Prologue: Mythology	1. Genesis	2. The Demon	3. Darkness
4. Alliance	5. Survivor	6. Holy Land	7. Ambition
8. Aurora	9. Darkness Falls	10. Glimmer of Dawn	11. Dark Star
12. New Divide

Chapter 9: Darkness Falls
As reality and fantasy are endlessly intertwined, so light and darkness are eternally bond to the other. None under the almighty sun shall stand alone.
-------- Elysium Proverb

One year after the collapse of the Demon Empire, parties were still held across Cronus to celebrate the victory of humanity. Everywhere, people drank and danced deep into the night. No one noticed the cloud of darkness meandering out of the farthest corner of the continent and moving towards the capital of the Demon Empire. Its movement was slow but sure, and its darkness intensified with each second passed and each inch gained. After one such night of drunken revelry, the giant crystal crucifix of Saint Laurent Church de Cronus was discovered hanging upside-down with the bodies of the twelve priests guarding the holy crucifix nailed to the four walls of the antechamber with massive bone spurs. Blood drenched what was a holy sanctuary.

This heinous blasphemy against the gods rocked the entirety of Cronus. The distinctive bone spurs used in the massacre led the investigation straight to the doorstep of the Brothers of the Silent Hand, a known organization of shadowy assassins whose only moral compass is the gold in their pockets. Soon, the hunters became the hunted as the Brothers were sought out and made to pay for their presumed crimes.

Amidst this confusion and violence, Aggress the Great, Hierophant of the Holy Order, called together his disciples and announced the Silent Hand had nothing to do with the atrocity at Saint Laurent and called on all believers to stop the senseless violence. When asked about the true criminals responsible for the slaughter of Saint Laurent, Aggress simply turned to the sky in silence, his eyes heavy with doubt and fear.

In this uneasy silence, a miasma of death began creeping across the land. Eudemons were rounded up and exterminated, preachers, guards, and even adventurers died mysteriously in their sleep. The only common link between the victims; an upside-down crucifix hung on a nearby wall.

The land of Cronus fell into a state of terror unknown since the Demon Wars. To make matters worse, unprecedented disasters began occurring all over the world; locusts, floods, hurricanes, and plagues ran rampant over the land and brought Cronus to its knees. Though many were convinced these calamities were the result of something rotting in the heart of Cronus, even the sages and soothsayers of the holy mountain were helpless in divining the nature of these disasters.

When the survivors of these cataclysms spoke about their experiences, the same word invariably came up: "darkness". Indeed, darkness fell upon all of Cronus in those days. All the faithful could do was huddle in their homes, and pray for the first light of dawn.