Scriptures of the Paladins, chapter 5

# **The Fifth Scripture**

*1- When I entered the lost Garden I saw a land of beauty, there were trees that reached the clouds, mountains with the most beautiful tips, hills filled with purple and golden flowers, and wells and springs with the clearest of waters. Truly I beheld a sight the likes of which I had never seen before. I took slow steps as I looked around me, I saw old but beautiful houses, uninhabited but not void of splendor.*

*2- Then Avzaya descended towards a mountain and sat on it, whilst he sat he picked grapes from the big grape trees that were near him. He then signalled for me to come closer. Then he said: “Oh Zaryarez, from this mountain I taught my laws to your forefathers, and they stood right where you are standing, and they listened to my words just as you are listening, and they accepted just as you have accepted. Now let me tell you what transpired after them.”*

*3- Avzaya said: “Your ancestors lived here for hundreds of years, in peace and unharmed. Abiding by my laws which I had given them, but then Roh chose to wage war against me to achieve domain over the universe. He ascended towards the earth with an army of underdark deities, And he divided them into six groups, three on his right and three on his left. Each one led by one of his spirits. Then I came with my army and we met in the sky. We fought for three days and nights, using our most powerful magic. It was the greatest war to have ever happened. Both parties hurled stars and comets at each other, and when they collided it became smaller pieces and fell down towards the earth. The earth’s sky was like that of a thunderstorm but with many colors and dozens of thunderbolts, and the sound of thunder were the war cries of the deities.”*

*4- Then I asked him what the inhabitants of the earth did when this battle was commencing, he said: “The people were amazed by this battle, and they watched as shards of magic from the elemental stars fell on earth. The giants rushed to claim this magic, and that is when they discovered this art. Your ancestors on the other hand were watching from this garden, and magic fell towards this garden, but it got caught up in the branches of the big trees. And so on the third and last night of the battle, the Giants rushed to climb these trees, which they did with ease. Humans on the other hand climbed the mountains to reach a branch that touched the side of the mountains, but they failed to acquire any magic. When the giants were high enough they looked out in the distance, and they saw the earth beyond the garden. They saw magic spread everywhere, and so they left the magic on the trees and rushed to get out of the garden. Thus all the giants left the garden in one night, the moment they left was the moment I descended and grabbed the great moon and ripped it apart, then I held them. Then I threw them to each side of Roh’s army. And indeed the moons scattered them and they fled in pain. Then Roh cursed me and left with his army. And I made the moons stay as they are. I named them Zuda and Zudi, and they took on a new orbit. The forces of Roh were scattered, and the skies were void of danger.” Then he pointed towards the big trees next to him, and I looked up and saw that their tips were glinstering, and I understood that this was the magic that the giants had left in order to attain the magic beyond the garden.*

*5- He continued: “Then by my order the astral deities instructed the giants to bury the magic that came from the dark elemental stars, and the giants obeyed. And so we allowed them to use our elemental magic, and great civilizations arose from among the giants, meanwhile humans were living on the outskirts of these civilizations, for the giants were dominant and the humans hated to be subject to them. But they rarely had conflicts.*

*6- Then after a few hundred years there came a king from among the Azarian giants, Zarnabal was his name, he dug up the dark magic, and many other giant kings followed him. Then we sent to the giants an emissary from amongst the astral deities to warn them that they are doing something which is harmful, and truly evil. But they denied him and shunned him away. But Zarnabal wanted to show his power and killed the deity, after which he extracted his element by means of dark magic, he then mixed this element with dark magic, and created a form of magic which was more evil than any other before. Necromancy.”*

*7- And then I asked Avzaya what the resolve was of those who went against the astral deities. He said: “Indeed we sent an army to fight the giants, but we met hardship for they used the darkest of magic on us, it was as if we were fighting the army of Roh, but then some of your ancestors interfered and aided us with disrupting the giant camps and settlements, and destroying every sign of black magic they could, many sacrificed their own lives for this. In the end we annihilated the giant race. Your ancestors had left the Garden of earth to help us destroy the darkest of magic, and these people, Zaryarez, were the first Paladins.”*

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