Five hundred years later.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
A beast's roar, like the barking of a dog, came from overhead, shattering the silence of the dark underground cavern. The little gnome, who had already fallen asleep, was startled awake.
"Wuwuwu, Mommy, I'm scared!"
In the dark underground cave, the little gnome nestled against his mother's chest, his voice choked with sobs as he trembled and wept without stop. It seemed he had once again dreamed a nightmare about wizards.
The faint trickle of flowing water echoed through the cavern. The underground river in this limestone cave was the Source of Life for this tribe of subterranean gnomes.
The moisture brought by the dark river had covered the stone slabs with moss, while clusters of fungi grew everywhere. Some luminous Darkborn fish swam through the undercurrent, forming a unique ecosystem within this relatively enclosed space. It was precisely because of this that the subterranean gnome tribe had been able to hide here and survive until now.
Across Gods Continent, wizards rampaged unchecked, and life had long since vanished from the earth.
The wizards used evil power to ceaselessly pollute this world. No one could halt their advance, and no one could withstand their footsteps of destruction. Gods fell one after another. After several centuries, as the land's ecosystem died out, Gods' Dawn had long been forgotten by the few surviving lives, and cultural inheritance had been severed.
Now, even if the wizard legions left this world, the pantheon could never recover. This world would most likely embark upon a new path of evolution.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Mommy is here. This is the safest place in the world. Those wizards will never find us. Never!"
The mother held the little gnome tightly in her arms. Elsewhere in the underground cave,