The Fallen Fragments

Prologue

      You know, people can be very clueless sometimes. Upon what land they rest atop of, and what sacrifices were made for humanity to exist. Quite interesting how it is. How this world works. At least some would wonder how their life force came to be.

There was an old legend, a legend that should have been forgotten by all. A tale lost to time and far more ancient than this village itself. The time even before the King's reign. Or even the Kings before him. It is the story or legend, as some people called it, of the Celestial Divines.

A tale of warriors from long ago, who had fought for the freedom of humanity, who fought to protect the Realms that ruled our planet. All of which, who have been scattered throughout the shards of our magic.
Perhaps, this story is better off forgotten, yet it is important, so I shall tell you about it.
Agalia the Mender, Damian the Guardian, Alvah the Slayer, Cyril the Shadow, Eldon the Spell-caster, Arwin the Executioner, Securos the Illusionist, and finally, the leader herself, Aria the Divine.

These godlike beings had the power to destroy all, but they did not, for it seemed that they had other goals. They were said to be made of purity and good will. Their Soul Fragments, gifted by Aria, bestowed a strength upon them far greater than any mortal alive. The power to protect, the power to heal, and the power to create.
They had something that no creature could obtain. Immortality.
Generation after generation they fought. Until their power was to be tested, in the War of the Void Lurkers.

It was an endless nightmare, cold and bleak.

This battle left a scar on this Realm's creation. Darkness purged all peace that was to be brought into existence, many lost their lives to this historic mistake. It seemed that the blood stains never dried. To this day, the land has been marked by the blood of the deceased and the honoured. It lasted for years, decades, perhaps even centuries.

The Warriors themselves were badly organised. This war zone had started to decay, it was dark, and no human passed its boundaries. No book or scroll could've held the finished tale on how this bloodshed ended. Some say that it was likely Lady Aria who had halted this anarchy. Some say that it is much deeper than that, but we shall never know, for only the Divine can reveal their pasts.
After all of that, each god and goddess stood as strong as ever. Sealing the apocalyptic army they had fought into a Realm that some believe to have belonged to Cyril.

The war had brought their world to ruins, there was no order, no logic to be seen. And so, they gave birth to the 8 Split Tribe Relics, a creation where each of the Divine built and started their own tribe village, only for them to connect in the middle. This colony had lasted long for the most part, but people have believed that arguments were spread among the friends and villages.
Rumours. Dark rumours, apparently one of the divines had been wielding 'dark magic', an element created for those of ill intent.
"Seal them away!", they said. "Rid them of their impurity!", they shouted. Each village had grown to live against the warriors, especially Aria herself. "You have brought this Realm into havoc! You have tainted the memory of our loved ones!", they grew angrier by the day. "Seal HIM away!", they chanted.

At first sight, it would've seemed that the divine could do no evil, but that belief had been a lie. Cyril, the Shadow, had found a power in his Soul Fragment, a power that humanity had despised. All those years of fighting alongside the gods, left him emotionless, thus creating an evil within him.

Using it, he murdered thousands, tortured innocents, and manipulated the mortals he had considered 'weak'. His power was known as Corruption, the very essence that started the war.
That element was forbidden to the divine, they said it would feed of off one's purity, and slowly start to shatter their existence, but Cyril thought otherwise.
He believed he was stronger than Aria, and he was going to prove it.

Behind Aria's back, he would taint the souls of those who stood in his way. Kings and queens were brought trembling to their knees. His wrath was as powerful as an army. Or so he thought.

One day, Aria caught him in the act, trying to merge a human, with a corrupted soul shard of the deceased.
Going against her orders, he used his corruption to his advantage while she was distracted. He withered away her very tribe. Right.Before.Her.Eyes.

Enraged by this deed, they clashed swords, but Cyril's power hungry will could not defeat Aria's. He summoned reanimations of broken souls, corrupted the land around him, but his darkness was always outshone by his superior.
No one could've foreseen the horror that was to come.
All 7 gods and goddesses rose to end his reign of misery. Slowly, they began to rip out his Fragment, scattering bits and pieces of its shards across the realms.
Using the power of their Fragments as well, they sealed him in his own dimension using their combined power. The Afterworld was no longer accessible by either divine or human.

Once again, the group had lost an important piece of them. The Realm had been brought back to peace.
After this dilemma, their relationship had never been the same.
Millenniums had passed, and they all went their separate ways.
Aria continued her legacy and rebuilt her tribe.
Every so often, it is said that you can feel her presence while wandering the streets of IsleStream village.

Over time, the divine grew tired, repeat after repeat, over and over again. Each day would restart to begin the cycle. This went on for years.
During that time, each warrior created their own respective realms, where they would soon end their life.
No mortal could access another realm without the help of a being that possessed god-like power, because of that, no one has seen the divine ever since. Supposedly, each god hid their Soul Fragment's shard deep within their Realm, leaving only one piece in their tribe, hidden and sealed away. Perhaps a sign for them to be remembered.

Aria herself had ensured that this world was protected, sealing her whole Fragment into the Celestial dimension.

Till this day, no one knows if this is true, nor if the divine has a reincarnation being of themselves. But some have believed that if the shards of their fragments can be recovered, they can be used to open one of the 7 Realms of the Divine.
There is a cost however, only one who holds the power of a god, can wield a Fragment, either a descendant of the originals or the reincarnation of the previous. If a Fragment were to fall into the hands of a normal being, it could cause great damage to their bodies, or even in the worst scenarios, death itself.

Fragments do not accept regular creatures, if they feel that their host is not worthy of holding such power, they will slowly start to disintegrate the victim's body.

Although it is not possible to regain the shards of one whole, single fragment, one must collect at least one shard that once belonged to each Divine.
Combining these shards will only create an amulet capable of opening one Realm portal. It will not hold the power equivalent to that of an actual Soul Relic, but it is compatible enough to allow the user to travel through the designated dimension that they have chosen.

You could say that this tale does not have a happy ending, that might be so. For the 7 Divines, their story has ended, but for Cyril, it has not.
This is only the beginning of Eylaria's legend, maybe one day, a saviour will be able to bring our world back to its original state.
For now, the Afterworld's portal stays dormant.