Chapter 1: The Fallen God
The wind howled like a banshee across the shattered plains, whipping sand and debris against the crumbling remnants of a once-grand city. Its skeletal towers, once scraping the heavens, now stood like broken teeth in a decaying jaw. Eos huddled deeper into his tattered cloak, its faded crimson offering scant protection against the icy bite of the wind. His gaze, however, remained fixed on the horizon where a sickly green light pulsed in the distance. It hung like a festering wound in the sky, a constant reminder of the Otherworlders – monstrous gods from a different dimension who had descended upon their world decades ago, bringing chaos and destruction in their wake.
Eos wasn't old, barely a man some might say. At most, he bore the markings of his late teens. Yet, the lines etched on his face spoke of a life lived far beyond its years. Each groove held a story, etched not by the gentle passage of time but by the harsh realities of his world. He was a Hunter, one of the few who dared venture beyond the safety of the makeshift settlements that dotted the ravaged landscape. These settlements, cobbled together from the debris of a lost civilization, were but pale shadows of the bustling cities that had once existed. Their inhabitants, their eyes forever haunted by the horrors they'd witnessed, clung to a fragile hope, a prayer for a better tomorrow.
Today, though, dread weighed heavy on Eos's heart. Rumors, like tumbleweeds rolling by on the wind, had been swirling for weeks amongst the desperate refugees who streamed into their settlement. Whispers carried on the very breath of the storm spoke of a fallen god. Not one of the monstrous entities from the Otherworld, but a fragment – a broken shard – of Our God, the benevolent deity who had once shielded them. Legends sang of Our God's immense power, of his unyielding defense against the invaders. But ultimately, even divine might had its limits. In a final, desperate act of sacrifice, Our God had shattered the planar barrier between dimensions, driving back the Otherworlders with a cataclysmic blast of energy.
The cost, however, had been immense. Our God's divine essence, shattered and scattered, now lay dormant somewhere within the ravaged landscape. It was a beacon of fading hope, a whispered promise of a potential path forward. But where did this rumor originate? Who had dared venture deep enough to find a trace of their fallen protector? The answer came that very morning, carried by a lone figure limping towards the settlement gates. It was Anya, a seasoned Huntress known for her fearlessness and her uncanny ability to track even the most elusive of prey. But on this day, Anya wasn't herself. Her once vibrant eyes were glazed with exhaustion, her normally confident stride reduced to a desperate shuffle. As she stumbled through the gates, collapsing amongst the startled crowd, Eos knew he was about to hear a tale that would change everything.
A hush fell over the gathered crowd as Eos knelt beside Anya. Panic flickered in their eyes, a stark contrast to the dull despair that usually filled them. Anya, their symbol of unwavering strength, was reduced to a shivering wreck. With practiced hands, Eos checked for wounds, finding none. This was something far more insidious. Anya had touched something she wasn't meant to – something that had driven her to the very edge.
"Water..." she rasped, her voice barely a whisper.
Eos retrieved a canteen from his pack, carefully cradling Anya's head as he helped her drink. The life-giving liquid seemed to spark a flicker of awareness in her clouded eyes.
"The... the ruins..." she gasped, each word a struggle. "West... pulsating light..."
Eos exchanged a grim look with Kai, the grizzled elder who acted as their settlement leader. Kai, his weathered face etched with worry, addressed the crowd.
"Disperse," he boomed, his voice hoarse but commanding. "Return to your duties. We will question Anya and report back when we have a clearer understanding."
As the crowd shuffled away, muttering amongst themselves, Eos helped Anya to her feet. Leaning heavily on his arm, she led them towards Kai's makeshift cabin, a structure cobbled together from scavenged wood and metal. Inside, the flickering light of an oil lamp cast long shadows on the walls.
"A fallen God," Anya rasped, collapsing onto a rough-hewn bench. "A fragment... near the old observatory."
Anya recounted her ordeal in fragmented sentences. She had been following the trail of a particularly aggressive pack of mutated scavengers when she stumbled upon the ruins of a city long swallowed by the encroaching desert. In its heart, bathed in an unnatural green glow, lay a colossal structure – the old astronomical observatory. Drawn by a compulsion she couldn't explain, Anya had ventured inside.
The air inside crackled with an unnatural energy, the air thick with the scent of ozone and dust. As she ascended the crumbling stairs, the pulsating light grew brighter, revealing a massive crater in the observatory's central chamber. At its bottom, embedded deeply within the shattered stone, lay a colossal hand – a hand so large it dwarfed the chamber itself, fingers splayed outwards as if reaching for the sky. But it wasn't flesh and bone; it was a shimmering mass of pure energy, radiating a faint, dying light. The hand of a God, broken and fallen.
The moment Anya laid eyes on it, a wave of nausea crashed over her. Images, not her own, flooded her mind – a celestial battlefield, a being of immense power battling monstrous aberrations, and a final, blinding light. The psychic overload overwhelmed her, forcing her to flee.
As Anya finished her fragmented tale, a heavy silence settled over the room. Kai stroked his beard, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "This… this changes everything," he finally said, his voice tinged with awe and a hint of fear. "A fragment of Our God. Could it be the key to…" his voice trailed off, the unspoken implication hanging heavy in the air.
Eos, his heart pounding with a mixture of dread and anticipation, looked at Kai. "The key to bringing Him back?"