Before Elandor stood.
Before the world marched toward what it thought was enlightenment.
There was Arkzen.
But that wasn't his true name.
Long ago, before the guilds were born and the Flame Rankings ever existed, he was known only as Askarien — an arcanist prodigy born in an era where Essence was raw, wild, and unbound by laws. Back then, humanity lived in scattered strongholds, hiding from the Varnok beneath shattered skies. There were no Flame tiers. No Essence paths. Only survival, instinct, and madness.
But Askarien was different.
He thrived in chaos. Not because he was the strongest — but because he listened.
He heard it in the dark places no other dared to enter. The cracks in reality. The spaces between existence. Whispers.
One of them answered him.
The Varnok Sovereign Entity.
It did not devour him. It offered him knowledge — truths so vast, so terrifying, that they broke the minds of any who so much as glimpsed them.
But Askarien did not break.
He knelt.
And in return, the Entity gave him sight.
He saw what Essence truly was: a cage. Not power, not freedom — but a designed system. A lock placed on life itself by forces even the gods feared. Origin-tier was not the apex. It was the lid of the coffin. The barrier to prevent something greater from waking.
And so Askarien made a choice.
He would become the key.
It took centuries.
He abandoned his name. Became Arkzen — a new identity, wrapped in wisdom, cloaked in lies.
He wandered into the lives of broken tribes and spoke of a future. He taught them Flame Ranks — a linear system built on false ceilings.
He introduced Essence Pathways — stable, clean… controllable.
He built the foundations of Elandor, a city fueled by progress, driven by manufactured hope.
But it was never for them.
It was for the gate.
He needed humanity to grow strong enough to touch Origin-tier. Just enough to scratch the seal. To tremble the lock. Not break it — not yet.
That would require someone... exceptional.
So he watched.
And when some grew too close, too curious, too capable — he intervened.
Accidents.
Varnok attacks.
Sudden implosions of Essence gone wrong.
He eliminated anyone who glimpsed the truth. Then erased the records. Reshaped the memories.
He became a savior. A founder. The harbinger of peace.
And no one questioned it.
But he never stopped serving the Entity.
Not truly.
Because he believed the Entity was not evil.
It was inevitable.
The world was broken. The balance a lie. The gods long dead or hiding behind masks. The only real power came from undoing the system.
Letting the true form of reality return.
Even if it meant breaking the world.
Now, in the present, Arkzen stood on Elandor's grand terrace, smiling as children ran through flower-strewn streets and adventurers clinked mugs in celebration.
"Peace," they called it.
But in his mind, the pieces were nearly aligned.
Kael had risen to Origin. And more terrifyingly, beyond.
Exactly what Arkzen had planned.
Yet something unexpected had happened.
Kael wasn't breaking.
He wasn't unraveling like the others did at the cusp of the seal.
He was growing.
And that made him dangerous.
Still… Arkzen's smile remained unchanged.
He had waited centuries.
And when the gate opened…
The gods themselves would weep.