Year 0. Creation is standing on wobbly legs. Space shifts and behind the veil of nothingness chaos crawls and cogs are turning.
A spark. Small and indiscernible against the backdrop of darkness. Eventually, eternities pass and the reality changes once more, the spark but a catalyst.
From the mire of desolace existence birthed. Reminiscient of a crimson wildland fire those specks of matter and energy popped up everywhere throughout the nothingness, kindling an even more ferocious fire of creation.
In just moments the void was filled with substance, the building blocks of life.
But those blocks had no meaning to them, they were just that. Matter and energy. Seldom did they interact with one another, splicing the cosmos in two unwhole halves.
Eternity passed before by the whim of the highest entity another spark flashed. Led by an invisible hand those forces assimilated to create greater, more complex structures. But over time they would repulse one another, undoing all effort, and with a pondering face the arbiter used a third, more mystical force, to fuse two to one.
Particles, stones, rocks, satellites, planets, stars, galaxies, galactic clusters, universes, dimensions. In mere moments they were built, their construction coordinated by the essence of magic and the divine.
Existence stabilized, the universes cooled down, life could now sprout; only a teensy-weensy magic was all that was needed.
Magic amassed once again to create what underlied in its name, a miracle. Without the interference of The One the first will was created.
Magic and divinity revolved around another and with a mind of its own the frothing liquid crystalized as the First Authority, called: Sara'ahn. The One gently felt the creature over, impressed by the power bound within its small frame, and yet greatly digruntled, for it would never rival itself in strength.
Nevertheless, Sara'ahn was an entity to powerful for a single plane of existence. So The One smashed Sara'ahn into thousand shards, pairing them up with one another and gave them a simple task: Coordinate life and perish when your task is done. Sara'ahn's pieces were placed into the countless realms of creation, each and everyone overwatching life and how it developed.
But as magic did once it can twice. A miracle happened.
The Sara'ahns died, except for one.
The two had no memory, magic erased the self-destructive order from their ego and then banished them onto a fringe world.
By intuition alone this lost fragment of Sara'ahn, last of its kin, linked its power with the mortals on its planet, siphoned power through them, through their beliefs, and continued living on.
The One had observed it all, its new ability that it had introduced, 'magic', was more powerful than it had expected. Not wanting to destroy this unique Sara'ahn The One left it alone, alone to its own devices.
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I don't remember the past, only the present. My name, Hirahn, is the littlest remembrance of a time forgotten.
Darkness was all that surrounded me at first but before I knew it I opened my eyes and breathed for the first time. I breathed fresh and sweet air, and my lungs and chest urged for more.
But I knew better than that, so I gazed around, a bit woozy and unsteady by the situation at hand. Green hairs on a brown ground stretched for, for how long? I couldn't even tell.
Puffy specks of white floated above, drenched in a layer of sparkling blue.
White, blue? My head felt dizzy and I laid back on the swaying hairs of green.
"Haaaaaah....", I inhaled and exhaled, soaking my lungs with the intoxicatingly fresh wind. A light note of herbs was in the air that mesmerized my senses and I felt a grin creep up on my face. This would surely be 'paradise'.
The green hairs, grass, that's how it should be called from now on, tickled my fingers. Its soft, delicate, yet suave surface ran smooth against my skin. For hours I laid there, in the endlessly stretching patch of grass and admired the beauty of this... world.
'I wonder.', I gripped the ground around my head. 'Why is this spot without grass?'.
And indeed. Instead of grass there was something else. If the grass was soft then I had no words to describe what my hands were touching at this moment.
I felt around some more and it felt sinfully good, as if all the softness and tenderness in existence condensed into one, nay, two; two mounds of what could only be pure bliss for mind and body.
Blinded by the sun, shining on its zenith and greeting me whole-hearted with its loving rays, I winced. I trained my eyes at the sky, still fondling the heaps of amenity. I laid there for so long that the sun was now beaming down with all its glory. I grimaced at the glaring light but remained still on my spot, it felt way too good here. The light may broil my flesh and yet I would not surrender this place.
And as though the sky felt my struggle it suddenly darkened around my face.
Relieved I rubbed my eyes and gazed at the wonder that shielded me from the sun. I wondered if it was a considerate cloud that noticed my struggles.
'What could it be?', I wondered while my hands continued their ministrations.
"I- I don't dislike what you are doing... Bu- But frankly... It-... You-! P-please stop now.", high-pitched like a chorus of angels a benign voice whispered into my ears.
Still blinded by the residual light, my gaze only caught two brilliant orbs of green peering down at me, swallowing me whole in their sylvan beauty. I caught a slight glimpse of a chiseled man with red-golden eyes and short brown hair in the reflection of those two smaragd oceans. But honestly, I couldn't care less for my own image. What my sights longed for was the face that framed two of such emerald gems.
The sun, listening in on my wish to behold the beauty these eyes belonged to, dipped gently onto the horizon, illuminating a face that could only be described as... godly.
Rosy lips with a tinge of vibrant crimson and velvet purple were straightened to a line by tense cheeks. A sweet nose dyed in an embarassed red sniffed in shame and darling dimples, bedecked in soft freckles, shone likewise in pink.
And then her eyes... her eyes: green throughout and glossy like velvety diamonds or burnished gold and jade. They were so unspeakable green, oozing life, vitality and spring. It was a green so powerful and vivid that I felt my soul lose itself in a sea of dancing trees. And her eyelashes, long and crescent, were dotted with brilliant...tears?!
And then it dawned onto me. With a darkened expression my gaze traced up from my shoulder, to my elbows, to my hands.
I gulped, the world went silent, my breath and the girl's ashamed sobs were the only sound that existed in the moment.
I retracted my hands, stood up from this magnificient lap-pillow, backflipped and slammed my head on the ground with as much strength as I could muster. The ground rumbled and a web of cracks spread on the earth, blood flowed from my forehead and clotted around my eyes.
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"I AM SO SORRY! PLEASE DON'T CRY!", I shouted, nay, screamed from the top of my lungs. Every fiber in my body begged for forgivenes, lest I would never forgive myself, ever!
The girl crossed her silky arms over her bust, a pout visible on her face and her lower lip trembling, her tears receeded.
"N-no it's alright... I didn't... stop you, so-", her voice became inaudible as she bashfully avoided my quizical gaze. Looking at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing ever she shyly fidgeted.
"No, it's not alright! It was my fault, it truly was. I deeply apologize for my transgressions, a-and I... uhhh-", trying my best to keep my voice from cracking I managed to stutter out an introduction. "I am Hirahn. So, uhm... What is your name."
'WOW! Superbly done Hirahn', I mentally chided myself for having absolutely zero tact, but otherwise kept my eyes fixed to the earth - Briefly I wondered where concepts like 'tact' continued to spring out of.
"Fuuuu... Hirahn, you are a pervert, I'll leave it at that.", the angel said.
"... And by the way, my name is Saraya, nice to meet you.", I gazed up from my kneeling position and saw an outstretched hand, followed by the most radiant smile.
"Yes! Nice to meet you Saraya!", I shock her hand vigorously.
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Hirahn reminisced as he held onto the lifeless body of Saraya.
She still had the same alabaster skin, the same glossy lips twisted in a perpetual cutesy smile, the same locks of soft gold. She was breathtaking, simply gorgeous, and Hirahn could not ever wish for a better partner.
And now he had to witness his lover part prematurely from this world... in his arms, dozing into the night.
With the sheer force of will Hirahn kept the tears at bay. His teeth clenched mightily and his jaw remained taut as grief and sorrow rampaged throughout him.
Frozen in this subdued stance Hirahn kept caressing his departed lover, whispering sweet nothings to her and sharing his warmth evermore.
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The One watched the situation calmly, his ethereal form swaying side to side in contemplation.
"No this isn't right." Its all-mighty voice echoed through the realms. Hirahn and Saraya were the only remnants of their kind, The One's first creation, and, to a lesser degree, his only form of entertainment. The concept would surely bewilder a mortal, but for The One it was of no concern. He would not let this spectacle end so soon.
So he willed like all the other times. He willed and it was done.
Above the unsuspecting Hirahn the air cracked apart and with a hollering fulmination the sky was rived.
The One tinkered with fate, chance and coincidence, linking a 'Summoning' to the Hirahn that was bereft of meaning. It was a gift from The One to him, another chance at a new life, symbolically not literally.
Because Hirahn had endured hardships and torment beyond compare. Because his other-half died. Because the pain of such a loss was beyond imagination.
The One may be a callous being, but if he could then he would accomodate Hirahn. For a toy that was broken was no toy no more.
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Choosing an inconspicuous clearing in a dense forest, a rare plot of nature in this industrialized world, Hirahn dug a small hole right beneath a massive oak with size incomparable to the surroundings.
It was time, time to part.
Gnarled roots peeked here and there out of the moistened earth, playfully they dived through the air only to submerge themselves back into the warm soil. This was a watchful sentinel of nature, piercing with its crow deep into the sky, looming over the suckling sapplings and yet its powerful anchors siphoned them of their strength. A two sided medal. As bifid as the entity Sara'ahn.
All manners of creatures frolicked around this massive watchtower of a tree, burrowed beneath its roots and made small dens into homes. Birds quavered and trilled atop the stretching branches that reached out for the wide blue above.
Hirahn was part of nature, nay, an progenitor of, therefore the creatures around paid him no heed other than maintaining a watchful eye on this clearly abnormal being, such commanded their instincts.
Gently Hirahn lowered Saraya into the small hole lined with silks. As Nature's matriarch she would return to her folk, the calm and slumbering earth.
Mechanically he shoveled earth unto his beloved, one heavy slew after the other. Until she was covered by the shallow soil. A gentle breath escaped his lips.
Severing the link that connected both of them Hirahn averted his gaze from the unremarkable grave. His heart was tranquil, his face expressionless. He was devoid of any reasoning, compassion or morals. Right now the only thing he had was his name.
With the link severed the equilibrium between their characteristical dispositions changed, or rather showed its true colors.A holy white surrounded Saraya, a collar of feathers bloomed around her neck like a soft shawl, a brilliant halo seared the air in a blinding white.
A holy white glowed from beneath the ground, it throbbed and grew. The earth ruptured and dust blew as a holy being ascended.
A collar of feathers bloomed around Saraya's neck like a soft shawl, a brilliant halo seared the air in a blinding white. Hirhan kept his eyes averted but he could feel the change.
Two ivory antlers grew out of Seraya's temples and a pair of delicate gown-like wings adorned her back, they unfurled to their full splendor, even as she was suspended in the air like a puppet; death kept mocking him.
Her form was literally angelic. With his eyes transfixed on the change Hirahn could only warmly smile, he expected as much, and although the sight pained his heart, flayed it to pieces, he looked on.
Their personas had been acting as inhibitor for their actual selves. Because Hirahn seperated his soul from Saraya's she could move on, the repercussions would only hit him.
Pained by the now non-existent link Hirahn crouched on the ground, spit out a mouthful of blood, and rend the earth with his struggles. Black mist shrouded his form, it oozed and crept, insidiously like all evil compounded in one. The creatures of the forest perked up, scattered into all directions as the miasma coiled denser and denser around Hirahn, it happened so fast.
Not wishing to stain this now holy sanctum Hirahn dashed into the sky as fast as he could.
The black shooting star defied earth's gravity and shot higher and higher. Like an inky brushstroke the slathers of murky darkness rose to the air.
From afar one could see a forest excuding white radiance and a defiled being soaring the skies. It looked like the banishment of a great evil.
Red-eyed, rotten fanged, balefully covered in black spikes and weaponed with claws as dark as the void. Two black crescents with a blueish hue curved from his scalp to the back of his head. A monstrous, gutural roar boomed from Hirhan's unending maw. Black mist exploded forth from his unwinding wings and venomed the space around him.
His gaze swept over the world below him, stopped at the forest shining in white and then continued on towards the blue light at his side; a whole new world was reflected inside.
It beckoned him and his waning sanity. It called out with distress and an undying part of Hirahn wished to help, but a greater part thirsted for havoc, so he entered.
A white orb swirled inside Hirhan's blackened heart, it was weak and faint, a candle amidst a storm, but the potential for blazing righteousness and justice was there.
Hirhan grabbed his chest and breathed in. "Farewell Saraya.", he whispered as his form churned with the rift, and he disappeared.