1 Prologue

It was Artix's screams that made them realize that something was wrong. Mregan had been deep in discussion with her High Priest Threalarn, when her fellow Goddess had broadcast her terror to the whole Pantheon.

She was so alarmed, she immediately faded back to the Celerium to see what had happened. She was not prepared for what she found. Artix was on the floor, struggling and still screaming with a blood covered Nysarti on top of her. Next to the fighting pair was the prone body of Dorcyth. It was his blood covering the hands of the Moon Goddess.

Mregan rushed to the fallen God and discovered the impossible. Dorcyth, God of the Sun, was dead. She looked up in dismay as she remembered the fighting pair. Surprise was on her side as she grabbed Nysarti and dragged her from Artix. Tralior God of Entropy, and Mregan's counterpart, appeared in the room and looked around. His eyes were wide as he immediately said. "I had no part in this." Braxis, God of the Sea, ground his teeth in irritation. "It's not always about you Tralior." he growled as he knelt next to Artix and tried to help her up.

Artix for her part had thankfully stopped screaming, and just sat there staring as Dorcyth's body. "She killed him." she whispered as tears slipped down her face. "I came in to talk to Dorcyth, he had asked me to come...and she was crouched over him. The blood...it was everywhere, all over her. She saw me and...she just attacked me. She tried to kill me too." The silence that filled the room was only broken by the growls tearing from Nysarti's throat as she struggled to get to Artix.

The rest of the Gods and Goddesses looked at each other anxiously. It was obvious to them that Nysarti had gone insane. There was no other explanation. And a mad Goddess could not be allowed to be unchecked.

It took the four remaining Divine beings to imprison Nysarti and entomb her in her temple in the mortal world.

Almost over night the city in which her temple stood, was swallowed by an impenetrable forest that soon bore the name Deepwood. Word of the terrible crime spread. The worship of the mad Goddess was forbidden.

Nysarti's followers refused to forsake their Goddess, and as one the Mytherax race as a whole relocated to be with her in the Deepwood.

Dorcyth's priesthood, angry and bitter at the murder of their God vowed vengeance against Nysarti, and her followers. Artix's priestesses followed suit and together formed the Order of the Rising Sun. Their mission was simple, to protect the rest of the world from the evil dwelling in the Deepwood.