Dawn of the Nephilim

23. to know history part II

During this annihilation, the humans and Graie of the north and the west amassed an army, and when the Nephilim had finished their gruesome work in the south, and turned their attention back in the sea of Ink'Tvas's direction, they found no easy pickings. The armies met on the plains of End'daïr, the plains where no creature walks anymore. The immense powers that were released in the onslaught were meant for destruction. They have destroyed even the lands themselves. Several structures of energy that are new to the world have emerged there. Perhaps some survive until this day. At a dreadful cost, we managed to defeat the Nephilim, and they fled. Still, our army was in no condition to effectively chase and destroy them, and we were not able to permanently defeat them. We would not get another chance. The Nephilim retreated into the lands they had swept clean, and incredibly enough, they even brought their host into the firelands without coming to ruin. Even we could not follow them there. That day we realized that there were some things in which we could not match the incredible power of our children; a realization that might frighten and astound ancestors throughout all of nature.

Three bloody battles have been fought since that day, and many smaller ones besides. But the borders of our lands have changed but little. You must understand that neither of our races can multiply with the speed of humans. It takes over a century for either a Graie or a Nephilim to reach adulthood. And the development of our 'bodies', has not even completed at that point. Besides, our losses in the initial combat were so very grave, it took us centuries to recuperate. Moreover, you must also understand that the humans that lived in those areas were the same as they once had been no longer. The oldest man alive at the arrival of the cursed day was six hundred and three years old. He was slain by the hand of the Nephilim, it is thought by the one now called Ahnu, then known by a name we no longer care to speak.

Such was the condition we were in, up till half a century ago. Besides the bloody skirmishes, which served little purpose other than to probe the might of the opponent and to gain a few strategically important points, there was essentially an arms race between the Nephilim and the Graie. In that time, the Graie have become warriors. We have never been a warrior race, and strife for knowledge rather than conquest. This is maybe our greatest loss in this war. The very nature of the Graie has been changed. Some among the younger generations know little other than war. This war consumes us like that fire consumes the wood that is fed to it."

Ronan listened to the amazing story that unfolded in front of him. And he wondered what the size of the world had to be. Could all the amazing things he had seen in his dreams truly exist? If that were so, then humans were not the masters of this earth. They were only creatures that existed by the mercy of the true powers that ruled it. A man of six hundred and three years old? I must look like a babe in her eyes. It was so hard to believe all of this, his heart tried to convince him that it couldn't be so. It rebelled against the thought that there were so many creatures more powerful and cunning than humans. But there was Eloï'inda in front of his eyes, and he could scarcely argue with her vast abilities and knowledge. There was no point in interrupting her before she finished, he didn't want to insult her again anyway, so he let her continue her story.

"But half a century ago, it became apparent that the Nephilim had changed their strategy. Some of our scouts found out that they had actually walked the east-side of the great wall, something none of us would have thought possible. East of the great wall, the great ones of the past still freely walk the earth, at times benign, at times ferocious. Some reside on this side of the wall as well, but they are mostly at peace with the other residents. The arrogance the Nephilim displayed by wandering into the domain of such forces is unparalleled, and gives rise to much anxiety on our end. We have grown to suspect that they may have developed a secret weapon or tapped a source of power that we have no knowledge of. Their increased activity and seeming ability to expand their reach exacerbates this fear and has stirred us to action.