Slayers TIME Prologue
In Ages Past...
By Mox Jet
In the beginning, there was Chaos, and from this Chaos rose a being. She was little more than Chaos herself given shape, but it was this being who gave the endless possibilities of the stuff form, molding it to her will. She would eventually be called God or Lord, referred to as the Dark Lord above all Dark Lords, the Lord of Nightmares.
While mortal man can never attempt to understand the emotions of such a being, it might be said that she eventually became lonely in her omnipotence and willed to be surrounded by others somewhat like her. As Chaos bended completely to her will, such was commanded and such was done. The Lord became surrounded by others like her and she was content. None were as powerful, but in such a realm, power didn't matter. God played with her angels and for a time all was good.
After many eons of content, though, there were some who decided that power did matter. It was these angels that became jealous of the power that God possessed. They wanted it for themselves and so they formed up against her, beginning a war that can not be describe by any means in the physical universe. It was a battle between beings of such incredible energy and power that the entire fabric of the reality was shaken by its clashing. Existence bellowed inward and outward with the conflict, sometimes threatening to collapse completely. In the end, though, God and the ones who stayed loyal to her were victorious and those who had risen up against her needed to be punished. She decided that if they wanted to fight, they would be allowed to fight for the rest of eternity.
God took those who had rebelled and split them each into two parts: their good and their evil. Since the beings were of Chaos, they all had the potential for both, and in this manner, the good and the evil sides of the fallen angels would be forced to battle each other for the rest of time in an endless struggle: a penalty for their desire for power. God would create a universe separate from her own for them to wage their war in. She decided that the new divided beings were no longer to be called angels. Instead, they were given the names Mazoku and Dragons.
Yet, the four power powerful usurpers -those of the angels created most like God herself- were deemed too strong to be kept together even in their divided forms of good and evil. God decided that she should actually create a separate universe for each of them. On these worlds, the opposing sides of the great fallen angels would be forced to lead their armies against each other. The great split entities were given individual names and divided into pairs. These pairs were Shabranigdo and Ceipheed, Dark Star and Volpheed, Chaotic Blue and Myspheed, and Death Fog and Rypheed. The pairs were cast into the four universes with their Mazoku and Dragon followers and God let them be free to battle each other to their hearts content. God watched her creations and for a time all was good.
While it is unknown to what extent the battles were fought in all the worlds, our story continues in the universe in which the battle between Shabranigdo and Ceipheed raged. Here, their war went on for thousands of years, and somehow, life and civilization managed to spring up around them. Amidst the war, the Lord God gave birth to a new species which was given the name Human. These humans were physically and magically weak compared to the Mazoku and the Dragons, but because they had the capacity for both good and evil, they were not forced to take sides. Instead, they hid from the war that went on around them as the Mazoku and Dragons killed each other relentlessly.
Sometimes humans did take sides, and they were taught by one of the two greater races how to use magic in order to help beat the other. Many humans proved to be skilled with magic, some capable of even felling mid-level creatures of the Mazoku and Dragons themselves. Soon, though, the war came to a head and the side of the Dragons made its final play.
Five thousand years ago, Ceipheed summoned up every last ounce of his strength in order to split Shabranigdo into seven pieces, locking them away and spreading them across the earth. His own existence passing into oblivion as he did this, he left behind four pieces of himself to guard over his Dragons and the rest of the world. The pieces would be called the Fire Dragon King, the Water Dragon King, the Earth Dragon King and the Sky Dragon King. These pieces would be continually at ends with the pieces of Shabranigdo for this battle could never really be ended: such was the will of the Lord of Nightmares.
War subsided for awhile. Both sides needed time to recuperate and refill their ranks. Civilization began to grow and humanity was ushered into a time of a Golden Age. For a time, all was good. Then, one thousand years ago, the Mazoku made their play. Beginning their attempt to defeat the Dragons once and for all, Hellmaster Fibrizo, one of Shabranigo's five generals, declared war on the Water Dragon King. Around this time, one of the pieces of Shabranigdo was reborn through one of the human race and the battle over the north lands began.
The Dark Lord was still outnumbered in a sense, as he retained only one seventh of his original power, whereas the Water Dragon King retained one forth of his own. In order to offset this, Shabranigo sent four of his generals, Hellmaster Fibrizo, Deep Sea Dolphin, Greater Beast Zellas-Metallium, and Dynast Grauscherra to the north, east, south, and west points of the Kataart Mountains: the area where the Water Dragon King resided. When in place, they created a "God Sealing Field" and negated a great deal of the Water Dragon King's power.
Sealed and helpless, the Water Dragon King was defeated, and, in all rights, the world should have been ushered into an age of unbalance with the Mazoku leading the way. Somehow, however, Shabranigdo's was defeated and the Mazoku were driven back into the darkness. With the Water Dragon King also defeated, the war was again really nothing more than a tie that had cost hundreds of thousands of lives, both of those participating in the war and those that stayed neutral. The world had been scorched with the flames of battle and populations of humans had been decimated. After ages of magical prominence, the populations of elves withdrew into hiding. In many parts of the world, knowledge of magic was completely lost and magical artifacts were no longer created. On both sides, the Mazoku and the Dragons withdrew again to begin to rebuild their forces.
Through it all, though, humanity survived and began to rebuild their civilization. While a great deal of magical knowledge was lost with the wizards that died in the war, there were those within the God Sealing Field who worked hard to regain that knowledge. Cities grew into Kingdoms. Royal Dynasties began, rose, and fell. People uncovered evidence of the old civilizations and the ancient magic artifacts. Many important people came and went, doing many things to affect the world. Some saved monarchies. Others caused great evil. Of all these people, the most important of all was born about seventeen years ago in the Kingdom of Zefielia. This person was a girl, and her name was Lina Inverse.