Riku stood in the quiet, empty field of his own private world. The three small mounds of earth before him were a stark, painful reminder of his failure. His final, furious question hung in the still air, a demand aimed at the silent, omniscient entity that governed his life.
"Tell me everything."
The blue panel before him shimmered. The text that appeared was not a simple answer. It was the beginning of a story.
[This world, Host, is not as young as you believe. Before the empires of Light and Dark, before the kingdoms of men, there were the Old Gods. They were not gods of concepts like justice or chaos. They were gods of fundamental principles.]
Riku read the words, his anger momentarily forgotten, replaced by a cold, focused curiosity.
