© 2008. CRIOS The New Alliance. Mark Clifford V. Badong. All rights Reserved.

There exists a world hidden from the eyes of others. It is a land of mystery, a land of beauty and a land of many races living together in peace. However, this was not true long ago, when it was newly made by the ancient spirits, known only as The Mystic Ones. Together, they made the world of Crios.There exists a world hidden from the eyes of others. It is a land of mystery, a land of beauty and a land of many races living together in peace. However, this was not true long ago, when it was newly made by the ancient spirits, known only as The Mystic Ones. Together, they made the world of Crios. They created it and they chose it to be their greatest creation, for after its creation, they would return to their heavens and watch over the worlds they created. And it was so. Crios was indeed a great world with its majestic mountains, clean, gushing rivers and silent, beautiful seas. And to be the caretakers of Crios, they created several races. To watch over the simple lands and valleys, they created The Common Men. They were to be simple and humble, and they were to look like the men The Mystic Ones created before, only slightly smaller in stature. To reign over the land and be the guide of the other races, they created The Greater Men. They would be largest of all the men The Mystic Ones created, and they would be able to study the arts of magic and they would be the wisest of all races. To guard the forests, the mountains and the seas, they created the Naiths. They were to be a unique race, and every one of them would have an ability no one else has. Only after several decades would there be another Naith who would have the same ability as another. Using their abilities, they were to ensure that the mountains, forests and seas of Crios would not be defiled. And finally, to serve as messenger, servants and workers of all others, they created the Vorgs. They were to look like short, sullied beings, but they were not unclean. They were also to be the most numerous of all other races. The four races were to live together in Crios peacefully under the watch of The Mystic Ones. And so, they were created and were put in their rightful places and each race was unaware of the existence of other races, but with their selves, the four races learned to live in peace with each other, and The Mystic Ones granted them the wisdom to perform their specific tasks. The Common Men planted and provided, the Greater Men established a kingdom, the Naiths guarded the mountains, forests and seas, and The Vorgs became messengers, servants and workers, but only to themselves. And peace, as The Mystic Ones wished, was upon the land.

The Mystic Ones were pleased that Crios was as they foresaw it would be, at peace, majestic and the most beautiful of all the other worlds. In its first morning, the sun of Crios rose, and almost instantly, a red glow spread all over the gloomy grey skies of Crios, waking the newly-made land which gladly welcomed its first sunrise. The flowers also welcomed the first morning sun, blooming in delight at the warmth it gave them as the plants and trees swayed happily with the early morning breeze. The four races of Crios were reluctant to abandon their peaceful slumber, but, seeing their land bathed with the now pale yellow light of the sun, they departed from the world of sleep to greet the rising sun. The Mystic Ones, not wanting to be much too hasty, waited for five months to pass that each race may explore its uniqueness and that they may have enough time to learn the skills, teachings and responsibilities made for them. Then, during late noon of the First Day of the Fifth Month of the First Year, The Mystic Ones then made themselves known to each race and invited every one from the four races to gather in the plain of Tamellech, known also as the Great Plain. Curious of what this was for, and unwilling to reject They who created them, they prepared to gather in the great plain of Tamellech. The Common Men left Rahas, their simple lands. All of them, even the gardeners and farmers, left for the Great Plain, for their Creators told them that all must go and none must be left. The Greater Men left their Castle Town, Grifera, in the land of Ucriphor, and they rode the steeds they tamed and bred. The Naiths came from the forests, the mountains and the seas, from all directions, though their main home was in the greatest mountains of Crios, Retrin. The Vorgs, both the ones living beneath and above the ground, left their shelters in the plateau of Elaim and walked away to the Great Plain like ants, and they were unnumbered.

Much later, the four races walked slowly to the Great Plain. The Greater Men were the first to arrive, for Ucriphor was the nearest land to Tamellech. Then the Common Men arrived. They failed to notice the Greater Men at first, but when they did, they stared at awe at them. They were like mere children to them, and they looked more powerful than them. The Greater men were also amazed. At first they thought the Common Men were their children, but they later noticed that, as the last one of them approached, no adult accompanied them, and, looking at their own groups, they found out that they all had their children, and no one was out of their group. Even as both races were adjusting to each other (but not yet interacting); the Naiths and the Vorgs arrived. And each race looked at each other from a distance. The Mystic Ones waited patiently for every one in each race to arrive in Tamellech, and as the last one set foot in it, they came down. They greeted each race, and told them of their will that each race should know each other and live together in peace. Indeed, they were willing to live in peace. However, a great flaw that The Mystic Ones failed to handle cost the land its peace: The feeling of Pride. Each race, though feeling slightly inferior to the other, felt that they were the best race of all. The Common Men were proud of their crafts in making various things, the Greater Men were proud of their majestic castles and powerful weapons, the Naiths were proud of their unique abilites and the task of guardian of nature and the Vorgs were proud of their vast numbers and cooperation. Ere each race set out, they had prepared weapons in case they would have to defend themselves, but they really had no plan to use them, and even now, as a quarrel broke out, they did not use them. The Mystic Ones, spirits of peace, could not use hostile powers to stop them. They tried to stop them by telling them that they were all equal and none was greater than the other. But it was useless. Soon the argument became out of control and many were already blaming The Mystic Ones. The greatest of them, Thaenosurutrephim, sensing that peace could no longer solve this, decided to break the law They were bound to, to never use their powers in ways that would endanger anything. He cast a spell that caught the attention of all of them. He cast it at a part where it was crowded, and a few members of each race died. He ordered them all to immediately stop lest they suffer the same fate. The Mystic Ones’ law, however, was broken by Thaenosurutrephim, and so, he lost most of his powers and fell down into the Great Plain as mortal. He did not lose all of his powers, though, and now that he was no longer one of The Mystic Ones, he planned to dominate all of Crios. He was the greatest being in Crios now, and The Mystic Ones could not harm him since they were still bound by their law. Many disregarded his fall and continued with their arguments. Thaenosurutrephim knew that he had to gather an army first. He immediately sought the most powerful race, the Naiths, and tried using his powers to bend them to his will, but their minds could not be altered because of their abilities. So he tried the Greater Men, but their minds, though easier to control, were filled with anger, and he might use up all that was left of his power to control their angered minds. And so he tried the Common Men, but they had practiced arts that would keep their minds sealed from deception. So he had to settle for the inferior Vorgs-but they had an advantage. Being the most numerous of the races, they could easily overwhelm any other. So he controlled their simple minds and they were under his will. He renamed them the Phorgs. And he waged war on all other races. They prepared to defend themselves and each race was the enemy of all others. The War of Darkness had begun.

The Mystic Ones were shocked by the turn of events. They could not stop Thaenosurutrephim, who now renamed himself as Thaenos. The war raged on and soon many fell dead in the now blood-stained grasses of Tamellech. The Phorgs of Thaenos were the most dominant, and soon the other races, even the powerful Naiths, fell back to their homelands. The Phorgs, empowered by Thaenos, killed all in their path and soon the beautiful morning of Crios turned into a sky darker than the night, with scattered gleams of yellow and red everywhere, emitted by the raging fires the Phorgs caused that consumed everything in their paths. Crios had become a dark land. The Mystic Ones could do nothing but watch. At last they decided to unite their powers in order to seal away Thaenos, scatter the Phorgs everywhere and return a few of them to Vorgs, stop the rivalries between each race, revive those who fell in battle and return Crios back to its peaceful state. However, this would drain them of most of their powers and they would never be able to come down in Crios again to guide each race. But They knew that it was better than seeing the last world they created become a world of shadows and evil. And so they united their powers and slowly, the things they wished for Crios came true. The Phorgs became disunited and some of them returned to Vorgs, the rivalries between each race were ended (but they did not forget what had occurred, and so they lived regretting the pride that consumed them) and all who died were revived, and the fires of Crios were washed away by a soft rain which also gave back life to the fallen trees and plants. As for Thaenos, he was sealed away, but his spirit was hidden in Tamellech, in the fortress he built with his powers, the Fortress of Shadows. Tamellech was crushed and it sank in the earth. The waters of the rain slowly flooded it and erased Tamellech from memory, and they formed a lake the Naiths named the Mirbahdlumongdomemperix-domemutsintlar (the Naithen tongue had the longest words), or in the Natural tongue “Unholy Lake”.

However, Thaenos consumed all of his powers to cast a powerful spell that would alter The Mystic Ones’ curse on him, so that instead of being sealed way, he would gather strength inside Crios and would return again, more terrible and more powerful than ever before, and The Mystic Ones would no longer be able to stop him no matter what, united or not. The Mystic Ones gained knowledge of this, and feared the fate of Crios.

Some Naiths, with their special abilities, also knew about Thaenos’ spell and established alliances with some of the Greater Men. They also informed other races but they chose to form their own alliances with the races they chose. Some Vorgs allied with Common Men, others with Greater Men. There were many different alliances. Each one fought with the Phorgs who, though now scattered, continued to terrorize Crios. However, the silent Thaenos was able to make contact with some Phorgs, and they became his most powerful servants. He renamed them the Griphiret, which in the Natural Tongue means Supreme Warriors. They were about a thousand in number. They crushed all of the alliances but were unable to take over the lands of Crios, for as soon as they ventured too far way from the Unholy Lake, they would lose their strength. And so they lived in caves deep below the Lake and guarded against any who would attempt to destroy the currently weak Thaenos. Knowing the hopelessness of their goals, they left their alliances, and though they were not rivals, they no longer fought side by side to attempt to stop Thaenos. Now The Mystic Ones await heroes that would arise from each race and eliminate Thaenos to destroy all the evil in Crios and return it to what The Mystic Ones willed it to be, peaceful, undefiled by evil and the greatest world of all. There was little hope for their dreams to come true, but they knew that that very little hope may well decide the fate of Crios.