Life's hope of peace

In the beginning, not all the gods wanted to rule the heavens. Saol, the goddess of life, was one such god. So when the fighting started for control, Saol’s initial reaction was to withdraw and wait until the war was over. Her sister Elysha, however, would not allow her to avoid the fighting. Despite not wanting to rule herself, Elysha believed the only way the heavens could return to their peaceful, utopian state was to rule the heavens themselves. In the end, Saol’s love for her sister overcame her caution, and she reluctantly agreed to battle at her sister’s side.

She was dismayed, however, when she found out it would not only be the two of them fighting against the rest of the gods. Because Saol and Elysha’s domains were less physical than most, Elysha had also recruited her best friend and confidant to join their battles. Baelbus, the deity of chaos. Though Saol could tolerate Baelbus, she didn’t think it was wise to include them for the simple fact that their very nature was chaotic. One moment Baelbus could be in the melee with the sisters, the next the deity could be on an entirely different plane of existence, far away from all the fighting. It all depended on Baelbus’ mood at any given moment, and that was not the way to win battles.

Despite not having much success defeating the more powerful of their brethren, the trio did gain the attention of other like-minded deities. Chief among these were Orros, the god of conflict; Morgo, the trickster god; and Valdomne, the goddess of death. These gods had more active powers and Saol believed if they all united together, their combined strength could defeat the influential team of Arex and Jinju. If those two were defeated, Saol was sure the rest of the gods would easily fall under their sway.

But when Saol and the others came to Elysha with this plan, her sister rejected it and refused to let the others join their trio. Elysha claimed they would be able to defeat the twin gods because they had right on their side. Saol, on the other hand, was nowhere near as confident as her sister, but still, she followed. Her sister needed her support and she would do everything in her power to give that support, even if the odds were impossible to overcome. Therefore, it came as no surprise to Saol when Arex and Jinju eventually declared themselves rulers. It also was no surprise the twins promptly rounded up the gods that had actively opposed them as soon as they began their rule.

Saol, along with Elysha and a dozen other gods, were captured and tortured because of their resistance.

As for Baelbus, they fled into the nether as soon as it was clear the twins would take revenge on the ones who had opposed them. Although Baelbus’ retreat shocked Elysha, Saol had suspected things would play out that way. Baelbus was chaos incarnate after all, but still, she did her best to console her sister after the loss of her closest friend. It took a while of being imprisoned by the new rulers of the heavens, but soon the captured gods found themselves freed, only to be herded into a massive celestial arena and forced to battle one another for the twins and their supporters’ amusement.

As if this was not a cruel enough punishment for the goddess of life, Saol was soon separated from her sister, who she had shared every moment with since they had come into existence. Although the battles took their toll on all the gods involved, the combination of the forced separation and the brutalness of the fights, hit Saol far worse than all the others. She did her best to compete, but the battles were against her very nature. As a result, poor Saol was wounded and scarred by the others, who she had looked on as friends, over and over again.

But despite all of that, Saol managed to keep her mind intact with the hope she would be reunited with her beloved sister when the rulers finally grew bored with their punishment. If she could just hold on long enough, she was sure they would tire and find new things to torture. But it would seem the twins would not be content until she was broken. They sent a new form of torment to her that would push her mind and body to the breaking point. Her new tormentor was a god by the name of Kurnt.