Daini Omno

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**Bureldekhun to Daib'ankh** is a collection of stories retelling the world before the War of Imperial Regalia. Yosol tells of the Solemnity. Tukhin Zokhiol is an address from the spirit of Amon Won to all people in Einsiedeln. Dulal is a set of three prayers to the gods.

# Daini Omno

## Bureldekhun

In the beginning, there was only Iasis. Eventually, the Iasis manifested itself in light and dark. Part of the dark was next to the light, but part of the dark was separated, and it sank to the bottom of the universe. The light and the dark began to change, to exhibit traits of life. These were the first deities. The light became Thesarae, and the dark next to her became Dharus. The dark which had been separated became Gaohr, and from there the void was revealed. In such an empty world, only Gaohr felt peace. Thesarae and Dharus felt that there was no purpose to their existence unless something existed apart from them. And so, they began to create a world for people.

On the first day, Thesarae created a sphere of fire, a manifestation of the energy of light. Dharus created a silver sphere, smaller than the fire that Thesarae had created, but with the property of reflecting the light from the fire. They called these Sun and Moon. Thesarae would hold up the Sun, and Dharus would hold up the Moon. However, the light from the Sun shone brightly on the void and Gaohr. Gaohr detested being woken from his slumber, so he took the Sun and Moon from the gods and placed them on two large rotating rings. He named these rings ‘Orbitis’. Unbeknownst to Gaohr, the gods wanted him to place the objects on the Orbitis, for they could continue creating.

On the second day, Thesarae and Dharus created the Earth. It originated as another ball of fire, however, Dharus knew nobody could live on it.  So, Dharus channelled his magical energy to create a new being, one which could relieve the Earth of its incandescent state. Aemis was born, and he placed water on the Earth. The burning lava cooled, creating the stone base. Aemis then added green grass and soil to the Earth, for eventually people would live here, and would need food. Gaohr wanted the Earth destroyed, however, his magic was not strong enough to combat the joint magic of the Nivo. He settled for blocking them off from the place he called home: the void. And so he created an indestructible substance to block it off, one which would require more magical energy than any god could muster.

On the fourth day, Thesarae wished to create a creature. A creature would require a soul, and so Dharus and Thesarae put together their magic once more, to create the first creature. And lo, that soul put forth a seed which would come to create many types of fish and sea creatures.

On the fifth day, the seed which had been planted had borne fruit, and many other types of creatures arose all over the sea and land. Creatures began to interact with others, creating systems of living. And t’was this that gave the gods the confidence to create a creature smarter than anything before it.

On the sixth day, the gods created many humans, giving them the most powerful souls yet: traited souls. These humans spread out across the land and made systems of living far more convoluted than those of the animals.

On the seventh day, the traited souls of the humans were implanted into a selection of creatures. These became the humanoid animal creatures we see today.

On the eighth day, the gods spoke to the traited creatures, that they would be the most powerful creatures in this world. They gave them a purpose, to enlighten those who did not believe, and to use this earth with care and with grace. Gaohr was furious at being forgotten, and so he created a poison which would ravage the entire world forever: disease.

## Nugel

The people now roamed Earth, and the originals banded together to form a society. They called this society Palat, and they devoted their lives to their purpose of learning. They were led by Amon Won, the first Otais of the Palat religion. Their lifestyle, being nomadic, was full of adventure and discovery.

However, eventually many of these people roamed independently to form settlements. Amon and his wife Anat remained, for they were committed to the preservation of the faith. Many of those who left began to forget about the message given to them and began to turn to false idols. These people were inwardly punished, and vengeance was promised to the gods in the future.

The two loyal people began the House of Thesarae, and quickly their influence spread far and wide. However, this fortune would be short-lived as the influence of Gaohr began its conquest of the first people.

Gaohr let out his first creation, a disease called Siwol. It ravaged the early civilisations, and the son of Amon was nearly killed. However, by sheer luck, he survived. His name was Tal Won, and he would go on to bring the House, and faith, new issues.

## Tal Dak

Tal began to invoke magic. He was the first of his kind to be able to do so, as magic had been removed from most souls until they were proven worthy. But Tal’s soul was no ordinary soul. Upon investigation, he bore a new soul, one which was named Ca-4T-ATON. The soul radiated happiness in order to balance the sadness of disease. It was through this that Siwol was normalised, and the world was restored to a state of near-balance. Tal was given a task by the gods, to restore the world to balance before his death. He began to offset the emotions of sadness caused by the disease, building large towns, instigating religious festivities, performing rituals and strengthening souls. However, a significant problem arose. While Tal’s soul was able to emit happiness to offset the sadness and emit positivity to offset negativity, it was unable to do the opposite. The world became too free, too liberalised. Crime became rampant, as there was nothing to hold people accountable for their actions. The gods had missed a particularly important oversight: a soul must be adaptable, only then can it be in balance.

## Martagsan

The world had turned to Gaohr. The radiant happiness of the Otais was being exploited, and Palat was falling. A group of foreign raiders called Fatuatua sought to bring their faith to all, suppressing all religions that they believed to be heretical to their own. The army of Palat, now demoralised and tired from policing, was in no state to fight. However, they had to fight for their country and for their gods. The gods tried to help them by giving them powerful tools, but the gods needed balanced souls for the tools to work, and so they were useless. The army sprinted to meet their faith but was immediately slaughtered by the more powerful and more vicious raider forces. The war of Martagsan was lost, and the raiders assumed total control of Palat. The collapse of Palat had come, and the gods were forgotten.

The raiders began to pillage the villages which Amon and Tal had built for the citizens. They took the people as slaves, and they publicly executed the majority of the Won family. The gods had taken one of the children away prior to the raids, in order to strengthen its soul. This child was Kha, son of Tal. The child was safe from the tyranny below.

Gaohr eventually broke through the void and began to spur on the raiders in their destruction. Explosions being heard in the distance were now a regular occurrence for most of the people, and the group who previously called themselves Palat were oppressed. All government positions were occupied with Fatuatua, the worship of Thesarae and Dharus was forbidden, and the people were forced to work in inhumane conditions with no pay. The gods looked on in horror as the faith was forgotten by almost all of the people as they toiled in the scorching heat. They knew that humanity could not go on like this.

## Khuchtei

Kha’s soul was nearly ready, an upgraded version of Ca-4T-ATON. All that was necessary was the implanting of the soul into the body. However, this new soul required more energy than the gods had ever mustered up before, and it resulted in a part of Thesarae splitting off. This became Xena, the goddess of noble magic.

After the ritual, the gods placed the new child in the hands of two parents. The disaster that was to follow would leave Kha questioning his identity for many years to come. Gaohr was still rampant, and the ritual Day of Sacrifices was still approaching. The raiders would come into all homes and seize children from their parents, burning them alive on pyres for their barbaric gods. Kha was hidden by his parents in a crevice between rocks, and when the guards came to seize the child (who, by this point, was recorded on the census) and found they had none, they seized his parents for arrest.

However, before Kha could comprehend what was taking place, the gods whisked him away to a far land, the realm of Einsiedeln. There, he would begin to grow into a true intellectual.

He grew up mostly alone, with a very isolated early childhood. Eventually, he made a very good friend in Petra, a member of the House of Ascania. Both of them had an extremely high mutual level of respect and trust, from the beginning to the end. Sadly, the world was not on their side, as Gaohr struck once more.

## Daib’ankh

The king was furious. Petra’s father, Hans,  had betrayed him. For that betrayal, his son was killed. The king had acted under the influence of Gaohr. Everything that everyone knew had been turned on its head. Kha stood in solidarity with Petra throughout but knew that now more than ever, assumptions could not be made. So, Kha left his home and embarked on a journey to see his old friend.

He embarked at noon on the first day of the month. The scorching sun beat down on his skin, and after walking for 6 hours, he could no longer take it. He settled for a small rest. While he expected his trip to be mostly non-eventful, as he was preparing to take a seat, a blinding flash of lightning struck in front of him. After readapting to vision, Kha saw a woman standing in front of him. While she looked like a normal woman, she radiated beacons of light. Her presence made him feel uplifted. Then, she spoke.

‘Kha, my child. You are no doubt wondering who I am. Speak not until I have disappeared, and I shall tell you.

‘I am Thesarae, your mother, Goddess of life and light. You must save the world from the influence of Gaohr, the void spirit. Go forth on your journey, and remember I am here for you. Simply utter, “O Mother, I require assistance,” and I shall come to you with haste.’

And as quickly as Thesarae appeared, she disappeared in a flash of light once more. While the conversation confused him at first, Kha began to feel a connection. He immediately knew, in his mind, this was no ordinary preacher. This was divine. But he had to continue, whether for God or for friendship. He ended his break and continued.

He felt unexpected strength and was able to walk for 12 hours now. However, Kha knew his limitations, and so settled to rest once more. It was at this rest that he began to read the books he brought with him. They told of an ancient civilisation, one where magic was never practised. He wondered whether this was the civilization of his ancestors, and he noticed the names Amon and Tal Won.

It was at this point that the sky began to thunder, and a large spiral of dust came down from the heavens. A man, draped in a black robe, stood before Kha. But Kha did not draw his sword, for the connection came much earlier. He knew, by some bizarre supernatural force, that this was his father, Dharus.

‘Child, I already know you know who I am. I come here to tell you your nature, the nature of your soul, and the nature of your history. You are the son of Tal Won, the last Otais of Palat. We failed in our mission to create a person who could control Gaohr, but you are the person who must. Your soul is able to adapt its output of traits in order to balance other traits in the world, and we need you to lead this world out of its pain. I bestow upon you newfound strength, in order to complete the journey and to bring justice to the Ascanians and Ostricians.’

As quickly as Thesarae had disappeared, Dharus did so also. And so, Kha continued his journey.

After a further 16 hours of walking and converting 10 people, he finally made it to Petra. He was in terrible condition, and his first request was rest. Petra, being a noble individual, granted him this. After waking, Kha told Petra all of what he had heard, seen, and experienced. Petra was naturally suspicious, however, she said to Kha that she could trust him if he could present proof. Kha did not know how to do this, and so requested to be excused. He then recited the call Thesarae had given him, and Thesarae appeared to advise him.

‘Bring 4 of the people out into the wild along with Petra. Set up an altar lit with flames, and tell them to enter and burn. Do this, and you will see what happens next.’

Kha was in no position to doubt, so he did so. He, along with four of his most devoted followers, and Petra, walked out into the forests. They constructed the altar and prepared to sacrifice the people. Upon the death of the followers, lightning struck all around repeatedly, shattering the landscape like a piece of glass. Kha began to rise in view of all, and his body began to glow. Winds raged harder than they had done since creation, and then, Kha saw Iasis. It manifested itself in its true form, one which even the gods could not fully explain. Its sheer scale overwhelmed the world it was in, and a large explosion was heard in the sky. Kha returned to earth, an earth where those who saw the spectacle believed in the virtue of the True Way. The war would be won.

## Yosol

The war was long gone, Petra was long gone, and Yeilden was on the throne. His willingness to push the boundaries of magic concerned Kha greatly, but as the king, his word went. Kha repeatedly attempted to advise him against tapping into the magical powers, but again and again, he was told that it wouldn’t be so serious. On that day, Kha realised that the monarchy did not take magic or divinity seriously. He made no effort to contain the wrath of Gaohr in this case, for Gaohr’s destruction would be concentrated on those who awakened him. He knew that with the power of the gods, he could protect those who mattered. So, the king went ahead. He wanted to create life, requesting the gods to manipulate the souls of the created individuals for military benefit. Kha knew that this was immoral. The king had sacrificed his son, but it was too much. A black pillar emerged from the ground, creating a colossal explosion. The creatures born out of the ritual were beasts, created by Gaohr to spite humanity. The world had to be protected, so the magicians of Einsiedeln attempted to summon anti-beasts and shields, but it was not enough. The magic tore through them and maimed many of the magicians, with some being decapitated. No magic could contain the power invoked through the Solemnity. The world was in jeopardy, and Gaohr roamed throughout the earth. Non-divine magic was outlawed.

## Tukhin Zokhiol

For now, all that can be done for us to save some sliver of Einsiedeln from the Solemnity is divine assistance. We can fight as many wars as we want, but nothing will be resolved through them. Our territory may grow, but our chances of life will only fall. We must pray, sacrifice, discover and learn. Otherwise, we may face the retribution of the divine.

## Dulal

Blessed Thesarae, glorious light of my life, I ask of you in my burdened hour. Grant me strength so I might shed my hardships. I request this of you with a sincere heart, o most merciful mother. Anoint me with your sacred kindness.

Celestial Father, beacon of my life, ashamed I admit that I have sinned. I went astray, I did not spread your word as well as I could. Relieve me of my sins, absolve me of these demons. Pass judgment upon me so I may savor your eternal soul once more.

Most merciful spirit, protector of souls, please grant me your audience. Touch my spirit so I might save others. I ask this of you completely at your mercy, o divine of divine. Bless me with your sacred love.