Ark of Jereth

The holy Ark of Jereth is a mysterious artifact shaped like a case that holds a power and potential untold within it. The Earth God Jereth was its architect, and since then it has been the bane of the very gods themselves and the many nations who've dared to wield its power for themselves, mercilessly obliterating an untold number of mortal and immortal beings.

Appearance

The Ark of Jereth, as it is named, is a large, ebony chest with an elaborate design that is sealed by a magical key. An ancient script the gods once spoke freely is engraved across it.

Properties

The Ark of Jereth is said in prophecy to possess "the greatest power in all creation", with the ability to completely annihilate or create life as it is known. This power has been the cause of several massive extinctions that have shaken the very universe and wiped out entire societies, leaving only a few survivors in its wake and only mystery as a witness. The Ark itself is known to glow white-hot periodically during specific intervals when a person is within its vicinity, or when it is in specific environments, but why this happens remains a secret also. Adding to the intrigue is the Ark's existence in realms completely independent of each other, suggesting it has extradimensional powers granting teleportation.

A magical key is the sole safeguard against the Ark being opened without its powers being unleashed; many have tried and failed to replicate the key. Those who do manage to open the Ark and survive are forced to become the key's unwitting protector as part of a powerful curse that renders the recipient its eternal guardian until the Ark is opened again. This curse seems to have been created by the deity Jereth himself, making him immune to it due to his intricate knowledge of the Ark's inner-workings.

History

The Ark of Jereth's history extends countless millennia, tracing its history to the prime of a war that raged among the Prime Gods that fought to expand their influence to other worlds and galaxies. As a countermeasure against forces that began to invade the realms he controlled, Jereth used his holy axe Hún in addition to his unprecedented skill and mastery of the arcane to secretly create the case and imbue it with mysterious powers that were activated upon its opening and varied in effect, depending on the nature of the person seeking to access it. The Prime Gods soon discovered the Ark in a remote place Jereth had specifically chosen for it, and seeking to definitively end the war with its power, inadvertently triggered an extinction-event. Every known Prime God in the Universe "disappeared", thought to have been wiped from existence entirely, save Jereth himself. As a result, Jereth became the only Prime God that remained. How Jereth used Hún to create the power the Ark possesses remains a mystery.

Throughout the universe's history, the Ark of Jereth has sealed the fate of countless civilizations, and more recently, nearly the entirety of humanity on Earth. Prophecies about the power of the Ark of Jereth led to the investigation of its whereabouts - and the truth of the salacious claims concerning its powers - by multiple nations after an extradimensional invasion from the forces of Veyard, seeking to locate the Ark of Jereth for themselves. It was in the height of this event after years of war, that the ruling Queen, known otherwise as Khaya, found the Ark and opened it at the guidance of a sinister presence: the sprite known as Michael, a rogue son of Jereth who'd stolen the Ark's key and gifted it to her out of amusement.

Hoping to wield its power and secure her empire's place as defenders against the Veyardans, Khaya opened the Ark and the vast majority of humanity was wiped out, with her Empire devastated and remaining the only functioning nation-state still in existence. The rest of the nations were rent into ash or reduced to insignificant pockets of survivors without access or power to recover from the devastation. The Ark since has not been opened since, and Jereth himself charged Khaya with ensuring its key's protection in exchange for his mercy to avoid a punishment that would've seen the rest of Humanity on Earth wiped from existence by him.

While the key to the Ark of Jereth is now within their hands and protection, the location of the Ark itself slid into the vacuum of history yet again, but prophecy suggests it is only a matter of time before it is discovered again.