.

Even for a goddess it wasn't easy. Shilen's blood rained down on the lands of Elmoreden, contaminating rivers and lakes, destroying buildings and driving the monsters that tasted it into a frenzy. It also weakened the world's protective barrier and led to a mass appearance of creatures of darkness.

Tree of Life

The goddess's poisonous blood also affected the Tree of Life, which, cleansing the earth and water of the poison, began to die. To save it, the elf elder Asterios took up the study of the Giants' records of the creation of the world. During his research he discovered an ancient manuscript mentioning Magmeld.

In this dimension, sealed by a door with special incantations, the goddess of light Einhasad gathered the most beautiful things of Elmoreden. Among other things, she placed in Magmeld a heavenly ray capable of cleansing any darkness.

The Elven lord realized that this ray could prevent the death of the sacred Tree, but the manuscript said not a word about how to get to Magmeld. The answer came in a dream. Asterios saw a road leading to another dimension. Now all he had to do was find the mysterious door blocking the way. The chance was tiny, but the elf had no choice: if the Tree of Life died, all of Elmoreden would pass into oblivion.

The alliance of Aden and Southern Gracia

Of course, the elves weren't the only ones to notice the Blood Rain. Amadeo Cadmus, King of Aden, contacted Astain, ruler of Elmore, and Keucereus, ruler of southern Gracia. He proposed forming an alliance to stand together against the looming danger.

Astain was against bringing troops onto his land, and the treaty was not signed. Then Amadeo decided to act alone. He gathered secret combat groups and sent them to every country to find the Power the prophet Einhovant had spoken of. At that time the Lords of the Seeds of Gracia received Shilen's order to complete the Great Sacrifice and set to work. They began ritually killing every living thing inside and outside the seeds.

Keucereus, who had not been against a triple alliance and refused only because Astain did not support the idea, immediately sent a messenger to Aden. Amadeo gladly accepted the offer of the ruler of southern Gracia. The alliance was concluded.

The treaty was based on these points:

• to join forces to prevent the disasters caused by Shilen;
• to allow free movement across their territories to allied armies and individual groups;
• to assign troops to find the Secret Power.

Astain never joined the alliance.

Giants

The Blood Rain that fell on Elmoreden poisoned many creatures, and their deaths returned part of her power to Shilen, but that wasn't enough to break the seals binding the goddess of death. So she began looking for other ways to bring even more suffering and death into this world.

Shilen remembered the King of the Giants, who had dreamed of making his race equal to the gods and gave in to her persuasion to steal Einhasad's power. In the battle that broke out then, the giants were destroyed. The King of the Giants realized that Shilen had simply used him. And so, in the last moments of his life, he hid the power stolen from Einhasad somewhere in the depths of space. To find it, Shilen summons the spirit of the King of the Giants and makes him an offer: "Tell me where you hid Einhasad's power, and I will resurrect you." But, taught by bitter past experience, he understands that he cannot trust the treacherous goddess. Besides, what joy is there in helping the one because of whom your whole people vanished? No promises or assurances from Shilen could sway the King of the Giants' decision. His spirit tears through the net of spells and slips away from the goddess. He doesn't notice that one very, very simple spell marks his path, and a sly smile plays on Shilen's face.

The King of the Giants wants to find Einhasad's power himself. Then he won't need the help of the goddess of death to be resurrected. All Shilen has to do is follow the spirit and steal the power for her own release. Shilen made the right move after all.

The plague mist

A strange fog covered the whole continent. And after a while, a plague of unknown origin began to rage across the land. The disease spread very quickly, carrying away hundreds and thousands of lives. Whole villages and towns were laid waste.

Teams of scholars and mercenaries were sent from Aden and Elmore to investigate and eliminate the causes of the disease. All of them failed and, like many others, became victims of the epidemic.

The mist grew thicker and thicker, and the hypothesis that this was Shilen's doing gained more and more supporters.

At the same time, the elf elder Asterios, who had set off to find the dimensional door to Magmeld to save the Tree of Life, gets a hint from Nerupa* and heads to Angel Waterfall. There he finds a strange mist that looks very much like the one that brought the plague.

Asterios dispels this mist, and before him appears a dimensional rift leading to Magmeld.

• — Nerupa: one of the arachnids, the eldest of 3 children in the family. A valiant warrior who made a pact with the Tree of Life. In exchange for immortality he pledged to become the Tree's protector. He is responsible for the "Past" thread of Fate.

Magmeld

Magmeld is the dimension where Einhasad gathered the most beautiful things in the world.

On arriving there, Asterios meets the cat chief Slaki and learns that the Heavenly Ray guarding this place has been blocked by the risen black moon. The elven elder decides to wait for Einhasad's light to appear, since only it can save the Tree of Life. So as not to waste time, Asterios gathers the ancient manuscripts that mention the Ray and studies them.

From the manuscripts the elf elder learns of another seed of Shilen that fell into Magmeld many centuries ago. Called the Calamity, it could never sprout because of Einhasad's light. Asterios fears that because of the ode of the black moon something irreparable may happen. He rushes off to search for it.

But the time was lost, and the seed of Calamity had already sprouted in Magmeld; Agahel, the Lord of Calamity summoned by Shilen, broke free of the bonds of light that held him. He used a spatial rift and sent the torments of the depths of hell upon Elmoreden — a gloating plague. Under its weight the world slowly began to sink into the embrace of death.

Earth Wyrm Trasken

Shilen awakens the earth wyrm Trasken, who had been put to sleep by the dwarves. She intends to use him as a tunnel for sacrifices, connecting Elmoreden with the world of spirits.

After his long sleep Trasken is enraged, and when tens of thousands of creatures that have tasted Shilen's blood come to him, he sacrifices them all. The suffering and blood of the slain pass through the earth wyrm's body into the world of spirits.

The terrible sacrifice first became known thanks to the disappearance of the Kracis, dark elves who were banished for selling their souls for revenge.

Elder Sipiel noticed that the village founded by the Kracis had suddenly emptied. Fearing their revenge, he decided to find out where they had vanished. The search leads the dark elf elder to the Mithril Mines, where he witnesses the Kracis and other followers of Shilen being sacrificed by Trasken.

This sight shocks Sipiel, who, like all his kin, firmly believed in Shilen. Returning to the village, he immediately calls a council and tells it everything he saw in the Mithril Mines.

The dark elves learned of the goddess's betrayal, and they were overwhelmed with bitterness and grief. After long debates they decided to renounce her. And so Shilen lost her faithful followers.

The Watcher

Someone was watching everything from unreachable heights. To him Elmoreden was like a little ball dangling on a string.

But sometimes the mask of feigned indifference on his face gave way to a smile. Even if only for a moment, people brought him joy. People, his failed creation. These creatures, simply thrown onto the continent, had evolved and were now about to stand against Shilen together with Einhasad's other creations. Somewhere deep in his soul he even felt pride.

The prophet, who had long been beside him, asked: "Whose side will you be on?"

"My child's, of course," was the answer.

"Then why do you watch these creatures with such pleasure?" Einhovant didn't understand.

The Watcher burst out laughing, and when he had finished laughing, said softly: "They are my children too."

A New Beginning

Shilen's revival may be the end, but it may also be a beginning.

The prophet left the halls of the Watcher, whose intentions he could never fully understand, and set off for Aden.

Truly hard times are about to come, and Einhovant must warn the people of Elmoreden about it.

Shilen's Seals

Shilen's seals, created by Einhasad and charmed with the blood of Emperor Shunaiman, held her in darkness; however, there was a great prophecy that the captive goddess of destruction would one day return.

Embryo, who dreamed of Shilen's resurrection, studied the prophecy thoroughly and began acting to bring the moment of her release closer. He created a blood altar of staggering size, needed to gather enough energy for the goddess's reincarnation.

Priestess Mellis and the great sorceress Isadora

Etis van Etina, having appointed Embryo to arrange the blood altar, took it upon himself to break the seals one by one and, using the power within them, create apostles. He managed to incite four greedy warriors who craved divine power, and they broke four castles open, and Etis van Etina created four apostles. It isn't hard to guess what he did to those who, swayed by his promises, dared to break the seals.

The Apostles were incredibly devoted to their creator and, following his orders, mercilessly destroyed everyone who, out of ignorance or dreaming of gaining divine power, approached the broken locks.

Two of Etis's four creations were twin sisters whose abilities complemented each other. To Maliss, who received the power of the seal of greed, he gave the ability to sense life in those around her and regulate its currents, and to Isadora, who held the might of the seal of punishment, magical talents exceeding the combined energy of all the wizards of the Ivory Tower.

Fortuna

When the rebels led by Spasia marched on Magmeld, the gods, deceived by Octavius, blocked the campaign of the "traitors".

Most of the rebels died in that battle; Einhasad imprisoned their leader in the Sparkling Cage and doomed her to eternal torment, and those who survived and weren't captured returned to Fortuna.

But soon they too were wiped out by the servants of the Orbis Temple, whose steward was appointed Octavius. Fortuna was destroyed, but some buildings survived and, when Ron went into hiding after learning of the betrayal and tried to restore the rebels' good name and free Spezion, they became his refuge. Ron's few supporters awakened the spirits of this place to guard them.