Reality was, and will be, a nameless void. And yet, unsourced possibility intruded upon the dark. It was the beginning of the First War, the War of Creation, the battle between is and is not.

  Those few who discovered some residual knowledge of that war would call the first possibility the Mysterious One. Alone of those who survived, it had no name.

  The Mysterious One made forces and strove to shape them. But the mindless void broke all things back into inert nothingness. The Mysterious One struggled simply to survive.

  At last, it focused all its power and cracked formless space. That fracture was the Elder Origin, and from it an explosion of new possibilities poured into the void, fighting even as they took their first steps into reality. They drove back the void and made matter and energy between them. There was no time. All of this happened in an Instant.

  First and foremost among the children of the Mysterious One were the Primals, cosmic forces that bound the universe and stalled entropy. Second were the Eld, titanic abominations that shared concepts between their clans. Last and youngest were the Gods, who would unveil and shape creation.

  But the still dark was not yet undone. A possibility wormed into a splinter of the void and gave it mind. And the void hated mind and wished for the return of the natural state of nothingness. The Mannish races would call it the Dark God, though it was as above Gods as Gods were above men.

  The Dark God struck without warning, unmaking and destroying Primals, Gods and entire concepts. So the children of the Mysterious One rallied and fought back, determined to save creation. There was no time then. All of this happened in an Instant.

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  The Mysterious One took the upper hand and its children were nearly the victors of the contest. Then the Dark God stretched forth its own power but it did not unmake. Instead, it corrupted. From the wreckage of defeated Gods and doomed concepts it made the Beings.

  This was the beginning of Malos the Dead Sun, and its birth cry was apathy and despair. It also made Arlthamak the Flaming Moon, that was a savage bloodlust that would even destroy itself. There was Vulakhzu the Spirit Hunger to pervert existence and Zkherimiss the Corruptor to twist reality and pollute purity.

  Though there was no time, the War was long. Many were the valorous deeds of Primals, Eld, and Gods. Colors, concepts, energies and states of matter were lost and would never be known by mortal Men. In the extremity, the children of the Mysterious One made children of their own. From Gosdaita, she who first made gender and forged souls for the Gods, there came the Spirits of the Dawn. Pitr, the Endless Linnorm, made for himself a mate and with her fathered the Firstborn Dragons. Seene brought forth the Fae and Kirshata, greatest of the Eld, forged Giants.

  Yet for all their power, they nearly fell. The Dark God and the Four Beings were so mighty that their enemies were dismantled in numbers that defied mortal comprehension.

  Still, the Mysterious One persevered and finally found victory. The powers of the void were driven back and a barrier was forged around reality, trapping the Dark God and its servants in Oblivion.

  Then the Mysterious One showed the children what their battles had preserved and created. It showed them how to preserve the barrier and taught them duty. When it was done, it set the Cycle of True above the Elder Origin and set it to its proper movement before departing. No Primal, Eld or God saw their parent again.