Stunted, Gracia asked,
"Where's this question coming from?"
Sylas swung back to hide his face, almost as if he were embarrassed. He wanted to change the topic badly, but he wasn't meant to leak this out. It sort of came out on its own.
"I've had a faint interest in them since way back in the Academy. But I never bothered doing too much research since I've been busy. You legacies should know about them though, right?"
Epsilon did know a tiny bit about them himself from the books written by Julius. However, he quickly skimmed the pages about them, since he was more concerned about finding where his Nightmare took place. His knowledge on the gods was only surface level.
But the legacies before him, they've been raised around the dream realm as the centre of their life. Studying the place and learning its history through nightmares was second nature to them. If there was anyone around that would know well about the Gods, it were the legacies.
'Would Bob know about them since he was an ancient human too?'
Maybe. But it was likely those memories were lost to him too.
"I wasn't really raised like a traditional legacy, so I only know that there were 6 gods, and that they're all dead. They waged a war, not against corruption, but against a group comparable to themselves. At the end of it, they all died, and the Nightmare Spell rose from their remains. After an unknown amount of time, it came to the waking world and started dragging humans into the dream realm when they slept."
Sylas looked at her a little stumped.
"That's surprisingly alot... yet somehow so little... are you sure you're really a legacy?"
"I said I wasn't raised like everyone else! Leave me alone!"
Sighing in disappointment, he looked towards Ki Song who just shook her head dejectedly. Then looking at Galahad, he could see that he wasn't even paying attention.
If anything, he probably didn't even know himself.
Finally, he looked at anvil who was at an awkward distance away.
"Hey Vale.. if you mind?"
Surely he would know since he was practically the shinning example of a legacy. Strong, intelligent, dependable, and the heir of a founding legacy clan. He defined everything that a legacy was supposed to be.
"I asked you to stop calling me that."
"Pretty please?"
He wanted to say no, but after living with him ever since coming to the dream realm, he came to learn that Sylas was incredibly persistent and tenacious. If he said no now, he'd just keep asking again and again while bothering him when it mattered.
Sighing, Anvil gave in.
"I suppose I should start with the creation myth?"
**
"In the beginning, there was a star, and from that star, six gods were born. Growing bored of that empty world, the gods went on to create everything that we know of today."
"One created day, another, made night. One created struggle, and another, peace. One made life, and so one created death."
"Everything they made, was complimented by another, and so in those intricacies of connections, the world eventually came to be."
"Sun, Shadow, War, Beast, Storm, and Heart. It was these six gods that created the world and the concepts that fills it. But one day, at some point, something that they rejected came to be, and infiltrated this world."
Sylas perked up and asked,
"Corruption?"
Anvil nodded.
"Yes. There were three things that the gods did not create, that came to live in the world they made. Us Humans, the corruption that came from the unknown, and finally, the Daemons. Despite corruption existing back then, it wasn't as prevalent as it is today. As far as we know, awakened back then were common in the dream realm, and they along with the gods were able to push it back before it got out of hand."
Epsilon became alert.
"The Daemons were a unique group. They just appeared one day and asserted themselves amongst the humans, but in the end, they mostly kept to themselves. Despite being comparable to the Gods, they did not show any hostility towards them, and in the end, a strange sense of peace was created. However, they still kept their own secrets, and due to their solitary way of living, we've only managed to discover the names of two of them, out of the seven in total."
"They were Mirage the Demon Of Imagination, and Nether, the Demon Of Destiny."
Gracia asked,
"Was it them that went against the gods?"
"Most likely. There was evidence to suggest it, but never any direct proof. All we know is that the biggest contenders in the war were between those two. Why it started? We don't know, but Humans, the creatures they created, and even creatures of corruption were involved too. Everyone took part, and at the end of it, nothing was left. Civilizations died, the gods died, the daemons died, and so the dream realm became empty. The only thing that survived was the corruption, resulting in the infested realm of today."
**
Once Anvil finished telling his story, a rush of thoughts began to fill Epsilons head. Amongst everything he said, one thing stuck out to him.
'Daemons. Could it be, that the King Of the Dark was one of them too?'
Or rather, the demons. Beings that had existed alongside humans, yet being of unknown origin. Was it one of these demons that experimented with the darkness beneath the hollow mountains? The nightmare spell referred to The King Of The Dark as a demon too.
'Well, Demon could be a singular word for an evil person. Or just someone so heinous that they were like a demon.'
But still it would make sense if they were a Daemon, since they were said to have powers comparable to gods. If Seras really was a Divine, The King Of The Dark should've possessed comparable or higher power as he was able to restrain and then kill her when the time came.
'Well he forced me to do it for him.'
Any who, the ancient civilizations of the past had also piqued his interest. Whatever kingdom Seras belonged to, it was most certainly one of them, and surely it was in ruins. If he wanted to get to the bottom of the origin of his lineage, he needed to find it.
Sylas then asked with sparkles of fascination in his eyes,
"You say that humans weren't created by gods, yet you also say that the gods created life? What is this life that you're talking about?"
"That would be the Noble Creatures. They are not human, and so they lack Aspects, but in exchange they can also ascend towards divinity, as well as possess more Soul cores than a human too. "
Sylas face seemed to darken, as he muttered under his breathe.
"Or maybe it's that they are able to gain more Soul cores, because they have no humanity in the first place."
No one heard him, but he caught sight of Gracia staring at him oddly. He dissmised it.
"Is there more to this story? I feel like you skipped over some parts."
Anvil nodded.
"The one my father found was incomplete and broken. There are pieces of the story missing, but he doesn't know where they are. The only place we can learn them is in the nightmares that take place in the dream realms past."
"Ah, well that sucks. I'll have to wait till its time to challenge one I guess. Silon, Song, do you guys have any interest in challenging future nightmares?"
Before Epsilon could give his own answer though, Ki Song ruthlessly spoke ahead of him,
"Song?? Are you kidding?? Call me by my actual name! What even are these ridiculous nicknames anyway??"
He looked at her with surprise, before pointing at everyone and calling out each of their nicknames.
"You're Song, he's Silon, he's Vale, and he's Xing!"
"And you're calling us these.. why?"
"Because you guys are my friends? Isn't that what friends do, or am I missing something?"
That answer was, strangely out of character for him. Epsilon noticed that he never really considered anyone apart from Gracia as his friend, as even back in the academy he'd mostly keep to himself when she wasn't around. The two never talked outside the few sparring and mentoring sessions they had, and unless it was about fighting or going to the dream, the two talked about nothing else.
Thinking about it now, he knew practically nothing about where he came from or how he's lived. For the others, it was more or less obvious since they were all legacies, but Sylas alone was a complete mystery.
'I guess I'm the same too.'
He noticed that he left Gracia out of the nickname assignment. Before they could continue on though, Anvil suddenly stood up and clapped his hands loudly. Despite how calm he looked, he was trying to best to hide his irritation.
"We can discuss something else later. Right now, It's about time we talk about what we should do going forwards."