In a land full of vibrant forests, long winding streams of sparkling clear water, dry acrid deserts, and much more, tranquility reigned supreme. All around the world, scenes of contentment and bliss played out.
In a field, a little girl squealed in joy as she played with her two friends amidst the concerned shouts of her parents. Little wings buzzed quietly behind her back.
In another place, raucous laughter filled the air as a family laughed warmly and treated themselves to a hearty family meal. The children and the parents smiled broadly as they basked in the joyful atmosphere.
They solely focused on enjoying themselves to the fullest. Animated talks discussed trivial things.
In another area, a lonely boy lay quietly on the side of a street. Deluges of rain flooded down from the skies above, soaking him and making him more depressed than he already felt.
Shrinking back, he tried to make himself as small as possible, gloomily gazing at the surrounding throngs of people passing by. The boy lamented his fate. Why did someone of his kind have to be treated with such scorn and enmity?
Elsewhere, a tall and muscular boy had a happy grin on his face. His fists constantly clashed with his opponent. With every jolt of pain, his smile turned broader.
A few hundred miles to the east, in a dark and lonely room, a little child with green and red skin shivered. A look of pure terror on her face.
All these scenes and more combined and made their way into the vision of one individual. He watched with a calm yet sorrowful look, at the myriads of people who lived their daily lives without sensing the raging undercurrents flowing beneath this façade of normality.
Atop a vast peak that jutted upwards challenging the heavens, a lone frail figure with a hunched back leaned on a stick. He stood gazing upward toward the starry sky. A solemn expression on his face.
Above him the myriad of stars shined resplendently, lighting up the visage of darkness and emptiness that claimed the firmament at night. They cast a timid glow on the figure's eyes, which contained a depth that rivaled the most-time worn of existences.
Bathing in the dim celestial glow, the figure took a deep breath. All around him, a strange, white mist swirled in response to his inhalation. Hearing the furious howl of the wind in his ears, the elderly figure firmed up his mind as he closed his eyes.
To ensure that his body was in a state of total harmony and peace, the elderly figure took another deep breath as his grip on his stick tightened considerably. Finally prepared to carry out the most challenging task he would ever attempt, his eyes snapped open.
A thrum of power emitted from his body as it converged up into his eyes. An intricate spinning wheel full of circular golden symbols manifested in the figure's pupils as he peered intently at the heavens above.
With the activation of his powers, his vision altered as the needle-like threads, which connected everything together, made their presence known. Tracing the small delicate threads back to their source, he finally reached a large river that was churning silently, exhibiting the fate of countless beings.
Moving his gaze horizontally along the river, the figure paused with his heart trembling. He had just discovered a frightening sight.
Instead of the river extending outwards and continuing for infinity, there was only pitch-black emptiness. An emptiness that was so profound that the elder felt their mind on the verge of crumbling from merely gazing at it.
Suddenly an overwhelming multitude of images attacked the figure's mind as he groaned and fell to the ground.
Chaos.
Destruction.
Death.
All the scenes the figure glimpsed had these recurring themes. Many heroes were valiantly fighting against the deluges of evil and malevolence that threatened to erase the universe as they knew it. Alas, in such a scenario, death was inevitable.
Countless existences lost their lives, drowned in the destruction brought about by the harbinger of chaos: the Devourer of Souls.
Deactivating his powers, two streams of blood flowed down from the figure's tear ducts as his aging body became even more withered and decrepit. He sensed that his heartbeat, which had remained steady for eons, had now become erratic.
His face turned as pale as a sheet.
Although he was among the most powerful in this world, just below the leaders of the major races, he couldn't help but blanch in horror at what he saw. No one could survive that.
Not even him.
Weakly coughing up some blood - a result of the backlash he had received from attempting to pry into heaven's secrets - the figure activated the device on his arm with urgency.
Engraved on the top of the bracelet were three luminous gems of red, green, and orange. Two of them were cracked and broken, leaving only the red behind. Crushing the gem in his hands, the figure created a mental link.
"Listen closely as this prophecy is of the highest importance: Two existences. Two sides of the same coin. One consumed by darkness. The other longs to be home. The Shepherd against the Devourer. The Ancients shall convene. War and Destruction are nigh. A Calamity's birth invokes Chaos' decree."
Cutting off the link, the elderly figure slumped weakly to the ground as blood continued leaking from his eyes.
Finding that he had lost all semblance of sight, he wasn't surprised. Heaven's secrets weren't meant to be viewed by mortal eyes. Losing his sight – which most existences held so dear – was an appropriate price to be paid. At least that's what he believed.
It was better than ending up dead, anyway.
Though based on what he saw, death would be a mercy.
Anything would be better than the horrors yet to come.
At the peak of the tallest mountain found in this world, an archaic yet complicated sigh reverberated through the jagged peaks containing the vicissitudes of life.
'Oh, destined one. Beware of the Great Chaos.'