The void was not a pleasant place. Time slowed down to almost a crawl, with centuries passing in Tangresia while only minutes passed in the void. Society would forget about us and we would be revered only as legend in a matter of moments. My brothers were cast out first with me following them, but fortunately, they waited for me in the cold darkness.

Once together, we started to walk through the cold void. With only each other’s company keeping us sane, we traipsed through the void finding those who were cast out before us languishing alone. Their bodies were weak and decomposing, suffering from years of malnutrition. We took note of their emaciated state, knowing that it was our future if we did not a source of sustenance. Thus, knowing this terrible truth, we were set to wander from eternity.

Fortunately, during the first year of our travels, we came across a small voidspring. These small pockets of energy weren’t much, but were hubs for those who were traveling. The amount of their energy was finite, but unknown. Castouts would hover around them and consume the energy for as long as it would last. We stayed at this spring for nearly a year, meeting several people who were cast out of Tangresia for various reasons, most of them valid and deserved. However, of these people, we met a traveler whose name I cannot remember. He, and the few men and women he kept around him for comfort and companionship, told me about how to find the springs and how they’re abundant if you know where to look. He also told me of a voidspring that was so large, it could not be used for individual sustenance. It was a spring that was so large, a realm could be spawned from it.

It was at this first spring, talking to this traveler, that I had the idea that would save all of us. I pulled my brothers to the side, telling them about this giant voidspring. “Brothers, with your immense knowledge of creating a realm’s foundation, what if we were to create our own realm from that vast amount of energy?” I asked, knowing that this would sew the seeds needed to move forward. Both of them, at first, scoffed at the idea. Being at this voidspring was paradise for them. They didn’t have to work or serve Tangresia but still reaped the rewards of sustenance. It was easy, though I knew that eventually this spring would run dry, and run dry it did.

The spring ran dry but I had already put my plan into motion. I knew that to create a new Tangresia, a new realm for us to farm our own sustenance, I needed the right people who all could perform a job. Both of my brothers together could harness the energy so that the others that I needed would be able to forge the realm, but I knew the first person I needed was a forgemaster; he would be able to sculpt the physical plane from the energy that my brothers harnessed. He was equally as important as Derrien and Maloris. Following that, we would need someone who could create an atmosphere, a shell around the plane so that life would be possible. Next, we would need someone to cool it and provide water, followed by someone, or someones, to create life, both flora and fauna. We were already lucky, because one of the women with the traveler I spoke of, was Dahar, a woman quite gifted at creating life on realms, but I will speak more of her shortly. We would need someone to illuminate the plane, both during the day and night. We would also need someone to create law, something that my brothers were not a fan of, but I knew it would be needed. We had to have someone adjudicate the souls so that we could all have the sustenance we needed.

All of the positions I mentioned were filled in Tangresia with people trained in how to use void energy to achieve the desired results and there were people cast out that could fill these positions. The problem however, as I just mentioned, is all of these people were cast out, which means that they are criminals, some very violent and temperamental. I mentioned Dahar, who was quite gifted in creating life, which we required. Their souls would provide us eternal life. However, on one of the subrealms of Tangresia, Dahar created a cult of followers who worshiped her, and those followers were immortal. Their souls were bound to that realm and would not enter the stream to provide sustenance to Trangresia. This was unforgivable, but not because she bound their souls for eternity, but because what was stopping her from doing it to other realms and keeping the sustenance all to herself. My father had nothing of it and cast her out immediately. She wasn’t ruthless or cruel, but loved her creations. She loved them so much that she wanted to be with them for all eternity.

We had someone to create the fauna in our realm, but we still had a ways to go. After speaking with the traveler who visited the first voidspring, I learned how to track and find them. We wandered for only a few months until we found the next one. While at that one, we came across two people who we desperately needed. The first, Talges, was incredibly gifted at creating atmospheres and containing the energy of the souls within the realm. He was someone that we desperately needed and was eager to join in our endeavor. My brothers were now convinced that we needed to put together a team of people to help, so they were willing to bring Talges on. With him, was a man that my brothers were quite weary of. Zailyne, a man trained in providing water for a realm, was sitting in front of the voidspring and the most dangerous person that any of us had ever heard of. In a fit of rage, he drowned an entire realm and destroyed it. Millions of souls flooded into Tangresia at once and a great deal of them were lost. The moment it was discovered what he did, he was sent out into the void and I was hoped that I would not run into him.

My brothers and I stepped off to the side while Dahar and Talges became acquainted with one another. While he made me nervous, Derrien was completely against asking Zailyne to join us in our endeavor. Maloris, however, was not. He saw the potential of Zailyne and having someone who could perform his job would make things easier. I saw it that was as well. Having him was fantastic, but if we found someone else, then we could replace him. I explained my position and Derrien reluctantly agreed. We asked Zailyne and he gladly accepted. He was dangerous, but we now had three of the people we needed. We stayed at the spring for a little bit longer, hoping to see if someone else would join us, which fortunately for us, happened. Falorous, a man equipped at creating plant life, wandered up and joined our cause without much persuasion.

We started our march toward the large voidspring, hoping to find the remaining people we needed. We knew the large one would take us a few years to reach, so potentially, we would find the men and women we needed. As we traveled, stopping by the smaller void springs on the way, we picked up the sisters, violent enemies of one another, Saeria and Neralil. The two of them would do the job of one, providing illumination during the day and night. Neralil would provide the Sun and Saeria would provide the moons. There was an incredibly animosity between the two, but they agreed to a truce for the greater good. The two sisters plunged an entire realm into a civil war over their love affair for my brother, Derrien.

We continued on, still needing two others. We needed a forgemaster and someone to enforce the laws. We traveled for three years, marching toward the large voidspring and coming close to giving up hope. However, as we moved closer, we ran into both of them. Valcus, a very prominent forgemaster, was sitting next to Vesya, a former palace high-guard. He loved her and created a weapon, a dagger capable of destroying the essence that held our souls together, to slay my father. He was caught in the act and cast out into the void with his weapon. Vesya, knowing of his creation and not stopping him, was cast out a few days later. It was fitting that they were spending eternity together.

We had everyone we needed and continued our march toward the large voidspring. Four years later, we made it, and within a mere matter of moments, Dun-I was sculpted and created with the first lives appearing. The plan came to fruition and our days of wandering the void were over. Our lives were renewed.

Read on in Chapter 3: The Celestial Gods of Dun-I