1 Origin

In the beginning, there was nothing. The cosmos was in a formless state of complete darkness known as the void. A single existence of temporal infinity. After billions of years of absolute darkness and stillness, the first creation was made. A creation that was made after the essence of matter became intricately bound together.

The Cosmic Egg.

A divine egg that consistes of three colours.

— White, that combined all light,

—Black, that contained no light,

— Grey, that combined the two colours.

Billions of years after the cosmic egg was formed, the true essence of matter inside the egg had hardened together to form the Cosmic Core. The true yolk of the cosmic egg. The cosmic core was the source of life in the universe. The very source from which everything in the cosmos, came into existence.

With the passage of time, the power of the cosmic core could no longer be contained within the cosmic shell. This was due to the cosmic core becoming full sentience existence from the condensed essence of matter from the void. The Cosmic Core began to expand intricately, shattering the cosmic shell and causing the universe to manifest and evolve.

The cosmic core, manifesting the three colours of the cosmic shell, began to expand rapidly. The white part of the cosmic core, formed the Heavens. The black-colored side, became the Abyss. While, the grey area of the cosmic core transformed to the earth. This was how the universe became known as the three-cosmic realm. A cosmos of three realms. Though, there were dimensional worlds and dominions inbetween the realms, there were only three cosmic realms.

The creation and destruction of the cosmic shell to form the cosmic core, created the manifestations of the cosmic core. Life and death. Creation and incarnation in the universe, would be in the hands of the cosmic core. In that way, the cosmic core was part of all creation, and all creation was part of the cosmic core.

And from its life essence, the cosmic core created the living entities. The deities of the heavens and the abyss. The mighty mortals of the earth. And, the magical beasts of the dimensional worlds.

After the creation of the living entities, the cosmic core was named Pangu by the entities.

The pellets of the essence of Pangu, formed the cosmic crystals. Crystals containing mighty powers of various essence of matter. These crystals could make any deity or mortal to become incredibly powerful.

At the same time, the shattered shells of the cosmic egg were transformed during the expansion to create different cosmic weapons. These were weapons that could make the owner exceedingly powerful. They were divided into three categories, the earthly, the heavenly and the divine weapons. Their powers couldn't be emphasized enough.

But first, the cosmic crystals and the cosmic weapons had to be found. They were hidden all over the universe during the age of expansion.

For many years that followed creation, peace reigned in the universe.

Like the credence of Pangu when it was still inside the cosmic shell, all deities and mortals could acquire credence too. Credence would allow them to become much more stronger in accord with the levels of credence.

But there was a rule of credence that made if forbidden for all deities or mortals, to forcefully acquire credence from others without their consent. True credence was mainly achieved through a bargain between a deity and a mortal. The offering of power and support to the mortal as a patron in return for the mortal's credence.

With promises of power and support, many deities became the patrons of the mortals. Temples were built in their honor. And it was in these temples, that credences were offered to these deities. Though the deities were originally colossal entities with unimaginable powers, it was these credences that took their powers to the extreme.

But not only the deities that recieved credences, the mortals did too. The most populous of the three realms.

However, not just all mortals recieved credence, but of a variation of mortals known as the ancients.

The ancients!

These were powerful mortals with capacities of achieving greatness beyond the imaginable abilities of other mortals. Though, they were born with the necessary powers to do things that no ordinary mortal could dream of achieving, they had to harness these powers. This, they could attain if they could indulge in adequate cultivation of their inner and external energies. And, with the universe on their side.

These ancients, could even transcend the mortal realm. With their transcendence, they could decide to move to the heavenly realm or the abyssal realm to become deities. Or, they could make the decision to remain in the mortal realm as titans. Whatever their decisions, they would have to face the reality of them.

Titans?

If it was their decisions to be mortal titans, they would have to remain in the mortal realm. True that they would remain in the mortal realm, but as titans, they would move to the uppermost pantheon. The highest dominion of the mortal realm known as, the Soulforge.

Heavenly deities?

With their choices to be heavenly deities, they would have to leave the mortal realm for the heavenly realm. But, in the heavenly realm, they would have to move to the lowest dominion, the Cloudfall. Here, they would reign as low-deities.

Abyssal deities?

This interest of being abyssal deities, would take them to the abyssal realm. Their pantheon would be the Ravenshield, the lowest dominion in the abyssal realm. They would be lesser-deities in this realm.

In the Book Of The Ancients, there were records of the ancients of the past, who had made their own choices. Ancients who became deities and those that became titans.

Some of the ancients who had become deities were,

— Haishen, who became the goddess of the sea.

— Yushi, who became the goddess of rain.

— Lushen, who became the god of the road.

— Sun Wukong, who became the god of the simians. Perhaps, this was the most fascinating of the tales of the ancients. Born as an ancient, a trueborn to be precise, into the Wookos tribe of the Simian mortals. He was called the Monkey King when he was still in the motal realm but now was the patron god of the Simian mortals.

While there were also records of ancients who had decided to become titans. Some instances of the titans were,

— Buddha Bodhisattva and Buddha Bhavana, who became the titans of Nirvana.

— Taizu, who became the titan of Taichao.

These were some of the ancients and their powerful exploits. All recorded in the Book Of The Ancients.

There was balance in the universe as peace continued to reign. Until, the primeval wars started between the heavens and the abyss. Wars of unknown origin that threatened the balance of the universe.

As the war raged on, deities in the two realms, began to choose sides among themselves. This led to the internal wars of the deities. Together with the primeval wars, these wars became known as the 'Immortal Wars'.

Soon, the Immortal Wars reached the mortal realm, creating a balance in the structure of the universe. However, to maintain the balance, deities began to choose their champions from the mortals. Champions for different objectives, not the least, to gather more followers to offer credences. Titans too, were picking their champions to further their own purposes.

Though, most of the mortal tribes and clans, were followers of the immortal deities, the ancients were unaffiliated to any deity or titan, originally. They were only protecting their tribes, clans, villages and cities. Their affinity with immortal deities began during the beginning of the primeval wars.

And since the dawn of the immortal wars in the mortal realm, the ancients had seen the benefits of being affiliated with an immortal deity. Due to this, once born, the aim of an ancient, was to be noticed by an immortal deity. And which god wouldn't want an ancient as a subordinate god or titan?

Of all the realms, mortal realm became the conjecture of the realms. And, the ancients became the most important and sought after beings in the three realms. No matter how it was percieved, one thing was certain. The ancients were the chosen ones.

Ancients with the backing of an immortal patron, rose to power much more faster. They were much more powerful than those with no gods or dead gods. Moreover, they were the rulers of the continents or mortal realm.

So, which ancient wouldn't want the best for his or her own people?

But, with all the benefits of being an ancient, one thing was quite clear. The path of an ancient was a deadly and dangerous one. An ancient was like a beacon of target for deities and titans, through their champions. Even, a rogue deity or titan, could attack an ancient directly, ignoring the consequences.

Afterall, this was the immortal wars. No holds barred for the mindless.