09 Game of the Gods

Balmytria saw that unless the Titans were stopped, they would destroy all of Thylea. She vowed action. Knowing that Sydon and Lutheria were proud creatures, Balmytria challenged the Twins to the game of twenty squares, which is also called the Royal Game. She summoned them to the island of the Golden Heart, which is the home of the Mother Goddess herself. They would play beneath the great tree, with the mother of the Titans as their sacred witness.
The stakes would be simple: she would wager her life and the lives of all her kind against the divine power of the Titans. In this way, the war could be ended.
Lutheria saw the trap right away, but her husband would not listen. Sydon had never been defeated at the Royal Game in all his centuries. He accepted Balmytria's terms, and the game began.
When gods play the game of twenty squares, the pieces symbolize entire armies, and the fall of the dice are like the hammers of Fate, drenching the earth with the blood of those armies. Thousands of soldiers may live and die by the turn of a single gambit.
Balmytria knew that Sydon had never lost at the Royal Game. Accordingly, she chose her moves with extreme care, taking the full time allotted - one rotation of the stars per turn. And all the while, she was maddeningly silent. Sydon shouted at her, demanding that she look him in the eyes, rise to his taunts, or just say anything at all. He quickly lost patience with the game, rolling the dice as soon as his turns began, simply to have it over with. His impatience proved his undoing.
Balmytria won the first game, shattering the Titan's winning record and his pride. He raised his fists to the sky and mountains crumbled, so angry was he. But before his sister-wife could calm him, he had doubled the stakes and challenged the silver dragon to a rematch.
This continued for five more games. Balmytria remained patient, neither speaking nor eating even as a full month passed. Meanwhile, Sydon spiralled into a wrath such as the world had never seen.
Lutheria clawed at her own face, furious with her husband's idiocy. She could not interfere with the game directly, for the magic that enforces the game of twenty squares is woven deep into the fabric of the multiverse.
But she knew that he seventh game was sacred. "Seventh game takes all," they say. If Sydon could win the seventh game, then the six previous matches would mean nothing. The Titans would have their way.


As her husband lost game after game, Lutheria sat quietly, weaving magic into the dice. Even the greatest spells in Thylea seemed to have no effect. Desperate, she began to pour her divine power into the dice. As the magical energy took hold of the dice, she felt herself growing weaker - and Sydon began to win. No matter how carelessly he threw the dice, they delivered victory. And as the final game drew to a close, it was clear that Balmytria was about to lose eveything.
Laughing, arrogant, triumphant, the Twin Titans threw open their mouths and shouted in the face of the silver dragon, "You are nothing. You are nothing. "
But Balmytria only smiled. "I have staked my life on this game, and you have staked your divine power. You gave your divine power to win this game, but now I give my life to match your sacrifice." With this, she plunged a dagger into her chest, and her blood spilled across the twenty squares, soaking the enchanted dice. [07:56] MyrddinEmyrs-Sounds: When Balmytria's blood mixed with the magic of the dice, the fate of the world was forever altered.
Balmytria knew the dragons could not defeat the immortal Titans unless they became immortals themselves. That was her plan all along. She never intended to kill Sydon and Lutheria, for she knew that the Fates were working against her. Instead, she sought to steal the divine power of the Titans for her own blood.
As Balmytria's blood drained from her body, the Titans' divine power replaced it. She ascended into the heavens as Mytros, the Goddess of Dawn. Her husband became Volkan, the God of the Forge. Her children became Vallus, the Goddess of Wisdom; Pythor, the God of Battle; Narsus, the God of Beauty; and Kyrah, the Goddess of Music. Together, this new pantheon would turn the tide of the war completely.
History says the dragons are gone, but that is not entirely true. The dragons are still here, but they have been changed into something even greater. Mytros won the war that could not be won by sacrificing herself and ensuring a future for all the mortals of Thylea.

Telamok Arklander Oathsworn of Tysophale (Vallus Gold)
Adonis Neurdagon Oathsworn of Raspytrion (Pythor Bronze)
Estor Arklander Oathsworn of Arkrania (Kyrah Copper)
Rizon Phobas Oathsworn of Sybolkorax (Volkan Mithril)
Xander Huorath Oathsworn of Balymytria (Mytros Silver)
Jasena Oathsworn of Tezcacoatl (Narsus Brass) [The five abaondoned their brother, he's hiding out in Aresia. Probably looking into a mirror.]
--------------------------------------- Hexia (Adopted daughter of Mytros/Balmytria, & Volkan/Sybolkorax) lover & wife to Pythor/Raspytrion. She never forgave her husband for taking Human form, & has kidnapped the mothers of the children he's fathered over the centuries.