They sang in boundless harmony, the notes of creation rang throughout eternity. And on the forty-ninth day; laws, rules, and reality, manifested.

From their melody, beautiful in all of its forms, the earth rumbles, the fire rages, the wind purifies, and the water soothes. The four elements combined, infinite in their combinations, for each has its own place, and each has its own purpose.

Thus, the world, which He named Aria, rose from the infinite union of the elements. It was grand and great. Magnificent in its size and width. And the four guardians, He tasked, to manage it. To let it grow strong and free. Appeased by His creation, He slept, never to be awoken.

In this world named Aria, lies four paths towards immortality left behind by the Four Guardians of old. Namely, The Primordial, the first of the firsts; The Oblivion, the end of all; The Ascendant, the one pushing infinity forward; and The One, the ruler of all.

The Primordial sired many races; dragons, vampires, satyrs, demons, angels, humans and all manner of creatures from the Other Side. It also left a way for one in their respective races to become stronger and attain immortality, namely evolution. Every creature in a respective bloodline could choose which bloodline they wanted to pursue as long as they passed the stages of a fledgling into a juvenile to their true form. Once they achieved this true form, they're free to evolve, either to a higher rank of their species right now or into another species altogether. From there on, they will start anew as a fledgeling, into a juvenile, ad infinitum.

The Oblivion was revered by the arcanists as the first to document all things. It was the recordkeeper of the world. From it, came symbols of all kinds, which were understood by arcanists and made them capable of unleashing all kinds of spells. Arcanists too were segregated into different classes according to their specialization, however, that is too large of a topic. the theme right now is ascension. Arcanists started by mastering spell models from level one, and continued onwards to level two, three, ad infinitum; But, at this point in history, they only managed to create the first 13th level spell that's capable of causing a great war, just because of its threat.

The Ascendant, the ancestor of all martial artists, used Aura and only Aura. It was the fighter, the warrior, the one taking on the great darkness beyond the waking world; and its mettle was worshipped by all martial artists. It taught them to use the energy of life, forming Aura, and how one could increase said energy. Once the energy of life gained was far above its natural depletion, martial artists achieved functional immortality. There are tiers to a martial artist, that could be achieved or not, based on the manuals they are using. The first step to becoming a martial artist was to form an internal Aura; this step was called Aura Combustion. The second step after that was to fill every inch of the body with that same Aura; this step was called Smelting Bones and Organs. the third step was to condense Aura outside the body so it could be used as a weapon. At this step, most martial artists would generally have already tasted immortality. This step was called Aura Armament. Finally, the last step was to continue expanding Aura ad infinitum, ascending through all shackles.

Finally, The One granted us the path of divinity. Rigid, and orderly. It was the path walked on by saints of all kinds. It will lead them towards divinity, and by achieving that, they're exempted from death and decay, gaining immortality. This path made use of the beliefs and faiths of others. Once a mortal was immortalized by some things or someone in their hearts, they would gain an advancement in the aspect their believer believes in them, this period was a probation period for saints before they tasted divinity. Unless one had already gleaned divinity and the rules and laws of all, one must wait until their believers had passed certain numbers. The higher the fanaticism, the lower the number of believers one had to gain. However, if one by some chance had already gleaned divinity before, and had understood what and how to use the grand unification theory, that only gods and deities could understand, they, even with only one or two believers, could advance into the first level of divinity, that is a Local Deity. From there, they must increase the scope of their influence (and also research into divinity if they're new), into a Regional Deity, and after that Continental Deity. At this point, the increase of believers won't amount much, since they will have to gleam into higher concepts, that's why they are called a Conceptual Ruler once they managed to do so. As they glean into higher and higher concepts, they will inevitably find themselves researching The One, and they would have to embody the nine aspects of it to advance, this step was called the Nine Aspects of Vertex Zenith. The limbs, the torso, the organs; the thoughts, the deeds, the words; the emotions, the will, and finally the divinity. Once one had achieved all nine aspects, they would be the next generation of The One.