Chapter 70: The War of the Crying Sky
The Celestials were a... weird race, to say the least.
Normally, a race starts by evolving to their current state or by being created, either by a person or by the nature of mana itself.
The prime example of that would be the elementals, who are made from mana, coming into existence when a large amount of elemental mana gets discharged in an area over a long period of time.
But the Celestials didn’t follow this rule of creation or evolution. They just appeared. Out of nowhere and without warning.
Just randomly, a new race emerged in the universe, and this race was beyond anything anyone had ever seen.
Humanoid forms adorned with regal horns. They looked just like any other race in the universe, but they were fundamentally different.
And the main reason for that was that all of them were loved by mana. Every single one. From the strong to the, well in relation to the strong, weak. The only thing that slightly held them back was their low birth rate, but...
All of them were loved by mana.
Even the children that were born after their emergence were loved by mana. The strength of a race that was closer to mana than even elementals, the physical incarnations of nature’s mana, could conquer the whole universe in years.
No other race would be able to fight against them, but they didn’t. These demi-gods never waged war, never conquered lands for themselves. Instead, they acted as guardians of peace.
Where war was, they were there, not to fight in it, but to resolve it. If it was possible, they would end the conflict with a dialogue. And if that didn’t work, they didn’t shy away from taking out the aggressor.
But they never fought for themselves; even the land that they would call home was an abandoned planet that had no one living on it.
And when the threat of this god-like race existed, known for ending the aggressors of a conflict, the people stopped warring. Of course, it was impossible to take greed out of some people, but they would all learn what it meant to go against the Celestials.
Total annihilation.
It didn’t matter if it was a single person, a kingdom, or a whole planet. All those who continued to attack others would meet their end.
Kingdoms fell, planets ceased to exist, and the universe held its breath whenever the figure of a Celestial appeared on the horizon.
Some out of fear of what they would do to them, but most out of hope and admiration for their strength and drive for peace.
One of the races that held the Celestials in high regard and was allied with them were the phoenixes.
The phoenixes were the incarnations of life and healing, so of course they would side with the keepers of life. These two races formed an alliance with the goal of forming a peaceful universe for everyone.
And they got close. So god fucking close.
But not everyone took a liking to the Celestials; some hated them for whatever reason they could come up with.
Yet, there were two races that hated them for a reason that no one knew.
The visitors from another realm.
The angels and the demons.
These two each had their own realm, the Heavenly Realm and the Abyssal Realm. And they have been at war since the beginning of time.
The real reason for their conflict was long lost to time. But they didn’t care; at this point, it was all just about retribution. An eye for an eye, and so their war continued.
They never cared for the material realm, choosing to pay all their attention to their war.
But something about the Celestials made these two enemies since the beginning of reality work together to wipe them out.
A new war started, and this time the Celestials were fighting. The phoenixes would obviously choose the side of their allies, to fight against the intruders and defend their home.
And with them also came the Cosmic Dragons. The race that evolved from their terrestrial counterparts to a cosmic scale.
The alliance between the Celestials and the Cosmic Dragons was forged through the union of the leader of the Celestials and the princess of the Cosmic Dragons, who fell in love at first sight.
On one side were the Celestials, Phoenixes, and the Cosmic Dragons, and on the other side were the Angels and the Demons.
It was a cruel and merciless battle that spanned over a thousand years, with billions of casualties.
The Celestials were stronger individually, but the angels and demons were way higher in number, and war was ingrained in their genes through generations of non-stop fighting.
The universe would later call the war The War of the Crying Sky.
A fitting name for a war in which demi-gods would tear the sky apart, break planets, and extinguish life on a scale that would never happen again.
It seemed like an endless fight, with the angels and demons refusing to back down, hellbent on killing the Celestials for whatever reason.
But the side of the Celestials was slowly winning. The forces of the other realms were getting pushed back, and for the first time in a thousand years, it seemed like peace was about to return.
The residents of the material realm gained hope that their guardians would protect them against these invaders.
But all their hope came crashing down on a single day. The day everything changed and the fate of the Celestials was sealed.
The angels and demons wanted to end the war. And to do that, they deployed their 22 strongest.
Each side sent their 10 strongest generals, and their leaders went personally to end the war.
When they arrived in the material plane, ready to face the army of Celestials, Dragons, and Phoenixes, they were met with a single man.
Long white hair, golden eyes that shone like a thousand suns, and two horns on his head that looked more like a crown than normal horns.
And when they saw him, they prayed that they would need to face an army of demi-gods and mythical beings. Anything rather than fighting against him.
The leader of the Celestials and the strongest being in all three realms.
It was supposed to be an easy fight; it was 22 against one. And it wasn’t just any 22 angels and demons.
It was their strongest and their leaders themselves. They were supposed to win.
But what followed was pure carnage. The first angel fell in seconds, followed by the first demon less than a second later.
These beings that could reshape entire solar systems were completely crushed in less than an hour.
All the while, the leader of the Celestials didn’t receive a single injury; it was completely one-sided.
At the end, it was only the leaders of all three races left standing, and it looked bleak for the invaders.
This impenetrable wall seemed like the end to their conquest. But driven by whatever reason they had to wage this war in the first place, they made the ultimate sacrifice.
In a desperate attempt to kill him, Uriel, the First Light, and Morvath, the First Shadow, sacrificed their primordial souls to end the protector of the material plane.
In the process, they didn’t just die; their very souls were erased from existence, making any kind of revival or reincarnation impossible.
But they achieved their goal: together, they killed the leader of the Celestials, making way for their people to slaughter the rest with their overwhelming numbers.
The dragons fell, then the phoenixes, and lastly, the last Celestial died, robbing the universe of its protectors.
After the war ended, the angels and demons made sure to remove any kind of knowledge about the war from the records, making sure that no one would remember what gruesome events had happened.
Now, thousands of years later, the universe has forgotten its guardians, and the people started to wage war again once the threat of the Celestials was gone.
Valerian looked at the giant phoenix as he recounted what had happened in the past. And to say the least, he was shocked. To think that his people had such an important role in the universe long ago, and that the other realms, for some reason, wanted them dead.
His blood boiled at the thought of the angels and demons and how they murdered his people for no reason.
But there was one thing gnawing at him, begging him to ask the question. And so he turned to the blue phoenix and asked hesitantly:
"What... What was the name of their leader... the one that led my people?"
The phoenix looked at Valerian, and for a moment, he seemed lost in his memories.
"Ahh... the brightest light to ever shine on the universe, the one loved by all and protector of the material plane: Valgareth, the Sovereign of the First Dawn. Or, as he was known to his people... Valgareth von Astrea."