**1:1** In the beginning, there was neither light nor darkness, neither heaven nor earth, but only an endless void of chaos. Within this chaos slumbered *The Ever-Sleeper*, who was neither form nor thought, neither beginning nor end, neither good nor evil, silent as death, still as the grave.
**1:2** From the dreams of the Ever-Sleeper arose all things. His dreaming stirred as unseen tides, and from their depths was born the first drop of *Primal Essence*. The Primal Essence divided into three drops, from which were wrought three gods: **Sonor**, **Vertas**, and **Carnoc**.
**1:3** Sonor was the Creator, who wove all things from the Primal Essence and fashioned countless shards to form the First World, *Nocril*.
**1:4** Vertas was the Arbiter, who bore the Scales of the Void, seeking to balance all things, yet his scales were ever unsteady, tilting to and fro, never achieving harmony.
**1:5** Carnoc was the Destroyer, who scorned the creations of Sonor, deeming them vain illusions. He seized fragments of the First World, transforming them into a black fire of destruction, which consumed all it touched.
**1:6** The three gods contended amidst the chaos. Sonor built, Carnoc destroyed, and Vertas wandered between them, striving to bring balance. Their strife turned the chaos into an abyss, and above this abyss, the First World began to take shape.
**1:7** The foundations of the world were crafted by Sonor, but their form was twisted, for all that was created bore the scars of Carnoc's black fire, and Vertas' scales could not erase the marks of ruin.
**1:8** Yet in the ashes of the First World, a single thing remained unconsumed: a *Primordial Heart*. From this heart arose the first race of beings, called the *Valos*.
**1:9** The Valos were neither flesh nor soul but pure will. They wandered the abyss, bearing witness to the strife of the three gods, and from the fragments of ruin, they came to comprehend the *Power of Will*.
**1:10** Among the Valos, the strongest nine were chosen and called the *Dark Apostles*. Weary of the gods' endless strife, they united and, wielding the Power of Will, sought to overturn the Primal Essence and cast down the three gods from the First World.
**1:11** Sonor, enraged, raised an army of endless shards to wage war against the Apostles. Vertas, attempting to mediate, was torn asunder, his scales shattered by the Apostles. Carnoc, beholding the might of the Apostles, was not angered but pleased and gifted them his black fire as a weapon.
**1:12** For a thousand years, war raged, and the powers of the three gods and the Dark Apostles sundered the First World, scattering its fragments to form countless dimensions and realms.
**1:13** Before his defeat, Sonor sealed the Apostles, binding their wills within the *Prison of Dreams*, which drifts above the abyss, forever lost.
**1:14** Carnoc, for his betrayal of Sonor, was cast into the abyss, and his black fire became the devouring *Falling Stars*. Each Falling Star bore a fragment of Carnoc and descended into the newborn realms, sowing destruction.
**1:15** Vertas, bereft of his scales, wandered between dimensions. He became an unseen mist, and those mortals who encountered him were transformed into formless shapes and eternal memories, becoming his everlasting followers.
**1:16** Once more, the world returned to silence. In the last remnant of the Primal Essence, Sonor created a second race of beings, called the *Sevril*.
**1:17** The Sevril were neither wholly good nor wholly evil. They inherited Sonor's power of creation but were tainted by the remnants of black fire, bearing within them the instinct for destruction. They became the rulers of the Second World and the jailers of the first race, the Valos.
**1:18** Yet among the Sevril was one named *Nairtak*, who discovered the gate to the Dream Prison. Tempted by Carnoc's Falling Star, he opened the gate and released the nine Dark Apostles.
**1:19** The Apostles, once freed, were no longer content with the Power of Will. They sought to claim Sonor's Primal Essence and bend all worlds to their unyielding madness.
**1:20** Thus began the eternal cycle of the worlds: the shadow of the Apostles, the black fire of Carnoc, the mist of Vertas, and the shards of Sonor, ever entwined in creation, conflict, destruction, and rebirth across every newborn realm.