As the final trials drew to a close, Nine Sealbearers had been chosen by
their respective seals. Avechna, the Avenger, appeared atop Avechna's
Peak and bound the Nine Seals together into the Staff of Ascension, an
artifact of sublime power which could be used to re-charge the Seals and
mend the weakness in Almighty Kethuru's prison.

The Soulless God, sensing His weakness, ravaged the Astral Plane with
vicious assaults as He attempted to break through from His prison. The
Nine Sealbearers fought to hold the Staff of Ascension, each backed by
his or her own coterie of loyal followers. In the beginning, Shorlen,
Bearer of the Seal of Chaos, reigned supreme, defended zealously by the
Serenwilde Commune. Hordes of vile monstrosities formed from Almighty
Kethuru attacked in endless waves, and many fell, but through it all
Shorlen managed to continue holding the Staff, re-sealing the holes in
Kethuru's prison even as his mind slipped into gibbering insanity from
the wrath of the Soulless God.

However, the forces of Magnagora, led by Daevos Feyranti, the Sealbearer
of Death, overwhelmed the Serenwilders and slew Shorlen, seizing the
Staff of Ascension from his grasp, even when it seemed that Shorlen's
victory was all but assured. The Staff was entrusted to Hallen Mes'ard,
Sealbearer of Knowledge, who struggled to keep it within his grasp
against the tides of monstrosities and Lusternians who did not support
the Magnagoran's bid for ascension.

The Staff of Ascension continued to switch hands, but it was Soll,
Sealbearer of Life, who eventually maintained a firm hold on the Staff
of Ascension, nimbly avoiding his attackers and marshaling the armies of
New Celest to defend him. In a nail-biting finish, Soll emerged
triumphant over the other Sealbearers, wielding the Staff of Ascension
to re-seal the prison of Almighty Kethuru.

However, the burning divine energies of the Staff consumed the mortal
form of Soll, reducing him to naught but ashes, to the dismay of his
allies. Avechna, the Avenger, mourned his passing, but bid Lusternians
never forget the sacrifices made for the salvation of all creation.

It was Estarra, the Eternal, who announced that Soll was not forever
dead, as some had feared. His mortal flesh and consciousness had been
blistered away, but there remained the divine spark of his inner soul
which had been fanned by the powers of the Nine Seals into true
divinity.

Thus it was that Ayridion, the White Flame, was born from the ashes of
the mortal Soll, the first of the Ascended Gods to tread upon the Planes
of Lusternia.

Penned by My hand on the 1st of Estar, in the year 168 CE.