1 The Origin

Before the three realms were formed; before mortals, deities, gods, demons and devils walked the earth; before a line was drawn between good and evil, there were three gods who ruled over life, death and time.

Together, they split the earth, lifted the sky and unraveled time. Their tears formed the rain which filled the seas and nourished the land. Night, day and the four seasons were formed. A thick mist of spiritual energy provided an endless source of vitality for the life that grew.

The raw spiritual energy--Qi--took the forms of ten elemental dragons. Fire, water, metal, earth, wood, air, lightning, ice, light and shadow worked together in perfect harmony, just like the three gods did.

Over time, more divine gods appeared. The lives of these entities became deeply entwined with the world itself, to the point where one could not survive without the other.

Perhaps everything would have progressed smoothly and the world would have evolved on its own accord if not for that fateful day. The day the Devil God revolted and slain the dragon of light was the day it all ended.

Enraged by the death of his counterpart, the dragon of shadow cursed the Devil God. A curse, that reshaped the future irrevocably. And the only curse strong enough to last forever was that made with the exchange of one's soul. But the world could not afford for another dragon to die, and the Black Dragon's blood curse made him a soulless, emotionless monster instead. He was consumed by hatred and pain and despair, for what was the point of living through dark nights if there would be no sunlit day tomorrow?

The world fell into darkness, and the Black Dragon went on a massacre. The other eight dragons sacrificed their dragon forms to create a prison powerful enough to seal him in, becoming part of the spiritual energy once more.

With the ten elemental dragons down to one, the world was on the brink of falling apart. At the price of his soul, the God of Life split the world into three--the Mortal Realm, Deity Realm and Heavenly Realm.

When the world was separated, its already weak Qi dissipated, thus there was barely any Qi for beings to cultivate in Mortal Realm. As for what little whispers of light element left, it was absorbed by a tribe of gods who would one day be known as the Celestial Tribe.

The three realms spent centuries recovering from that calamity, and as life got better, everyone put down the past and looked forward to the future.

However, the God of Time predicted stormy seas ahead--that it was not over yet, and might never be.

Fearing that the Black Dragon would return and bring the apocalypse, the Goddess of Death bound her power within a lock and a key, hiding it in one of the three realms for the day it would be needed to seal the dragon of shadow again.

For her world, a goddess fell from Heavenly Realm to be a mortal. On that day, every soul heard a prophecy echoed by the earth and the skies:

When Death and shadows awaken, be the light, form the lock, find the key.

Four seasons, one heart's blood flower will lead the way.

Three souls, from a world above, below and beyond.

Two traitors, one a liar; one a thief.

One legend.