The Unwritten Wall of Time

PROLOGUE - THE FORMATION OF ARDONIA

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SONGS OF WAR. ARDONIA, AND OTHER ASSETS OF SONGS OF WAR BELONG TO DAVID R.B. AND BLACK PLASMA STUDIOS.

IN ADDITION, THE STORY COVER IS TAKEN FROM THE SOW WIKI. I DO NOT OWN IT.

Long ago, when the land of Ardonia was first formed, it was a turbulent land. The world sat on a conveyor belt, the Ring of Dianomes, which fed the universe with benevolent energy that made planets, stars and moons, and dust clouds and meteorites and comets. Ardonia, however, was formed prematurely, a small planet inside of the Ring of Dianomes, and it hurtled through the universe at such speed it should have disintegrated, but by then, the first two conscious beings had formed.

Life and Death, would be the names our people would give them. Quite spontaneously, they formed without any rhyme or reason. Without a body, they roamed the planets in a metaphysical state, and occasionally their powers would be as they wished; other times, they seemed to be powerless. They quickly learned the Ring of Dianomes was connected to their power; it would pulse, and Life's energy would be drained. It would relax, and Death's energy would be drained.

Life didn't mind the fluctuations in power, but Death was another story. And so, the Ring pulsed, he stored his energy in what would much, much later be known as Black Holes. Eventually, the universe stored so much of his energy, the Ring of Dianomes could not flow as normal; the Ring of Dianomes came to a standstill, and so he cheated the balance of the universe, leaving the universe upset. Life was drained of his power, and as he died he disintegrated into what had been the Ring of Dianomes, and condensed into the only thing that had any kind of energy left; into the matter of Ardonia.

From Life's death, the Song of Life was created. This Song was spontaneous; and Ardonia was exploded and reformed with more energy than the Ring ever had. But this explosive energy attracted the more benevolent energy from nearby Black Holes, and eventually sapping Death of energy until it had too little to survive on, Ardonia assembled into its final form.

And so, balance was restored. Death, like Life, condensed into the matter of Ardonia. Death's death created the first people, who called themselves the Singers of the Tide of Life, or Tidesingers. They were peaceful powerful creatures, with no need to eat or sleep, but they were lonely on the land of Ardonia. They sought out anything out of the ordinary from the barren land, mining their way, until they came across a vast cavern teeming with green, and strange creatures they had never seen; trees, bushes, birds, horses, pigs. And in the centre of the cavern, the Song of Life. Or rather, the two parts or the Song of Life, in the shape of the Yin Yang. The explosive energy, the remnants of Life's power balancing the benevolent energy, the remnants of Death's power.

"Not much happened in the two hundred years since," Paris told her young daughter, Petra.

"But mom, how did us Tidesingers even find out about the Ring of Dianomes?"

"That's a story for another day, Petra. Now go to sleep."

"But I can't sleep, mother! I have so many questions! Why can't the Song be moved up here to the surface? And how is the universe balanced if there's still Black Holes out there, mamma?"

"Sleep." Paris told her now six-year old daughter firmly. Blankets were expensive, with the only supply of wool way below the surface, but her daughter had loved her present. She cuddled into the sheets, and was soundly asleep in moments. While Tidesingers may not need sleep, it was certainly unadvisable to go an entire day-cycle without one, and certainly not for children. She kissed her daughter's forehead, and proceeded to tip-toe her way out of her daughter's room.

Paris wasn't poor, but she worked the night shift simply because of the better pay it offered for the same working hours. As she left the smooth stone brick hut she had built herself, she touched one of the vines on one of the main support pillars. This was where her career path had all started; as a young Tidesinger, she was being trained in her powers as she accidentally thrusted a smooth stone brick through the ground twenty metres. The brick several metres below the very pillar she was touching, now formed a part of her ice-room; a room dedicated to refrigerating milk, cakes and breads that her daughter would eat in the morning just as she came back from work.

Paris' new worksite was not far off the stream where her daughter would splash around in the afternoons, and she would be making an entire mansion for her newest customer. She always worked alone; she was one of the highly acclaimed builders in Ardonia, having worked on numerous projects, both large and small, and her name was known well across the land. Using her telekinesis, she first sourced the nearby area for iron ores; they would be needed for the foundations for a house as big as the customer had wanted. Then, taking out the furnace and lava buckets from her inventory, she proceeded to smelt the iron that would be used to create the iron bars she would be using as foundations.

Ahead of schedule, she finished creating all the iron bars she would need for the next stage. A quick break followed. Normally, during this break, Paris would admire the night sky of Ardonia, which would reveal stars galore so long as it wasn't cloudy, but that day was a special night. Ardonia would be passing by one of the few remaining Black Holes, and the only thing visible was the halo of light around it. Thankfully, a special team of Tidesingers would be working through the night to ensure Ardonia did not fall into the Black Hole.

Break over, Paris continued building the foundations, levitating chunks of dirt and stone out of the ground. Forty metres down, though, the ground gave way to reveal a giant deposit of gravel. Paris sighed in despair. This would cost her an extra day to resolve. In the construction industry, no chances could be taken. If the gravel was above an underground cavern, the entire cavern had to be sealed up, and the gravel replaced with stone to ensure the iron foundations held fast. Paris levitated one block of gravel…

Only for the rest to fall and disintegrate to reveal a pulsing sphere, with black and white in equal measure; the very thing she had been telling her daughter about earlier that day: the Song of Life. Paris was completely enraptured by its beauty, staring down in awe at the colours swirling around in the sphere, but even so she completely missed the first pulses of the Song of Life that warned her of the brewing catastrophe.

The sudden burst of a jet of white light completely took her off guard. Taking a step back, Paris looked up to see barely a meter above her head where a black jet of light from the sky met the white jet. The ground below her started to shake violently, until a sound like breaking glass was heard, and a woman's scream. A supernova burst of grey light engulfed the whole area, then, nothing. No trace that Paris, or indeed the Song of Life, had ever existed at all, save the furnace, the crafting table, the mound of dirt and the iron bars Paris had left behind.