The man sat by the campfire whittling away at a piece of wood. Zena stared at the back of the mans head.
Where was she. The fire only lit up some of the area. Where the light ended the darkness began. It was an abyss. Light always wins over darkness, yet the darkness seemed to be winning.
The man didn't seem to care though. Wood flew through the air, landing in the dyeing fire.
Zena wanted to speak, but nothing came from her mouth. Reaching up Zena realized she did not have a mouth, nor a face. She was nothing. It was as if she was one with the darkness. The hands she used to reach up were not hands they were wisps of darkness.
"So you're the next one. Here I was thinking I was going to be the last. It seems my efforts were for naught. Not even that insidious bastard could break this cycle and after all I did for him."
The man sighed.
"No he did his best. I came too late. If I wasn't so late you would be in this predicament. So what is your name?"
Silence. The fire flickered as only embers remained.
"Ha, who am I kidding you can't speak right now. I doubt I would and I am much stronger than you."
Zena's nonexistent face twitched.
"Have you ever heard of number rule? Its pretty neat. You should have at least seen one. The Rule of Seven is the most prevalent. Seven daemons, seven soul cores, seven ranks, seven divine realms. The progenitors of the Rule of Seven were the seven gods. Though you might only know them as the six gods. Its probably for the best if you keep referring to them as the six though."
With ever word the man spoke another piece of wood fell into the dead fire. Yet the darkness stayed away. It had won against the light and yet it still didn't go near the man.
"There are two more number rules. Both of them are not as know, most because those who made rules were hidden from the world long ago. The Rule of Nine. It regained its traction with the rise of The Nine. Though I think you wouldn't even know who The Nine are, they are long gone, they dragged down the gods and daemons though. Impressive bunch."
The pile of ash lit. The campfire reformed. It was illogical. It should have been impossible and yet it was a flame.
"All the number rules are absolute laws of the realms. That makes the last number rule the most interesting. It was mangled, thrashed, twisted, ripped, and torn to pieces, yet it still is. The gods hatted its rule as they knew exactly what it meant.
You may eventually hear that the daemons were the flaws of the gods. That is wrong. The daemons were on the creation of the gods most unforgivable sin. Their flaws have haunted them for much longer than the Absolute Law of Imperfection. Its what gave them the inspiration for that rule in the first place."
The fire split right down the middle as the man stood.
"The Rule of Two. Its much weaker than it used to be. The gods did all they could to make it that way. I bet your wondering what this has to do with why your here. So lets start from the beginning.
At the start there was a fire. From its first embers two beings were born."
The fire floated off the ground forming two spheres in the air.
"One of the was ~~~~ and the other was ~~~~. Though you should call them Reality and Delusion, the titans."
Zena's brain froze. The man's sentience was incomprehensible. The words were not there. She saw his mouth move and yet nothing, just gaps.
"We are the ones who inherited the strength of Delusion.
With the creation of these two, the world was made. Not physically though. The absence of every was no more. Order had been brought to the nothingness. I call it the True World. The land, air, water, and everything else came later.
The gods were made next. They came from the flame, the same flame as Reality and Delusion. Yet these seven were much weaker than than the first two. Along with the gods came something else, though that's not something I will be explaining.
The seven gods made the land, sea, and air. The made almost all of the creatures that inhabited the divine and moral realms. It was at this point humans were born from the flame. We were made much differently from the gods or titans. We don't have the same powers or strength and yet the gods feared our grow. They couldn't kill us, so they commanded us.
The titans hated that. So they came together to fight the gods. Its funny in a way. The titans despised each other to their very cores. Their wills and domains would clash so often too and yet the came together to fight the gods.
It wasn't because they hated the gods. It was the opposite, the titans loved the gods. They also loved the humans. It was this love that made them act to free the humans from the gods suppression. The gods only made the natural world once. It had order and was natural. Not like it is now.
The gods and titans battles changed everything. Now you could find mountains that ooze nothing. Caves of true darkness. Giant forests, that are too large for all but the gods and titans. Oceans that are bottomless. skies that incinerate things that move while leaving things that don't move. Mountains that are too high. Places where the sun does not exist. Deserts that are both small and infinity long. I could keep going and we would be here forever.
I'm trying to say the world was not as it is. The only place that didn't have this happen was the war gods divine realm due to the fact that she didn't oppress the humans of here realm, but the humans of others. That should be your realm if I am not mistaking.
Their fight lasted much longer than anything had ever before. It gave way for many things to happen. The rule of seven was made then. The rule of nine was actually made shortly after the rule of seven though it didn't have to do with the gods or titans.
In the end the gods won, but at a cost. They killed the titans. At this time death was not a thing, but that was for those made by the gods. Titans, gods, and humans didn't technically die. Their essence of life would recycle through the flame. However, the titans were slightly different. They could not, not exist. The true world was alive and it has the same instincts as any other living thing. The want to live. So, it mixed the essences of the titans with the essences of the gods."