The back story involving the principle races of NCsoft’s upcoming MMO continues to evolve in the developers' journals
The land of Atreia is a beautiful and mysterious place, peopled by disparate races with unique perspectives of the shattered lands they call home.
The peoples of this land have no love for the other, a fact that colors their individual histories and the lore about the origins of the world. Harken now as the two races, the Asmodians and the Elyos, tell – as each perceives it – of the origin of the world and peoples of Aion: The Tower of Eternity, the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing 
The first five chapters of the lore were published in mid-January. Chapter 6 was published at the end of January, and this is chapter 7 in the lore of the land
The Abyss: The Asmodian Perspective
One day a curious thing happened. The shards of the great tower that had plunged into our soft land started emanating light again, and then pulled themselves from the ground and into the air around us. Asphel ordered the Archons, the strongest of our Daevas, and the unit of which I was now a part, to investigate.
We left straight away, and found a portal of some description which took us to a world, somewhere between Asmodae and the lower half of Atreia, where pillars of rock floated in the air. This was a world where the Aether that I relied on for my powers was present in abundance, and I felt a sense of enormous relief upon finding my abilities still intact. I returned to Pandaemonium and told our Shedim Lords what we had seen. Asphel immediately ordered other Archons to guard this portal, and when I asked why, he did not answer, but instead simply gazed up at the sky, towards the lower half of Atreia.
Two days later, while we were planning a second expedition through the portal, we noticed our guards stationed in Morheim had not reported in to us. Zikel, one of the Shedim Lords and our god of destruction, took the remaining Archons, including myself, to investigate.
We hadn't traveled long when we found a group of men, claiming to be from the lower half of Atreia, standing in their stead, their weapons drawn. These beings looked like angels, and though they said little, they cast judgment on us instantly. Imagine - being judged for a crime that they, not we, had committed! It was not us who had been soft-hearted cretins, welcoming the Dragon Lords into our tower during full-scale war - it was them!
Zikel's rage was more than evident, and he threw these "Elyos" to the ground, demanding they curse Nezakan, one of the Empyrean Lords who was weak enough to call for peace with the Balaur. Time, Zikel spat, had proven which side was at fault. Would these Elyos acknowledge their Lords' mistake, and condemn them for their foolishness?
Their leader, a man named Deltras, refused. With the pride that we now know is the taint of all the Elyos, he piously refused to blame his own Lords, cursing Zikel instead. Swords were drawn, and we charged, cutting them down like the cowards that they were. Still, some of their numbers escaped; most fled towards our home city where in their anger they butchered our women and children before we finished them. Two fled back to their homeland, bloodied but not vanquished. Not yet.
The Abyss: The Elyos Perspective
All that remained of our great tower following the Epic Cataclysm were two stumped remains, one on our world, the other still visible on Atreia's upper half. The majority of the tower had been destroyed, its remains left scattered over the two halves of our world.
One day, however, the earth around these shattered remains began to shift, and slowly the fragments levitated themselves into the air. We sent our bravest guardians to investigate the phenomenon, and they discovered portals leading to huge floating chunks of the Aion tower, in a bizarre realm where Aether flowed like water.
We labeled this world the Abyss, and slowly our Daevas ventured forth, exploring this new and volatile environment. They found a world rich in the Aether that Aion had granted to the Empyrean Lords, and which the Daevas had managed to manipulate when we were at war with the Balaur. Many Daevas were lost, though; these portals were unstable, and once closed seemed to stay shut, exiling anyone who had gone through.
One day another portal opened, larger and more stable than the others. A Guardian by the name of Deltras passed through it, and on the other side, he found something astounding. His legion were standing on the upper half of Atreia, and when they looked across the sky, they didn't see the shaded remains of the Aion tower, and the upper half of Atreia, but instead saw their own world of Elysea, bathed in warm sunlight.
Slowly, nervously, they moved on, carefully exploring this strange land which once was part of their home. It was now a dark and foreboding place, full of whispers and fleeting shadows. There they discovered the Asmodians, men and women who were once our brothers, but now had been warped into twisted and foul creatures. Even worse, these nightmares were led by one of the murderous Empyrean Lords, a cruel being named Zikel.
It was dark; our Daevas could not see well, and were soon captured by Zikel and his monsters. This being, who we had once revered alongside the mighty Ariel, threw Deltras to the ground, demanding he curse the Seraphim Lords for their "weakness". Deltras, brave and noble as he always was, kept the pride of the Elyos. He refused to curse the Seraphim Lords, and instead cursed arrogant Zikel to his face.
The Asmodians attacked, and those of us who were waiting on the other side of the portal saw only two of our number return, bloodied and injured.
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