Second Eon
The forging of the World (1)
The first Human to enter the physical Universe was Sol, and from his thoughts came fire, light, and all that is energy.
In the emptiness that was the beginning, Sol spoke, and words of immeasurable power took form at the center of the cosmos. From them came forth a bright source of light and heat, a pure naked flame that would become the foundation of the planet, the fiery Heart of the World.
As the Universe first came to know light, Azibo also entered physical reality, and with the might of his own Voice, he bent and shaped the rays of energy coming from the Heart.
His words worked like hammers, vices and tongs on a burning furnace, and the pure unbridled light became solid, and opaque. It became matter, as opposed to energy, and began to encircle and cover the Hearth in a sphere of rocks and minerals.
But the light fought back against this cage, and the perfect sphericity of Azibo’s work was marred by the colossal tumult that resulted from this strife.
From this battle between the raging fire and the encircling planet came earthquakes and volcanic eruptions the likes of which no one has ever witnessed, and from these were born the first mountains, which in those times were much taller and sharper than they would become.
At that time, the first deep valleys were carved, and the yet waterless ocean basins were dug, all according to the will of Azibo, who worked like a sculptor on his masterpiece.
During this time of strife, after much of the surface of the World had taken solid shape, Niaseema arrived.
She spoke more softly than the others before her, but with no less decision, and using her fast words like an impossibly fine net, she took the escaping flames from the innumerable volcanic fissures, and from them she sieved away the dust until nothing but vapors remained, establishing in this way the first atmosphere.
But since it had been refined from the fight between fire and earth, at that time the air was a noxious composition of lethal substances, and it would be a long time before it could be made clear.
As the atmosphere began to take shape, Eimi then entered the Universe.
Her voice was more harmonious than the ones that came before her, and by her song the clouds of gas and dust began to cool and condensate and, for the first time, rain fell on Earth.
Torrential storms came down from the heavens, eroding mountains, carving rivers beds and filling lakes, and eventually creating the first oceans, but as this rain came from the primitive air, its droplets were poisonous and corrosive, only marginally more welcoming than the caldera of a volcano.
And so this was the form of the world at its beginning, a terrifying combination of cataclysmic eruptions, earthquakes, unbreathable fumes and corrosive oceans.
Then the fifth and sixth Humans finally entered Creation as well.
In the terrible environment that was the world in its beginning, Gaia chose a place in a primordial shallow lagoon and, at the light of the distant volcanoes, she sang.
From that melodious harmony, the very fabric of matter composed itself in a new form, one capable of combining and changing to create new shapes and purposes, one capable also of propagating itself.
And so, in that distant place now lost to change and time, life was born.
These first living creatures were simple, hardy things, beings that would go unnoticed in the world today. Unremarkable fungi and molds, and even smaller, invisible beings that live without ever being acknowledged. Yet, under Gaia’s song, by their very existence the toxic substances of the planet were slowly filtered and locked away, and during uncountable ages of uncelebrated labor, these humble beings made the air, water and land clear, and the world became fair and ready to welcome life that was more complex, and more fragile.
As Gaia tended to the first life, Mortis also labored.
Outside of the boundaries of the physical reality, at the borders of the Universe itself where the ticking of Time and the laws of Magic and Science grow faint and distant, his solemn chanting molded what would later be known as the dreamscape, and beyond even that he erected the Tower of Souls, the place where the spirit of all soul-bearing creatures come from, and to where they return upon their departure from the physical realm.
The details of what happens in this outer realm is a mystery that no one, no matter how mighty or wise has ever discovered, and the Humans never revealed it. (2)
The Sun
For a long time the Humans kept laboring, either alone within their own dominion or together, and in time the world slowly, but surely, began to take a stable shape, and its tumults were subdued.
But as the planet became ever more fair, the volcanic lights that fed Gaia’s first lifeforms became fewer and more distant, and it was evident that in just a short while (3) many of them would become locked in the solid crust of the earth, starving the world of light.
Then, at the request of the Allmother, Sol decided that a new light would be made, one that could illuminate the world without either burning it or leaving it in the dark.
He then chose a place on the land that still harbored many violent fires, and there he began a new labor, gathering the light and heat that escaped the Heart of the World, for he deemed wiser to have the new light be born from the Universe’s original first fire, rather than create a utterly new one.
So great was the power that Sol put in his work, that from then on, and until the end of times, in that region will forever rage furious volcanoes, and rivers of white lava will spill into lakes of liquid flames, burning with such fierceness that even creatures normally immune to heat would be consumed by it.
Thus that region earned the name Cradle of Fire (4).
As Sol completed his work, he finally held on his hand the new flame that would illuminate the world. He then rose up to the heavens, far above the paths of the wind, and set his creation on a circular course that carried it around the planet, so that it would always provide illumination to half of the world without scorching it black.
At that moment the first sunrise bathed the world with light, the skies and seas became blue and the land began to prosper under the Sun, and the count of days began on the young Earth.
The Moon
In opposition to the brilliance of the days, the new nights soon seemed to grow even darker than before, so much in fact that Azibo had pity on the life that Gaia announced would come in the future. And so, to bring comfort in those long hours, he resolved to find some way to illuminate the darkness.
At first he held council with Sol, but the Lord of Flames deemed unwise to add any further great fires in the cosmos, as the risk of breaking the balance and causing the world to burn was too great. Therefore he suggested his fellow Human to find a way to use the already existing light to bring some solace to the nights.
And it is said that the King of Stones, watching the sunlight reflect on some gems, decided to heed that advice.
He then took a great diamond from the depths of the earth, one that had been bathed in the radiance of the Heart of the World since its formation, then by his skills he trapped the light inside of it, so that it would shine with the memory of the primordial fire forever.
But the diamond alone would not have been enough to relieve the planet from the utter darkness that came between dusk and dawn, so Azibo uprooted a vast island from its foundations at the bottom of the ocean and, working it like clay, gave it the shape of a sphere. He then broke the diamond, and spreaded its dust over half of its surface.
Covered in the gem’s dust, the former island shone with a pale white light, and Azibo placed it high in the sky, in an orbit around the planet that kept it opposite to the Sun, and for the first time, the night witnessed the rise of the Moon.
From that moment, and until the change of the world, the days were illuminated by the golden light of the Sun, and the nights soothed by the silvery Moon (5).
The Stars
Since the raising of the first moon all seemed perfectly in balance, but not always balance is enough to create beauty, and Eimi found that, despite the silver light of the moon, the night sky still brought an eerie gloom, and so, being the Human most fond of aesthetic beauty, she sought to decorate it.
In that time however, the shaping of the world and shepherding of the first life took much of the attention of the other Humans, and most of them considered the decoration of the night as unnecessary vanity, but not all of them. The Queen of the Waves found an ally in Naseema, who also was delighted at the idea of making her sky more wonderful.
And so the two Humans labored together, Eimi took some foam from the waves of the ocean and bathed it in the splendor of the Sun, and before its light could escape, she cooled the droplets until they turned into ice, so that the rays were trapped within their walls. She then did the same with the light of the Moon, until she had many icy shards, some glowing with the red and golden light of the day, and some with the white and silver of the night.
The Stormlady then took these shining crystals and, with a mighty wind, lifted them up and set them like a crown around the pale moon, and by the light of both, the spectacle of the night became like a carousel of gems around a white pearl. (6)
The Spirits and the Titans
Even after the creation of the Sun, Moon and Stars, the Humans kept shaping the Universe for many more ages, because not all of its tumults were completely subdued, and there was a seemingly infinite amount of small details to attend to. But just as it was expected, as time progressed their labor became less intense, and the work that was needed became less like a hammer, and more like a scalpel.
And so it was that, to make their work more efficient, and to accomplish tasks that did not need their direct intervention, they created new beings.
These creatures were different from the life that was slowly evolving on the world, indeed despite the fact that they appeared and acted in similar manner to the children of Gaia, they did not possess a soul, but were animated by a spark of the will of the Human from which they came from.
These creatures are minor elemental expressions that became known as Spirits, and served their masters in many ways, like helpers, heralds, sentinels and messengers. Their power varied greatly according to their role, with some little more than a sprite, while others were so mighty that at a first glance could be mistaken for the Humans themselves.
Their number is not known, tho is thought to be great, and some believe that there is a spirit of some sort on almost every grain of sand, or drop of water (7), but while most of them remain unnamed and unknown, some others achieved great renown in the later days, and their names were counted among the great marvels of the world.
Spirits like the Great White Doe, herald of Gaia, and Pyro of the many wings, gatekeeper of the Cradle of Fire, and Abyana the blue crested, that lived on a reef and loved storms and waves. And many others became well known and respected, some nearly as much as the very Humans they served.
But of all of the Spirits, the mightiest and most renowned by far, are the ones that were created for last.
These terrible creatures, whose power was second only to the Humans themselves, are the Titans.
When Creation was conceived, it was with the intent of making it self-sustaining, so that one day it would become stable enough that direct intervention would not be necessary anymore, and they could observe its evolution free from their tampering.
This also implied that when that day arrived, when the Humans could finally leave their creation to its own devices, they would need to not interfere with it anymore, and be like spectators in the great theater that is the Universe.
And yet, as their creation took shape, they became aware that its light and glory would become like a beacon, an irresistible source of nourishment and power for …other beings.
These beings had existed in the timeless void since before Time, and were like fragments of dark consciousness, parasites of power driven by an eternal insatiable hunger. Some have said that they came into existence from the ripples that formed when the Humans tested for the first time their Voice in the void, others believe that they had always existed and simply remained unheeded until they became a threat.
Whatever the truth may be, only the Humans may know for sure.
These parasites never dared to approach the Universe as long as the Humans worked on it, for even as the radiance attracted them like a moth to the flame, they perceived that to stand in the vicinity of one of the Creators would have burned them into nothing, much like a moth may know not to approach the furnace of an erupting volcano.
Such was the difference of power between even the mightiest of these parasites and a Human at its lowest, and it was by the mere presence of the Humans that the Universe was protected in its first eons.
But the Creators knew that once they had concealed the great part of their power to inhabit their creation, these dark beings would have had access to the Universe, and without any guardian capable of protecting it, they would have eventually devoured it whole.
And while they could reassume their form at any time to erase these beings, in doing so they would have put at risk the delicate equilibrium of the cosmos, with possible dire consequences.
Thus the Titans were created, to be the guardians of the world, and protect it from any harm coming from these foreign entities.
Each Human then created three Titans, for eighteen in total, and they appeared like immense shapes of elemental power, sometimes vaguely resembling a specific living creature more associated to their element (8), and in each of them was imparted the might necessary for their role, which made them surpass in power of destruction any other worldly creature, either living or spirit.
For most of their existence they would sleep in far remote places, hidden away from the rest of the world, and awake only at need to face any enemy that dared to enter the Universe.
In most cases a single one of them was more than enough to destroy these horrors, rare were the occasions when two Titans had to work together to achieve victory, and only the most powerful among these enemies would warrant the need of three of them.
No foe existed that three Titans could not vanquish, and yet in the last days of our age there would appear one fearsome enough to demand the combined might of all of them.
This enemy and the horrible events that led to the Great Tragedy and the ruin of the World will be covered in more details towards the end of this chronicle.
The Concealment
It had taken many long ages since the first tick of Time, and as many turning of the sky as there are grains of sands in the desert, but then finally came the moment when the Universe was shaped in the way the Humans intended, the spirits were assigned to their roles, and the first life was free to roam and multiply.
After taking one last look at their work the Six held council together, and once again confirmed their decision to descend on their creation and exist as a part of it. To do so they at last assumed the form of their Unmasked Aspects and began their new existence as part of the material world.
With this, at the ending of the second eon of the world, genesis was completed.
Annotations
(1) Every species has their own origin myth, but this matches so closely the actual geological and paleontological data coming from today’s science, that I don't think it should be classified simply as a ‘myth’.
(2)The concept of souls and beliefs of what happens after death is something that all cultures in the world have in common. I have to admit that part of my hopes after finding this book was to have an answer to exactly these old questions. Unfortunately this won’t be the case.
(3)”Short” in geological timescales could very well be tens or even hundreds of thousands of years.
(4)Indeed such a place still exists today and is revered by the Dragons, who call it the ‘Forge of light’.
(5)By the description and drawings, it appears that the cosmology of the ancient universe was considerably different from the one today. Equus, our planet, is still at the center of the cosmos, but in those times the Sun and Moon circled in the same circular orbit and were perfectly opposite to one another, there were no moonless nights and no eclipses in those days, and all their motion was automatic, without need for an external intervention to keep them on course and on time.
(6)The night sky represented in the ceiling of the palace I'm trapped in still reflects this old astronomical setting. No offense to Princess Luna and her mastery of the night sky, but never in my life have I seen anything like the spectacle I see here every night.
(7)A belief still held today by the Zebras in the great southern plains.
(8)Does this means that some creatures were shaped to look similar to a Titan in later ages, or does it means that the Humans looked forward in time to see what other animal would become more affine to a specific element and then made the Titans look like them? It’s a “the chicken or the egg” scenario, and unfortunately no clue has been passed to us.