The Nine

The mountains collapsed into a vast valley, turning green slopes into a desert and a red river as imperial soldiers in blood-red cloaks advanced like a crimson tide. A hawk, which transforms into a weary woman wearing a deerskin, arrives at a sprawling city's ancient temple where nine notable figures are gathered: Prince Eurys, a noble young man with calm eyes; a boy with red hair; a scholarly woman with a long black braid; a tall warrior with broad shoulders; a slender man in elegant clothes resembling a sculptor; a ship captain with bronze skin and sea-colored eyes; a blind poet famed for his songs; a mysterious woman who might be priestess or courtesan; and the woman in deerskin who just arrived. Summoned by the Oracle—three blind seers who see beyond sight—they learn that their homeland cannot be saved from the Empire's conquest: cities will burn, people enslaved, and the kingdom forgotten. However, the Oracle charges the nine with avenging their land by destroying the gods that protect the empire, a daunting task that Prince Eurys doubts but is met with the Oracle's chilling directive that they must kill the gods.^[2]

As their peaceful realm faces annihilation by the War Empire, a crimson tide that thrives on conquest and slavery, nine individuals are summoned by the Oracle, a triad of blind seers cursed and sanctified by glimpsing Fate.^[3]

Among those who are fated were foretold:

• Prince Eurys, who is destined for the most bitter task of all—to become a slave^[3]
• Auro, a red-haired boy whose task is so harrowing it leaves even the huntress was shaken^[3]
• Aletheia the Philosopher, a sorceress tasked with scouting truth, revealing the gods' lies and teach others how to bring upon doom.^[3]
• Aemedon the Sculptor, who must shape a trap for the gods using the truths Aletheia reveals and form their hearts into gravestones and build the walls of the trap from that stone.^[3]
• A blind poet fated to be lost in illusion^[3]
• The woman in deerskin, a huntress given the gravest task of all—to slay Weaver, the Demon of Fate^[3]

The Oracle declared that the tapestry of fate cannot be unraveled to save their land—it was already doomed. Instead, the nine, cursed and chosen by Fate, must achieve the impossible: to destroy the six gods who uphold the Empire of War. Each was offered as a sacrifice to fate itself, bound by threads that will shake existence. Though mortals, their actions will echo across destiny's vast loom, and through their impossible quests, they are to drown the world in ichor, as retribution for the blood of their people that will soon stain the sea red.^[3]

Sunny witnessed the torment of Weaver, the Demon of Fate, whose cursed, broken body staggered through a dark valley under a starry sky. Bleeding divine golden blood and pierced by a poisoned arrow, Weaver was collapsing — not from the arrow, but from a prior wound inflicted by a far more dangerous enemy.^[5]

Then, she arrived — a veiled woman in dark armor, a mortal huntress who had pursued Weaver through fate itself. Though mortal, she loomed large in the great tapestry of destiny. Weaver recognized her, not just as a predator, but as one of the Nine — beings destined to shape fate, oppressors even to demons. Weaver, beaten and cornered, spoke with bitter resignation, warning of the price for killing a daemon — a price the huntress seemed unaware of. Still, she made her choice. With a clean strike, she ended the daemon's life. The mask shattered into sparks, and Weaver was no more. As the huntress looked to the stars, triumphant yet weary, she was overcome with a strange confusion. She whispered: "...What task?"— as if, in fulfilling her destiny, she had forgotten what had driven her all along.^[5]

The Nine is a secretive group whose actions set in motion the downfall of the gods. Auro, once an imperial soldier, and Eurys, a former imperial slave who claimed to have killed a god (likely the mortal vessel of the War God), were among the Nine. Aletheia, a sorceress and philosopher, entered the Tomb of Ariel and uncovered hidden truths about the Forgotten God and his children, who were described as the "Flaw of the gods." For seeking this knowledge, she became the First Seeker and ultimately the source of Defilement, but she may have passed on her revelations before succumbing to corruption.^[6]

Aemedon, a sculptor among the Nine, was tasked by the Oracle to build a "trap" for the gods using the truth Aletheia uncovered. This trap was not a physical device, but a metaphorical one, built from the hearts of living beings—specifically, the daemons. Aemedon delivered the truth to Nether, the Prince of the Underworld and Demon of Destiny, who then led the daemons in rebellion, initiating the Doom War. This war ultimately caused the fall of the gods, not by direct assault from the Nine, but by manipulating daemons into becoming the instrument of divine destruction.^[6]

The gods had fallen in battle against the daemons, not against the Nine directly. Thus, the Nine's true accomplishment was not in overpowering the gods, but in exposing their weakness—the existence of the Forgotten God—and orchestrating their fall through indirect means. Other members of the Nine had unclear roles but were hinted to be equally significant. Sunny, the observer of these revelations, recognizes that the Nine's strategy followed a prophecy: find a weakness, build a trap, and strike the weak point. The Doom War was the trap, the daemons were the blade, and the Forgotten God was the hidden truth that shattered divine rule.^[6]

Sunny recalled runes left by one of the High Priests of the Nightmare Spell in an underground cell beneath the ruined cathedral of the Dark City. These runes, initially unreadable, were later deciphered after his return to the Forgotten Shore as a Saint. Attributed to Weaver, the runes foretold that "they" would open the Gates, unleashing doom. This prophecy seemed to align with the aftermath: the gods lay dead, the daemons had fallen, and the Forgotten God stirred.^[7]

Sunny wondered whether the Forgotten God had been the weapon the Nine intended to unleash, and whether their goal had been to awaken him as revenge against the Empire's tyranny. Still, he cautioned himself—"they" could have referred to the Nine, the daemons, the gods, or even Weaver. Despite all he had discovered, the end of the Doom War remained unclear. He questioned whether the Nine had succeeded, if the Void was truly open, and whether the Forgotten God was awake or still dreaming.^[7]

Signs like the spread of Corruption, Nightmare Seeds, and the expanding Dream Realm suggested the Void was open. Yet, Sunny recognized the contradiction—if the Forgotten God were truly awake, all existence would already be consumed. This paradox left him frustrated. He realized a fourth force had influenced the world's fate: Weaver. The Oracle had described Weaver as the Nine's greatest obstacle, possibly opposing their goal to destroy the gods. But knowing Weaver's enigmatic nature, Sunny couldn't be sure if Weaver resisted, manipulated, or used the Nine for their own ends.^[7]