GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



But it is understandable that the realm tree will rely on the immortals since the major aim of the realm trees is to create strong and powerful origin gods. The trial of heaven is done to ensure that. 

While the era of conquest is bringing mass culling of the population of the realm tree, such a thing isn't new. It has been happening for quite a while. The will of the realm culls the weaklings of its population every origin cycle through the trial of heaven and produces immortal soldiers with the resources available. 

Of everyone who attends the trial of heaven, only 20% of them survive. The remaining 80% all die and hundreds of origin gods are produced each origin cycle. So people have always been dying. The rule of survival of the fittest has always been upheld. The era of conquest has only ramped things up. The increase in deaths doesn't affect origin gods much so it is allowed to happen. 

Mother High Heaven has to choose who to prioritize and side with between Origin gods and the inhabitants of the plane. She has to choose very carefully considering that the entire fate of the realm hangs in a balance. So she chose to prioritize the benefits of the original gods. After all, you can't go wrong when you bet on immortality. If origin gods fail or are defeated, they can always try again as long as they have resources.

This decision allowed origin gods to rampage throughout the realm in search of a plane to control and in the accumulation of resources. Mother high heaven won't interfere unless Origin gods are destroying a plane. Anything else goes. The conflicts have turned planes upside down politically and metaphorically.

The Lumen plane is one of the planes that has been turned upside down. Except this is not because of the era of conquest. The problems of this plane had started long before the era of conquest was announced to be imminent. 

The fight for control of the plane has now become a matter of significance due to the era of conquest but it didn't use to be so. It was just about a demon God who liked to cause destruction and mayhem. The problems of this plane started because this demon God loves Carnage.

The Lumen plane is a very fine plane. It is the opposite of the Zargoth plane in that it is highly fertile and it used to have a lot of vegetation. The entire plane used to be covered by trees and forests because the plane was under the control of some tree people. That has changed though. The plane is still under the control of the tree people but the trees are dying or are dead.

The tree people have been in control of the plane since time immemorial. Their control has been challenged across the history of the plane but they have remained unshaken as the overlord of the plane. The tree people are talented with nature magic but they were also blessed to be in the possession of the fountain of life. 

They have talent, power, and cause to dominate the plane but they never did. They policed the plane and tried to keep everyone happy. They didn't become ruthless overlords who exploited everyone on the plane for their own benefit. This is because the tree people are a kind race. 

They do not like war and strife. They try to settle conflicts amicably. They didn't eliminate the Warrogs for continuing to disrupt the peace of the plane. The Warrogs are a race of war and conquest. They like to battle and are the ones responsible for the uprisings, rebellions, and world wars that have occurred over the history of the plane. 

By all accounts, they should be put down and eliminated. But the tree people will just beat them down, kill their paragons, scatter their community, and keep their population down. The tree people believe themselves to be shepherds and guardians of the plane. They will prune and trim, and they will redirect or transplant wayward plants, but they will never destroy completely or eliminate them.

The Lumen plane is very lucky to have such overlords. Everyone lived in peace and prosperity. The plane grew stronger and stronger. They produced Origin gods and world gods. It was all going well. The trees grew nice and tall. Then everything changed one day when the sun in the sky became obscured by a blood moon. 

It happened on an unassuming day. It was in the afternoon. The sun was high and bright in the sky. It was a little windy that day but there were no clouds in the sky. But the day suddenly began to dim. It was as if something was blocking the sunlight. 

People looked up and saw that a dark circular object was covering the sun like an eclipse. The inhabitants of the plane were startled. But that's all they felt. Such an occurrence is not a rare thing considering the power that can be achieved through the path of perfection. They thought a powerful person was using a spell that happened to block the sun. 

There was nothing to worry about. They were wrong about that. Their mere vigilance turned into apprehension and fear when the sun didn't come out again for the rest of that day. Night fell to reveal the object that blocked the sun. This object is a red circular celestial body like a moon. The Lumen Plane has never had any moon. So this moon is new and strange, to say the least. 

Then the day came but the sun remained blocked. They hoped that this blockage would be removed by the time the sun came up but the light of the sun remained blocked and the day remained dark. This didn't change the following day. Or the following year. Or the following Origin cycle. The sun has not shown its splendor since the day of the red eclipse.

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A/N:

Can you guess which clone we are going to see next?