Welcome to the story of the Heroes of Ether! We find ourselves in the “Great Proliferation of the Gods Era”, also known as the “Dark-Golden Age”.  Everything began after the fall of the five Gods that oversaw the Celestial Council. After their corruption, they lost their spirit, essence, and names, but retained their power. Consequently, they lost their integrity, and unity and divided themselves into multiplicity. Now, what once was seen as the stabilizing governance of the universe has fallen into chaos, loss of morals and ethics, values and a sense of equity and peace. The universe is now a battlefield. Wars have emerged, not only between mortals but amongst the gods themselves who use our heroes as a means for their proxy wars.

The heavenly realms where the gods reside are in a different dimension than the mortal’s plane of existence. Gods are vastly superior in power, abilities, intelligence, lifespan, health, and beauty than their counterparts. However, the former lacks something that the latter has: “Ether” -energy-. Every living being has a source of Ether, but not everyone enjoys high quantities of it. Mortals who are blessed with excessive amounts of ether tend to excel in combat, academics, literacy, sports, and anything that they put their minds into. Gods often regard these beings as “heroes” and are often targeted as “high-value” specimens.

Gods crave for Ether as it is an ecstatic energy source that they cannot produce. At first, the gods would only possess these heroes and sap them of their Ether, but one day something changed. A god known as “The Maniac” – a title obtained as a result of his aggressive and psychotic behavior – began to kill other heroes while possessing one. Interestingly, he discovered that he could absorb his victim’s Ether while using one of his own heroes. Other gods observed The Maniac and began doing the same. Then, they began to experiment, to observe how they could maximize the amount of Ether they could gain at once; how many heroes could they control at once; how they could direct the Ether that their possessed mortals had. Not too long after, they discovered they could possess up to seven heroes at once, and if they killed other heroes, than their own possessions (The Heroes would be considered objects), they would be able to store more Ether. As a result, many gods stopped disposing of these beings after absorbing their energy but rather took care of them as they became their main weapons in the mortal plane.

The trend escalated fast. Now the gods would look for these heroes in every corner of the universe, and test if they were suitable for possession or rather just an energy meal. The consequences on the mortal plane were devastating. Towns, cities, nations, and planets fell as their strongest and brightest were possessed without nobody else noticing. The people in power would begin to wage wars, corruption, and famine, all for the sake of the extraction of Ether for a god that most were unaware of. Meanwhile, in the heavenly realms, a new culture that circled around the heroes of ether emerged. Many gods did not care for the mortals nor saw them as worthy of respect or compassion. They would be remorseless in waging wars and taking lives. Gods would gather around and oversee battles where they would possess various heroes. Ultimately, it was one god against another where the Ether was at stake. In their realm they would be facing one in front of the other; while in the mortal realms, people would be giving it their all -life, livelihood, family, dreams and ambitions- without knowing they were being played.

Fights using heroes became a common practice in the heavenly realms. Championships would be held, and gods would gather around and celebrate while “playing”. However, not every god felt good with their current culture. Some objected to these fights, this “game”, and did care for the mortals and their lives. Amongst these noble gods, one was planning on putting a stop to it all. He was Grandmaster, who lived secluded, playing chess with high-order beings. His foresight was impeccable, he was a strategist and would achieve his visions every time. He would not participate in activities that would tarnish his soul; thus, he did not agree with the idea of possessing mortals against their will or knowledge. 

His journey to change the status quo began one fateful day. He was playing chess with his companion, the elder dragon “Gnosis”, a being that reached the heavenly realm after Eons of practicing self-cultivation. The Grandmaster and Gnosis would observe other gods “playing” with their mortals, and could not help themselves to comment on it.

“What will they do when their greed kills off every mortal in existence” – Asked the Grandmaster while making his move.

“Weep, cry, and repent” – Replied Gnosis, while making another move on the chessboard.

“The other gods are too foolish to understand that this behavior will end all of us.”
“Shall we do something about it?” – Replied Gnosis

“I already have a plan” – smirkingly said The Grandmaster – “I only need a way to transfer my consciousness into a mortal body”.

“If I got here from the mortal realm, there must be a way back” – Said Gnosis

Then, from afar, a disruption in space appeared and a figure stepped out of a portal. It was NoMad, the god that travelled countlessly in every realm and corner of the universe.

“There must be a way” – Said the Grandmaster as Nomad was watching him from afar – “…and checkmate” he exclaimed as made a final move on the board.