It was present when the very race they regarded as food, material for evolution fought back, and the figure of that one old man brought fear to its very being, every fibre of its existence.
For a creature that was supposed to be unintelligent and lived based on instinct and impulses it learnt the emotions, fear, respect, admiration and dread.
Even after eons had passed it never forgot the image of the old sage that confined it to the fragment that was now its prison.
Hidden in the depths of the abyss was a dark forest, a huge stretch of land that was filled with massively tall trees with multiple branches but no leaves.
These hulking giants were black and had strength that beat most metals, they were natural treasures that bore the very nature of nether.
A lone beast stayed in its lair, its aura and strength masked by the environment. It remained unbothered by the passing of time, the unending chaos and the cycle of destruction, trapped in its nightmares of the past.
***********************************
A forested land laid in the outer reaches of the boundary that isolated the Tartus fragment from the rest of reality and was one of the more dangerous parts.
There was no indication of time nor were there any more creatures with intelligence or rationality as the sage and his followers made sure to wipe out the strongest ones before making their seal, hence there was no way to tell just how much time had passed.
But it was aware of his actions, the very definition of power, strength that evoked both fear and desperation, it still felt the instinctive urge to devour the course of such strength but it also felt reverence and worship.
*************************************
In a sole tent in the middle of what could only be referred to as carnage.
The lands were littered with bodies, blood and some black liquids were spilled and flowing all over and only a few figures could be seen.
3 figures, a human, a dwarf and a dark elf, all female, sat together as a group a considerable distance from the tent. The dwarf attended to weapons, cleaning and maintaining them, the human sat cross-legged as if in meditation and the dark elf laid with her back against the ground not minding the surroundings.
It was evident they had just been through a great battle, but they were unharmed, just tired. Each carried on with their activities without engaging in small talk, the only sounds being the sounds the weapons made as they were being cleaned and maintained and the soft breath.
"Alright I've had enough, let's get out of here already Keith, this a non-ending task"
The dark elf shouted out as she got up to a seated position, she waved her hands stirring up a dark stream of energy that cleaned her body of the blood and dirt before it vanished.
She got up, walking towards the tents, which caused the human to shake her head with a small giggle. The dwarf stopped her actions of cleaning the weapon, glancing towards her comrade before she sighed and went back to maintaining the weapons that piled around her.
"Keith, we can't keep going this way, I'm fine because I'm a natural nether user, but you should consider the effects staying here for a long time would have on the other two"
The dark elf continued talking as she folded her arms stopping right at the entrance of the tent.
"Oh what about me then, I also can't use nether you know"
A masculine voice came from the inside of a tent, and a short while after a man came out from within it. His tall figure towering over the beautiful dark elf.
She stumbled backwards a little and flashed a wry smile.
"You're different, a total monster, there's no way I'd be worried about you"
The man chuckled, raising his left hand to scratch at his head. He then turned towards the other members of his party, giving them a slight bow and a wave before he faced the dark haired, dark elf.
"You know, if I didn't know how much you loved me I'd be hurt"
His words caused her to flinch, she harrumphed and turned around, heading towards the other human in the group.
"Okay that's enough joking, gather around, let's get this over with so we can leave his shit hole"
With his words all the ladies dropped whatever they were doing and came together. Keith spread out the sheet of paper he had brought out of the tent and spread it on the ground, allowing the other parties to go through it.
A short moment of silence ensued as they considered its feasibility.
"Yvonne, do you think you'd be able to lead the spell on your end, I've already set up the checkpoints and marks on this side"
Keith asked, turning towards the human female. She contemplated for a while before she nodded.
"It's going to be difficult, but if I'm in my dragon form, yeah I can"
She eventually replied, her blue eyes turning reptilian revealing her race as a dragon not a human.
"What about you, Kavera?"
The dwarf didn't take long before she tapped at different points of the sheet and replied
"You're trying to overlap space, the idea seems feasible enough, but you'd need a huge landmark that serve as the anchor on boths sides, I recommend a huge temple built here"
She tapped a position on the sheet before continuing
"The outside will remain in the exposed space, but the inside will be the anchor, creating a pocket space within the isolated world.
It's difficult to explain it, but by doing this the Temple will exist in outside and it's phantom will exist at the same time in the isolated world, the only indication however will be the pocket space, which also serve as an insurance as it can't be accessed from both sides, not without the right keys"
"Well then, that's brilliant"
Keith replied flashing her a smile
"And Tsuki, I trust you'd have no problem being the eye of the array on this side, I assure you won't be trapped inside though"
"I trust you Keith, you don't have to explain it, just tell me my role and I'll play it out, but what will you do?"
"Keith thought for a moment before replying.
"I am the only space wielder among us, so I'll create the pocket space the moment the ritual begins, Kavera would bind it to the Temple and then we would overlap the spaces, forever sealing this tainted land."
The ladies grimaced when they heard of his plan as they knew it wasn't something easy to do, but they nodded in affirmation, none had it easy, each bearing heavy responsibility but it was the price of power, they could only fix the mistakes of the past and hope for a better future.
Black fog, a pure condensation of nether, was abundant in this location with the effects of the seal expelling most of the nether from the centre, pushing them towards the boundaries.
This in turn attracted the stronger creatures, causing the first slaughter.
"Oh and what do I do about this?"
Tsuki asked as she waved her hands, causing a nether creature to rise from the dark fluids that was around her
"It's the oldest creature here, that I can tell, probably survived the great war too, but it's too weak, just equivalent to a peak awakened, it has some intelligence but at best at the level of a baby.
It truly is an ancient relic"
"Oh yes"
Keith spoke as he rubbed his chin
"I was trying out what Yvonne taught me, divination and fate and all and let's say it would be important for the future, deep into the future, it's all for the growth of my successor"
All the girls sighed at his words and Yvonne mumbled
"Perhaps I made a mistake by teaching him the mystic arts, since then he has never shut up about his successor and the grand scheme"
Keith only shook his head and laughed even as he heard her words
He turned his back and they all started performing their roles to start the ritual
"You wouldn't understand why I have to do all this, but it's all for the future of the world"
He sighed with a wry smile before eventually starting the ritual.
************************************
It could only shiver as the 4 performed what could only be called a miracle, the part of Kreatia that had been transformed and turned into their home during the war had been sealed away in the gap between two worlds.
The only reason it survived was due to the whims of the powerful beings.
It watched on in despair as its unintelligent brethren continued their cycle of destruction and predation, this time destroying themselves as their prey were no longer available.
Despair drove it to become stronger, stronger so it will never face that again, and it joined the battle, devouring all that it encountered.
But like a curse, no matter how much it devoured, no matter how much it ate, how stronger it got, it never broke the walls to ascendancy and evolution, no being did.
Time passed and no being could challenge it and it knew it realised it had reached its limits, it could only wait on in horror until its time came, the determined fate the great ones spoke off or its escape, which would come first?