2 Prologue 2: The Dream

A dream is to aspire and inspire. There are those who succumb to temptations and others who strive to achieve what others cannot. Without ambition in one's heart, no aspirations can ever become reality.

When the Hero who was summoned from another world, he was given context for the dreams of the Druids that brought him to the Other World to fight against the Beast King. A long and terrible history...

At the beginning of this world, there was merely nothingness, then came light and darkness, who combined their efforts to create a majestic world where their children could live together in peace.

Things went smoothly in the beginning, the Sun God imparted his radiance to his children and while the Moon Goddess enveloped her offspring with a protective glow. Like the children they were, the little ones had innocence lead to years of peace.

The Druids and Beasts of old DID have their petty squabbles, but not anything too serious.

But somewhere down the line, the Children of the Gods started to come into conflict. At first, things could be settled easily. As long as they were able to show humility and patience, all conflicts could be overcome by standing together as one.

There is no night without day, and there is no day without night. A war had occurred between the two Mystic Races and peace was able to be regained once they remembered their hearts were bound as one. One war couldn't decimate their foundations.

So long as the days and nights existed, the Children of the Gods would achieve coexistence.

As the Sun God and Moon Goddess loved each other, they also wanted their children to get along as well. Even when war broke out, they will one day be able to put aside their difference and shake hands. At least, that's what they truly believed...

However, as time went by and more of their teachings became distorted by their children's own interpretation, they realised that without a doubt, a future where they wouldn't be able to protect their children would come to exist. As they were the parents of their own species, they wanted for own created 'Mystic Race' to never be discriminated against no more than what they had already seen.

They desired 'eternal peace'.

However, the Gods had their responsibilities and couldn't thoughtlessly interfere with the laws of casualty. Other higher beings had been eyeing their world and were planning to invasion, therefore they could only hope that their children would have compassion for their fellow brethren and kin. As they were aware of a certain rule of this world...

And that rule was: 'Light and darkness must NEVER overlap, or risk calamitous consequences.'

There MUST be a day, and there must be light. This was the only way for the world to continue...

And so, they continued to watch over the 'perfect world' they created while yearning for harmony.

They yearned for the day the rotations between war and peace would be no more between their small yet brave children, that those in the world they created would realise their responsibilities to take care of the world as they had themselves.

Their desires resulted in an unexpected outcome.

The Druids grew from the children of nature and slowly matured their civilisation. At first, that civilisation leads to the formation of unity between the species as they filled in the responsibilities others could not. Their hearts were as one.

As mortals, it was only natural that they would one day succumb to death. That's why, for the sake of their innocent children who knew nothing of the world, they personally taught them how to live. As guides and forefathers, this was their duty.

As for the Beasts, it was even simpler. As they could survive from devouring magical energy, all they needed to do was to pair up with a Druid and they would be able to live their lives correctly.

The society between Druids and Beasts were of equality. They did not need to fight, and they did not need to struggle for resources. It was a far more forgiving world than the one Simon Stuman had arrived from, as Earth had far worse 'wars'.

It was to the point that the squabbles that mortal beings of this world went through were 'cute'.

And yet, time mercilessly eroded that civilisation as both Beasts and Druids came across the taboo.

Even as internal wars arose within the unified civilisation between Fiends and Beasts, they were always able to forgive each other after sincerely repenting their mistakes. However, what the Gods couldn't predict was the lingering scars of war...

Wars did not start without any reason. Some of them were driven by Druids and Beasts who believed in their racial supremacy, while others were started out of retribution for breaking the taboo.

Although Beasts could survive off Mana, there were times when some the God's children would innocent ask: 'What about the taste of flesh?' And become addicted to this change their regular diet.

For Druids, they too started to hunger the exquisiteness of flesh. As gourmets who refined and cooked the finest of delicacies using the fruits provided to them by plants, there were some who became so infatuated and forgot the 'teachings'.

The Gods couldn't have known that despite them imparting enough to their children to live ordinary lives, there would always be some rebellious and ambitious 'children' that desired far more. It was then that they together put down an absolute rule:

'Never give in to indulgence.'

As to stop the wars caused by edging closer into the taboo, they created this rule to stop the children of light and children of darkness from consuming each other. They put their absolute effort into multi-tasking many 'responsibilities'.

They were responsible to guide their children, and so they did so. They were responsible for keeping the safety of the world, and so they did just as they fully devoted themselves to. Therefore succeeding in warding off the 'hunger' their children displayed.

Even when at times they came to hate their children, they persevered with patience and compassion. It was because they were Gods that they possessed these qualities, which were far more potent that what mortals possessed.

As time went on, the extended period of peace the Gods so desired arrived. With the five cardinal virtues and seven cardinal sins acting as their moral compass, the social system of the unified civilisation became more complex with time.

The hatred of previous wars slowly dissipated over time, and the harmony they desired was achieved. Another thousand years passed their long-lasting world advanced at a breakneck pace.

Things that were once tedious in the past became easier as kingdoms and societal structures formed to reflect the changes of the teachings imparted by the Gods. A world without wars had been achieved!

There a lingering fear in their heart that their beloved children would one day fall back into their old ways, but the reality presented to them showed that they made the right decision to work overtime.

The fruits of their labour appeared before them in all its glory, and what a world they had created...!

Laughter, compassion, sensitivity, and more were shown by their children. When the skies were bright, the Druids would water the garden and the field. When dark, the Beasts protected all life. It was an alternating shift of responsibilities.

Though there would be complaints and arguments between their children, there was nothing that devolved to another war that wasted resources and gave no tangible benefits to the world as a whole.

They say the scars of war could never be erased from history, but time showed that as long as that hatred became disconnected from the reality of those currently living in the world, it will just vanish all the same, as had been ordained by the Gods!

However...

...It was naive of them to think their unrealistic dream would have no repercussions in the future.

Even though they avoided 'indulgence' causing light and darkness to overlap, they miscalculated the direction civilisation would take should they natural animosity between races slowly died out.

Many marriages between Fiends and Druids started to occur, causing the Gods to panic!

Though they were able to finally see the world they wished for, the prophetic 'rule' the Gods believed in was unchanged. Day and night, light and darkness, must never intersect no matter what! It must be stopped, or else 'something' will happen...!

They were unable to figure out what this great 'something' destined would be, but their instincts as Gods allowed them to come to the conclusion that it would result in the worst of calamities.

To stop this from happening, they sent down an oracle of their thoughts, but for the first time, all their children outright rebelled against their teachings. They did not think twice before overruling their prophecy out of genuine 'love'.

The compassion they had taught backfired!

As many couples between Beasts and Druids had already formed, they could only address this solution by making it impossible for a child between light and darkness to be born. As their magical energy connected to their children, all they had to do was make a slight alteration to cause anyone trying to birth such a child to fail miserably.

The Gods were at the level where even their thoughts could be applied to reality, causing those in love with the opposing Mystic Race to be unable to even touch each other. This solution allowed them to have peace of mind as time passed on.

What fools... How could they have not understood that if war can create an over-abundance of hatred between Mystic Races, then peace can lead to the dreaded over-abundance of 'love'. An illogical and inconsistent emotion beyond that of even 'hate'.

Their 'love' imbued magic of themselves and even the world! Even the Gods were affected by this collective desire also started to pool together towards them, all until the most illogical and unprecedented incident in the world occurred.

A child was conceived of both the great light and darkness, the brightest day and darkest night!

It was a child born from reality itself rather than from the womb of any Druid or Beast. It was the symbol of the accumulated love in the world given a humanoid body, which was beyond expectations!

The Gods panicked once again after they sensed this child coming into existence. What they had expected to be formed was a mortal child of the great 'eclipse' that would use its power to destroy the world, and their guess was partially on point.

Indeed, the child was born with the innate affinity for destruction beyond that of Beasts. However, it also had the affinity of creation far more powerful than any Druid had ever born into the world...

This child was an anomaly. The Gods felt it was only right that they end the life of this certain child before it destroyed their peaceful world...! Both light and darkness worked together as they materialised their arms into their created world!

From the darkest shadows converged a massive arm of the Moon Goddess, and from the brightest rays from the sky converged the arm of the Sun God. They reached out towards the mortal Child of the Eclipse before it caused their other children any harm, but as they were approaching the child with malevolent intent, the cries of the baby boy overrode their senses, and hurt their gentle hearts.

The new life was making himself known...

They knew the cries of the child was only due to the quakes in space and time caused by their appearance. It was a natural response, and yet, as they were the true 'parents' of every one of their children in this world, the cries of the mortal Child of the Eclipse sounded like accusations against their actions. As if the child was saying: 'Why bring me into this world if I was never welcome??!!!'

The final straw that stopped them from carrying out their action was the Druids and Beasts that had been watching over the child since before it was even born. Especially the mortal mothers of the child of the eclipse that begged for amnesty.

This child belonged to the world and its people. It belonged to the Gods, and to Mortals who cared for it when the child was only a ball of light swirling with the powers of darkness. It should not be hurt!

The desires of their old children moved them, and those divine arms faded away as they chose to let the Child of the Eclipse live on. As long as it showed any intentions to destroy the world, then they will return to finish off what they had started this day. It was as long as it cherished the people that saved it that amnesty shall be bestowed.

They watched the child closely as it grew up, and in those long years of expecting the outcome of the intersection of light and darkness to one day bare his fangs, they found that their own prophesy seemed to have been inaccurate, a flawed sight of fate. The Child of the Eclipse grew up into adolescence without showing any signs of desiring for calamities or wanting an apocalypse.

It grew up with a normal childhood filled with the wonder of life, and their other children also put the child of the eclipse on a pedestal as they believed the child to be the most loved by the Gods.

And to be entirely truthful, that truly was the case!

No matter how hard they denied it or swore that they were impartial in their love for their many children, the Child of the Eclipse moved them the most. His struggles and fortitude to move forward had breathed new life into these parental Gods.

They loved the Child of the Eclipse doubly more due to their love for each other. It was as if the Sun God saw aspects of the Moon Goddess in the child and she felt the same in the opposite direction.

All was well and good, allowing them to put more work into fortifying the world from any invasions.

However, when they came back to check on the Child of the Eclipse once more, a truly gruesome scene appeared before then, and their hearts broke from the tragedy they personally saw.

A Beast desiring the Affinities the only existence created from the intersection of light and darkness devoured the head of the child of the eclipse, and a greedy Druid desiring the same chopped the corpse of the child into five pieces before refining the magical energy within the child into five swords containing the different fragments of 'creation'.

For once, the Gods were truly disillusioned by their children. Wars had happened before and much crueller acts had been done in the past, but this was the first time they truly sympathised with one of their children enough to feel truly furious.

The wickedness of the Beasts and Druids their children were capable of inflicting to each other was properly brought to their attention at this moment, and they imparted their punishment. It was in grief that they judged them as parents.

Time and space quaked much more violently than ever before, but no one stopped them this time...

They destroyed the souls of the greedy Druid and glutton Fiend, converting them into spiritual energy with no emotions or sentience. Then tried to revive the child of the eclipse by returning his soul to the cycle of reincarnation, but they failed miserably.

The child of the eclipse's soul had been split into nine pieces, and after his death, their connection to his Life Energy disappeared as well, making it impossible to do anything but to stare helplessly...

Hah... Mortals are truly cruel. To believe that the Gods were being 'heartless'. Did they truly think that after the untimely death of the most beloved mortal child, that things would stay the same?

The emptiness formed by the Child of the Eclipse's death changed them considerably, to the point their relationship became colder and colder. The two Gods had been so wary of their children's wrathful response that they forgot that they too were emotional beings that didn't conform by conceptual interpretations of them. Their teachings changed over time as they became less forgiving...

The once warm Sun God's teachings became crueller over time as he emphasised righteousness.

And the once loving Moon Goddess's teachings became scarier as she emphasised on discipline.

Burn the unrighteous and devour the undisciplined!

A new era unfolded as the unified civilisation they once sought crumbled over time. Their resentment for their children seeped into their teachings as their hatred consumed them over the years.

And the result was for all to see: They fought, died tragically, and left nothing but Divine Swords...

One of them was the white Divine Sword the Grand Hero who was prophesied by the Oracles to save the world, while the other was the black Divine Sword passed down by Kings of the Beast Race.

The dream gave the user context of why he was brought to this world, and his aspirations to change the world became part of his driving force as he caught against the Beast King and the allies the ruler had made with Mystic Races of other Gods.

An epic battle raged on, yet the results weren't what the Grand Hero had been desiring. The changes he made in the world were less beneficial to the common-folk yet better for those in power.

It was at that point he was disillusioned by what he saw, as a man of righteousness fought discipline...

The dream has ended on that day!

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