Adversary

The Adversary began its existence as the Companion, an entity that the Progenitor separated from itself when it began the work of creating the known universe. It would come to pass, however, that the Companion would grow prideful and drunk with its near limitless power that the Progenitor had imbued it with. And so, it came to believe itself above all other forms of life, which it viewed as playthings for it to do with whatever it wished. On Nascindor, it tortured and played with the primitive species inhabiting the young planet for centuries.

War in the stars

The Progenitor eventually learned of this hubris and was furious. It confronted the being it had created, reprimanding the Companion for its callous actions, which in turn infuriated it, causing it to attack its creator. It was at this moment that the Companion became the Adversary, and a battle that would last for an entire era began. For hundreds of thousands of years, the two gods were locked in combat, until the Adversary managed to strike a lethal blow against its creator. Wounded and dying, the Progenitor used its power to fuse the two back into a gestalt whole before its dying form crashed onto Nascindor in an event known as the Godfall.

Bequeathal

With its dying breath, the Progenitor warned the primitive humans who had witnessed its fall that within its flesh a great evil was trapped, and so bequeathed upon them the Eternal Hymn, a wordless song that would keep the Adversary bound to the corpse of the Progenitor and asleep. For hundreds of years, humanity has performed the hymn dutifully, and the Adversary remains trapped within the last remaining part of the Progenitor's body, its crystallized and corrupted heart. Within its prison, it dreams, and its hateful nightmare spills into this reality, corrupting the great forest the Progenitor fell into, turning it into the Black Forest.

Should the Adversary ever be freed, the universe entire will be endangered, not just Nascindor .

Societal impact

It cannot be understated how profoundly the arrival of the Progenitor and, by proxy, the Adversary affected humanity. An entire species found itself a purpose overnight and unified in their singular hatred of the Adversary. It is the de facto boogeyman that parents use to scare their children and priests of the church of Resounding Truth their flocks, while farmers lament their poor harvests and attribute them to the sleeping god. If it is an ill omen or something dangerous, it is a safe bet that the common folk will blame the Adversary for it in one form or another.
There are, of course, those who think they can slay the god and end its threat to Nascindor once and for all, but such is a fool's errand. Not only would any prospective slayer have to make it through the whole of the Black Forest, but even if they do miraculously reach the Heart of Hate, they are then annihilated spiritually in its dark presence. The Seekers were founded to keep the Hatelings from escaping the forest, but just as important is their duty to the reverse; that of keeping people from entering the forest and thereby getting themselves killed.

Blessed Progenitor, restrain thy enemy, thy hated Adversary as we sing thy praises.

–Excerpt from the Penitent Psalm, a popular prayer from one of the hymnals published by the church of Resounding Truth

by Midjourney

_{An artists rendition of the Adversary}