Ainhasad, Gran Kain and the Fall of Shilen

The eternal war of light and darkness that permeates all of Aden - angels against demons, Anakim vs. Lilith, faith versus heresy, seems like a law of the universe, cold and impersonal. But it has a beginning, and this beginning is surprisingly warm and human. Light and darkness were not born as enemies. They were born as family.

Creation and Destruction

In the beginning there were two. Ainhasad, the Goddess of Creation, is the one from whose hands came light and life. And Gran Cain, the God of Destruction, the Father of Darkness, is her husband and her opposite.

"Gran Kain—Lord of Destruction, Father of Darkness! If the light that hurts our eyes was created by Ainhasad, then the darkness that consumes that light was created by him."

from the priest's instructions

This is the first truth of Aden: light and darkness are not good and evil, but husband and wife. Creation is unthinkable without destruction, like day without night; and so the Goddess of Life took the God of Death as her consort, and the world was held together by their union. From this union were born children— five gods, the younger generation, who were destined to populate and divide the world. And the first to come into the world was she—the one whose name is now spoken with horror.

Primordial

Goddess of Death Shilen All of Aden knows her as the spawn of darkness. But it wasn't always like that. Listen to who she was in the beginning.

"In time immemorial, the union of the Goddess of Creation, Ainhasad, and the God of Destruction, Gran Kain, produced five child gods. Shilen was the firstborn, and with each passing day she grew wiser, braver, more beautiful, and more skillful. Beloved by her subjects, she was equal to her brothers in her skill in leading an army—an expert in both strategy and tactics."

Asamah, shaman of the Elroki tribe

This is who Shilen was: firstborn daughter of the gods, the wisest and most beautiful of the younger generation, a brilliant military leader, beloved of her people. Not a monster, not a devil—the light and hope of a new world. To understand the full horror of what became of her, one must first see how high she stood. The goddess of death began as the best of gods.

Forbidden connection

And then something happened that could not and could not be forgiven. A rift broke out between Shilen and her own father, Gran Kain. forbidden connection — and the secret one day becomes clear.

"Once, while my body was still whole, my thousand eyes reported to me all that was happening in the world. It was I who told Ainhasad of the connection between Shilen and Gran Kain."

Eye of Argos

It was not an enemy or an envious person who reported it, but Eye of Argos — a thousand-eyed guardian who saw everything. He revealed to Ainhasad the truth about her daughter and husband. And with that single word, the world was shattered. The Goddess of Creation, betrayed by both her husband and her firstborn daughter, turned her wrath on Shilen—and the resentment and rage in her daughter's heart began to do their terrible work.

Primordial Wrath

Misfortunes never come alone. Not only was Shilen humiliated by her own mother, but mortals also turned their backs on her: elvesThe beings who had previously served her defected to the young water goddess Eve. Insulted by heaven and abandoned on earth, Shilen choked with rage—and this rage recreated her.

"Shilene's anger at Gran Kain and Ainhasad temporarily transformed her into a being pure and perfect—a literal embodiment of destruction. Having attained the purest form of rage, she lost all kindness and gentleness. Her perfect wrath is the source of those evil creatures."

Grand Master Oltran

Listen to the terrible paradox: rage made Shilen "pure and perfect." Having cast aside all meekness and kindness, she became pure—but pure. destructionThus the firstborn daughter of the gods, the wisest and most beautiful, turned into goddess of death, whose very anger gives birth to monsters. It wasn't the darkness from without that corrupted her—it was her own that broke her: her father with temptation, her mother with rejection, her servants with betrayal. The goddess of death is not a villain from the abyss. She is a devoted daughter whose love and loyalty were trampled, and whose broken heart turned to pure hatred.

All-Seeing Eye

As for Argos, whose tongue started it all, his fate befits the grandeur of the myth. The Thousand-Eyed One was unable to retain what he saw.

"With the birth of the four races, the world became too complex to keep track of. I began opening only 500 eyes a day—and it split my mind in two. One half focused on darkness: wars, murder, betrayal, and corruption... The other on light: love, art, courage, and loyalty."

Eye of Argos

Even the all-seeing witness was split into light and darkness—as everything in this world was split. And its end was terrible: in a war between the gods and giants Argos refused to give Ainhasad the giants' refuge, and the Goddess of Creation, that same bright mother, tore his body apart and tore out his eyes. From the remains thrown into the valley, two magnificent eyes survived: one perceived the light, the other the darkness (it was inherited by Daimon White-Eyes). Even here, in the fate of the informer, there is the same split: light and darkness, torn in half.

The war that began at home

This is the true source of it all. The split between light and darkness that runs through all of Aden—through angels and demons, through dark elves and light elves, through every heresy and every fire—didn't begin in battle or in the abyss. It began in one family: forbidden love, jealousy, betrayal and a broken heart.

The Goddess of Death was a beloved daughter. The Father of Darkness was the husband of the Goddess of Light. What now tears each other apart in necropolises and towers once sat at the same table. And perhaps this is Aden's bitterest wisdom: the greatest feuds in the universe were born not from alienation, but from closeness; it was not enemies who created the darkness, but kin. Light and darkness feud so fiercely precisely because they were once one family—and there is no hatred blacker than that which grows from devoted love.