The Chapter of Solhok the Second

Time went by as it normally would, that hadn't differed.

At least I didn't think it did.

Too much had happened and changed for me and as a result I could hardly handle it all. I think I should be around the age of 48 now but that is more wishful thinking than a proper guess as my memory can remember some 60 odd years.

My body doesn't age anymore but luckily I can slowly change my appearance if I concentrate so I don't look like how I was when I first came here.

Weird that that much time would have passed since then, as I can remember like it was yesterday.

Rex seems to have taken everything in stride and asked us to call him Rexus after what Mars and Lilith said about everything.

He is even one of the leading gods but luckily he hasn't forsaken us and we all remain fast allies.

Even Wyer, whose name I learned after the true awakening, is still among our group.

You know, that guy that joined because it seemed smart? Well, that he is.

That old group we had turned into an alliance and now we all live in the same house in the very first realm among the Abyss.

They are one of the few reasons I can cope with all this at all.

Yet even if I'm not one of the leading gods or one of the strongest ones, I am one of the most skillful among the others.

There are also more things that really helped like the fire of Solhok, which is so beautiful and it always calms me to work on him. I even think I will stop the current passive work I'm doing and awaken him to start with the active one.

Oh, by the way, these fires are something we had been taught.

They basically are or at least will be our living creations.

It is a true art since they should be perfect, have no impurities, no corruption and no other flaws that would ruin, break or destabilize them.

I don't know about the others, but I think I can give them memories and a true body easier. Both are hard to do so they are seldom done.

Most beings need a true physical body, which is why we don’t really make them. The great Lights don’t need bodies though and they are apparently our most important use of this gift, which everyone needs to use for that exact reason, to make great Lights to form your House.

My current and first fire is Solhok, whom I hope at least gets up in strength to a Light.

I also have a list of what kinds of memories would instill in my creations that would recreate the personality that I want.

For Solhok I am going for a ferocious, honorable and loyal male creation.

After he is sentient, all of that could change, get added to or I could fail in the first place but that won't matter as will be as he will become.

What memory should I give him though to make him understand our situation? Well I guess the beginning would make the most sense...

---- The beginning of the First year ----

How beautiful.

That was the first thing that I thought after her speech. Most of the other children were probably in the same state like but evidently not all were.

Rex made way to the very front as did some of the others that I could see. And just like they, I was also curious and wanted to ask how we would get back.

At least that's what I think those others were going to do.

Only when I got nearer to the steps of the throne could I hear that there were already others there, only a few as some more were still coming. Sadly, the first thing I heard wasn't really positive.

“What do you mean? We can't return home!" said a 17 years old girl with red dyed hair.

The woman, who had called herself Lilith before, just smiled.

“You would not want to leave if you only had any patience. And then even if you could, the Abyss only goes so many ways and if there comes new one, its path is definite and eternal. That the path itself gives great power is in return for its price." She said without looking bothered or even interested.

Rex seemed even more exited after that though.

"Great power? We will have that? What is it!" he said one after the other.

This time the man answered. “Power of Magic, Power of War, Power of Life... It is the strength to accomplish your very wish. But you have to learn these, and your skill may not be the best either but shall be able to do them"

I couldn't help myself and the shock of what was previously said hadn't come through yet.

“There is magic? That's unbelievable! That's great! When will we start to learn?" The man suddenly laughed. "Young one, you already are. You have to get attuned to your new being first before you can try to comprehend and use magic. And for you, Young one, in response to the great skill I can feel from you in regards of your new power, have this"

The man held his hand out and a book started to materialize with the wind going to the same spot. When he was finished, he gave the book to me.

"If you ever need to behold the fleeting, impossible or the strong, then use this to keep it and learn from it" He then handed it to me.

It looked old even if it was new, and also magnificent and heavy. The heavy part was the worst part.

Yet, a gift given by a god must be accepted to the fullest.

“Thank you, truly, for this magnificent gift. It is the greatest thing that I own. If you ever need help, know that you have a favor here"

The funny thing was that when I held it, it wasn't nearly as heavy as it looked. The book itself was mostly empty with a few pages filled here and there, which was interesting.

The man nodded and turned back to the others as if I already forgotten.

A guy who arrived here just after we did was deep in thought.

"But why are we here? And why are most of us so young?"

Lilith sighed as if she were about to repeat herself.

“As I said before, you are to be a new origin of life here at this new way of the Abyss.

You will create lives, some mortal, others not.

You will establish your House and after you have learned all you can that we teach, nine of you will create the world and prepare it while the others do so to their personal realm. Those nine will be rewarded of course but even then, that reward will rely on their skill, strength and wisdom.

The reason why most of you are so young is because you all are the most suitable and adaptable.

There may be some variables that we don’t know as most of you weren’t of our faiths, so they could break down mentally or even physically.

But if they don’t, then they have the potential to be a very great pure god”

“And as for learning, I will teach you battle, ruling, cultivation of self and others and war. There are other things you may call me master for, but they will come if there is a reason or request for it” said the man after his partner finished.

The girl from before and the more curious started to ask questions but only a few of them were interesting.

“You two implied that you were gods. Should we know of you? We never had any gods on earth”

“Oh, but you did. We never may have walked that much along side you, but we were always there. Do you not know me? I am Lilith, I once belonged to some of the most major modern faiths”

“And I am Mars, the god of war the Romans once followed. My people eventually forgot our pantheon. Their faith was stolen by Lilith’s old religion and they even tried to exterminate the rest of us when they turned our own. To think they only rose up a few centuries prior. Of course, a pantheon with many Faith Lords is hard to hunt down”.

Rex spoke up after he heard about those Faith Lords.

“What are those Faith Lords? And what is the difference between a religion and a pantheon?”

Mars and Lilith thought about that for a minute and the Lilith spoke.

“A pantheon would be similar to a republic and its council, as in having several leaders who decide most and sometimes having a leader among those too. But in a pantheon, those would be gods so they would hardly ever change in position and never out of it.

They should all be around the same strength too. While in a religion, you only have one Faith Lord and its minions”

“But that has nothing to do with you except for the concept of them. You will have to create a House together with servants and Great Lights. You may step up an alliance between other Houses and your own, much like what you would see with a pantheon but it wouldn’t be as binding.

Oh, and for Faith Lords, only those that pray to them are their people.

To you, all that are your people will pray to you. Things could happen that make a group of your people less responsive or split up with the others but that would happen seldom if you don’t allow it or don’t give them that much freedom.

Another god could also cause it though and then steal them or giving divine protection to make an new ally for himself. If a House has lost their civilisation, then they can always steal some people of another one and continue with them” Added Mars.

Rex was basically jumping out of excitement right now.

“Is that so?! Very well, from this moment forth I will be known as Rexus of House Irrellen! And I will be the best Lord in this new world. This shall be my beginning!”

That’s when the True Awakening really happened. When I realized everything would be different and the shock truly set in.

I further only remember being led away by Rexus and maybe some others to somewhere that had the bed I woke in.

--- At the beginning of the Dark Gods, In the Realm of Il’Sarien. 63 years after the True Awakening ---

Somewhere, in the first realm of the Dark Gods, a lonely soul was working. After managing to bring himself into existence, he had to stabilize his realm.

Sometimes he just had to reinforce it, while at other places he had to destroy and rebuild it all over again but these were only at a few places and nowhere near the pillars of this realm.

While this Dark soul could change his realm, some aspects of it were just natural to it. It seemed like it was always night there though he could always see fine. And only the things he interacted at lot with or the places where he came the most, would have colors.

The rest only had tints of them here and there while seeming gray as a whole.

Another thing was that even if he made the most lush and healthy grass, in his realm it seemed unhealthy, stark or vicious.

As a whole, he didn’t mind it that much as anything at all had been better than the oblivion he had been in not a year ago.

A curious thing he noticed was that the lights that used to only go in one direction, now sometimes come closer to here before missing him or falling into his realm.

If the last part happens and he did nothing with it, he then noticed that the fire slowly fused with his realm, enlarging it even if that was only by miniscule amounts.

After coming across his first one, he instinctually managed to store it within him, which he though was weird but that didn’t seem as much so than some other things he had done.

The little fire didn’t fuse with anything nor did it go out or something. When he checked on it, he seemed to feel an infinite space where he seemingly could store those little lights.

When it happened the fourth time, he didn’t store it nor infused it either naturally or by himself with his realm, no he tried to let it stand by itself but after finally managing to get it up it would just either fall again or just start to disintegrate.

Yet before it did so, the ones that stood would actually move and interact with his realm to a very limited fashion while following his orders.

When he tried to combine another light with one of the ones he had standing, it seemed to have more intellect and disintegrated slower though it wasn’t even close to even a bug back on earth.

So there you would have him now, working on building a house in his realm while also luring in more tiny lights and little fires and collecting them.

To commemorate his existence he had given himself a new name, Illerian Saros, as his old one was forgotten by his time in the Abyss.

He then named his realm after his own name, Il’Sarien, and worked on.