The Second Age
After the Age of Great Wars, which also became known as the First Age, the peoples of Aagos flourished and grew in wisdom and culture. The demi-gods, as well as older gods, continued to live among them, dwelling often in temples and holy places, ruling and guiding.
This was called the Second Age. Wars still occurred, from time to time; Balor would judge the sides with his scales, choosing the victor among whomever had the greatest desire for victory, and gathering the greatest of the fallen from Annwn.
Cymur still dwelt among Men, but the teachings of Melchior and Elbahn helped soften his otherwise unbending Law, and gave Men other things to explore and be interested in. In short, the world moved forward in many directions at once, and nearly everyone was generally pleased.
Belial’s Hunger
Nearly everyone, except for Belial, the third and youngest immortal son of Ylessa. Much like his god-ancestor Morhiag, his mind was complicated, and his ways difficult to understand; he hungered for the very source of knowledge, and looked for signs of it, hints of it, in the deepest part of mortal’s souls, in the bowels of the Order of Nature which Sykala ruled, and in the firmament which Ylessa had created. He looked, also, inside his own form, which was not so far removed from the form of the older gods themselves.
As Belial loved mysteries, he learned to move like one himself, with great stealth, eventually devising a way to hide himself from the eyes of both men and gods when he chose. Thus, he could search without being hindered or bothered.
A Secret Stolen
In time, his search brought him to Annwn, the City of the Dead. It is said that Belial found a secret there which was most precious, and stole it, carrying it back with him to a distant corner of Aagos. He became so absorbed by it that no one heard from him or caught a glimpse of him for a very long time.
The Art of God-Making
The gods nearly forgot Belial, which worried them; Melchior and Elbahn were sent to investigate their immortal brother. What they found disturbed them: in a particular place in the Islands of the far East of Aagos, not far from a kind of people known as Elves, they found signs of Belial, but not the demi-god himself.
It was the signs that were disturbing: the place where Belial dwelled was no longer ruled by the Order of Nature. Belial had used the secret he had stolen to create a new Nature, which was as immortal as he. No one knew how he had accomplished such a thing, for it was not thought to be within the power of a demi-god to do so. It seemed to Melchior and Elbahn that Belial was somehow, now, much more like their god-ancestors, that he had somehow learned the art of god-making.
