Chapter 1: The Legend of Iblis
He is Origin. He is Ancient. He is War. When he returns, all nonbelievers shall be smitten from the Earth.
What's going on?! What did he do to me? I just have to hold it together. Iblis could somehow feel his consciousness being hurdled through what he could only assume was time and space. Everything will be alright. You just have to remember who you are and what you came from. Just remember who you are. Remember what you came from.
Who you are.
What you came from.
In the beginning, there was nothing but Void. Believed to be nothing more than a semi-sentient mass of unstable energy, it consumed all and contained all. Yet Void could not continue to exist like this forever, and as its energies cracked and stabilized a new entity would be separated—yet would have an existence forever intertwined with Void. This would mark the birth of Iblis of Origin (some refer to this as Iblis of Void, but the two are known to be generally interchangeable). This event also begat the eternal struggle between Void and Origin—the endless conflict between destruction and creation. Their billions of years’ worth of battles led to the creation of the entire known universe.
It became clear after some time that Void could not compete with Iblis of Origin—his powers and abilities became stronger as Void became weaker, but it could never truly destroy Iblis' creations. With infinite wisdom, Iblis made it so that destruction would beget more creation and that absolute destruction would be near impossible. Soon Void could not directly compete with Iblis of Origin, leading to the ultimatum that Void would never show or make itself known in his presence. Void would accept this, but it never remained totally absent, and the cycle of creation and destruction was preserved.
In Void's absence, Iblis found time to experiment and play with the various forces of the universe. He found it amusing for some time; watching planets, stars, and galaxies being born and destroyed gave him a unique joy. It did not last though, and Iblis suddenly found that in the relative peace he was bored and lonely. He resolved to try a new experiment, to try something that he could not predict. And so he traveled about the universe, planting the seeds of life among countless worlds. Iblis watched and noted what succeeded and what failed, and spent many more billions of years watching life evolve and develop.
Iblis' experiment quickly proved to be extremely successful, and simple life turned into complex life, complex life became sentient life, and sentient life came to know Iblis of Origin. As he met them, Iblis came to love them. He treated them all as his children, and supported and nurtured them. Some of them advanced more quickly than others, but he loved them all the same. When they were happy, he was happy. When they were sad, he was sad. When they fought among themselves, he took it upon himself to help them settle their quarrels. However, he had watched them for long enough to know that their natural cycle was something that had to progress and should not be stopped.
As this process completed and they died, he found that most—if not all—of their souls were lost and aimless. Without a physical form, the souls lost all purpose. To reward all of them for completing the cycle, even if prematurely, he created the Realm of Heaven. It was a paradise and a celebration of life. He even created gateways to the Realm of Heaven from the Realm of Mortals for those who had managed to progress to a certain point in their civilizations. Things quickly turned for the worse when several souls started to abuse their privileges in Heaven and began to torment others. This imbalance did not go unnoticed, and Iblis of Origin created a minor plane to store the souls of the wicked.
The populace of this realm grew more quickly than anticipated. As the countless souls flooded into this realm, it quickly evolved and transformed into a major plane. Unfortunately, with this unexpected development, the souls of the just and the wicked each got lost and sent into the wrong planes. Iblis of Origin turned to his oldest children and appointed one to judge the souls of the righteous and the evil, and together the balance was restored. Heaven now existed to celebrate goodness, and Hell existed to punish evil. The cycle of creation and destruction was maintained, and all was good.
Although he was immensely powerful and was without any mortal limit, Iblis found it convenient to employ various agents to help enforce his will. There were innumerable souls raised to fight alongside Iblis, but the most important and proud of these was Lucifer. None remain who know where Lucifer came from or when he was raised to be an angel, but all who have existed after can never forget his legacy.
Many of the souls occupying Hell became twisted and corrupted by its influence, allowing them to overcome whatever punishment was devised for them. Some of the more powerful of these souls even came to rule over the lesser ones, starting the rise of the Demon Lords. Lucifer had been one of the few angels to ever face a Demon Lord directly and saw what terrible malice and brutality they were capable of. He feared what they could, and would, do if left unchecked, and brought these fears to Iblis. In his infinite wisdom, Iblis knew that the Demon Lords posed no threat to his creation and dismissed Lucifer’s fears. Lucifer, however, was not so easily convinced.
Knowing that Demon Lords were capable of twisting and turning other, weaker souls into demons that they could use to bolster their forces, Lucifer came to the mortal worlds and began imposing a strict rule upon them to prevent any of their people’s souls from being sent into the Realm of Hell. For a short time, this plan worked, baffling the Judge of Souls—who dismissed any initial fears as they believed Lucifer’s reasoning that it was all in Iblis’ best interest. Soon, however, Lucifer noticed that even under his rule there was no end to the number of souls being sent to Hell, and came to purging all life from worlds that he felt could not be saved. Countless lives were lost, as was the precarious balance Iblis strove to preserve.
There exists only one being who could revel in such wanton destruction. Void, who had laid dormant for millions—possibly billions—of years, stirred once more and sought out the agent causing so much chaos. It found Lucifer blind and deaf to all other reason and began to influence his thoughts. Seeing Lucifer’s impossible devotion to purifying life, Void convinced him that the only true path to achieving his goal lay with an even more impossible task: the destruction of Iblis of Origin. Lucifer, seeing no other alternative, accepted Void’s offer and merged with the entity. With newfound power and resolve, Lucifer came to many other angels and recruited them to his new cause, and prepared for his greatest feat of all.
Iblis of Origin had now settled unknowingly on his final world. He had witnessed the birth and rise of the powerful Ancients and helped them start constructing a massive city as a testament to their power. Whispers of Lucifer’s betrayal had made their way to Iblis, and he began to fear that his loyal child had fallen to some inexplicable darkness. This did not worry him too much, however, as no being or race would willingly join Lucifer, and none could bring him any harm. He believed this until Lucifer’s rebellion came, and he fought them alongside the Ancients and the few races left from the extermination who had managed to resist Lucifer’s rule. The rebellion came to a head when Lucifer and Iblis fought one-on-one, and the betrayer managed to severely injure Iblis—to whom it had suddenly become clear what agent would allow Lucifer to do such a thing. As Lucifer came to Iblis to destroy him, he revealed that by becoming one with Void—with the antithesis of all they had stood for—Lucifer had tied their existences together and had imposed upon himself the same bond that existed between Iblis of Origin and Void.
Awestruck by this news, Lucifer left himself defenseless, which allowed Iblis one final chance to cast his former disciple into the darkest reaches of Hell. Lucifer was successfully trapped and imprisoned, and spent the rest of his days plotting and planning to once again overthrow his misguided master. Iblis of Origin, however, made several revelations that day. His remaining children were to remain separate forever, even in the Realms of Heaven and Hell. He would leave many of his closest and most loyal of angels and archangels to watch over Hell to ensure that another uprising never occurred. His final, and most startling, revelation was that he was to remain on the Mortal Plane for the rest of his existence, and the Realms of Heaven and Hell would be locked away, never to be accessed by mortals again.
Iblis of Origin made his final blessings and promised each of his children that he would return to them one day and save them. Greatly weakened by his injuries, Iblis of Origin settled on the world of the Ancients and continued helping them construct their grand city until the day came where he reincarnated and took another form. The Ancients took this new Iblis in and taught him what they knew of his history. In turn, this new Iblis gave them guidance and knowledge, helping them become a great and prosperous civilization. This peace lasted for a long time until a rift developed in their society. The Iblis of this era then forged the realm of Sanctuary and led some of the Ancients there. He then claimed the title of Iblis of Sanctuary (although the mortals would refer to him as Iblis of Ancients). Iblis then watched the remaining Ancients and saw as they slowly became humans.
Iblis of Sanctuary witnessed the rise of a singular human nation. As time passed on, Iblis of Sanctuary grew weaker, as Iblis of Origin did before him. Iblis soon reincarnated and disappeared, leaving humankind to its own devices. In his absence, the single human nation split into many smaller nations. These various nations developed their own ideologies and beliefs separate from those taught to them by Iblis of Sanctuary. In time, all nations forgot about Iblis, except for one. They held power in the massive city constructed by the Ancients before them, and they called themselves the Iblanites.
Some called the Iblanites zealots. Others called them and their beliefs the relics of a lost age. None could argue with their supremacy or military prowess though. With the very power of Iblis at their backs, the Iblanites rose above all their competition and claimed more and more land in their god’s name. Nation after nation fell to the might and rule of Iblis until the Iblan flag flew above the largest country in the world. At the head of this mighty force, ruling from the Iblan Cathedral within what would be known as Capital City, was the Brotherhood of Light; a mysterious assembly of the most devout and powerful of the Iblanites capable of wielding His power. The Brotherhood maintained a strict, but just rule, and peace was maintained for thousands of years.
Then the rebellion started.
A small, but vocal, faction of Iblanites rose up and declared their secession from the Iblan state. Their movement grew larger and larger as they stirred violence and uprisings against the Brotherhood until finally they made an attempt to assassinate their leadership. The Brotherhood met this threat with their full might. Hundreds of years passed as the two factions participated in their bloody civil war, with onlookers watching in delight hoping that the rebels would win. Year after bloody year passed, with no end or clear victor in sight, until the rebels made one final and desperate move. In what would be known as the Slaughter of Capital City, the civil war came to a climax, with the rebels using their sheer numbers to overpower the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood’s leadership came together in one final conclave to prepare their own move, using their considerable powers to become a beacon to call down the wrath of Iblis himself and destroy both themselves and the rebels.
In this moment, the third Iblan incarnation appeared before the Brotherhood and bore witness to the catastrophe they intended to bring down upon themselves. Shocked and appalled, Iblis used his considerable power to prevent the Brotherhood’s mistake and reprimanded them for their foolishness. He called himself Iblis of Shame, angry at both himself and his followers for allowing such a heinous war to be fought in his absence—giving him his true name as Iblis of War, for it was the greatest event to occur in his time. The Brotherhood was immediately disbanded and Iblis made himself known to the rebels, finally bringing an end to the civil war.
Iblis of War ruled for some time after, maintaining peace in Capital City and assisting in the coup of the corrupt monarchy which had led the rebellion that had instigated the civil war. He was weak though, having used most of his power in preventing the Armageddon the Brotherhood had planned to unleash upon the world. Like Origin and Ancient before him, Iblis of War waned until finally he too took on a new form. This new form worked to unite the world under one banner once more, although he had much less success than his predecessor. Instead, the world’s nations were united by various trade agreements and defensive pacts, and new rivalries began to appear, much to Iblis' sadness.
Frustrated with the stagnation that had taken hold of the human race, Iblis assisted them in a quest to improve their lives. The Iblan Civil War—a massive and bloody conflict—had pushed the Iblanites (and their global neighbors) to focus almost entirely on developing newer and stronger weapons. With his assistance, humanity prospered as they delivered new and more efficient ways to help one another. Iblis the Enlightened ushered mankind into an unprecedented era of scientific discovery, always guiding them in what he believed to be the right direction.
This era came to its peak upon the unveiling of the Aerospatial Research Center (or ARC for short), where the world's top scientists could convene and do research in a truly neutral place outside of any government influence. The ARC was launched into space piece by piece and assembled there in the heavens. It was intended to be his final throne of power, but after an experiment gone awry, Iblis the Enlightened was never heard from again. The scientists aboard the ARC were all accused and tried for the murder of Iblis, and—unable to prove their innocence—each one was executed. The ARC was shut down and whatever result came from the fateful experiment was hidden away somewhere within Capital City.
This is not the end of Iblis' story. A fifth, and final, Iblan incarnation exists, uniquely born of man as man. He has grown unknowingly among them and has watched their struggles. He has known their pain and their suffering. He has known their joy and their love. With these unique experiences, he will rise above all his predecessors and do more than any of them to protect humanity. Destined to save man from the worst evils that may threaten it, his story began when he was nothing more than a boy…