In the vast expanse of the cosmos, there are an endless number of Celestials, a vast majority of which are still unknown or have yet to be born.

  At the immortal realms, the ranks of Celestial are divided into three levels.

  The lesser Celestials, whose aspects encompasses only the mundane facets of mortal existences, representing concepts born of mortal minds. Example are the Lesser Celestials of War, whose authority is born from the concept of war, encompassing both the mortal and the immortal. Love, whose elusive power still manages to reach even the cruelest of hearts. And Peace, whose power still contends with War for the minds of both mortals and immortals.

  The second are the Primals, Rulers of the greater facets of mortal existences. They are mostly referred to as the second borns of reality, conduits to funnel the authority of the sovereigns of reality down to those in the mortal realms. These Aspects, beyond their physical representation, have subtle, underlying roles in reality beyond the comprehension of lesser mortals.

  Unlike the lesser Celestials, Damien recognized the Primal Celestials. Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. These were aspects he was somewhat certain could be found in all worlds.

  Damien had been to no less than four worlds now and had seen an extra one from a distance. And of those worlds, only the Aveanii outpost had lacked anything more than earth.

  Come to think of it, the dead world had been a desert void of air and water... So how did he and the other Spirit lords survive?

  Spirit lords were beings on the cusp of ascending, so they didn't need to breathe as much as those of the lesser realms. Although he had never tried it, Damien was certain that he could survive a few hours without air, likely a day. Maybe that was the reason.

  The Primal Celestials, as Damien understood, were ancient elements that had likely arisen at the dawn of creation, when the first mortals arose, ancient beyond imagination. They had been for a long time... And mortals, since our inception, had learned slowly to wield those elements, shape them to our needs, and incorporate them into a great many aspects of our lives.

  Fire was used to destroy, earth was used to build. Water was used for sustenance, and air kept us alive, giving us the strength to reach for greater heights.

  The four Primal elements could also be described as the first parents of mortals, cradling and providing for their fragile children, as well as giving them strength to explore their cradles.

  Of the underlying roles, though, Damien knew nothing about them. He had his suspicions but would prefer to wait and confirm.

  Moving on, Damien dove down into the third and last paragraph.

  The third are the Grand Celestials, the sovereigns of the cosmos and the Pillars of reality. There are fourteen Grand Celestials presiding over the fundamental aspects of reality, each the sole ruler of an important facet of reality. They are the mechanisms that keep the wheel of the cosmos rolling and are the stalwart first-line defenders against the ever-devouring, ever-encroaching entity that is the unreal.

  To this day, it is unknown how the first worlds and the first mortals came to be, but the hands of the celestials are not to be disregarded.

  See Chapter 2 for the names of the known lesser Celestials.

  See Chapter 3 for the names of the Four Primal Celestials.

  See Chapter 4 for the names of the Fourteen Grand Celestials.

  Damien released a sigh of relief, satisfied that at last, he'd finally acquired the basics of the knowledge he'd been lacking. Information on the Grand Celestials, and even to a greater extent, about the Primals.

  This was excusable back on Ra, considering how reclusive both the world and system had been. Cross-world communication had only been done by the minor community of Spirit Kings, and visits from foreigners from other worlds were so rare as to be impossible. Given that no one then had ever remembered meeting nor heard about visitors from other worlds, and added to how marginalized those from the lower realms had been from those of the Spirit Kings, it was a wonder how information about the Celestials had even managed to circulate into the masses—that was probably thanks to the cults.

  Now that he was here, he intended to shore up his knowledge as much as he could.

  With that, he turned to chapter 4.

  This had been something that he'd been hungering for ever since he learned what tier his element was. Added to the fact that the enemies of his father were likely to be from some of those Cults and, thus, would be hunting him sometime in the future, Damien very much wanted to know who they were.

  There are fourteen Grand Celestials, each an absolute sovereign over their fundamental aspects. Beholden to no one and yet, are the caretakers of reality and all who dwell in it.

  THE GATEKEEPER, Lord of the Throne of Space, Grand overseer of the Gateways, and the Warden of Reality's barrier.

  THE ENDLESS SANDS, Lord of the Throne of Time. Master of time. The Everlasting, and The Inevitable End.

  THE JUDGE, Lord of the Throne of Order and protector of the weak. Supreme Governor of the workings of reality and its every facet.

  THE WATCHER, Lord of the Throne of Divination. The All-seeing Eye. The Unveiler of All, and the Defender against the Unseen.

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  THE DESTROYER, Lord of the Seal of Destruction. The Woeful End, and the Enforcer of The Cycle. The First Gate of The End.

  OBLIVION, Lord of the Seal of Oblivion. The Peaceful End. The Absolute End. The Supreme Executioner. The Final End.

  CREATION, Lady of the Throne of Creation. The Origin and the Mother of all things Animate and Inanimate.

  LIFE, The Lady of the Throne of Life. The Mistress of all that lives. Giver of life. Mother of all Sentients and Sapients.

  SOUL, The Lord of the Throne of Soul. The Recycler. The Master of all that lives, and The Third Gate of The End.

  KARMA, Lord of the Throne of Karma. The Jury. Master of Balance and Keeper of The Scales.

  DEATH, Lord of the Seal of Death. The Abyssal one. Taker of life, and The Second Gate of the End.

  LIGHT, The Lady of the Seal of Light. The Lightbringer. Protector of all that Sees. The illustrious one, and the Defender Against The Dark.

  DARKNESS, The Lord of the Seal of Darkness. The All Shrouding. The Ever Consuming, and The Nepa.

  Damien blinked. Why so many epithets? The amount of lords and ladies and other pompous titles he'd just read was enough to put even the lords of Lese to shame.

  From what he'd deduced, the Grand Celestials were the embodiments of aspects that were absolute, regardless of outside influence.

  Space was an element that existed both in and outside of every world. Without it, Damien didn't even know what would happen. He'd seen shattered space tear people to shreds before, so it was likely going to be that or something else.

  The part about the 'Warden of Reality's barrier' sounded vague and confusing. He'd read once about the creatures of the unreal, entities that dwelled outside of reality and feasted on the psyches of mortals. But if that was so, then why was the Celestial of Mind not included as a warden against the unreal since it was likely the best counter-offense against creatures that target the psyche?

  ... Or maybe there was more to it than he knew.

  The title said 'Warden of Reality's barrier'. Which implied that the creatures of the unreal could enter into reality. Was that possible? Were the creatures of the unreal physical entities? Damien did not know what to think. He'd always thought of creatures of the unreal as immaterial beings. The implication that there was more to them than he'd realized — especially for such dreadful and harrowing creatures — left a bad taste in his mouth.

  The endless sands... Damien didn't know what to think about this one. His knowledge of the concept of time was... Flimsy, at best. He only knew that time was an absolute concept which rule could not be easily encroached upon. He hadn't even met a time wielder before, that should say a lot about the rarity of it.

  The Judge; this... Damien didn't know much about... Likely nothing. His first time hearing about Order had been from Merak and Gray. Other than that, the cult was completely unknown... At least by him. He didn't know whether their temples just didn't extend to this part of the Galaxy or because of some other reason, but Order hadn't been spoken of much since his arrival in Lese.

  Oh, and add that to the fact that they were likely to chop off his head the instant they learned of his existence and whatnot, and Damien was very much inclined to avoid them at all costs.

  Moving on...

  Divination was a concept that, although Damien didn't know the full intricacies of, knew enough to fear its wielders.

  It was one thing to fight a powerful being. It was another to fight one who could see the future, who could read your every move like an open book, even before you'd even made them. The epithet where it was called 'Unveiler of all' left a dreadful feeling in his heart. Who knew how much could be hidden from it? Was he even as safe as he'd thought, or were Merak and his backers being played for fools?

  With a sigh, Damien turned to the next.

  The Destroyer... Now, this was something Damien was familiar with. Except for the last epithet, 'The First Gate of The End,' Damien understood the rest.

  Given how violently destructive the essence of destruction was, Damien easily understood where the epithet 'The Woeful End' had come from. Destruction did not leave one going out with a smile on their face... or even in one piece at all. It was an element that shredded and annihilated everything in its path... and even a few witnesses, too. Its powers were such that every other destructive aspect drew power from it. He'd found that out during his last battle with the pillars of Solaria. Damien had, instinctively, seized the essence of destruction that had been laced within the dreadful flames of one of their spirit lords, thereby depriving it of an important part of its weaving and leaving the essence to simply wash against him like water to a rock. The feeling had been exhilarating, to say the truth.

  The Enforcer of The End likely referred to its influence in creation. Afterall, before something could be created, another thing has to be brought down.

  With satisfaction, he moved on.

  Oblivion... looked very much like an absolute and upgraded version of destruction. From what he understood, it left nothing in its wake, sending everything to a Final End. Did this aspect draw power from Destruction or was it self made? Damien wondered. What he did know, and was thankful about, was that it wasn't as rough as Destruction.

  Soul. This was so vague Damien didn't even know what its authority was. Other than the warnings he'd gotten that Soul wielders were beings to be terrified off, Damien didn't know what else to think. He did get the feeling that there was more intricacies to than he'd known. Hopefully, he'd know more about it when he finally started wielding his affinity.

  Karma was a concept that Damien knew about, likely a mundane version. He knew that it had something to do with scales and balances. What you did would surely come back to hunt you, and something like that.

  Karma seemed like an element that was harmless since it wielded no physical power nor element that one could feel. Instead, it was more like a shadow. An element that would strike when you least expected and strike as hard as your punishment warranted.

  Damien frowned. Karma didn't seem like an element that could strike with its own powers, instead he saw it as something that wielded everything as its blade. That was probably why they called it "The Jury". Afterall, once a Jury's verdict had been passed, a different party would then be called to do the honors.

  Damien shivered. This was almost as bad as that of Divination. Even more so. Atleast, against a wielder of Divination, he was likely to escape with his life, even though it was a small chance. But with Karma? He might as well just sit and wait for his end to come, 'cause Damien dreaded the unknown. He'd rather an enemy he could see.

  The rest were all common, well known, elements. Death, light, darkness, life, and creation. These were all concepts that were known, or better yet, witnessed in the everyday life of mortals. Death was a element that every mortal came across at a certain point in life, whether through a loved one, or an enemy, or even themselves. An unpredictable and inevitable predator that hunted everyone, regardless of power and status.

  Light was... Well... light. A concept that was—now that he thought about it—seen everyday but never really thought off. Why it was amongst the list of Grands, though... Damien didn't know. He knew there were other underlying roles to it, but its physical representation was nothing much, in Damien's opinion. The same also extended to darkness.

  Both were just like the Primals. Absolute in their own way, but were they truly Grand material?

  Damien glanced through the last two and then closed the book. He hadn't been reading for long, but was already getting sleepy. The dreadful silence of the library probably had something to do with it.

  With a sigh, he turned back to chapter 2.