A conflict between the founders of Dun-I was bound to happen at some point. There were too many dangerous personalities intertwined to avoid it forever. I didn’t think my brothers would be the reason it would happen though.

This conflict happened over the span of three millennium and is divided into two phases. The first War of the Gods was a free for all between all of the Gods, though old quarrels from Tangresia were reunited. The sisters immediately began to wage war against either other while the followers of my brothers did the same. After a thousand years, Vesya forced to take action. She summoned the Gods and decreed that their realms could not be connected to Dun-I physically anymore, and instead, they would all need to surround Dun-I as my realm and Vesya’s realm did.

There was dissatisfaction from the Gods, thus they bargained for Vesya to allow them a compromise. Though their realms could not touch Dun-I physically, the Gods could continue to enter the realm of Dun-I physically, and their High Priests could come and go from realm to realm. Begrudgingly, simply because she knew that as long as the Gods possessed influence on Dun-I, there would be conflict, she agreed.

It was at this moment that the Gods deployed their champions. God-Touched servants, those whose essence was bound to Dun-I in exchange for their eternal service and for the abilities of the God served, became feared. All of the Gods found their champions, with each taking a different approach.

Maloris and Derrien were the most aggressive at the creation of God-Touched, though Valcus had the most. He didn’t have soldiers though as God-Touched, but instead, offered it to those who crafted, created, sculpted, and showed creative promise. It was his way to reward those who served the forge. The rest of the Gods possessed a few true God-Touched, those who they converted and maintained servitude, with the exception of Dahar. She did not believe in the creation of God-Touched, seeing it as an abomination to life and a slap in her face. Essence was not supposed to be bound to Dun-I, but meant to move freely from realm to realm. She did, however, possess a few secondary God-Touched. Other God-Touched would flock to her for leadership, which she welcomed them with open arms.

In response to the creation of God-Touched servants, Vesya immediately decreed and set forth the rules The God-Touched must serve a God and they could change their allegiance once. If they changed, they would take their knowledge with them. This move was brilliant by the Goddess of Law, because it gave the God-Touched servant an opportunity to disagree with their master and change their allegiance. They were not bound to the person who granted them eternal life, but could shift their loyalty one time if their situation changed.

The second thing Vesya did, which was equally brilliant, was to balance the scales with two God-Touched of her own. Alyze Mertrand, the daughter to a prominent fisherman and leader of the village of Warwoe, fell in love and married the God of Chaos, Maloris. In order to facilitate this, Vesya would not allow Alyze to become a God-Touched of Maloris, because she would have to serve him. Instead, Vesya converted her essence into a God-Touched servant of her.

Alyze’s brother, Ebolis, was converted simultaneously. He would become the Champion of Vesya and if another God-Touched’s scales became unaligned and out of balance, he could detonate their essence and remove them from Dun-I. Ebolis became Vesya’s judgment on Dun-I for those who would never make it to the scales.

The knights were scattered about the board and the pieces were in place. The second war was primed to happen.

Continue on in Chapter 5: The Smoldering Conflict Continues