Before the first spark ignited, before metal knew form and before the stars hung in the heavens, there was only one.
The First Forged. The Lonely God.
For endless ages he drifted through the void, surrounded by silence. Yet even a being as mighty as Primus could not endure eternity alone. So he gave up his wandering form and transformed himself into a world of steel and crystal. Upon his own body he built mountains of alloy, seas of energon, and skies lit by eternal starlight.
From his sacred forge came his first child: a mech of pure white and radiant gold, beautiful as a newborn star. His name was Prima, First of the Primes and bearer of Primus’s wisdom. Twelve more Primes would follow, and together they became the Thirteen—the chosen guardians of Cybertron.
In those days the age was golden.
The Thirteen ruled with justice and compassion under the leadership of mighty Zeta Prime. Cities rose toward the heavens. Countless sparks filled the world. Even the Primes themselves knew joy, friendship, and family.
Among their descendants was Mariposa, son of Prima and the great Megatronus Prime. Though young, he was gifted command of the High Guard, protector of Cybertron’s people. At his side stood Sentry-5, trusted clerk to Zeta Prime.
The two were inseparable.
Some legends call them brothers in all but blood. Others whisper they were destined to become Conjunx Endura, bound by a love stronger than steel itself.
But destiny is a fragile thing.
When Mariposa was elevated toward Primehood, a shadow entered their hearts. Sentry-5 gazed upon his companion’s rising glory and felt jealousy coil within his spark. Yet what he did not know was that Mariposa’s own thoughts had already darkened.
For while one dreamed of replacing the Primes—
The other dreamed of destroying them.
And so came the Night of Betrayal.
The stars dimmed. The fires of the forges burned cold. One by one the Thirteen were struck down. Their own kin turned against them. Their own blood spilled upon Cybertron’s sacred soil.
The son became the executioner of his fathers.
Sentry-5 aided him, believing they would rule together when the old age ended. Yet betrayal begets betrayal. Mariposa granted his companion the power of a Prime and renamed him Sentinel Prime, but trust between them shattered when the Matrix of Leadership vanished from the world.
Sentinel sought the sacred relic for power.
Mariposa declared it should remain lost forever.
Their love became hatred.
And from that hatred two paths emerged.
Mariposa abandoned his former name and became known only as The Fallen. The First Decepticon. The Prime who turned his face from Primus.
Sentinel gathered those untouched by The Fallen’s corruption and vanished beneath the surface. There he built the great energon mines and laid the foundations of a new Iacon while Cybertron suffered war against the terrible Quintessons.
Yet the tale does not end there.
For from their union came a child.
A newborn spark forged from light and shadow alike.
The Fallen longed to raise the child as his heir. But Sentinel feared what the child might become. So he stole the newborn away. His Transformation Cog was removed. His memories were stripped from him. His name was erased before it could even be spoken.
The child was cast into the depths of the mines, condemned to live among laborers and forgotten by history.
The miners knew him only as D-16.
But fate cannot be buried forever.
For the blood of Primes flowed through his circuits.
And the spark of The Fallen burned within his chest.
In time, D-16 would rise from the darkness of the mines and shake Cybertron to its core.
He would take the name of his grandfather, Megatronus.
And the galaxy would remember him as—
And the harbinger of a second age of war.