The Other Side

Now that you know some of the histories of Jinju and Arex, it's time to see the battle for the heavens in a different light. This is the history from the perspective of Elysha, goddess of balance.

In the beginning, the heavens were ruled jointly by the old gods. But not all the gods were pleased with this arrangement. At first, it was only a few that bickered for more control, but soon that number grew and grew until all living in the heavens were forced to take part in this war for dominance. Although gods are immortal, the fear of anguish and pain caused many to surrender without a fight, but many others took up the call, resolute in the goal of being the ultimate ruler of the gods.

When the victors were finally determined, many of those gods felt the twin gods of Arex and Jinju had gained their victory unfairly. Because the pair was able to do what none of the other gods could and join forces to make the others bend a knee, a few gods spoke out against this injustice. There was none so outspoken, however than the goddess Elysha. She prided herself on balance and felt if Arex and Jinju ruled, there could be no balance within the heavens.

Speaking out against the twin proved dangerous, as the twins became bored with ruling as soon as they had control. To relieve that boredom, the rulers turned their eyes to the gods that spoke out against them. They forced these gods to fight each other in gladiatorial-style games for their amusement. Elysha however, being the goddess of balance, caused any battle she fought in to become stalemates, as her divine powers gave her the ability to match any skill her opponent used against her.

In order to punish her properly, the twin gods decided the only person who could fight Elysha was herself. To that end, they split her personality into two living beings, her benevolence, and her malice. With that done, the twins then had her battle herself as the other gods did. That cycle of torture continued until the twins became bored again, and decided to create a world in which they could torment creatures of their own creation.

Though thankful their persecution had ended, the disciplined gods were bitter about their punishment. Elysha in particular suffered as a result of the battles because, though she attempted to rejoin herself into one body, the mental scars of the separation forced upon her would not allow it. Sometimes it manifested as two heads, other times four arms, but never again would she look the way she once did. She also had a harder time controlling her emotions as she once had, and she became more and more volatile as time went on.

At one point, she became so outraged at the treatment she and the others had endured for speaking their minds, that she vowed vengeance on the twin gods. Moreover, she became rebellious because of the injustice and convinced the other punished gods to be as well. The group of gods hid on the other side of the cubed planet the twin had created and went to work on creating their own races to populate the side. They may not have been able to defeat the rulers of the heavens, but they could defile their perfect battleground with their own intelligent beings as compensation for their forced submission.