Historical Mythological Note

Creation is not what you believe it to be. one world or one universe at the core of reality, crafted exclusively for humanity, presided over by a kind and benevolent almighty.

An eternal afterlife of reward or punishment, Angeles swooping above, loyal to a father whose every purpose they understand and exalt.

Hopeful misunderstanding at best, at worst a deliberate lie. Oh, yes there was a creator certainly but what he intended, or even where he has gone are mysteries to even the wisest living minds.

An afterlife?

Hardly, no reward no punishment, only a purifying of the spirit, a purging of all memory, all self, before it passes through the well of souls to rejoin the flow of energy through creation, to form new souls for new generations.

Angels?

A high bound nearly stagnant people and not even remotely the eldest race of the cosmos,fighting in defense of a creation they only think they understand, slaves to the ancient traditions and laws of heaven.

Yes, there is a heaven, and there is a hell, and oh so many worlds above below and beyond. Worlds that the Angels of heaven and the demons of hell would kill, and have killed millions of times over to master.

Only the charred council not Angels, not demons, not old ones, but something other holds the warring factions at bay. Only the charred council and their fearsome servants stand at the pivot point of all creation, protecting the balance from all who would see it shattered...barely.

Creation is far far more than you believe it to be, and it is far far older.

Prologue

He knew life.

There was no accurate description of what had happened. One moment he knew nothing, the next, he was aware of his existence. He was also aware of something else more pressing.

He couldn't breathe, or at least not easily. His lungs had immediately filled with a toxic vapor that seemed to surround him. He began to cough and sputter, desperately attempting to fill them with untainted air. After several panicked moments, he found that the smoke and vapor slowly but surely became easier to breath or began to thin slightly. The latter was more likely to be the case considering that he could now actually see the landscape before him, and what he saw did nothing to ease his growing concern and confusion.

He stood in the center of a great dais of scorched stone which was cratered and cut with pools and streams of molten rock, beyond this lay a vast cavernous landscape,Literally. The world around him seemed to be an unending vast cave filled with just as vast oceans of liquid fire, with teeth like spires scattered into the soot obscured distance, that were just as much stalactites as sheer mountains. On top of all of this, like a vast blanket was an overwhelming heat that seemed to seep down into his very core, and felt as though his flesh were cooking right where he stood.

"What!?" If an earthquake could be surprised and had a voice with which to declare it, it would have been a good descriptor of what he had heard. The voice came from just behind him; so loud, terrible, and unexpected that it made him yelp and spin to face wherever and whomever it had come from. Much to his growing confusion; which at this point had been steadily edging towards panic, he saw no one, only three towering effigies seemingly carved from the surrounding rock, and from there eyes and mouths spouted fire and smoke. They weren't ugly exactly, more incomplete than anything else; they were blocky and jagged faces which were different, but not unlike one another. The one to the right had horns and was rather squat, the leftmost one was slightly thinner and stood taller, the one which stood in the center seemed to be the most proportional out of the three and seemed the most normal out of them - whatever normal meant in this context. The fire within them flared, and he felt a wave of heat and power issue from them, urging him to come forward and prostrate himself before them, to divulge every secret that lay locked within his mind, though in truth he had none he did however fall to his knees and cowered in fear and awe.

"WHO DARE-" the voice; which sounded harsher and seemingly far less surprised came from the rightmost head was cut off just as quickly as it began by a flash of teal light, which revealed a small disk of what appeared to be bronze. It pulsed once with a pale light and the fire within the effigies suddenly dimmed. They remained that way long enough that he eventually gathered the courage to speak

"H-hello? where am I?" his voice which sounded male was shaky and gruff with smoke, and his eyes had begun to sting and fill with tears. The light returned to the heads.

"BE SILENT AND RISE CHILD" this from the center head. The voice was like them, different, but not unlike the other, and it had a strange quality to it gentle almost fatherly. Obviously a tone of voice it didn't normally use, and even then it was still frightening. He did nevertheless rise and keep his mouth shut.

"YOU NOW STAND BEFORE THE CHARRED COUNCIL CHILD" This from the leftmost head which compared to the other two was higher and almost sounded reedy, though it still carried the same unnaturally gentle tone."WE HAVE CRAFTED YOU TO BE THE ENFORCER OF OUR LAWS AND AID US IN UPHOLDING THE BALANCE" This statement seemed to prompt the bronze disk to pulse once more, this time with a deep blue light which washed through him, and suddenly he began to know. It was like a cold finger raking furrows through his mind, which left in its wake knowledge of wars for creation. Of the council and their ever present struggle against the warring factions of above and below. He spoke once more, his voice still raspy with smoke but steady, as his fear seemingly vanished as concepts and ideas clicked into place in his mind and he began to understand his place in all of it.

"If I may ask lords, why did you sound surprised when I came into being?" They paused for half a second, perhaps caught off guard by his question?

The right most head spoke, the fatherly tone was not present in his voice; replaced instead with annoyance. "WHEN CREATING YOU WE HAD A SPECIFIC DESIGN IN MIND, WE WERE EXPECTING SOMETHING LESS PITIFUL"

The diminutive being standing before the council lowered his head, either in shame or in understanding that he was to ask no more questions for the time being. Either way he remained silent.

"HOWEVER, IT MATTERS NOT HOW YOU LOOK, WE SHALL GRANT YOU POWER AND SPEED WITH WHICH YOU SHALL LAY BARE ALL WHO OPPOSE US AND OUR PLANS FOR CREATION " With those words from the center head, a pillar of pure wight fire erupted from a nearby pool of magma, it wasn't hot, in fact it was as though a cool breeze had swept passed him. Ruffling his dark hair and filling him with a vigor he had never known before.

"COME FORTH, STEP INTO THE FLAME AND CLAIM YOUR BIRTHRIGHT" He did as commanded. The flames were cool to the touch, and they filled him with a strength, not just physical strength but metaphysical also. He felt as though his will was unbreakable, not simply because he believed it was, but because it now seemed a fact of creation.

Something strange happened then, a voice which seemed to whisper in his mind asked him

"Who are you?" It wasn't asking his name, not really, for he had no true name to give. No, it was asking him to declare his name, to designate himself as an enforcer of the council, only then would this power be truly a part of him. He had only just wondered what he would name himself, when a single word came to him like out of a dream. Before he truly understood what he was doing these words left his mouth for all of creation to hear.

"I AM VENGEANCE, SERVANT OF THE CHARRED COUNCIL, ENFORCER OF THE BALANCE!"

The words were spoken,and the pact, sealed.