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  PROLOGUE

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  From the inner sea of the dying planet, She rose; the world's final attempt at self-preservation.

  At first glance, she was a delicate little thing, all soft curves and flawless skin, with long sea blue hair that undulated into waves around her. Her inhumanity though, was betrayed by her eyes- a harsh glow erupting in all cardinal directions from hidden depths within. Then there was the row of shark-like carnivorous teeth that lined her mouth instead of what one would normally expect in a human. Perhaps it might even be the long reptilian tail that swished back and forth in agitation behind her. None would miss, however, the pair of utterly massive horns that erupted from her skull, which curved gracefully into perfect semi-circles, and then curved again.

  She was perfect and beautiful, if a bit unsettling. But also young, Small and Fragile. At least for the moment.

  The truth of her nature though, was that of a luminous being; celestial but one that was all too grounded. She had a connection to the world so innate, so fundamental to her being that her very soul was indistinguishable to that of the planet's. There were a few key differences however.

  Currently, the world's essence was that of a grand yet pitiful thing, a gargantuan husk of withering networks rotting from the inside. Her's on the other hand, was a simulacrum of what once was, and what could have been; a record of existence, an Ark. She was a divided spirit of the planet's very soul that existed for one singular purpose - that of Preservation. Within her being was the preserved record of the genetic and mystical blueprints of every living being that had ever existed on Earth, along with the authority and power to call upon the primordial Sea Of Life; the Chaos Tide, to birth it all anew.

  The dying world didn't have the energy or resources necessary to actually produce or sustain such an entity. Not as it was now, so close to death. Thus the ark was constructed in its juvenile, larval form and granted the ability to sustain itself independently, as well as the capacity for growth. However, the mind that the ark's template was copied from was not suitable. It was not a being capable of fulfilling the harshness of the task set before her; to brave the vast solitude of the cosmos alone and to colonize distant shores. Abandonment, solitude and conflict were all things Tiamat, the primordial mother, who was first and foremost a caretaker and terraformer, was ill suited to endure.

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  So, after a moment of deliberation and grudging acknowledgement, the planet grasped a soul of one of it's would-be killers from the swirling root of all existence. A being that killed its mother in its failed attempt to reach for the stars should be capable of doing the same given the proper means to do so. As such, let this task be a penance, as well as forgiveness. The planet's hatred was not truly indiscriminate, despite what the humans might think. The perpetrators who had orchestrated its death would be punished all too soon.

  The planet gently lulled its contingency to sleep; to mature a bit more before it was ready to fulfill its purpose. The planet's final child, the Ark that is Tiamat, was to awaken long after the planet's surface had been scoured clean of the cancerous pests that would cling upon its corpse unto oblivion.

  As the last of its leylines ruptured and its will and ego faded into the night, Gaia in its death throes, unleashed a roar - a call for vengeance and retribution, and for its corpse to be laid to rest in peace. It was a request to eradicate the plague that was humanity. A wish for its killers to not live on past itself.

  Humanity would die, and the ark of stars would seek new horizons to birth the world anew.

  And just like that, Gaia, Earth, [The World], ceased to exist. The reality marble known only as 'The Observable Universe' - that accommodated all life on its surface to exist, faded into nothingness, leaving behind only the eldritch truth of the greater universe. One, that while similar was far, far stranger and dangerous than humanity had ever imagined it to be. The lifeblood of the planet; Mana, Ether, lost the attributes that gave it form and refinement as it regressed into the incomprehensibly toxic, primordial cosmic particles that made up the bones of celestial bodies. Grain, the corrupted ether that permeated the world as it rotted - was now the only resource that was left.

  The world was dead.

  The inhabitants of the Land of Steel continued their reckless war of mutual annihilation, unaware of the cry of the planet, as well the doom from beyond it heralded. For Within the embrace of the distant worlds of the solar system, the Ultimate Ones stirred.

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