Over a hundred years ago

It was one cold morning when the oracle of Elysara awoke in a fright, sweat pouring down her neck and her mouth dry as dust. The sky was still mostly dark with the barest hints of light breaking over the horizon. Stars still twinkled silently in the sky, not yet washed out by the light of the rising sun.

The oracle long knew her role in this world, which was to act as the mouthpiece of the gods. For as much as the movements of gods within the divine realm guide the fate of mortals in the mortal realm, there weren’t many ways of clear communication between the two realms. Her voice, however, was one of those methods, thus, making her existence vital to both realms. 

She was the strongest connection mortals had to the gods. Kingdoms bent their knees to her, for she was an undeniable representation of the gods. Rulers silenced themselves in her presence so they don’t speak over her, for the words of an oracle holds more weight than the words of a king or queen.

As an oracle, she hears and sees things that ordinary people with their ordinary senses cannot perceive. And today was one of those days where she woke up with the weight of a god’s message in her mouth, bidding her to speak it aloud. And even though she wept in horror at the knowledge of what she has to say, she cannot or will not stop herself.

That was how the acolytes and priests of the Temple of Elysara found her, crumpled beside her bed and weeping. Alarmed, they ran to her side to check for any injuries or find what had caused her distress.

Unable to see what’s wrong, they came to the frightening conclusion that she had seen or heard something from the gods. Something so terrible that the messenger had broken down in tears.

“What is it?” They urged her to speak. “Is it a message from the gods? What do they want to tell us?”

The oracle of Elysara took deep breaths between heaving sobs, forcing herself to stop spiraling enough so she could deliver the bad news. 

“Astraeus has been stripped of his title as King of Gods.” She was barely able to get those words out due to her emotional state.

Her attendants either suck in a deep breath or gasped in shock, for never in history had there been such a shocking development in the divine realm. Most of the time, the biggest news an oracle can hope to deliver is the birth of a new god, something that had not been announced for decades. 

And now, she was delivering the news that the ruler of gods was being dethroned. What does that mean for mortals?

“How?” Someone finally gathered their wits enough to ask the question everyone else had been wondering.

“Erebos has usurped the throne.” The oracle continued through her grief and despair.

“The god of destruction?” Another person spoke up. 

“He now calls himself the god of war as well.” The oracle continued, her voice cracking from crying. 

An ominous disquiet fell over the people in the room.

It wasn’t uncommon for gods to take on new domains. After all, King Astraeus was once the god of truth, but he is now the god of truth and justice, so why couldn’t Erebos take on two domains as well? Destruction and war did go hand in hand.

It did not take much for everyone to piece everything together. Recently, Terravale and Etheria had declared war on each other despite all attempts for a peaceful reconciliation. Erebos must have seized the title god of war to take advantage of the war to increase his own standing among the gods. All mortals understood that the extent of a god’s domain’s influence in the mortal realm directly enhanced their divine strength. With the war fueling his newfound strength, Erebos then usurped the divine throne from the previous king, Astraeus.

“What does this mean for us?” The first speaker spoke again, finally starting to grasp on why the oracle had been weeping.

The oracle raised her wet eyes to the ceiling, as if she could somehow stare directly into the divine realm. 

“The god of war now rules the divine realm. Terravale and Etheria had declared war on one another, but they won’t be alone for much longer. Soon, Cartia, Pyralis, Aquanis, and Ardustan will also join the war. Don’t you see? This entire realm will soon fall to war, and I cannot foresee an end to all this death and destruction!”

She collapsed again, this time into the arms of her attendants, and began weeping silently once more.

The priests and acolytes all gazed uneasily at each other as the true horror of her words sank in. None of them doubted her words, and they all knew it was only a matter of time before everything she said came true.

Erebos was fanning the flames of war to further strenghtened himself. Two of the seven kingdoms are now at war, and soon, that number will increase to six.

“Surely, we can do something before it’s too late?” Someone asked.

“Like when we tried to talk Etheria and Terravale out of war?” Another retorted. “It’s useless. Utterly useless.”

“We will not join in this war,” one priest finally spoke out loud firmly. “Elysara will remain neutral, no matter what. We will not do as he wants.”

The other priests nodded in confirmation as they hastily began making plans to ensure neutrality and open their borders to refugees. It was a small act of resistance against a god, but a meaningful one. They all knew that aside from that, there is very little that they can do, for humans are nothing but puppets subjected to the will of the gods. 

They knew that for many years to come, the mortal realm will know nothing more than battle and death, and no matter how much they dread it, there is nothing that can be done. Not as long as the god of war rules the divine realm.