The clash of blades rang across the frozen expanses of the 'Eternal,' a world born from the hand of the elder god, 'D'Ettore,' and left in the care of his two daughters. One held dominion as Nexus Prime, the Blessed, the other as Nova Prime, the Righteous.
But harmony had shattered. Sister now rose against sister, their conflict shaking creation itself, each strike of steel rewriting the fabric of existence.
"Sister! Can you not see the number of lives lost to your reckless folly?" Nova cried, her voice cutting through the growing storm, desperate to reach the heart of her kin.
Nexus Prime glared back, crimson fire blazing in her eyes. Once she was the Blessed, now her fury had stained her name. "I am aware of what transpires before us!" she roared. "I fight to purge evil from reality itself—but you deny me! Tell me, how many must fall before you finally see the truth from my eyes?!"
Nova stood her ground, wings unfurled in radiant defiance. "Look at the difference between us! The path you walk is not the path of truth!" she declared.
Nexus tightened her grip on her blade, her pupils flickering from their once-blessed emerald to a burning crimson. Her own wings spread wide, answering her sister's challenge, yet bearing a darker mark.
Where Nova's wings shone pure as snow and her gaze carried warmth, Nexus radiated only venom. Once driven by noble intent, her soul had blackened, twisting her light into blackness. The corruption had not only stained her wings but reshaped her very beauty, turning what was once divine into something dreadful.
''I can see the difference clearly, sister, but looks do not matter in this sense. The path I choose is just, and you know it!" said Nexus Prime, as she began to rise from the ground, her blackened wings enabling her to do so.
''Is this how you want things to go?'' Nova Prime asked.
Nexus was quiet, then she turned her attention back to her sister, pointing her blade at her, ''You forced my hand,'' she said with a soft but vicious tone.
''A fight to the death it is,'' said Nova as she rose from the ground, dashing towards her new enemy.
So, the real fight between the righteous and the tainted had begun, their clash shattering the very balance that they sought to create. Just like a mirror, the universe was fragile, the threads holding it together breaking like a hot blade had broken it.
Nova is overwhelmed by the sheer hatred of her sister, but her purity overpowers her. Nexus grunts, her darkened blade being no match for a blade that dwelled in light.
As both sisters fight, the righteous Nova tries to converse, her love for her sister still lingering, ''Our father gave us a chance to do good, not to allow ourselves to be tainted. He gave us a chance to learn the balance of good and evil, to harness it, now you choose to break it?'' she said, her eyes filled with worry and rage, her precision unmatched but foreseen.
''I am trying to keep that balance, but you choose to defy me. I do not allow evil to thrive, which is why I choose this path!" said Nexus. She intends to kill, not to talk.
With a battle that stretched on for eternity, both sisters were exhausted, panting heavily as sweat trickled from their bodies. No battle had caused them fatigue, but this one was different.
"I don't want to kill you, sister, please, you can change, don't do this!" Nova beckoned, her eyes tearing up.
"You do not wish to kill me, but I do. If you cannot allow the inevitable to happen, death is your only wish," Nexus muttered, the grip on her blade tightened as she stood firm once again, "And for you, my sister, I will fulfil that wish"
"Try," said Nova.
Nexus grinned, the crimson gleam in her eyes burning fiercer, her hatred swelling as she surged forward. Her blade pulsed with rage, drinking in every shadow, every negative force across the universe, until half of its balance bent to her will.
Nova exhaled deeply, sorrow in her gaze. Her sister's speed was great, but her movements could be read, her fury predictable. In that moment, Nova understood how this battle would end. She drew in the remaining half of the universe's balance, her body radiant, positive energy blooming around her like a living star.
Their weapons met in one final clash. The collision birthed an incomprehensible force, a pillar of violet fire spearing into the heavens. The shockwave shattered the very fabric of creation, tearing apart the order of space and time, leaving only a fractured realm where the sisters alone could tread.
And as the energies waned, the outcome was clear—Nova's light, her force of creation, outshone the darkness Nexus had bound to her blade.
In the time of their youth, the positive energy that was assigned to Nova always prevailed, but in this battle, her power wasn't enough.
Nova was successful in grazing Nexus on the cheek, but not in avoiding her blade as it impaled her, going through her heart.
"I'm sorry things had to be this way," said Nexus, trying to justify her actions with words.
Nova smiled, "I figured," she said, coughing out blood, a blue liquid that ran through her pure veins, "I knew how this battle was going to turn out, but I just didn't want to kill the only family I cared about"
Nexus, hearing this, felt a wave of guilt. She wanted to cry, but her burning rage evaporated her tears, "Why? Why did you make me do this?!" she shouted, "All you had to do was allow me to set everything right. This world is tainted as you know it, irrelevant species thrive, the weak suffer, and we just sit and do nothing!"
"I know," Nova muttered.
"If you do, then why allow it?!" Nexus inquired, her anger building up.
As the question hung in the air, Nova's lips parted as she gave her answer. Nexus couldn't believe what she had heard; her eyes widened, but it was already too late to change what she had done.
Nova had already fallen, her breath stripped away by the only person she ever considered as her true family, their mother was unknown, their father 'D'Ettore', a god who created and watched over the fall of his daughters.
The words that Nova had told Nexus were unheard by the rest of the universe, only by them.
Nexus watched as her sister faded, the fight won but the battle lost, and she was the one to witness this loss. Gazing into the blank remnants of the universe, a web of constellations lost into the abyss, she hadn't noticed the elders watching over her—a pair of deadly eyes in numbers of six.
As the realisation dawned on her, forcing her to turn, the elders attacked, using the light forged by billions of dying stars. The elders had ways of punishing a celestial prime, and that was stripping them of their powers. But this also meant death was inevitable.
Nexus fought with all she had, her blade straining against the radiance of the elders. But the light was relentless, tearing through the arm that once shielded planets and struck down cosmic foes and severing a wing that had once soared across the heavens, a beacon of hope that miracles could be real.
Black blood poured from her wounds, burning as it spilt into the void. There was no time for cries of pain—the light pressed on, devouring the last remnants of the universe and casting her into the abyss that now seemed her grave. Yet Nexus was not one to yield.
With her final breath, her voice rang out. "This is not the end! I will return—and I will fulfil what I was created for!"
Summoning the scraps of power left within her and calling upon the celestial armour that had long protected her against the terrors of the stars, Nexus encased herself in a seal. There she waited, dormant in the silence of nothingness, biding her time until the birth of another universe.
After every thousand years, when a celestial passes unto a new world or dies by the hands of their enemies, a new world is created. The beings that reside in it are gifted with limited knowledge of celestials, giving them hope that gods existed.
Tombs, temples and shrines were built around the world with guardians, priests and priestesses to watch over and care for.
But with the falling out of two celestials, the world was plunged into misery, now blessed with dangerous knowledge that they wished never existed. Men were cruel, and kingdoms were built by wicked kings.
Life was hard on the victims—the women who were raped and the children who were captured.
The pirates of the Cahan Sea did not waste thought on mercy. Their minds were tainted, set only on treasure to plunder and the countless souls they could enslave—men scorched under the cruel sun, women reduced to objects of lust.
It was easy to escape, but the Cahan Pirates resided on islands and those who attempted to run planned their deaths. In their corrupted minds, who would want to escape such a wonderful place?
The work conditions of the slaves were bad, but the view was amazing. From the fresh air that blew, seagulls screeched in the distance, green pastures covered most of the earth, and not to mention, the silent waves of the sea.
These delusional thoughts were the only thing keeping the slaves. Though each slave knew the Cahan Pirates as not delusional people, just heartless men who were aware of what they did.
During the Cahan Harvest, while rice fields bent under toil, the pirates set sail for hidden riches. On one such journey, a slave would slip into one of the barrels of heavy wine, hoping fate would hide her.
She was Damaris Makro, the only child and daughter of the High Priest 'Chatzis Makro.' Sold from hand to hand, she was no prize of beauty but of stubborn will. One master who sought to force himself upon her left instead with half an ear.
But her reason for sneaking into the barrel wasn't that fact. She could deal with hardships; all she wanted to do was escape and find an army that would save the slaves.
Delusional or hopeful? She wasn't clear about what she was.
Many wondered what curse had dragged her into slavery. The truth was both cruel and bitterly absurd—her own father was the one to sell her. Hundreds of traders spurned her defiance until the Cahan pirates, famed for their ruthlessness, accepted her as their "last hope."
She spoke little, never complaining about the work conditions despite being forced to drag machinery through the sucking mud as the only woman among the male slaves. Each falter drew the hand of her overseer, Darragh Griffin, whose authority pressed down on her like the heavy waves of the Cahan Sea.