Before life, before light, before darkness, before matter, before anything - there was nothing....

And before there was nothing, there were monsters....

It was said, that in the days before the onset of creation, the void - upon which time and space was laid - teemed with primordial entities, who were neither existent or non-existent; they simply 'were', without beginning... without end... neither living nor dead, beyond both. These beings dwelled in the void in bliss, asleep and dreamless.

But then the first of them awakened, known among the entities as "The Eldest", but known to all other races as "The Creator" - from him came the first 'nothing', the lesser void, upon which reality could thrive.

And from the endless void came the first light and, with it, the first dust - careening into existence, creating the first dimensions and the first matter. Three dimensions were brought into existence, distinct and yet whole - three dimensions acting as one, flowing as one, forming the first reality. And then came the first of the stars, and for an untold billions upon billions of years, the multiverse grew; planets, moons, and solar systems eventually formed. And from that came the first primordial chaos, who - in turn - gave birth to Mordal, the god of chaos and change.

When life first awakened in a world now forgotten, so did the gods come into being, becoming avatars and aspects of life and nature, and from them came order.

With order, came disparity, and it was because of that disparity that the other entities, formerly slumbering in their dreamless sleep, awakened and found themselves surrounded by... things - things that bent and flowed in accordance to their will.

Most of them shrugged at creation and returned to sleep, unperturbed by the presence of matter or reality, discarding it as as a novelty thing, but a few of the entities remained awake; brewing in their eldritch minds was something alien: curiosity.

They had never perceived anything before, other than themselves, and here was 'something' - the very first 'something' they had ever come across. And so the entities drifted amidst the cosmos, nearly breaking apart the fragile disparity as they toyed with the primordial forces of reality - entire universe disappeared and reappeared, stars twisted and turned inwards, entire galaxies became flattened discs, and so on. With reality at the edge of their fingertips, the entities nearly destroyed creation itself.

And so the very first gods, those of the primordial spheres, united and - with all of their strength - created entirely new dimensions, enticing the entities to leave the infant reality. And so the 4th dimension, known only as the Great Abyss, and all the other higher planes of existence, came to be, and nearly all of the entities - the Old Ones - disappeared, never to threaten creation once more....

Nearly all of them, at least....

For there were a few, who stayed.

At least, that's what the stories told her; the simple truth was that no one really knew where the Old Ones came from or how they came to be. No one, not even the eldest of the gods, Mordal himself, knew anything about them other than what everyone already knew: reality was but a toy to these creatures, a plaything that shifted and danced at their whims.

And yet the stories never spoke of the great barrier and how it limited the entities to corporeal forms, and greatly dimished their hold over the fabric of reality. The stories never spoke of the origins of Mana, or the soul realm, nor did they speak of the origins of Qi - they just 'were' and 'are', never questioned or brought to light.

No one really knew anything; Lothien had accepted that... just as she had come to accept many other things that hardly made sense, even with all the power at her fingertips. Then again, only a handful of people were even aware of the Old Ones; their mark upon the world was so incredibly ancient that only those, who were there at the forming of the planet, ever saw one. What she did know, however, was that these creatures were so utterly alien in thought that, despite having no concept of good and evil, they were to be considered as the foulest of creatures, more vile than even the demons, who roamed the Great Nether. They were a blight upon the cosmos; their very presence a wound upon reality. The threat they posed just by being there was so unimaginably great that even the gods feared them.

If The Veil hadn't been erected at the end of the Age of Gods, Lothien had very little doubt that a whole host of them would've already descended upon the earth and banished the creature back into its home dimension.

Those poor hunters - mere mutants, trying to bring down a creature that's probably older than the first matter.

And so Lothien found herself frozen; she could unleash everything she had upon the entity and it would probably not even notice her. She did have a trump card, but... no, the thought of even using it brought chills up her very mortal spine. Was it fear? No, Lothien had faced down many creatures that easily could've snuffed her out of existence.

Indecision, she realized... she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

And then along came the bear...

And, somehow, his presence just made things even more confusing than they already were. Though, it did clear up a few things; namely: the enigma that was the bear's soul. It was nearly identical to that of the Old One's, just... a lot smaller, which meant the fucking talking bear was some kind of infant Old One, which... didn't make any sense. And then the eldritch abomination shrunk down and took on the form of a tiny, black kitten that was probably small enough to comfortably fit in her palms.

And so, from her mouth came the summation of her thoughts.

"What the fuck was that?"

Clearly, her oratorical abilities had not been dimished by time or isolation, because she could not have placed it any more concisely.

"What was what?" The bear asked. The black eldritch cat thing lazed at its back, stretching its arms and legs, exposing its belly to the sun.

"That...." Lothien repeated, blinking. Her eyes hovered over the not-kitten that was yet to even acknowledge her presence. She wasn't sure if she should be feeling glad or angry about that. "What just happened?"

"Oh! Nyx transformed herself into a cat, because that other form of hers smelled like rotten fish! I think it's also a lot easier to travel this way."

"Ah-" Yes, that definitely didn't make any sense to her. Also, that thing had an actual gender? How does that even work? "Yes, I know about that; but- did... did Nyx tell you why she's here?"

"Yeah, apparently, her brother came to this world without permission and she was sent to find him and bring him back home!" Lothien's eyes widened.

"There's another one?!" That was terrible news; one eldritch abomination was impossible enough to deal with. Two of them was just... unthinkable. If only the veil wasn't erected, then the gods would've already done something. "What- why- what the fuck!"

"Yeah... so, I'm gonna help her find him!"

Lothien hadn't noticed the way the bear's voice was eerily human now, or how childish it really was. She didn't notice the power that radiated out of his form, nor the currents of space and time bending around him. All she saw was the egg that was his soul - an infant Old One.

"So... they're not here to destroy the world?" It wasn't a question - not really. It was more a revelation towards herself that just happened to slip her thoughts and out her mouth. Was she relieved? Not quite. Even without meaning to, an Old One of sufficient strength could very easily erase the whole planet out of existence with but a simple thought. This 'Nyx' must not be very high up in their heirarchy, since most of the world still appeared to be intact. "Nevermind that..."

"You're... afraid of her. Why is that?" Ursus asked rather innocently. "Nyx is quite nice."

Should she answer him? Would he even understand the gravity of the situation? For all his intelligence, Ursus was definitely more akin to a child - a very powerful, heavily armed, child. Besides, how would she explain it to begin with? She didn't know the first thing about the Old Ones or how they functioned or how they do what it is they do; she knew nothing.

Her world nearly came crashing down when Nyx, the black kitten, got up from Ursus' back and crawled up to his head, standing atop it as though it was a perch of some kind. The Old One's feline eyes met hers and time seemed to stop for a moment - maybe it did, she wasn't quite sure anymore. Regardless, Lothien steadied herself and stood her ground, meeting its gaze with her own. If she was to die, then she might as well die standing.

The Old One, however, seemed to read her thoughts as it released what might've been a chuckle.

You're afraid of death... strange... where I'm from, death holds no meaning - death doesn't exist. Here, death is so heavy in the minds of everything. You're afraid that I'm going to kill you- no, you're afraid that I'm going to destroy this planet- no, not quite that either. I don't understand your mind; what are you afraid of, little thing?

I... don't know. She finally admitted, before shaking her head. Your name is Nyx, right? What Ursus said about you coming here to find a family member, was it true?

"Meow." Yes, Xholec is going to cause problems for everyone - even us - if he's allowed to run around freely. I have to take him home so daddy can give him a good spanking.

"Wait, what?"

"Considering everything I learned just now- the Silmaris actually seems kind of small." The flying human muttered, but my attention was mostly focused on the Grey Mountains. Up close, I could certainly see why getting through this was hard; the mountain itself was made up of loose rocks and sharp crags, massice constructs of ice and snow, and ancient pitfalls. There were no clear pathways, though there were plenty of caves.

I'd probably need to use Blink a few hundred times to get to the other side.

Nyx yawned at my back, stretching her limbs as she did. This form she'd taken was so tiny, like a newborn cub, but even smaller. She was so small that I barely noticed her presence at times. Though the flying human's eyes did linger over her; she was still afraid. She never really did answer my question, looking back. Well, not that it mattered....

"Regardless of our... previous deal, I will grant you safe passage across the Grey Mountains; your... quest is of great importance and I really don't want to impede you." The flying human said, raising a hand towards the roots of the mountain range. Magical energies gathered at her fingertips for a moment. Not a second later, a brief, but powerful pulse, echoed from under her, spreading outwards across the tall mountains. The ground shook, though Nyx didn't care at all, since she was blissfully asleep, even as the rocks and pebbles at our feet danced.

And then the mountain itself opened up; ice and snow, rock and stone, all of them moved out of the way, creating a pathway that ran forward into the cold heart of the Grey Mountains.

The flying human huffed and turned to look at me, and I felt so amazed at what she just did that I actually turned to face her as well. "There's... something going on, behind all of this - I can feel it. And I feel as though you will be at the center of all that is to come, Ursus. I don't know what's going to happen or why, but I can feel it - in my heart - that a great catastrophe looms over this world. Stay safe and stay alive, and... don't come back - ever. There should be plenty enough for you in the northern kingdoms."

"Okay."

"Follow this path; it will take you to the other side." She said, before turning away from us and hovering back towards the woodlands. "And fare thee well, bear."

"Goodbye, flying human." She stopped and turned, huffing.

"I never did tell you my name, did I?" Flying human muttered, and I had to agree; she never really told me her name. The talking bone thing also didn't tell me its name. "I am Lothien Pallarmo."

"Goodbye, Lothien Pallarmo...."