7th of the Marked Year
A transcription of an excerpt from the World Historia
“It is said that before creation the world held only darkness. In that darkness there was a will, dormant but always struggling to awake. The darkness shattered, and amidst the remains of the void was The Will. The remnants of the shattered void congregated around The Will and slowly, it grew in size. An infinitesimal speck broke from the congregation, and both the Speck and The Will grew side by side.
Soon after, various congregations formed, once more bringing form to the void, but independent from The Will they were not. After millions of years, The Will awoke,
“I am Na’tok The Dreamer. My will is infinite and my body vast. In my slumber nothing shall be hidden from me. Life and death are naught but my will, but those that live shall be free.”
With but a thought, life began to teem on Na’tok. Flora and fauna founded homes for themselves, and they flourished. And from the darkness once more a voice rang out,
“I am Pri’tok the Lesser, a speck birthed by the Greater. As a being birthed from the same will, we are like brothers, yet one and the same. My life is my own, and to the mortals shall I bring aid.”
And with that, Pri’tok took the form of a man and descended upon the surface of Na’tok. The various smaller congregations surfaced from the void, and in unison thousands of voices rang out,
“We are the skyfathers, birthed from lesser wills. The fates of our domain belong to you, Na’tok, and we ask for free passage between our domain and your exalted body.” With a single intention, intangible passages formed between the thousand void realms and Na’tok.
“It is done. From henceforth I will not block passage from there to here, but should you bring harm to my body or wreak irreparable damage to the mortal creatures under my care, I will shatter your forms and disperse your will. You will be stricken from memory and cease to exist for all eternity.”
The skyfathers trembled in fear, and each returned to their own, to breathe life into their own domain. His rules set, Na’tok went into slumber. For Na’tok was The Dreamer, and all of creation resides in his dream.
Pri’tok The Speck roamed the surface of Na’Tok. He gazed upon the mortals with love, for they were his children. Pri’tok watched over the mortals as Na’tok slumbered, taking upon the form of the wind as he roamed throughout the land. The mortals of Na’tok spoke of Pri’tok as though he were nothing more than a legend, but the wisemen knew. The wisemen congregated, dubbing Pri’tok as The Wanderer, for Pri’tok was naught but wind that traveled the world.
As many moons passed, Pri’tok felt an aching in his heart. His children, the humans whose number had grown like the sand on the beach, had turned on each other. His heart ached as he witness the strong mercilessly devour the weak. Although he felt an ache in his heart, Pri’tok did not intervene. He did not lend his power to the weak, for the conflicts between mortal creatures are for mortals to resolve. He hoped that mortal conflicts would help the weak strengthen themselves and grow.
But one day, Pri’tok took pity on a child. While journeying across the land, he came across a human child in a forest. The child had stunted legs, and her back sported a deep gash. She was crawling forward, using every ounce of strength to move forward but one step more. In this primordial land where the strong devoured the weak, the child’s determination shook his soul. The winds converged and coalesced into a man, of which Pri’tok was his name. Pri’tok cradled the child in his arms and healed the child of her wounds, closing the gash and setting right her legs.
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“Child, where is your family, why is it that you are alone out here amidst these trees?”
The child replied with a remorseful voice,
“O great one, I have been crippled since birth, and while my tribe was moving to more fertile lands, we were attacked and I was left behind.”
Pri’tok looked upon the child with warmth, and hoisted her upon his shoulders.
“Child, fret not, I shall bring you to your tribe, and through you, they shall prosper. For you are crippled no more, and your future unbound.” And with but a thought, the winds wrapped up the child and was led by Pri’tok to her tribe.
Thus, what was said came to pass, and the child’s tribe flourished. Pri’tok lived amongst the humans, and shared with them both life and death, joy and sorrow, fortune and calamity. The child he had saved grew into a beautiful woman, and in the presence of her persistence, the two’s fates became intertwined. In every sense of the word, Pri’tok became human, but one’s origin could not be changed. His beloved, the child he had saved so many years ago, returned to dust while he himself remained, unchanged. With the power of a god bestowed upon them, the tribe grew into a village, and from a village to a city, and from a city to a kingdom. As the generations passed, Pri’tok remained ever constant.
“I am Pri’tok the lesser will. My power was lent to the weak that they may grow strong, therefore my power shall remain no longer with these mortals whose fates have been intertwined with mine so that I shall call them kin. My kin have forged paths of their own, and from henceforth I shall wander the land once more. The wisemen of old have dubbed me The Wanderer, and wander I shall again. However, for the sake of my beloved-- for the sake of that weak child I had saved centuries ago, my fate and the fate of my descendants shall be interwoven. I shall not abandon them.”
As Pri’tok prepared to leave, his kin begged him to say.
“Ancestor, please do not abandon us! Has this generation angered you great one? Your wisdom and strength has guided us this many years, generation after generation. Death be unto us if the sins of our generation have angered you so!”
“Worry not children, for I shall never abandon you. Have I not proclaimed that my blood courses through your veins? Have I not proclaimed that I shall never abandon you? I am but an outsider, a wanderer. It is through fate that I have come to this land. Fear not children, for the time will come when I shall return.”
With that, Pri’tok left, wandering the land once more, observing the mortals he loved. After a year had passed, Pri’tok returned, and his kin celebrated his return. He stayed for one year, satisfied that the affairs of his kin were settled, then left once more. He again returned after two years, and once more stayed for one year before leaving again. Then again he returned after four years. Then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Every time he returned he would stay for one year, settling affairs, then embarking once more.
His descendants thrived for countless millenia, and from his bloodline the mighty Willborn Empire arose. As the time between visits lengthened, Pri’tok began to fade from memory, then history, then from the annals of his kin. Even still Pri’tok never failed to visit, but as he faded from memory, Pri’tok took to the shadows, ever vigilant.
The bloodline of a god is not to be belittled, no matter how diluted. The power inherited from Pri’tok gave rise to an arrogance deeply ingrained into the bones of his descendants. Though they ruled justly, many grew unruly, and desired to exercise their strength and bring the land under their thumb. A great war break out, and in the end, the Willborn Empire rose supreme.
Pri’tok, though disappointed with the path his kin had forged, never intervened-- for having witnessed the strength that his kin had found, he resigned mortal conflicts to their realm. However, within every generation there would be a few who took after Pri’tok’s own heart, and every generation there would be a few who took after his beloved, the child that he had saved. Though he steeled his heart, he could not bear to abandon his family, and so Pri’tok abandoned his journies to guide and nurture those he deemed worthy of their bloodline.”
The World Historia, a sacred text from the Council of Dreamers.
I, Rinlith Willborn, have received express permission from the
Ancestral High Priest of the Council of Dreamers to transcribe a portion
of the World Historia detailing the creation of the world for
public consumption.