Long before time began, there was no sky.
Then light was born from the breath of the void, and it spilled across the nothingness like fire on oil, and from that brilliance the stargods emerged with the power of creation. Sol Primus shaped the world with wind and flame and rain and stone, and from their shaping came the Draugurs, born of the skies and gifted with elemental might, and the Elves, children of the forests who heard the whisper of the roots, and at last the humans, fragile but smart.
The stargods gave sacred stones to their firstborns, air to Aurelis, water to Zephyris, fire to Pyrrhian, and the earth to the Elves, so that their creations would guard the world together. And for a while, the world spun in balance, cradled by stars.
However, the humans received nothing. Still, they lived peacefully, respecting the Draugurs, who in return shared their knowledge and helped guide them.
Harmony reigned in StoneHaven.
In those old days, the stars watched silently above. Among them, one daughter of the stargods turned her gaze downward, not to the stones or the empires, but to a single human young man. He was unremarkable by most eyes, but to her, he burned brighter than all constellations. She watched him with wonder, and to make him smile, she created a grove of enchanted trees where the faes would dance and play just for him. However, fate has its laws. The young man was to marry a girl from his village, and when the daughter of the stars saw this, jealousy bloomed inside her like poison. She descended to the world in mortal flesh. And when they met, the young man fell in love with her at once.
Their love was real, but it was secret.
It was never meant to be.
Meanwhile, the peace among the races frayed. Humans were growing restless and resentful of their helplessness. Some were forced into labor, pushed aside, left to starve. They began to remonstrate with the rule of the Draugurs until the words turned to violence. A Draugur fortuitously killed a woman, the young man's mother.
Grief turned to fury. The young man cried beneath the tree, but the faes could not soothe broken hearts. And the humans who were betrayed and bitter, warned the Draugur Leaders: "The fire you breathe to kill one of us... shall burn you, too."
From that day on, they vowed never to trust another race again, and the stargod's daughter watched the world spiral with a feeling of guilt. She saw her beloved stop visiting the grove, weary and hopeless. He questioned why humans were born without magic. Why were they lesser in the eyes of the gods? She had no answer. And then, she did the unthinkable.
After all, it was not a human choice to be born without magic. Humans were children of Sol Primus, too. They should have been gifted.
In secret, the stargod's daughter gifted a few wise humans, including the young man, through the power of Nexus Stone, a relic born from the fusion of all four elemental sources. With this gift came magic bound by sacred spells.
For the first time, humans could wield the elements. They healed their wounded. Shielded their homes. Rose above poverty. However, the Sol Primus were not that blind. The stargods saw what their almighty leader's daughter had done.
Outraged, the Astral Womb, realm of the stars boiled with objection. The daughter had broken divine law. To silence the outcry, the almighty stargod, her father forbade her from walking on Earth forever.
Most worst of all, he ordered a Draugur to descend and burn the human village that held the Nexus Stone and claim it. The flames consumed everything, including the young man's body.
The daughter of Stargod screamed in agony from above that only the stars could hear.
Once radiant, her light dimmed with so much grief. She watched the Earth where her beloved no longer lived, and in her pain, before the Sol Primus, she cursed all the Draugur who once basked in divine favor, declaring that their strength would become their ruin. Let the stars' pride devour them, and let every Draugur who dares to love, to rule, or to rise fall by the wrath of their blood. Then, with one final cry, she exploded across the Astral Womb, and all the stars went blind.
All the first elders of the stars had fallen silent. Since then, the ancient division happened when all Draugurs, Elves, and humans had agreed to strict boundaries neither would meddle in the affairs of the other.
After three thousand years, however, something was shown to the vision of a few.
The first prophecy.
The son from the union of rival clans would bring an end to fire in the skies, wind in the heavens, stone on the earth, and water in the seas.
All would not be remembered, including the great power of elemental stones. So, kings forbade marriage and alliance between their clans as they just wanted to avoid the fear which was not enough to stop fate when all the kings awoke from a nightmare of fire and falling stars. They saw their own death at the hands of a newborn, which drove them to forge a plan of blood. That plan was a merciful and inhuman act that was even implemented in the entire region.
No draugur son born that night would be allowed to live.
Everything was unexpected to all draugurs. As darkness fell, soldiers raided houses to houses with torches and blades. Draugurs breathed a fire from the sky to burn those who tried to escape. Even nobles' newborn sons were not saved from the massacre.
"No! Not my son!"
"By order of the kings."
"NOOOO!!"
Every door destroyed under the force of boots. Mothers wept as their cradles were emptied. Fathers were met the ground as they fought to protect their homes. Flames devoured rooftops along with the cries of newborns until they were silenced one by one as the blood sullied the surfaces of every village.
But in a secluded lake near the Ikar Forest, someone gave birth in secret.
The kings had ordered death but fate spared him. A son lived when none should have, and with him lived the doom of all kings. Doom of Draugur Kingdom.