"One-hundred thousand years of cultivation, fifty-thousand years wandering space starlight guiding the way, visiting thousands of galaxies and millions of worlds seeing the wonders of life and terror of death, yet reaching the edge of the universe is still beyond my grasp, now it is ending"
-Unknown human cultivator ~ Heavenly rebirth stage
The [Vast tree universe], a realm of spirits beyond the physical plane above what one would call reality, a place that gives rise to innumerable life forms and the unknown is coming to an end. The realm barrier separating the metaphysical universe from beyond has been torn to the critical point. Soon all efforts of restoring the barrier will cease and the end will be set in stone.
What has brought upon this end? Did the physical world break the taboo of never interacting with that of beyond the physical plane? No. If it was simply so the physical world would be the one facing the end.
The end for this spiritual universe comes from an adversary that is inescapable for beings made of that which is but is not.
The calamity of corruption, it needs not care about the physical or metaphysical It exists simply because it does, it does not care for thought nor might. Corruption can come come in many forms, sometimes visible through ones actions while other times the very thought of corruption is enough to bring fear to one's mind.
Corruption of one's mind, corruption of one's body, corruption of one's soul, it may be simply a word to describe dishonest behavior in the physical world but here it is death. For beings born in a spiritual realm where a single smile can make the sun shine or a single frown make the mountains cry, corruption can make that smile burn the world asunder and that frown twist the very minds of those that witness it leaving nothing but broken beings behind.
In essence corruption in an abstract world leads to an outcome very much not desired.
When a spirit becomes corrupt their mind is no longer right, their body becomes a twisted wretched husk, and as for their spirit or soul as one might call it, it ceases to be pure as can be.
From outside the [Vast tree universe] this corruption arrived, it did not have a form one could call real or fake. Just like debating the existence of a soul in the physical realm no one can really say what form corruption took when it first arrived but soon enough only nightmares remained.
The casualties have surpassed trillions if only counting those defending the realm as billions of spirit galaxies have been silenced. Armies with weapons only found in nightmares traversed the universe giving aid to spirits of all kinds and fending of the corruption as best as they could, but it was not to be.
A red-pink light beam flared in the void releasing such a horrid screaming sound it affected galaxies a billion light years away irregardless of the laws of space.
The beam obliterated everything along its path, be it in the spiritual or physical realm before seemingly hitting its target, the explosion caused the surrounding space to flash and burn orange then white until it left a blotch in space that would therefore never host life ever again. As for any galaxies in the vicinity, if they weren't already dead galaxies then now as billions of stars simply disappeared they are surely no more.
No mortal beings could have seen it coming, the beam of light broke all understanding of reality, while the sound it gave off disappeared the moment the light vanished having never truly existed.
This scene took place a thousand times across a great scar in the void of space, all in an effort to slow down the incoming calamity.
Mortals in the physical realm would never know of why they died, they would never know that from beyond their plane of existence beings beyond their comprehension had written them off as necessary casualties of war without so much as a say, while all the spirits in the vicinity could once curse at the origin of that beam it would be meaningless now.
Weapons that would never be used in even the most dire of circumstances lest they incur the wrath of others were now being fired without regard, it wasn't to obliterate the enemy but to slow it down.
Those inhabitants of nearby galaxies had long started to evacuate those among their people as far as possible from this madness.
Spirits escaping the various nearby planets boarded space ships of all type and sizes leaving their home planets on journeys only wishing to avoid their imminent demise. Depending on the advancement of each spiritual race some had reached the capability of faster then light travel while others had advanced to the point of inventing stellar teleportation.
These forms of travel differed from their physical counterparts faster then light travel and teleportation, a spirit was far more versatile then a being limited by earthly confines after all.
The physical realm had all but been abandoned, few tried to save those they hailed from seeing it as a blessing to die without knowledge of the cause.
"Lord Ophenion, the 51st and 232nd armies have completed their missions and have successfully retreated, they will soon be dismissed as per your order. The 187th, 195th and 314th armies report increased activity in the central corridor, while the..."
"Send some more messengers to the nearby lower realms, tell them prioritize those that have escaped the confines of their home planets on their own first. If you can take them do it, otherwise let them fend for themselves"
"...yes lord, continuing the status report, 12-"
"Forget it, dismiss everyone. Let them go back for their families before it is to late"
"As you say lord Ophenion" the voice replied not understanding what was just said.
The surrounding attendants became silent, dismissing everyone? Would that not hasten the universe's destruction? Would that not send a wave of panic across the spiritual universe?
What about the those who live furthest from the conflict, wouldn't they be unable to see their families even if they go back now? Had the lord of the four void seas gone mad?
The attendants of lord Ophenion knew this was the case, how many of them knew how to teleport?
Mortals could build energy generators covering planets to entire stars, weapons to blow up said planets and stars and even participate in galactic wars involving even the cultivation world at the lowest level but in the end once a spirit reached the realm of body reformation they would no longer be bound by the laws of mortal life.
Yet this did not mean they were beyond grasp, so what if they could escape death via mortal disease when they still couldn't simply teleport to the edge of the universe on a whim.
If someone from the physical realm bends the laws of space to allow for teleportation, they may be able to traverse from galaxy to galaxy in what can amount to mere moments at the cost of a gargantuan amount of energy, of course with the limitation of only being able to teleport around locations where you can gather such energy and the distance traveled being limited to the stability of the energy that can be gathered.
Likewise a spirit can teleport with a much higher energy efficiency from galaxy to galaxy as long as they have the ability and energy to do so. But just like the physical realm energy isn't unlimited to them, they would need time to recover after teleporting.
Spiritual Qi, the energy used by spirits to rule the spiritual universe could only form in places filled with life in the physical realm.
This energy could not be used by mortals in life, it could not be harnessed by any machines created by them and it couldn't even be observed by them, to a mortal spiritual Qi was considered a fictitious fabrication used by spirits to lie about the real source of their power.
As such this power which only that of the spiritual world could use was the lifeline of the spiritual realm and the binding keeping them in check.
"Lord Ophenion please reconsider, if you must dismiss the united army it cannot be done in haste!"
"SILENCE! I HAVE GIVEN MY ORDERS!" Lord Ophenion spat out unable to controll himself.
The surrounding attendants spoke amongst themselves creating some distance between themselves and their lord.
"Did the lord fall to corruption?"
"It must be! How else can you explain this?"
"What should we do? We are no match even united"
"We must send for aid, we cannot deal with this ourselves"
Lord Ophenion saw this hesitation becoming further enraged "It seems you mistake my realization for madness, so be it. Let me show you why I was named lord of the four seas!"
"NO! Please my lor-"
Lord Ophenion - Lord of the four seas, traitor of the spiritual realm.
<+== Intermission ==+>
An exploding star? It may be apocalyptic to some in the physical realm and may even hurt or even kill someone at the deity transformation stage but to one beyond that point it was no different then a hot shower, even tearing space would result in nothing more then a paper cut.
While mortals may consider planets as indispensable resources, a cultivator at body reformation stage or above can simply create planets on a whim.
This did not mean no value could be gained for such beings, simply the things such beings valued are not the same.
<+== Intermission end ==+>
Within the Vast tree universe innumerable spirit continents vast in size held trillions of mortal souls, mortals could not see or step foot inside of these spirit continents, only after death would one be eligible to be reborn to such a place. These mortal souls without body were fragile and at the mercy of fate, among those trillions less then three in every one hundred was eligible to become a spirit cultivator.
Being reborn on a spiritual continent was not a lottery, those who lived life in a way that the scales of life couldn't determine good or evil were sent to spirit continents for final judgement. The lives of mortals on such continents could only be said to be simple.
Technological advancement of any kind was not allowed for mortals, this wasn't a rule set by cultivators but a rule of the afterlife.
Mortal souls are there to be judged one last time free from all the desires of the mortal world, if one fails to live a humble life then their soul will be judged as 'evil' turned into spiritual Qi and sent back to the planet they hailed from.
That was oblivion, true death.
Mortals did not know the universe as they knew it was coming to an end, living their lives in ignorance as they seek their final judgement.
Many spiritual continents on the forefront had been destroyed with all spiritual life extinguished, even the land had been grounded down to nothing more than dust. These continents were the most unfortunate of all being the first to meet the calamity, few species undergoing the trial of the soul escaped the carnage.
The mortal souls within those continents are said to be fortunate by spirit cultivators for they will not have to watch as their protectors abandon them, they will not have to know that every passing day is counted down, the died unknowingly before they could even perceive that their life has ended once more, this time forever.
That is not to say that only mortals couldn't get away, for even spirit cultivators the so called 'immortals' had been incapable of escaping even if they used every means available to them.
The only way for one to survive the current calamity was to already be far from the calamity, one such a continent was know as the [Emerald pine spirit] continent.
It was a vast continent of over 4.7 billion Kms of spiritual land with a plethora of different environments, ecosystems and with many species entering a soul state after death heading here for their final test.
This continent was primarily ruled by a race known as humans, a race/species that was neither small nor large in the grand scheme of things but held just enough power to be considered this continents rulers.
Currently all spirit beings whom could cultivate scoured the lands for absolutely every resource they could, for every ounce of information that could give them the edge over others, for every capable hand they could rope to their side.
One could see entire spiritual ecosystems being razed to the ground, mountains and rivers collapsing even before the great calamity reached them.
This could be said to be wanton greed or it could be said to be desperation. To the mortals that lived in or near the zones beings razed to the ground, it was Armageddon. What could once be considered sacred land or purgatory to those undergoing final judgement was now no different then hell.
Peak mortal technologies can compare only up to the level of deity transformation in terms of fire power, for reference someone at the deity transformation stage can control an entire planets fate at the lowest scale while those at the peak can blow up a star and thereby affect entire star system's using all their might. From the weather on the seas to the land below, all the energies of the world could be used at will as if were a part of their body.
To witness a mountain 30 kms(18.6 miles- about 3.5× mount everest) tall disappear in the blink of an eye, to feel the rumbling of the land below and to hear thunder all around you as you struggle to fight against the winds, a soul crushing moment all in fractions of a second. What was this if not the end?
To a mortal soul what was a spirit cultivator if not a god of the afterlife? If these beings weren't gods then who was?
All across the continent spiritual cultivation sects, family's, clans, empires, kingdoms, and individual races prepared everything they could for one last shot at survival, one last attempt to reach true immortality.
-Salvations Arks- the last attempt at survival that was 'gifted' to the countless spirit races across the spiritual universe littered the skies in all major cities and towns. These arks were designed to act as a sort of living tomb, a place to call home while exploring the unknown beyond the border of the known spiritual universe.
The arks could encompass vast areas from as small as 1 Km to 250 Kms(155 miles) leaving it up to the individual to fill these arks with as much possible variety as they possibly could. Of course not everyone could afford to craft arks of such gargantuan sizes so most arks are limited to 5~50 kms in size, some with double or even triple layers to make the most use of available space as possible.
The vast majority of arks across the universe could only be on the smaller scale in the short run due to most high ranking cultivators falling in battle, going missing after the collapse of the united army's final campaign or simply running away, greatly hindering the evacuation efforts of the vast majority of different powers within the Vast tree universe realm.
This did not stop people for pushing for much as they could, if they could not build the larger more intricate arks then they will build many smaller ones. After all bending space wasn't such a big deal right? Why not expand the space inside the arks even further by expanding space, that way 1 km can equal 2kms or 3 or even more!
If the ark was too small then fill it with space formations, if it was of decent size then do the same on a larger scale either way. If you couldn't afford to do so, then rob your neighbor or go raze the mountains.
Survival was all that mattered now.
Within the Emerald pine continent was a territory known as the Five family union, which was as said - Five families ruling over their own respective zones as to not cause unnecessary conflict. If we ignored the hundreds of lower families under them then these families acted as five kingdoms that had all but the right to rule as kings.
These five families while united in name rarely ever cooperated yet at this moment no one fought the other, while it was not so rare for them to be united as one to fight a foreign threat, it was not often that they looked so serious.
At this moment every member within their respective families loaded every resource that they had acquired into arks as they prepared to set off from their homelands into an unknown future with more peril around every corner then they could imagine.
The Five family union was not a small place, there lived 430 million mortal inhabitants roaming the cities among which over 10 million are spiritual cultivators from a wide variety of ranges from local cultivators to foreign cultivators passing through rushing to their respective homelands or making a bid for a spot on the Arks within the Five family unions control.
With so many spirits living within the borders of the Union and given the limited space on the Arks, no mortal souls will be allowed to roam the arks unless they are sealed in stasis chambers, which may sound like its very space consuming but souls can inhabit a chamber the size of a marble without trouble. Luckily mortal souls very rarely required much upkeep, should one batch be lost all will be well as long as enough remain to reincarnate.
As for the living mortals in the physical realm, the arks can be large but not large enough to keep mortals alive long term, the artificial environments could not sustain such numbers while traveling in the void.
Many mortal planets had been taken from the lower realm and sent into pocket dimensions as a result, these planets would serve are zones of reincarnation for mortals in the future, but as of now most had been forced into a sudo-hibernation state. While they couldn't sustain much life, a few million depending on the size and stability of the planet, they would be able to supply a steady flow of spirit Qi in times of need.
The arks themselves would act like spirit continents, allowing for those in need of additional judgement to properly be judged, at least in theory. Everything was so rushed that many forgot to test whether this actually worked as intended or if they had mistakenly implemented the systems required for reincarnation improperly.
Each family had to make a choice of how many mortals to take and how many to leave behind, this could be just a few million or tens of millions it will all depend on how much one is willing to lose.
While spirit cultivators stay awake and manage the facilities of the arks, they would be the ones undergoing the risks of traveling in the endless void and should they fail to protect the arks while its not certain that they the cultivator will die, all mortals within the arks will certainly perish. Of course they weren't simply taking the mortals with them for free, the price of saving their lives would be the loss a little of their spiritual energy produced in life.
A cultivator who fails to protect the life of one they are in charge of, it will lead to ill karma from the heavens. In general cultivators used mortal souls undergoing judgement as servants in the afterlife and such a thing wasn't considered a punishment due to it being considered a trial of the soul by the rules of the afterlife itself.
This helped to serve both as punishment from the heavens to the mortal and a chain to bind a spirit cultivator to the mortal realm.
Why? Because any mortal that successfully reincarnates will gift positive karma to cultivators, helping to raise the luck of a cultivator attempting to breakthrough to higher ranks.
While those that fail to reincarnation will turn into negative karma and Qi, so while the cultivator might lower their luck they will gain a portion of the spiritual Qi created in return.
It is a wildly effective strategy of heaven that hindered the vast majority of cultivators from ever ascending beyond the heavens. After all the only way to create spiritual Qi was for the living to die and enter the cycle of reincarnation, but one cannot obtain any Qi if the soul successfully reincarnates.
That is to say, many cultivators would tempt mortal souls into a frivolous life to quickly gain a bust of Qi in the future regardless of the negative karma gained.
While those that needed to boost their luck would treat them well but likewise not rise in power.
While not everyone used such methods, it had become the number one strategy for the heavens to control the fate of cultivators.
In total these arks from the Five family union will collectively hold over seven million awake cultivators traversing in-between each ark for their daily needs, most cultivators being of low rank will for a period of time need to consume spirit foods albeit at a manageable rate unlike if they were mortal.
Fasting pills that lower hunger and provide nutrition could be produced for fairly cheap in the spirit realm being easy to refine in batches with alchemy. The downside of this being that all pills are non renewable resources as many raw materials will become unobtainable in large batches from here on out. One may say the fasting pill should not be difficult to produce, but others will say that even a fasting pill still requires spiritual plants to be created.
Eventually even those would run out aswell, leaving the weak to fend for themselves and at that point all bets are off.
This was done half intentionally as there are no records within the union itself of such vessels going on voyages through the void outside the Vast tree universe on such a scale, small vessels may traverse the void on occasion but these behemoths were a whole new beast to them.
Those that adapt to the situation fastest will be given benefits to preserve their lives, while those that intend to keep the statue quo will only suffer.
No one was allowed a free ride, paying quite the price to be allowed in or provide services required amongst cultivators that could possibly be required at some point into the Unknown.
Of course these are arks owned by Five families and not some benevolent organisation, in the end the five family's will be the biggest benefactors from a successful launch and arrival at whatever the destination might be. All of it banked on the idea that they would arrive at the unknown destination after an unknown amount of time. It was truly just a big leap of faith they had to take.
One of the biggest problems to be faced in the future would be all the spirit cultivators with less then reputable pasts and criminals which may have snuck in under disguise, after all it was not possible for everything to go perfect when you are tryin to escape as quickly as possible.
Many problems would arise in the future some of which may be due to ill preparations while other things that should have been left behind hitched a ride or were unintentionally brought along.
Sigils on the side of the vessels flared as they activated partially as a pre-launch test to make sure they actually did what they are supposed to. While things may be rushed the most important parts of working engines and defense had to be done right.
To the mortal souls this frenzy of construction that happened over a period of a hundred years was an economic boom like no other.
The past hundred years had been enough time for a few generations to strike it rich, although this wealth wouldn't follow them into reincarnation it would make them pacified in this 'life' and as such many would fail to reincarnate following this event.
"Sir Rubio our vessels are ready, the passengers have boarded and all equipment and goods have been accounted for, we await your order"
A man with dark golden hair in his late thirties looked toward the sky.
Vessels littered the sky from top to bottom as each family finished their preparations.
"...We will wait a few more days, do not allow anyone to leave the arks from this point on let them get accustomed to their new home, in silence. In the meantime I will hold the celebrations for the successful completion of the arks, the mortals we will have to leave behind now... They were our foundation. It is only right we host a celebration for them to partake"
The man looked defeated.
He ruled over the current generation of the five families for over a century.
Ever since his elders had been conscripted into the united army, he had taken charge over his respective family.
As the years passed he kept on rising both in political power and military might, eventually being elected as the representative for the five family union yet at this moment all of it seemed so fleeting.
As time passed ships were loaded to the brim with spiritual artifacts, plants, animals, materials, and other needs cultivators may have throughout the journey.
More arks and flying ships arrived in the horizon from all across the five family union joining into an armada that would being terror to any who saw it.
Such a force had never before been gathered within the territories of the union, has such a force existed before all of this would they have conquered the entire continent?
'If we could build such a force given our limited space, what could the other countries and empires gather?' the man sighed bitterly
'From the east the Wood family; 14 arks 87 warships over a thousands general flying ships, from the west the Bell family; 5 arks 95 warship and several thousand general flying ships, from the north the Nordaine family; 7 arks 44 warships a thousand or so general flying ships, from the southwest comes the Song family; 13 arks 50 warships and a thousand general flying ships... Thats rather surprising. Compared to my 13 arks 60 warships and three thousand general flying ships it may seem lackluster but they've only recently became a great house, from where did they get such funds?'
As mortals celebrated the completion of the arks, the last of the passengers walked onto the ships and without any further ceremony the Arks took to the sky, speeding up seemingly without looking back at all those left behind in their homeland where they grew up and lived for the better part of their lives.
Dead bodies lay at the launch platforms of the many arks, whether they are mercy killings or simply in order to defend the ark is up to ones judgement.
Those inside the arks stayed silent.
For three days none were allowed to speak, none were allowed to mourn, none had the right to a voice.
Should they speak let them join the dead.
This scene was happened in every spirit continent or large planet of every alien species, some on a small scale of less then five Arks, others with entire fleets of over one-hundred Arks to even thousands of ships for the major races within the Vast Tree realm.
No one knew the destination, no one could claim to have even seen the entire universe or even knew just how great of a calamity they faced, they had no choice but to leave.
Only the top brass of each race knew the true details all others had simply been given the choice of believing the warning of what was to come or not.
Should they ignore the warnings they would simply be left behind but under the collective panic even the most ignorant person would eventually understand that they should do something.
With the hope of finding a safe area to call home once more, with the hope of further progressing on the path toward immortality few would dare think to mock those left behind.
As for the mortals and unlucky cultivators who watched the vessels leave one after the other each had their methods of grieving, the suffering of mortals had only just began.
<+== Echo's of past ==+>
"Here lies the tomb of the annihilation emperor of the [Red forest continent], heed my words if you covet my land of death. 10 spirits entered my resting place and only one came out, 1000 spirits entered my resting place and only one came out, 10,000 spirits entered my resting place and only one came out. To enter is to die. To enter means betrayal. To enter means- ah the word cut out, someone slashed the rest of the passage out"
"Not that it matters, we're going to enter anyway no matter how many warning they try to scare us with"
"Plus 10,000 spirits? This place is lucky if it can fit 500!"
"Hahaha! Your belly alone requires the space of 50!"
"Tch this is why you get buried in a small tomb without grandiose claims, just leave your wealth to your future decedent's, once you die as a spirit do you even get reborn?"
"Heh all the better for us! Now we get to keep the loot for ourselves! Truly a selfless act from a past benefactor"
"Sheesh remind me not to tell you guys where I'm going to be buried, let's just be careful. We never know what kind of traps may be laying in wait" the group of five gathered themselves, entering deeper into the tomb.
Within the hour they reached a central corridor that split into four directions.
"Well what now, should we send a scout or backtrack? I'm seeing plenty of signs of fighting on the way in but not a single skeleton, not to be a jinx but our chances aren't looking great anymore"
"...Well lets just go a little further. Looking at these corridors I think we can guess which one leads to the main chamber" the man pointed at the noticably more beat up path to the left.
"If anything I think we are too late to grave rob this place. If what is written is true, 10,000 others have already done it before us"
"Oi this guy"
The group kept moving forward without any intention, at this point they were either going into the final fight of their lives or simply leaving empty handed. Not fifteen minutes later they arrived at the central chamber where a coffin of sorts floated in the air.
"Ah, I think we're in for a fight"
"Yeah, otherwise the coffin woulda been looted by now aswell"
Arming themselves the group of five prepared for the worst. An hour later one man walked outside.
"Haaa, This will be the fifth and final me. If I cannot succeed with five of me, then I may aswell die! But these guys really weren't that strong. Or maybe I'm just too strong haha!" After a quick laugh the man flew into the sky.
"The first revived eight thousand years ago and died 500 years after, the second revived seven thousand years ago and died 700 years after, the third revived five thousand years ago and that one lived for two thousand years, as for the fourth he revived one thousands years ago but I cannot say how he died... But if I'm here then he can't be alive" he looked to the southwest.
'What is that? No! This is dangerous I must get away!' without hesitation the fifth clone ran.
From afar nothing could be seen chasing, the trees covering the area prevented all but those with exceptional sight from witnessing what the man saw.
'Run! Just run!'
Ahead of him an endless forest with no end in sight, behind him something unknown that felt dangerous.
'Something is wrong, the forest is too silent! My last clone did not revive too long ago it wasn't this silent back then!'
A thousand year time gap, it may seem implausible that nothing would change given that such things rarely happen in the physical realm, but in the spirit realm a tree can go untouched for 10 thousand years in an open field.
The fifth clone opened his eyes and searched wide.
'Not a single insect, not a single bird, no it's worse then that even the air is stagnant'
Behind him far far away from the tomb he ran from a corpse of a large boar like creature with a sword stabbed though its chest lay. Its decomposing body was yellowed, its bones piercing its rotting flesh had started to deform into odd angles not of natural origin.
'Think think! When these guys entered my tomb everything was fine, so why did things suddenly turn this way in a matter of hours?'
The body of the creature which should logically hold no life started to twitch. The sky turned yellow, the sound of even the mans running footsteps faded.
'!'
'!...!!!'
'!'
The fifth clone couldn't hear his own steps.
The fifth clone couldn't hear his own thoughts.
The fifth clone couldn't be.
The creature began to rise, the sword logged in its chest shone brightly discharging large amounts of smoke from where it pierced the creatures vertebrae.
Flash*
All light disappeared, forcing the fifth clone to slow.
Flash*
Light returned, but the fifth clone had disappeared.
The forest stayed silent. The sky seemed to melt yellow. The creature stood still, no movements had been made.
"Oh well this is not good, just what is that thing?" An old man with a pony tail looked at the creature from such a distance away he would be in space should he be in the physical realm.
"Thank you for saving me senior!" The fifth clone having escaped the forest showed his gratitude.
"Don't thank me, not yet at least" the old man drew a spear from thin air.
Looking towards the forest that seemed to expand forever the man felt the air get heavier.
"Senior I think it's best if we run away instead"
"Maybe, take this" the old man replied firmly while handing the 5th clone a protection treasure and a tablet.
"It's got its sights locked in on me, use the tablet to ask for assistance from the overseer's" the old man pushed the 5th clone launching him away at hypersonic speeds into a portal.
'The overseers! Who is this old guy?' the fifth clone had that final thought before he vanished.
The old man now alone with the creature spoke.
"That sword stuck to your chest, I've seen it once before. What was it around four thousand years ago now? The heavenly Maya wielded it, but I don't see her around and I doubt she would leave a sword to act as a seal had she not encountered misfortune. So knowing this will be my final fight, I ask for your name creature"
The creature looked toward the old man and the old man heard a thought enter his mind.
'Corruption'
This was the first recorded encounter with the calamity of corruption, as recounted by the spear saint Hajl and the fifth clone.
The heavenly Maya was assumed to have encountered the creature plagued by 'Corruption' before hand but her whereabouts remain unknown to this day.
The origins of the creature still remains unknown but it is believed to be from extracosmic origin.
To date the creature remains elusive having escaped the destruction of the [Red forest continent] and the pursuit of an extermination squad. Spear saint Hajl survived with grievous injuries but states 'I will fight the beast one day, but until then my new disciple will take precedence. The dread that thing gives me to this day, I fear it's only going to get worse'.
Later records from the Phoenix palace upon receiving the report _which_they_claim_was_received_too_late_ clarifies that the creature calling itself corruption should have been chased down and exterminated at _ALL_ cost.
Future events would prove this to be true.