Fael and Mael looked at each other. I knew what they were thinking, of course. They were concerned about where they were going to sleep that night, but they were also worried about my creations. Before I talked to them they had been admiring the forest around them and the stars in the sky. They, like the humans, already had some idea on how to build a shelter, but they didn't want to destroy anything that I had created.
Aww, that's sweet... but also unnecessary. Hmm, what to do? Should I tell them to just cut down some trees to make houses? But I should also respect their wishes, if they don't want to cut down trees or anything like that then they shouldn't have to.
While I was thinking, Fael and Mael nodded at each other then looked up at the sky... because when talking to a voice in your head, where else would you look when talking back to it?
"Creun," Fael said tentatively, "There is something we'd like to ask..."
"Go ahead and ask me anything, no need to hesitate," I said. I already knew what they were going to ask, but I wanted them to actually ask me, to talk to me. I could already see the possible futures. If I just talk to them and respond to their thoughts, then that's not really good for building a relationship with them and there is a high chance that they will fear me and worship me rather than become my friend. They need to reach out and ask for help, to willingly open up to me, and talk to me as regular people, that way we can form actual emotional connections.
Gosh, that sounds manipulative... But how else can I truly become friends with them? That's how friendships work isn't it? The more you open yourself to someone, the closer you become... depending on that someone's reaction of course. So, they need to choose to open up to me. I think that if someone just came up to me and started saying things about me he shouldn't know, I'd be creeped out.
"I know that you said that you created this world for us, and I know that the knowledge I have on how to build a house must have come from you, but is there any other way? We don't want to cut down any of these trees that you have created," Fael said while Mael nodded her agreement by his side.
"Fael... Mael... I am glad you find my creations to be beautiful and I am glad that you wish to respect them. But remember that I have created this world for you and everyone else. Those trees, while they are my creations, were made to be useful to you and for you to do with as you will."
The two elves grimaced and bowed their heads feeling chastised.
"However," I continued, and they perked back up with hopeful expressions. "If what you want to do is preserve them then I can show you another way."
“Yes!” Mael shouted excitedly, “That’s what we want.”
I have several ideas that could work for what they want, but I think my favorite is either teaching them what parts of the trees to prune and use, or just giving them the ability to shape trees as they want. The first one would be a lot of hard work though. They'd have to prune lots of branches from a lot of trees to have enough wood to build any kind of shelter. The second one though... I could just tell the trees and plants to listen to them and to grow as directed. But how would the plant know if they were just talking conversationally or was actually trying to get the plant to grow a certain way? Should the plants only react to certain words? Maybe it doesn't have to be talking, maybe it should be singing... I mean, when I first learned I could talk I sang soon afterwards. They could sing to the plants and it would grow or move according to both the lyrics and their mental image. Yeah, let’s do that.
I formed that idea in my mind and said aloud, while also sending my words as a transmission to the elves, “Let it be that Fael and Mael and all their descendants, according to their love for nature, be able to sing life and new form into all plant life.”
The elves gasped as divinity rushed through them, adding the aspects of what I said to their beings. The sparks of divinity that were a part of the elves changed slightly, especially the sparks around the throat and tongue. If I had to describe the change, I would say that those sparks became a bit greener, but the sparks don’t have color... it just felt greener. It was strange, but I have seen this “color” in other things before. Like with the plants and animals that can summon fire or lightning, or can teleport away, or other things like that. It was interesting
I should probably look into that in the future...
When their divinity settled into the changes I said, “Sing to the plants. Sing what you want them to do while holding a clear image of what you want in your mind and the plants will either grow or change shape accordingly. Try it.”
Fael looked at Mael and then back towards the sky.
“So... We come up with our own lyrics?” Fael asked.
“...Yes.”
“Oh... Ok.”
Fael and Mael approached a tree.
“You go first,” Fael nudged Mael with his elbow. She rolled her eyes and stepped closer to place her hand on the tree. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before starting to sing.
“Oh great pine tree, sown by Creun’s hand, grow tall and wide for me, with hollow insides for us to stand. We were created not long ago, Creun’s hand at work once more, and need a home to lay down low, we ask for refuge in thy core.”
The image that she had in her mind was a circular room inside a thick tree with an archway for an entrance. It would be sufficient for now, and if they needed anything else then they could sing again, so I let it be. It was good for her first time.
The small tree grew tall and thickened quickly. An archway formed to reveal a hollow interior. Eventually, the tree stopped growing, leaving a room that was fifteen feet in diameter. The tree ended up looking short and squat, but that was okay.
“Good job!” I said, “That was really good for your first time.”
The elves were beaming, happy that they were able to have a home without having to cut down any trees. As it was the middle of the night for them, they cuddled in their new home and went to sleep. In the morning I started teaching them how to tend to the trees, which branches to cut off, how to make sure fruits grew big, and how to harvest without hurting the trees. Of course, I didn’t just teach them about the trees, I also taught them about all the various plants and animals that could be found in their circle of white stones. It only took a hundred years to teach them about their ecosystem. Pretty quick.
During that hundred years, Fael and Mael had given birth two times. A boy, who they named Kael, and a girl, who they named Sael. For some reason, for all races, all their children were born a boy and then a girl, as if nature meant to pair them together. They were, of course, all completely different genetically. The elf children both matured quickly, like a human, and stopped aging appearance-wise at the age of twenty.
It took a while to convince them, but eventually the elves did start eating meat. Not a lot, but on occasions they did eat meat. I had to explain that the pointy teeth that I gave them weren’t just for show, and that I did intend for them to play a part in the local food chain. They mostly preferred eating fish from the river though, because most fish weren’t sentient while most animals on land were. I didn’t care that they didn’t want to cut down trees, that’s fine, but they needed to eat more than just fruits to be healthy.
Kael and Sael, also grew their own home tree next to their parents. They also talked with me and asked me about the world. I was more than happy to talk with them and become their friend.
After a hundred years of talking with Fael and Mael though, they started thinking of me as their father, not just their friend. I was the one that created them, so I understood why they started seeing me that way. And who was I to deny them that? When I asked them about it, they started to panic because they were worried I wouldn’t accept them as my children, because I had said I wanted friends, but I sent a beam of divinity and showed them just how much I loved them. The time I spent with them, teaching them everything I knew about the ecosystem, were the best years of my life. How could I not love them? I just wished I could go down there and hug them. Other than Fay, no one else was as close to me as Fael and Mael were. Kael and Sael were also like family to me and were a close second.
It was a shame that no one else wanted to be my friend. The beastkin were devout followers that did their best to fulfill my every word. As such, I didn't talk to them much, mostly letting them do their own thing. I answered any questions they had when they asked me and if they were going to do something stupid or something they'd regret then I'd advise them to do something else. I didn't really talk with them though, no idle chatter, no banter, nothing else besides advice. I mean, how could I when they take everything I say as law?
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Fakin and Makin did a lot of work building up a settlement. They had first built up their own house, and then got to work fulfilling what they thought I had created them for... to be the father and mother of their race. Of course, that is what they are, but that wasn’t the purpose of their creation. But they seemed to be having fun, so I left them be.
The beastkin’s average lifespan was a hundred years, like the humans, but both Fakin and Makin were still alive and kicking. Well, not really kicking, but they were both able to move around by themselves and seemed like they would live for a couple more years.
Is it because they both have more divinity than their children? Does more divinity mean longer life? That’s interesting... Humans and beastkin are too short-lived to really know for certain and they only gained a little bit more divinity than they got from being named. Divinity begets divinity, and divinity might give longer life which would mean more time to gain even more divinity... I guess I’ll see with the elves. They should only live for around 800 years. But after being named and after giving them control over plants... that’s a lot more divinity than they should normally have had, so... maybe a thousand years? That’s if divinity grants longer life of course, but my guesses do tend to be right...
With such long lives, and with them making a child as often as they could, Fakin and Makin had seventy children. Each pregnancy was either twins or quadruplets, and each time it was a boy and a girl or it was two boys and two girls. Everyone was paired with their twin and those thirty-five couples each had around twenty children themselves. They didn’t have the same drive that Fakin and Makin did towards reproduction, but they put in some work. Surprisingly, all the children had the same trait as Fakin and Makin, the DNA in their sperm and eggs were randomized. Meaning that their children were all genetically different as well. But I noticed that it looked like it would wear off in another generation or so.
Two gave birth to seventy, seventy gave birth to nine hundred, and some of those nine hundred were already starting to become pregnant... The beastkin were busy. It seems that mixing humans with animals had the unintended consequence of the beastkin giving birth in litters.
They all created their homes close together, creating a large village surrounded by forest. The forest surrounding the village was carefully tended to and had lots of fruit trees that they planted. There was a clearing that they had made, where they domesticated a herd of deer and also a group of wooly monkeys. They had the deer for their meat and milk and the monkeys for their wool. The monkeys were very chill and loved to soak in the river. They practically domesticated themselves to the beastkin after seeing that the beastkin had lots of food and also enjoyed baths. The monkeys also learned that bathing after the beastkin cut off their wool was a much more soothing experience.
So the village had all of its basic needs met and grew to a good size and they built everything that they needed. And I didn’t know if I liked it or not, they even built a shrine to me in the middle of the village next to a well. It was nice, I guess. Almost all of the beastkin would ask me questions about what they should do and things like that. The youngest generation didn’t really talk to me much, a couple of them weren’t even able to hear what I said, it was just a gut feeling like with the humans. It was a bit sad, but I had already resolved myself to give advice and direction to everybody, even if they couldn’t understand me. Whether they followed my counsel was their choice, and those that couldn’t understand me... hopefully they learned that their “gut feeling” was actually someone who really loved them and was wanting to be their friend. More importantly, I hoped that they would listen to “their gut” when I warned them away from doing something dangerous.
While there were some bursts of anger and arguments here and there, there wasn’t really any crime or violence yet, but I knew that there would be eventually... How would I deal with that? Would I forcibly stop it from happening or would I just let it happen because “that’s just how life is”? Obviously, I would try to warn the would-be victim away from the would-be criminal and tell the would-be criminal to not do the crime. But if they both ignore my warnings... would I stop the crime from happening or just let it happen to respect their free will? Would it depend on the crime? Things to think about.
Good thing everybody was working together for now.
The giants so far only had four children, and those four have gotten around to making children of their own yet. They were mostly chilling, eating fruit and farming. Several acres of forest were cleared of all trees that weren't fruit trees and replanted with various types of fruit trees. Over the course of the hundred years I spent teaching the elves, I have also been teaching the giants about the different fruits and veggies as well. They didn't really like the veggies that much but ate it anyway because variety is the spice of life.
With all the trees they ripped out of the ground, Fagi and Magi built a large cabin to live in. The cabin was big enough for them and all their children as well.
The humans were also living in cabins next to their farms, but unlike the giants they also had pens for horses, cattle, chickens, and sheep. They had fields of wheat and potatoes and various other fruits and veggies.
Fortunately, none of the humans had died yet. Fahu and Mahu also lived longer than I had expected. They gave birth to sixteen kids, who all grew up and gave birth to around ten kids each, who all then grew up and started giving birth to the fourth generation. It was in the fourth generation that the DNA scramble in the sperm and eggs wore off. Fourth generation siblings were genetically similar to each other. The good thing that I saw, was that even though the third generation almost all hooked up with their siblings, there seemed to be an unconscious shift in people’s mindset. That shift in mindset made those in the fourth generation see their siblings as siblings and not future romantic partners, and made the third generation raise their children to not be each other’s romantic partners. That was good to see. I was worried about how the shift from incest to non-incest was going to happen once the genetic protection wore off... I’m glad that was a universally accepted change. It was the same for the other races that had a fourth generation already.
Unfortunately, there were still no humans that could hear my voice. There were some humans, however, that were starting to suspect something. Fahu, the father of all humans, was starting to wonder where he and Mahu had come from. As Fahu held one of his great grandchildren, a little girl named Mary, he told her stories of his life and how he woke up in a field next to Mahu. He also told stories of times when he felt something in his gut that directed him to what he was searching for or directed him to try a new technique. He told Mary to always trust her gut.
It was the same for gnomes. They built themselves a home surrounded by their fields and pens of domesticated animals. But they didn’t build a cabin, it was a home built into the side of a hill. They dug deep into the hill and covered all the dirt with wooden planks so you couldn’t tell that you were underground. They even dug out some windows. Of course the windows were only shuttered and didn’t have glass yet.
The gnomes were in their fifth generation by now, and just like the humans, none of them could hear me yet. None of them were even starting to suspect either, they were just chilling, farming, eating, and loving, they didn’t really care much for anything else.
The harpies were able to hear me... well, some of them at least. The harpies had lots of children and also got to the fourth generation. Most of them could only just barely hear me, or rather they could tell that I was trying to talk to them. But rather than try to listen closely and try to understand me, which would lead to them becoming able to hear me fully without a problem, they would all go to Mahar and ask her “What is Mr. Wind trying to tell me?” Mahar was able to hear me just fine, but Fahar wasn’t able to because he just listened to his wife.
Mahar, after talking to me for the first time and realizing that I was not actually the wind, started teaching everybody that I wasn’t the wind, but it was too late. The concept of that I was a wind spirit of some kind was already stuck in the minds of her children. I told her that it was fine and that she should start teaching that I am not the wind but I am a god that created the earth and control the wind... that shouldn’t be too big of a leap of logic. It worked. Most harpies now believe I’m not the wind, but they still go to Mahar to interpret what I say. A couple of Mahar’s granddaughters asked her to teach them how to listen to me. Now, Mahar and those couple of granddaughters are starting to be called “Wind Listeners” or “Speakers of Creun” by the others... Did a religion just start?
The nagas were the only race that had a lifespan less than a hundred years. When I created them I gave them an average age between fifty and sixty years. So they ended up maturing very quickly and reproduced quickly. The nagas were already in their tenth generation. And over time, their scales shifted colors to match the color of the sandy dirt around them. Many nagas were born, their population in the thousands. I taught them how to create mud bricks using the mud in the oasis and mixed it with the reeds that grew there. They let the sun bake the bricks and then used them to build houses. But they didn’t build their houses next to the oasis, they built their village underneath a massive outcrop of stone. That way they wouldn’t scare off the animals that came to drink water, and they could hunt for food, and also to protect them from the sandstorms that occasionally blow past.
Of course, Fana and Mana were devout and made sure to follow the “Devotion Rituals” as they called it. They made sure that everyone sacrificed a tenth part of every animal that they killed and for an hour on the morning of the tenth day, everyone meditated, and since they could all hear me they listened to their parents... at least they all did until the fifth generation. The fifth generation started to ignore their parents and chose not to sacrifice a tenth part of their food, saying that it was a waste and that they needed it. The parents were outraged and were about to beat the heresy out of them, but I intervened. I said that they were called Devotion Rituals for a reason, to show their devotion. If they didn’t have devotion towards me then they shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice anything. That managed to calm everyone down.
The problem though was that they started willfully ignoring my advice. I continued to give it, of course, on the off-chance that they’ll listen to me. But no. Slowly but surely, those that chose not to listen to me became unable to hear me. I mean, come on. I was just trying to point out where to hunt for food or teach them something new. They just shut me out because of stubborn pride, saying that they didn’t need me in their life like everyone else. And by the tenth generation, a bit more than a third of the population couldn't hear me.
Of course, despite those that refused, there were many people that made a lot of sacrifices, which meant that there was a lot of palm wood being burnt. There were only so many palm trees though, so a couple naga tended to the palm trees and planted as many as they could. They asked me to bless the trees to grow, and how could I not help them out? I did tell them to burn sacrifices with it after all, I can’t just let them run out of it. So, I just made sure that none of the palm trees died, and those that were planted didn’t have any complications growing.
I also taught the naga about various plant life that were in the desert. They were mostly surrounded by sand dunes, with hard baked dirt around the oasis and where they lived, but there were plenty of special plants that I created for them to find. There were also a species of desert goats that they domesticated for their fur, meat, and milk.
The nagas lived a fairly peaceful life, but because of their relatively short lives, something happened for the first time, something that I was very excited to see. At the ripe age of sixty-three years old, the first sapient being died.