[Author's note: Please note that the actual story starts in Chapter 1. This chapter serves as a compendium of knowledge for your ease of excess. It contains a rough summary of all the important information you should know before reading the novel. More information will be gradually revealed as the story progresses. This will not contain spoilers, and as the author, I recommend reading it.]
Centuries ago, the ancient gods waged war against the Void - and the beings that dwelled within it. The battle was cataclysmic, and many realms were lost and destroyed during the encounter. The War lasted for decades but in the end, the gods failed.
The Void was simply too vast and everlasting.
Even after forging Time, Space and Death as weapons against them, the gods failed again. The Void commanded Chaos, a vast tapestry of infinite darkness, unobscured by the laws of existence the gods put in place.
The Void existed beyong time and death, and so did Chaos.
Grotesque and appalling abominations were born from this everlasting darkness, and with them came the Noise. Together with the Noise, these anomalies wrecked havoc in the surviving realms simply to spite the gods.
Desolation and Corruption spread across the realms, erasing every trace of life the gods had natured. Until only one realm remained...
So that the cycle life could continue again and tranquility could be restored in the cosmos, the gods sacrificed their very existence to weave one final scheme. Literally..
They gave birth to the concept of Sorcery and Magic, weaving a vast tapestry of infinite earthreal runes to create the embodiment of imprisonment. They would use this infinite weave of runes to imprison the Void. The imprisonment did serve its purpose, but they did not account for what transpired next.
The Void was insidious and cunning, not even the gods had anticipated the vile nature of those beings. Before imprisonment, they left behind an insidious whisper through Chaos that consumed that threatened to consume the cosmos.
The Whisper of Chaos gave birth to the Nightmare, a curse left behind by the dead deities. The Runes of Imprisonment were woven from the strings of existence, and so the curse consumed every being born after the age of the gods.
They call it The Eplialtic Weave.
The shame of the gods.
***
●Terminology:
◆[Chaos]: Weapon of everlasting darkness, forged by the Void Beings in the deadly War against the gods. Chaos was more of an infinite concept of dread, capable of giving birth to hideous creatures.
◆[Chaos Creatures]: Creatures born from the everlasting darkness.
◆[Noise]: Constant stream of images and thoughts from every living thing. Maddening sensations capable of driving both humans and creatures to a frenzy. The Noise can also result from the Nightmare...
◆[The Eplialtic Weave]: Fragments of the Rune of Imprisonment, echoing deep inside every human born after the age of the gods. The Eplialtic Weave is a power system that awakens in all remaining* humans, typically at 16 years old. It grants supernatural abilities to the host, if the host survives the Nightmare.
◆[Nightmare]: The echo of the War, born from the Whisper of Chaos. It contains truths and revelations beyong human comprehension. The cataclysmic battles between the gods and the Void still echo in the small string of the original rune. The very first rune. The Nightmare is unpredictable, but it usually appears when the human is 16 years of age.
The Nightmare comes in the form of a dream, a nightmare if you will. The host does not need to do anything, just survive. If they survive the dream and wake up, they will become The Commonality (The Awakened).
Which is a Tier 5 rank. If the host does not survive, the echos of the distant past will consume them, making them The Hollowed.
The physical bodies of The Hollowed can still breathe, but the consciousness is lost forever, drifting among the echoes of the crumbling realms. Stuck feeding the system for eternity, until claimed by Chaos to join its legion.
◆[Tiers]: Hierarchy according to Rank and/or Class of a being. The system of hierarchy between humans and Chaos Creatures in vastly different, considering there is not much known about Chaos Creatures. Humans ascended from from tier 6 to tier 1.
-Human Hierarchical system:
○Tier 6 - The Dormant
○Tier 5 - The Commonality
○Tier 4 - The Gentry
○Tier 3 - The High Peerage
○Tier 2 - The Monarch
○Tier 1 - The Sovereign
-Chaos Creatures:
The complete hierarchy system for Chaos Creatures is still unknown, only three tiers are known:
○Tier 3 - The Anarchy Incarnate
○Tier 2 - The Ontological Glitches
○Tier 1 - The Conceptual Predators
[Please note that these Chaos Creatures will further classified as the novel progresses so you do not need to worry about understanding them for now.]
◆[Danger Zones]: Areas in the Sacred Sanctuary that are the most dangerous; for many different reasons. Humans of tiers 6 - 4 are not allowed to visit these areas, not without supervision that is.
◆[Sacred Sanctuary]: The only surviving realm in the cosmos. The gods sacrificed everything to protect it, but Chaos still seeps through the cracks in reality.
◆[Abilities]: Supernatural powers wielded by those who survived the Nightmare.
◆[Innate Abilities]: All humans are born Dormant. That is because the abilities tied to their soul and nature are yet to be unlocked. They are usually unlocked by the Eplialtic Weave.
◆[Attributes]: Qualities or characteristics given to Nightmare survivors. They are both innate and earned with the progression of time.
◆[Trace Rune]: Small string eched deep into the consciousness of humans, indicating the presence of the Eplialtic Weave. A permanent scar that makes the Nightmare survivors to be more sensitive to the Noise. This scar also allows them to gain Essence and Vigor from slain enemies.
◆[Vigor]: Physical strength gained from slain enemies. It also increases mental and emotional vitality of the Nightmare survivors.
◆[Essence]: Soul/spirit energy gain from slain enemies. Also known as mana.
◆[Desolation]: The state of utter ruin and devastation. *(It will be further explained in the novel for context reasons.)
◆[Corruption]: Born from Chaos, Corruption spreads to consume all those that succumb to the Noise.
[I will continuously update the information, so at to avoid spoilers. Please notify me in the chapter comments if there is anything you think I should include.]