God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The first part of the Thousand Millenium War...

***

"To what extent does one go when creating reality? Does one seek to create perfection, or does one create deformities seeking a perfection not created yet? Actions, creation, reactions, destruction, and the likes, I guess. What do you think?"

—Book 999 of The Records of Akasha, Chapter 999: Whispers before Creation, Nomad...

In the beginning, there existed only one being...

He represented the beginning of sentience as he was the first clump of matter to ever bear a thought. He would later be referred to as the Nomad, and he became the first Celestial being, a being that transcended space, matter, time, and the elements.

Using his vast reserve of power and his unimaginable intellect, he began to create the entirety of the observable universe.

The Nomad created life, planets, stars, and galaxies, as well as the rules governing how they function. The first set of the Nomad's creations were extremely powerful beings created with the ability to control the most essential and abundant source of energy in the cosmos, mana.

These creatures were also incredibly intelligent, so intelligent, they were able to surpass their creator's expectations by creating an alternate form of mana that would amplify their abilities and power.

However, their violent nature and acts of genocide due to lust and a mad drive for individual power caused the Nomad to see them as failures, unworthy to occupy his domain.

Thus, they were abandoned to the farthest and darkest regions of space by the Nomad. There, they continued to thrive and grow in power by devouring one another, alongside anything and everything they came in contact with.

They became a plague, a rot that devoured all in their path...

They will later be known as Devils, and their primary mission, their destiny, was to consume the very worlds put together by their creator.

Learning from his past mistake, the Nomad created yet another race, only this time not as corrupted and malevolent, but equally as powerful as the devils. This powerful race was known as the Celestial race.

This powerful celestial race was divided into two distinct groups. The gods, or Celestial deities, and the Celestial or heavenly beasts.

The celestial race was created by the Nomad to govern his territory, but regardless of their origins, they were always at war with one another, as it was in their nature to devour and grow stronger, very similar to the devils that came before them.

As the two groups that made up the Celestial race began to occupy the Universe, they encroached on the boundaries of their reality, expanding the domain of their creator, whilst in constant competition for territory. This resulted in a never-ending cycle of creation and destruction due to war.

Several millennia later...

Born within the fires of war, Tian, born from the noblest of celestial bloodlines, the very personification of the heavens, used the overwhelming power he acquired from the endless cycle of battles to unite the gods.

In every battle he fought, he would always come back covered in the golden blood of the celestials he had slain, earning him the moniker of the Golden Heavenly Emperor.

The Heavenly beasts were also united, then ruled by the personification of chaos, the Heavenly Cosmic dragon, Skyrim.

The Heavenly dragons were one of the strongest of Heavenly beasts, so the Legendary Skyrim earned his title by devouring the bodies and souls of not only powerful gods but also plunging many worlds into chaos.

As the rulers of the Celestial race, these beings possessed unimaginable power, and their every breath could cause the very fabrics of reality to become unstable.

Because of their might and glory, they were able to unite the two halves of their race under separate camps, both fated to wage war against each other for all eternity...

The Golden heavenly emperor was a very proud and promiscuous individual. Due to the corruption of power as well as the influence he possessed as the ruler of the Celestial deities, he would often go around the universe, galavanting and spreading his seeds.

He eventually surpassed his limits and had his way with the daughter of his natural enemy, the cosmic dragon, Skyrim the Calamity when he had encountered her in a lesser plane.

Overwhelmed by rage, the old celestial dragon planned to go on a mad rampage in the domain of the celestial deities but was stopped by his daughter, who had not only fallen in love but also had faith that the child she carried could be the bridge that would breach the eons of hatred and bad blood between the two camps.

The Old Dragon gave in, on the condition that Tian would wed his daughter. Tian agreed to this, as marrying the beautiful dragon princess had more pros than cons. He also didn't want to start a full-on war with the celestial beasts.

However, fate had other plans, as on a day filled with ominous and auspicious clouds, Tian received a prophecy, a prophecy that could forever change the direction of the winds of fate, and karma blew...

"The Child born from the union between god and beast would either grow to become the ruler of all the heavens in the domain of the Nomad if he was faced with love and virtue or the harbinger of death to the gods if he was faced with prejudice and despair."

"Is that what you saw, Gabrius?" The glorious face of the golden heavenly emperor twitched heavily.

"Yes, my Lord. I have no reasons to tell you a lie."

"Hmmm..." The ruler of the gods fell into deep contemplation. After all, the information he had just learned wasn't something he could address without some thought.

"My lord, right now, two roads lay ahead of the celestial race. At the end of one road, you might lose your sovereignty, but there will eventually be everlasting peace. The other road will only end in rivers of blood, and endless carnage. The choice is yours to make, your majesty." Gabrius said.

Tian sat on his throne for a while, before he spoke up in a heavy voice;

"Endless Carnage it is then..."

The seer, Gabrius, stood dumbfounded for a while, as though he couldn't believe his ears before he bent his old back, prostrating before the golden emperor...

"As you wish, your majesty."

Overcome by envy and fear, and being the supreme ruler that he was, Tian would never allow anyone to steal his throne, even his Kin.

He was an immortal being, he could not perish, and another usurping his throne would mean that he would either have to step down or in the worst-case scenario, die...

Several years later, the prophecy child was born and was named Ashur by his grandfather, Skyrim. But to everyone's surprise, he was born with a defect that robbed him of the ability to control the elements of reality.

He didn't have the power to manifest the most scorching of flames from burning stars, nor could he summon the freezing winds of Niflheim. He couldn't manipulate the essence of precious metals, nor could he command the power of souls.

Ashur was however gifted with the strongest of bodies and minds amongst all the Celestial beasts. His body was so strong, he could break millennium-old rocks with his bare palms as a child.

Despite his natural talents, all of this meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, as without the power to control the elements of reality, he would always be seen as defective and powerless in the eyes of the Celestials.

Having been labeled a failure, much to the delight of the Golden Heavenly Emperor, the young golden dragon set out to prove himself.

The first of his achievements was finding the fabled tower of Babel, and reading all 666,666 volumes of books within. This trial tested his soul strength and willpower. When news of this feat spread, he was known to be the most intelligent of the Heavenly beasts.

He used the knowledge he had absorbed from the mysterious tower to create the {Golden Dragon Battle Artes}, amongst other powerful battle and non-battle techniques that compensated for his lack of elemental control.

Armed with his overwhelming knowledge and cunning, he became a source of calamity on and off the battlefield.

He acquired many more achievements the most significant of them all, was finding a way to circumvent his inability to control the elements of reality, by creating powerful tools and inventing powerful magic called {runes} with the knowledge he had gained from the tower of Babel.

He also gained numerous treasures found on his journeys that gave him strange unusual powers, allowing him to become even more powerful, a menace and a nightmare to all his enemies.

Tian, threatened by the rate of growth of the golden dragon, decided that to cull the uprising threat, it was finally time to have the young dragon killed.

It was almost as though he could feel the sword of Damocles hanging over his head every time he heard the tales of Ashur's most recent conquests and battlefield achievements...