Time revealed that the Age of War spoken of by the child Vaan would come upon all, no matter how powerful.
THE PASSION OF DEANSHE
Deanshe rode to meet the forces of Baron Svu’d and quickly found himself quite outmatched. Legions of demons were present to meet his advances, and the Eastern forces had been foretold of his coming in the night. With the Shogun’s army split evenly, Deanshe’s enemy was now more than insurmountable. Understanding that defeat was certain, Deanshe encouraged his men and spake unto them:
“Do not fear the future, for we go willingly. Do not fear the enemy, for we meet them without remorse. Do not look back, for the past has no hold on the Way. The Way prevails, and the Way sustains. Those of the Sidogush will fight on forever in the memories of all who meet us on the field of battle, and we shalt persist relentlessly in heaven as we did on earth. Allow this to be your final stand against demons seeking to tear away what grounds thee, and we shall become as brothers and sisters on this day. TAKE THEM!”
Deanshe fought forward of his men for a hundred days and a hundred nights. On the battlefield, he met with the great demon, Duven’Kalaru, a beast with twenty faces and standing several feet above the warrior himself. Deanshe slew Duven’Kalaru.
He met with the great demon, Ni’Shekon, who rode on the back of a great Falu avian, and he slew Ni’Shekon.
Deanshe met with the great demon, Pilemon, who was said to have lived long enough to have slain thousands with his trident, and Deanshe slew Pilemon.
Deanshe’s men were defeated, but his heart and lust for the Way carried him for many days in his fight to find Elia’ah.
It is written now in the Tome of Sidogush that the Eastern Demons feared his arrival, and Baron Svu’d concocted a plan to deal with the threat of his existence. In that field of battle, as Deanshe continued to progress forward and never swayed against the enemy, Elia’ah was sent out to meet him.
When Deanshe laid his eyes upon her, verily, his anger was quelled. He embraced Elia’ah, and they held each other as Svu’d approached with a contingent of demons bred in the instruction of the Kemurai. Those of the Kemurai were assassins bred specifically to separate and slay those who proved far too troublesome for conventional forces.
As Deanshe heart was weakened in his love for Elia’ah, he was struck down by the Kemurai of the Eastern Demons and let loose a howl with enough power to burst the eardrums of Svu’d and render him insane. After he’d lost his mind, Elia’ah escaped across thousands of corpses and attempted to reunite with the Shogun’s army.
VATI’S LAST STAND
The Shogun himself had arrived at the Citadel and surrounded the walls while calling out for the appearance of the Hayashi Elders. The Elders, feeling smug in their recent victory, arrived to meet him and addressed him from the top of the outermost wall. They spake unto him:
“Retreat, for this is the end of Vati’s legacy. The time of Shogun Vati has passed, and so, too, has the time of the warrior Deanshe. Deanshe shalt fall in combat, and the Shogun will be exiled from his place of duty.”
The Shogun refused:
“Nay, for my people shall reclaim their homeland at the cost of everything. We were molded in the Way of the Sidogush, and so we shall fight by it.”
And so, the Shogun’s army hopelessly assaulted the walls of their homeland while succumbing to an enemy of lesser number but with a much greater strategy as well as an effective arsenal. They camped out around the Citadel for several days and continued to fight until the evening the Shogun himself attempted to ride to the main gate of the outermost wall and called for an audience with each of the Elders privately.
The Shogun bellowed across the gate and was told that his request would be met in time. As he waited, a sniper sent by the Hayashi Elders pierced his heart and weakened the Shogun greatly. On the following day, he rode at the head of his army and was struck down by the Hayashi with his last efforts.
When both Deanshe and Shogun Vati had been slain in battle, the Hayashi Elders returned to the heights of the Citadel to convene with the child Vaan for what they believed would be the final time.
Vaan was distraught and, verily, was angered by their presence.
THE GREAT DISORDER
When the Hayashi came upon the heights of the Citadel, Vaan wailed in a manner that struck at the heavens themselves. It is written in the Tome of Sidogush that his cries obscured all that attempted to tear through the shroud of sound he’d produced. In his mind, Vaan split his thoughts between two entities composed of himself and entered debate.
One voice wished for the end of the world, and the other pleaded against this desire.
Vaan’s Destruction spake: “Curse this realm, for it is filled with nothing but envy. Filled with nothing but hatred. Filled with nothing, and overflows with what is putrid, what is wrought with contamination, and we must purifiy it in the name of Isolakandi.”
In response, Vaan’s Hope replied: “This is a reaction and not an act of reason. If we are to rid the world of itself, then what would be the point in claiming to do so in Isolakandi’s name? For when we bring about the end of the world, the world will end with the Way, and the Way will fade when it should not. For the sake of Sidogush, may we preserve all above as well as below and forevermore, everlasting.”
Vaan argued with himself for days and quieted enough for the Hayashi to approach and mock him further. When they’d arrived, Vaan was in a state of deep contemplation and wished not to be disturbed. He spake unto them:
“Begone, for the skies do not belong to you nor any other creature. This has become a holy place, sanctioned for thought rather than a pedestal to judge.”
They spake, “And so thou will not admit thy foolery—not even once? That the Shogun Vati could not prevail in such a weak plan, and still you defy us. You defy the Hayashi, who have risen above the discrimination ordered against them by foul humans. Together with the demons, shall we rise further and build thy ‘Citadel’ on our own. Do not seek to place yourself higher, for we shall slay you and your Four Kings if the matter should arise.”
Vaan became greatly agitated and wailed once more. From within, his Destruction and Hope united to create a veil that covered that hemisphere of the Earth and subjugated everything unto a Changing.
This event is known as The Great Disorder, when all minds were split in a similar fashion to Vaan’s own.
In his rage and sorrow, Vaan sacrificed himself so that all below would be changed in his Image and so that all who knew themselves became strangers to their own minds. Instead of the Hayashi, the human slaves, and the Eastern Demons, the World Below became engulfed in a state of mass confusion. Identities were lost, and, as a result, all remnants gathered themselves with new identities.
When the Hayashi Elders returned, believing themselves triumphant in their efforts to put down the child Vaan, they found the former Citadel in chaos. Fire raged throughout the city, and man, demon, and Hayashi turned on each other without discrimination.
The Elders gathered who they could at the Two Trees and spake unto them:
“Fear not, for the time of rebuilding the Earth has arrived. The Hayashi have inherited the Citadel from their captors, and we may begin anew as we continue our ascent toward the sky. Allow us to take our proper place as the leaders of the future, as we have always been.”
The people of the Citadel no longer understood their language and thus they rebelled in fear of them. The Elders were surrounded by a mix of all races alike, who took them from their honored places tossed them into the ground to be beaten to death. No race could properly distinguish amongst each other, and no one individual spoke the same language. To one another, they were all enemies and quickly began fighting amongst themselves.
Not only in the Citadel, but nations thousands of miles away collapsed with coming of The Great Disorder. The Eastern Demons rebelled against their leaders, the Divine Pantheon was divided between several selfish deities, and both the Unaer’e as well as the southern t
ribes fell victim to madness. Chaos ensued across the world, and the only ones remaining above the chaos happened to be the Twelve Builders who’d remained above when Vaan broke reality below them.
With Vaan having left the world with his final cries, the Builders argued about their next course of action, and they deigned to remain in the clouds until they were discovered by child Gorin Vati, one of the Four Kings. Vaan had warned them of his arrival, and when they met with Gorin, he granted unto them the power of sustainment and spake unto them:
“With the strength of nourishment to guide thee, build. Build above what occurs in the earthly realm, and, verily, recreate the foundations of Heaven so that the Way of Sidogush may be brought above unnecessary conflict. I will sit with thee here for as long as it may take to build at the heights foreseen by Isolakandi, for he envisioned a Citadel far beyond the Citadel of which you are now aware. Build, and you may restore…”
And so it was said by the first of the Four Kings.
3079
(759 P. R.)
THE AFTERMATH
In the following years, the world became buried in brutal absurdity. Brothers turned on brothers, sons on sons, and entire families were sentenced to terrible ends at the hands of each other.
From year 3079, there emerged no nations or great kingdoms of which to be spoken. In their customary places, savages struck others like them down for fleeting supremacy. Vaan’s vision of the future was a bloody one, indeed, for none could identify who was friend and who was foe. Every known race attacked as beasts and utilized every and any weapon at their disposal to unleash horrors—most of which have remained unrecorded in the Tome of Sidogush. The blood of the Earth, however, spilled over into lands having been untouched by The Great Disorder.
3080
(760 P. R.)
Curiously, that wide area of the Earth may have remained this way for a much longer extent of time if not for outside intervention. As people became separated from one another and failed to process individual reality between each, the land below the Citadel became mostly inhospitable. Humans, Hayashi, and demons alike had used their own arsenals against one another until nations in the farthest corners of the Earth began to wonder at their savagery.
THE WESTERN CONTINENT
In most continents unaffected by The Great Disorder, civilizations decided that it was better to leave neighboring territories to their own devices. In the far West, where there existed a continent stretching hundreds of thousands of miles both north and south while somewhat disconnected from its southern and subsequent landmasses, the land had become overrun by the Jurin as well as neighboring Kozans.
The Jurin were a species having been delivered unto the Earth in a similar manner to the Hayashi. The Jurin were much less humanoid while baring tall and bulkier frames. Their complexion was once one of pure emerald before being turned and tanned by constant exposure to the Sun. Whereas their original hair was most commonly a shade of green, it had darkened into a black shade and ran along the back of their often-arched spines. The Jurin were known for their might and willingness to fight to the same extent as true followers of the Way of Sidogush. Jurin warriors had spread and reproduced across the middle of the continent.
As some of their kind migrated north into colder and less sun-kissed realms, they evolved and took on a much paler and stark white shade of green while displaying grey hair regardless of age. The northern Jurin became as the Arinae, and they warred for territory with a species of demons known as the Udosai.
The Udosai were an unusual form of demonic presences and perhaps the most removed from their own relatives. Every Udosai, in fact, appeared much different from the next. They were unique organisms in that they adapted to their environments and changed their skin tone as well as body composition in conjunction with their surrounding territories. These changes would take place over a period of years so that families of the Udosai often looked entirely different from one another.
First and foremost, they were known for their fur as well as great beards that obscured faces formed from scales. A scale from an Udosai was considered a valuable item and capable of being crafted into both blades and bullets. Material made from their own scales happened to be the most capable of piercing them; however, each Udosai possessed different vulnerabilities in accordance with their environments.
For instance, the Udosai who migrated to the eastern portion of the northern continent had evolved a fusion of Udosai skin with ice-laden crags that made them impervious to sharp or piercing blows. Their inner composition was burdened by this development and rendered them far more vulnerable to blunt attacks or great impacts. They became known as the Udosai-Sain, and they moved slowly as to avoid shattering portions of their own skeletal anatomy.
In the western portion, the Udosai bred with the Arinae, and they produced spawn hated by all who inhabited the continent. The spawn was labeled by them as Rklalhw, for they appeared as dark apparitions that only took shape in red, cragged bodies that towered over others. Furthermore, they were known as shapeshifters who could blend in with any opposing race. The Rklalhw shapeshifted in order to reproduce with the Jurin, and their offspring became as the Ulnathi, who were imps the size of humans with the faces of wolves and capable of creating pocket environments as well as their accompanying terrain to carry out their bidding.
All but the Ulnathi decided on the genocide of the Rklalhw, who fought back by simply assimilating themselves and breeding with every race to prevent permanent extinction. This caused a multitude of genetic variants in the collective gene pool of the continent, and the war on the Rklalhw was brought to a swift end many years later as generations were produced with such genetic abundance that further races began to arise.
In the southmost portion of the continent, humans bred with the Vaehe. The Vaehe were an Other race known to have been brought from a realm they referred to as Higher Earth. The Vaehe could see and often had visions of this realm, and they stood much taller than humans while baring a golden skin tone. They resembled humans but considered themselves the perfect manifestation of them. In turn, the Vaehe were regarded by them as immaculately beautiful, and their knowledge of a different mysticism led them to enslaving the human race for a time.
3081
(761 P. R.)
DISCARDING TRADITIONS
Despite the Vaehe’s power and their perceived grace, the Jurin of the North laid siege to the lands of the Vaehe and brought destruction upon them. When the Jurin pulled back their forces to rest, the Udosai demons charged across their lands and devoured the Vaehe, who they despised for being too “human-like.” As the Vaehe felt overwhelming pressure from the combined forces of both, they relinquish their control of human slaves and finally began to regard them as equals.
Humans were divided over their perception of the Vaehe at this time. Whereas some admired them, others felt hatred for having been enslaved at their hands. Still others were undecided and did not aid either side in the war for the southern continent.
A POTENTIAL REVELATION
In the far eastern world, kingdoms held by humans relished in the new division of those who once called themselves the Eastern Demons. As those demons had also been affected by The Great Disorder, the kingdoms of the Far East knew it was time to exploit this new division and ride their combined forces into their lands. Only then could they hope to march on the Citadel and lay claim to greater lands held by the savages.
3082
(762 P. R.)
In year 3082, Gorin Vati gave his Builders a new order. He spake unto them:
“Venture into the lands below and seek out Scribe Burow, for Scribe Buroman has passed in the caverns below the Citadel. Burow shall take word from me and continue writing the wisdom of the Way. By retaining the Way of Sidogush, may we build our civilization amongst the heavens and start the construction of a stairway leading to a pure future. A future for our sons and daughters and beyond the minds of the savages. Go then, for I will watch over you until the end
of time, my Builders.”
THE JOURNEY UNDERGROUND
Thus, Gorin’s men did as they were bid, and, verily, they were protected by a shroud as they passed through the ongoing mass destruction of the under realm. The grounds of the Citadel had become something of a wasteland; its dwellings were burned, and its inhabitants were sparse among an area covered in debris. When the Builders sought the area below, they found only cannibals and madmen who spake languages both unfamiliar to them and to each other. When attacked by the cannibals, the Builders were protected by a manifestation of divine light that burned away the hands of those seeking to harm them. When provoked by the madmen, the shroud covered them and gave unto them clarity so that they could shield the Builders against further enemies as they proceeded deeper into the cave.
The Builders discovered remnants of the Rotted, who themselves bowed before their entrance upon recognition of their blessing and asked of them to lay them to rest. The Builders granted them their request, and Gorin’s small army ridded the Earth of the final members of Dogolin’s Rotted. With their disappearance, Dogolin perished in the Eastern lands upon becoming certain of his complete failure. His self-doubt weakened his own resolve and exposed him to the devices of demons much greater in strength. They slew him.
Underneath the Citadel, the Builders soon came to find Burow, whose eyes had turned a pale white as his hands moved of their own accord in order to finish the inspired Tome. When they attempted to converse with him, Burow could not respond in any normal fashion, for one could not turn his eyes away from the Way once affixed to its presence. They hefted him upon their shoulders and brought him before Gorin Vati.
Angelos Odyssey Archives: The History of the Citadel: I Page 6