Prologue: Forgotten History

The old legends say that before time began, and before the breath of life filled the void, darkness reigned supreme.

As the primordial darkness churned and gnashed, a holy light pierced through from the heavens. Three supreme deities, masters of life, law and order, descended into the chaos that would become the world. These patrons of power, wisdom and courage, once known as the Golden Goddesses, set forth forming the red earth, instilling order and creating life which would inhabit and uphold the harmony of their creation.

With their labours completed, the Goddesses gathered their essences and formed a relic that would be known as the Golden Power. With their gift came the magic and arcane arts that would sustain the lives of their creations, and whoever commanded its full, unbroken might was able to grant the desires of its wishers. Yet, this also came at a cost; though unable to be wielded by divinity, it reflected the hearts of those who possessed it. Prosperity and peace followed those who were patient and noble in their desire to live righteously amongst the races. But the Goddesses left a warning: one who attains this power with an unbalanced heart would sunder its unity and bring forth a dark world to corrupt their own.

The Goddesses called upon the Goddess of Time, another sister subordinate to their will, and entrusted her to protect the relic and care for the races who dwelt in creation. Their labours complete, the Golden Three returned to the heavens and left the relic at their point of departure – the land of which became known as the Sacred Realm. Peace reigned for centuries and more, the people faithfully living in the fields, seas, forests and mountains under the loving care of the goddess, knowing nothing of war and strife.

That is, until from a rift in the earth invaded an ancient evil, one known only as a powerful demon god, and the goddess' counterpart in power and morality. Armies of monsters followed the demon god from the abyss, invading with malice and spreading destruction never before seen in the world. The races, facing certain death, banded together under the leadership of the Goddess and her chosen hero, fighting back in a conflict that stained the land with the blood of generations.

Long and hard was the battle fought, but in the end the rift was shut and the evil god sealed. Yet, this came at an unfathomable cost; the survivors of the conflict were separated from the world and sent to live beyond the clouds, while the goddess and her hero, who she came to dearly love, was killed in their defence. In her dying breaths, she cast aside her divinity to ensure that she would be reincarnated with her hero, prophesying that the evil would break free and return. When the demon god was freed many years later, he was slain by the reborn hero and goddess, but before he passed into oblivion, he cursed them with the very last of his power, binding their fates to his: an eternity of darkness, the spirit of the hero and descendants of the Goddess wandering a blood soaked sea for all ages.

For millennia, legends have been passed down through generations, telling the story of many a hero who appeared when the need was greatest, fighting back against ancient evil encroaching upon the world. Some tell of a young boy who travelled through time with the aid of the goddess' descendant in order to defeat a warlord of great power; another tale refers to a knight of unmatched skill who slew a beast said to have brought great calamity upon his kingdom, and another told of a swordsman who defeated an evil wizard and the sealed demon he released.

However, in one cycle, malice once again broke free and gained the upper hand. Upon returning to the world, an incarnation of evil defeated the hero, corrupting and possessing him. With two thirds of the relic in its grasp, the fallen hero slew the descendant and ushered in an era of darkness with the full might of the Golden Power. In the midst of the destruction of the world, the incarnation – driven mad by the eternal curse and a desire for vengeance upon the old gods, summoned the Golden Three to the world. Light fought shadow, with darkness seeking to usurp their position and end the cycles of death and defeat. After a long and brutal conflict, they struck down the evil and scattered its essence throughout the ruins of the lands.

The Goddesses were mournful over the death of their sister, with the world they created rent apart through war and reduced to a remnant of its former glory. They came to see that their relic, despite all they intended it for, as the cause of unending chaos that plagued generations of their people. One part of the relic was embedded deep within the evil which they had defeated, and so this in turn was sealed using the soul of the mortal goddess, binding her and her piece of the relic to keep sealed the ancient evil, and to perhaps break the unending cycle once and for all. Through this, they also sought to ensure that any trace of memory about its existence would fade from knowledge through the passage of time.

Before the Goddesses departed once more, they called forth from the heavens two fellow deities – brothers of light and shadow. The two were charged with forging a new balance of which the world would embrace as it did the last order. No longer must the world be determined by cycles of life and blood; as the Golden Three left, they set about to shape its destiny, holding dominion as the land and its people recovered, all memory of the cataclysm fading into legend before being forgotten altogether.

Yet, the brothers' opposition in temperament led to conflict as they strove to influence the world in different ways. While the older brother of light would nurture and cherish life, the younger brother of darkness spawned creatures of death to spread destruction. Once more did the world fall into bloody conflict, brother fighting brother and kingdom fighting kingdom. The darkness fed on this negativity, attacking all who were created in the image of light. Eventually, both came to peace when a witch, victimized and caught in the middle of their conflict, sought to manipulate both to destroy each other. In the process, the two brothers ceased and brought down a second cataclysm upon the land, killing much of humanity and punishing the witch into a painful immortality.

Bitter at her defeat, she sought ways in which to combat the gods themselves on equal footing. As the years went by and memory of her faded, she turned to study forbidden knowledge, desperate to find anything which could grant her revenge and an end to her life.

It was amongst the oldest and most archaic of these did she discover legends of a supreme power: one long buried away beneath earth and time, and one that could perhaps prove superior to the combined power wielded by the gods themselves…

The Legend of Zelda and RWBY are properties of Nintendo and Rooster Teeth, respectively.