Shadow Slave

Sunny continued to think about the history of the Dream Realm. The Age of Chaos was the first, ending with the imprisonment of the void and the creation of the world. It was followed by an age that could be called the Age of Gods - a prehistoric time when the gods and those living things they created, as well as the daemons who came out of nowhere, battled the remnant abyssal creatures across the newborn world.

Then came the Age of Heroes. It started when the nascent humanity started to spread and fight against the Corrupted creatures inhabiting the world for dominion over it. It ended when the abominations were pushed back and largely exterminated, turning from an everpresent danger into dire, but rare foes.

What followed was a different age... an age when humanity ruled the world unopposed. Noctis had not known its name - perhaps because people living in that time needed none. For them, it was simply now. A golden age of peace and prosperity...

'Relatively speaking, of course. I am sure there was plenty of bloodshed and conflict even after most of the Corrupted had already been slain or driven into the wilderness. Humans are humans, after all... there were other tribes of creatures inhabiting the world, as well. I doubt that everyone lived together in absolute harmony.'

Due to their immortality, Noctis and the other Chain Lords - powerful Transcendent born in the Age of Heroes - lived long enough to witness the new age, as well.

In fact, they might have had more to do with the change of epochs than anyone knew. Noctis considered the destruction of the Kingdom of Hope to be the turning point in history, one that signified the end of the Age of Heroes.

Which meant that the Golden Age was poisoned from the very start. It began with the imprisonment of Hope, and ended when she broke free from her chains. During that time, the gods grew distant and indifferent. Their followers even started to fight among themselves. Slowly, prosperity waned, turning into stagnation and decay.

took place at the dusk of the Golden Age, not

war, the last war, destroyed the civilization of the Dream Realm. Although it was like a flash in the scope of history, perhaps its brief terror was worthy of being considered an age of

Age of Daemons... a terrible age of dread

humans of the waking world had found in the Dream Realm were

How did the gods die? What happened to their

point between the start of the Doom War and the present day, the Seeds of Nightmares appeared, and the Corruption reclaimed the world it had been

its perilous reaches today, after all... great Citadels like Bastion and Ravenheart, and

Sunny dodged a drop

perspective, it almost seemed as if the purpose of the Nightmare Spell was to repopulate the Dream Realm, which had been turned to lifeless hell by the Doom War, and breathe new life into it. To

Of course, that change had come at the expense of countless deaths and immeasurable misery among the inhabitants

too sensible to be discarded

of Heroes, the

such a framework, the history... Could make Sunny a huge

and publish it, accurate or not... my, oh my! I'll be swimming in academic achievements. Let alone a guest lecturer, I'll be made an honorary professor! A dean, even!' As he grinned greedily, Cassie