The Cataclysm was the event that shattered the Tower of Eternity and tore the world of Atreia into two, separating the Asmodians and the Elyos. Although the peace treaty with the Balaur failed disastrously, both sides have a slightly different version of the events, blaming the other side for failing.
Asmodian Version[]
So, within days, the misguided peace conference began. As a mark of respect to the five Dragon Lords, the Aetheric Field around the tower was lowered, and they were invited inside this colossal structure for the negotiations. A lifetime passed in the space of a few minutes. I looked into the eyes of my legionnaires, and saw the mistrust and anger that our convictions had been so weak as to let these beasts, which would have us kneel before them even now, treat with us. I turned to my most trusted centurion, and went to speak with him, when, as quick as a click of a finger, everything changed. There was shouting, confusion, a rout. One of the Balaur had fallen, and Lord Azphel was standing ready to fight, his eyes blazing.
The Balaur attacked. Voices screamed for Siel and Israphel to raise the Aetheric Field once again, but for the second time, they failed us. Lost in the tumult, they could not act in concert to defend the Tower. Under the Balaur’s raging claws and weapons, the Tower began to splinter and fragment.
I remember Israphel’s tortured face, wracked with guilt, as he directed Lord Azphel and all his Daeva legions to the north, while Siel marshalled Ariel and hers to the south. There was one remaining hope. Working in two groups, one at each end of the Tower, the Empyrean Lords would do all in their power to prevent the Tower’s collapse.
We held fast. Those in the South, we now know, did not.
In an instant our world was plunged into darkness as the tower’s light was snuffed out. The people turned, screaming as they ran in all directions.
I remember that moment as though it were yesterday; I remember looking up and watching shards of the tower snapping and falling, illuminated only by the flickering light of the great structure. I remember standing there, rooted to the spot as a huge fragment splintered from the tower, and began to fall towards me. I remember that day well... it was the day I found the other gift that being a Daeva granted me: immortality.
I awoke, looked across our great world, and saw Atreia shattered into two halves. The lower half had been engulfed in a fierce and bright light, while ours had been plunged into cold, desolate darkness.
The peace conference was over.
Elyos Version[]
The morning of the peace conference dawned. Our ancestors awoke to find the five Dragon Lords, leaders of the Balaur, standing alone outside the Aetheric Field. The drawings we have of the day show them to be physically huge creatures, much larger than the other Balaur.
Siel and Israphel, the two Empyrean Lords charged with protecting the tower itself, lowered the Aetheric Field, and invited the Dragon Lords inside the tower for negotiations. Here was a chance for these creatures to destroy us entirely, and yet they chose not to, instead walking peacefully through our settlements and into the tower. Perhaps we had gained their respect through our resilience and determination, and perhaps this trust that we, and Ariel, had placed in them was not misplaced at all. Azphel was present, and with him his cronies, their faces dark. The peace conference began, and for a short while negotiations were progressing well.
Then, in a moment’s breath, it happened.
We still speak of the events that followed that day, of the sudden shouts of panic, of the sickening certainty that gripped us all: the warmongers would have their way, even if they had to sacrifice all of Atreia to achieve it. We saw Azphel move swiftly and suddenly, and the Dragon Lord Vitra collapse. The Balaur did not waste time with words. In an instant, there was carnage and chaos.
Their hatred redoubled, they hacked their way past us and into the very substance of Aion itself. The walls of the Tower shivered and cracked, coming away in titanic shards.
Ariel wept as she strove to hold the Tower of Eternity intact. Sent to its southern base to lend her energy to the Tower, along with all of her attendant Lords, she was now all that stood between Atreia and destruction. Azphel and his group, sent northwards with the same purpose, were no doubt too enthralled with the sudden resumption of hostilities to do their duty and hold the Tower intact.
For despite Ariel’s striving, the Lords failed. The Tower gave a mighty groan, buckled and shattered from end to end. Aion fell.
I cannot speak of the fear that gripped our forefathers when the great tower that spanned the interior of Atreia suddenly shifted and cracked. We tell tales of thousands running for their lives, pandemonium in their wake.
Realizing that Atreia itself was dying, Siel and Israphel sacrificed themselves. They each drained their bodies of Aether, their blood, and in their final moments used it to safeguard our people.
Millions died in the event which we now know as the Cataclysm. Finally, as the debris settled, we could see what had happened to our beautiful world: Aion, the Tower of Eternity, was shattered, and our world was torn in two.