# MYRKANIS RYNFORTH’S # GRAND CHRONICLE OF THE GODS ### VOLUME 2 Welcome back, my dearest youngest reader. This is the second installment of my Grand Chronicle of The Gods - be sure to pick up a copy of the first volume, exclusively on sale from Monmouth Books today! ### PART THREE - THE DESCENT OF DEMIGODS We return to the chronicles with our gaze fixed on the descent of the demigods. As Ao allowed the divine beings to procreate (mostly with each other but some secretly with mortals), their offspring became the first demigods. They did not possess the same level of divine power of their progenitors as they had no followers or worshipers, remaining locked away in the divine realms. The demipowers and their divine parentage petitioned Ao to let them cross into the other planes. However, the precedent of a rigid boundary between divine and mortal space had been set. During this time, a few celestials resorted to imparting a fragment of their divine heritage remotely to select expectant faithful (resulting in the advent of the planetouched, or Aasimar, the most distantly divine beings of the pantheon), or simply escaping in secret to live in a profane realm. As the mortal races dreamed of the wonders of the divine realms, so too, my dear young readers, did some of the celestial powers yearn for the material plane. Tempus led a revolt on behalf of the demigods who felt powerless in the divine realms and desired to leave. As punishment, Ao removed Tempus from the Circle of Greater Powers. Ao elevated Auril to the title of Goddess of Winter to take Tempus’ place. Despite Ao’s reluctance, demigods ran free amongst the Great Wheel building their own temples and followings for the next few centuries. Some became powerful enough to ascend to godhood. Some took the place of their creator, and others used their powers for both good and evil, becoming heroes of renown and villains of legend. ### PART FOUR - THE INSURRECTION OF AURIL A few centuries ago, Auril had a child with Thrym, God of the frost giants. Elegia was her name, and legend states that she was the most beautiful of all the gods’ offspring. Across the Idryian Sea from Elysium was the land of Zerua. Kyria, the grand city at the heart of the land, became the center of the celestial conflict to come. Elegia had lived there shortly and her beauty quickly became legend among the men of the land. A band of depraved scoundrels found a way to subdue her demipowers; they did unspeakable things to her. When Auril found her beloved daughter dead and defiled, she immediately petitioned Ao for divine judgment upon the land. Among the Circle of Greater Powers, she was joined by Talos and Tyr. The nine others felt Ao’s standard of non-intervention in such material affairs was to be upheld. Ao sent Cyric to warn Auril that there would be judgment were she to intervene, measured according to the severity of her actions. Auril could not contain her grief for long. She vowed to avenge her daughter, whatever the cost. First, with the help of Talos, she raised an impermeable wall of storms across the Idyrian Sea to isolate Zerua from the rest of the material plane. Next, she sealed and severed every remaining crossing or pathway to Zerua from any other realm. (Vorg’s Scroll of Fiendish History claims that Graz’zt convinced her to leave one remaining portal to Zerua from the center of Minauros, the City of Chains.) Cyric warned Ao of Auril’s impending justice upon the land, and he sent the Circle to apprehend her. What followed was a monumental and divine battle, with Tyr and Talos joining Auril against the rest of the circle in a fight of the gods. Auril was stripped of her godhood and put to death before she could enshroud the land in an eternal winter. However, the rest of the Circle found themselves unable to undo the curse of the seas. Even Talos found the hex too powerful to be undone, despite his hand in casting it. The land of Zerua remained in complete isolation. Families and allegiances were permanently separated. All contact was lost. Many perished attempting to cross the stormy barrier between the lands until enough years passed that Zerua faded into history. Tyr and Talos ultimately faced severe punishments of their own, with Ao reducing their powers for a long time, and Tempus was reinstated to the Circle. ### PART FIVE - THE DORMANT SPELL After the insurrection, Ao regretted allowing the demigods to continue to populate the material plane. He banished them all to a new divine realm created specifically for them, barring them from returning to Elysium. Ao also restricted the ability of the gods to affect the elements of the material world. For three hundred years, the gods and demigods have been dormant. There are signs that this dormant spell is coming to an end. With the onset of the blight, a pestilent arcane plague of warping effects with divine power has spread twice now throughout the lands, reminding us of how powerless we are to halt the schemes of the higher beings. Though we believe in the Cosmic Balance, at times it feels we often drift toward the dark. As I work on my upcoming final volume of history, I conclude with a plea to you, my dearest young reader: live. The very breath you draw is a miracle beyond the full comprehension of the most distinguished clerics of our time. The experience of being, the presence of our consciousness - our souls - it befuddles the minds of the wisest philosophers of the era. Though the tug and pull of the dark tries to pull us out of balance, we must strive toward the light with vigilance. Every moment of every day is important. Essential. Vital. Feel the heart-pulse of life connect you in solidarity with every other conscious being living in constant escape from our decay into dust. Be amazed that today - for as long as you have, however long that is - you have persisted and outlived that inevitable fate. The sands of time and the wisdom of the mist have guided me to this mantra; may it guide you when the darkest reaches cloud the sky above and your illusion of control is shattered. This, my dear young lades and lads, is the Grand Chronicle of The Gods. ### VOLUME 3 : COMING SOON ### FROM THE WORDS OF THE AUTHOR: *“In this next volume, my discoveries from the lost library of Amnora will provide a never-before-seen look into history’s greatest mysteries!”* *-Myrkanis Rynforth*