“Return to us.”
With the voice ringing in Ionyr’s mind, time appeared to speed up - as though he were living his life in fast motion, with only important events playing out fully.
The wedding. Mom’s funeral. Ielus’ departure.
Though as he grew older, time seemed to fly by even faster, life becoming little more than a blur - even those important, meaningful moments passed by like clouds on a windy day.
Visiting the capital. Meeting Raev.
It felt like he was falling through a hole, numbed by the incessant amount of memories and emotions flooding him - faster and faster, too fast for his feeble mind to keep up.
Their final adventure.
And then, just as he reached his breaking point…!
“Welcome back, young adventurers.”
Ionyr dropping to his knees, sweating and panting. What just happened? It felt like he relived his entire life in a single second. There was a storm of emotions tormenting his chest - love, sadness, grief, happiness, nostalgia…it was too much all at once. He felt something running down his cheek - tears, streaming from his eyes and dropping from his cheek into the night sky below them.
Right…he remembered now. Their final adventure…the town, the cave…and the Creators. Their test…wait! Rayza!
Ionyr immediately looked for her, finding Rayza collapsed onto her knees as well - sobbing and holding the right side of her chest. It seemed she was going through something similar. Pushing through his own pain, he crawled over to her. He placed a hand on her back. Her state of mind was too volatile to notice him, but that didn’t stop him from sitting down and pulling her into his embrace.
“It’ll…” He grimaced as the violent maelstrom ravaged his mind. Gritting his teeth, he bore it and, after a deep breath, softly whispered into her ear. “It’ll be fine, Rayza. Just lean on me. Let me be your rock.”
“The testing is hereby concluded. We commend you.” The statue spoke, raising itself back to its full height. “Many of those who undertook this test lost themselves.”
“W-what did you do?!” Ionyr asked, doing his best to keep his voice level. He could barely contain himself - rage-filled screams and pained winces were desperate to leak out. And with how much he and Rayza were shaking, it was a real struggle to hold them back.
“A worthy inquiry.” It nodded and opened its arms in an inviting fashion. “We shall answer it, and any others you might have.”
"To answer your first question, we glimpsed into your past. We did so by travelling the same path you did.." It waved its right paw, and small sparks appeared from the void. They gathered in its palm, forming a tiny, glistering light.
"Emotions are like flames. Bluntly said, E-motion is a shortened word. Its origins stem from the idiom 'energy in motion'.” The statue stretched and bounced the light between its six arms, before it eventually split into six smaller, snakelike pieces that each curled around one of its arms.
“Every time energy moves, it leaves behind an imprint where it used to be - like a campfire charring the ground." It presented its palms, showing off the black marks on them.
"We are able to read these imprints. Similar to a blind person using their sense of touch to read engravings upon a wall, we trace the imprints to glimpse the memory behind the emotion." The charring quickly disappeared, as the rock they were on melted - only to be quickly replaced by another, freshly cooled.
"It is because of this that you are feeling the sensation of reliving your past. By returning the moved energy to where it came from, we effectively return you to the person you used to be. From a certain point of view, we sent you back to the past as you lived it."
Yeah, that’s one way of looking at it, Ionyr mused. Though, from another point of view, they had no freedom to choose their actions - it was simply memories after all. If they were really in the past, wouldn’t they have been able to change it? To prevent Ielus from leaving? Keep his mother from death? Save Rayza’s father?
"Are you okay?" Ionyr asked, gently pulling her closer. She shook her head.
“I wish.” She hissed, gritting her teeth.
Or maybe that was just it - there was no changing the past. No matter how hard one tried, certain things are just fated to happen. Perhaps it is folly to try to change fate. And, to be honest, he was happy with how things turned out - if they didn’t happen as they did, he never would have married her.
Giving her a light kiss on the forehead, Ionyr shook his head. What a silly train of thought. Maybe he’d simply gotten nostalgic again, having experienced his past again in such a vivid way. He was here now. Ionyr, adventurer and husband of Rayza. And now, discoverer of the Creators. He was so satisfied with his current life - why would he want to change any of it?
Yet, he still couldn’t deny a part of him longing to go back again. To change something. Just a tiny thing - to make his current life better. Ionyr knew he shouldn’t be feeling this way…but he did.
"You said we weren’t the first." Ionyr said, trying to push away those thoughts.
"Yes." The god replied bluntly. Kind of frustrating, he had to admit - would've been nice if they were the only ones to prove this myth true. Though, with how far they’ve gotten, Ionyr had no room to complain. The statue crossed its middle set of arms before continuing. "However, none of them have reached this stage."
"What do you mean? What stage?" Ionyr raised an eyebrow. The storm in his chest had started to settle, giving way to his familiar hunger for knowledge.
"Our final test was meant to examine the inner workings of your minds. None besides you have met our criteria." It opened its arms. "So here you stand still, as our Chosen." Chosen? What were the Creators talking about? Ever since they'd entered this cave, it had just been one thing after another. It was too much to wrap his head around.
"You know of the great Calamity that befell this world eons ago." It stated, motioning to the world below. A black blight appeared from the southern continent and began expanding, covering everything in a dark miasma.
"Of course!" Ionyr said without skipping a beat - finally, some familiar territory! "That story is the whole reason we sought you out to begin with!"
"We know." It stated blankly. “We saw it in your memories.”
Ah, right. Ionyr scratched his head sheepishly. Could’ve seen that coming.
"But the story you were told was incomplete." The statue continued, looking down at the spectacle below.
A bright yellow light shone from where the darkness came, and before long, it began to dissipate, revealing the now Dead South beneath it. However, as his Mom had said so long ago, dark thunderstorm clouds remained where the great evil was sealed. Ionyr was honestly impressed with how accurate most of her tale was.
One would think that with how often this story is passed from mouth to mouth, falsehoods would start to get mixed in, be it through human error or mistellings…but all of it seemed to be true, down to the last, minute detail. Well, there was one part that was lost, though. Thanks to Rudd, though, he now knew of it, too.
"You mean the legend of the stars, right? The old man told us." Ionyr said with a grin, causing the statue to nod.
"Correct. Following the sealing of the Calamity, we took refuge from the world in our sanctuaries." It waved its hand, causing a light to appear on each continent, blinking with a slow, reverberating sound.
Each had a different colour. The North was coloured a light violet, there was a blue light on the Isles, and in their home country of Idyllis was a red light. Funnily enough, with how clear everything was, Ionyr could see that the red glow was right in the centre of a large valley - it had to be the one their camp overlooked.
"We selected their locations based on their proximity to certain special places." As it said so, it reached out with its two lower sets of arms and plucked the lights from the night sky.
"What special places?" Rayza said shakily. Ionyr gave her a concerned look, but as she wiped away the last streaks of tears, she stood up.
"Relax.” She assured him, giving him a weak smile, despite her quivering legs and trembling voice. “M-my curiosity now is stronger than my sadness was then." She was pushing herself. He could see how wet her eyes were - no doubt the storm was far worse for her than for him, with the emotional distress she had to live through yet again.
“Alright.” Ionyr said, taking her hand. “If you say so.”
“Thanks.” She whispered as she pulled him to his feet. Without letting go, she turned to the statue. “S-so, what are these special places you were talking about?”
“I’m sorry I can’t do more.” Ionyr thought, somberly noting how tightly she was squeezing his hand - possibly stronger than ever before. The pain must be unbearable. All these emotions hitting her at once, especially after she thought them all buried and dealt with…poor Rayza, he thought. And despite all that, she pushed herself to her feet.
What a beautiful soul.
"These places…" The god continued, seemingly ignorant of her plight, "These places are close to the world's organs."
"...organs." Rayza said slowly, before exchanging a baffled look with Ionyr. “The world’s…organs.”
Unexpected, to say the least. What in the Spirits’ names were the Creators on about?
"It's the only word we have to describe this phenomenon. Even the way they are positioned in the world is akin to organs." It pointed at the blinking dot on the Western Isles. "This is its Heart. A deep cave through which all water in the world passes. Without it, there would be no ocean currents - the world would wither and stagnate."
"Here lies its gut and intestines.” It continued, motioning towards the Dead South. “A place where the fertile earth is gathered before being swept away by the ocean's tides to the other continents.”
“Its mouth, windpipe and lungs lie in the cold North.” It gestured towards the violet light. “Everything breathes, even the world itself. The same way all living beings breathe air, so does the world breathe that air.”
To illustrate its point, it reached out with its paw. A piece of the earth shot up from the world below, stopping right in its palm. There was a small white flower on the chunk of dirt.
”Plants need the air breathed out by animals and humans. And as plants breathe the waste of other living beings, so does the world require the air that is breathed out by all life.” It retracted its paw, allowing the flower to quickly, but gently drop back down to earth. The statue used its lower sets of arms to form a circle from the four lights, glowing the same violet as the sanctuary below.
“The great cycle of air - cleansed in the freezing cold of the North, before the air is released into the world anew. You might know it as the harsh northern Boreas."
“Isn’t that the wind that blows through every five years?” Ionyr whispered to Rayza. He didn’t want to embarrass himself here, he didn’t study up on it much. However, seeing her listening to the statue with wide eyes, ignoring his question, he realised that maybe there was real credence to the Creators’ words.
“And finally..." It disbanded the circle, forming the four lights once more, then pointed to the red dot on Idyllis - the sanctuary they were currently in. "This place...is where all the energy of the world gathers."
"Wait, so we have the heart, gut and mouth all where they should be." Ionyr said, noticing a flaw in this world view. "But what lies opposite the heart?" He patted his right pec. "There is no organ there. Not in humans, nor in any other animal I can think of. Right?"
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He shot Rayza a questioning look. She blinked, snapping from her thoughts. “Actually…” She said, pensively rubbing her lips. “He has a point.
"Indeed." The statue forced the lights together and moulded them into the form of a translucent human body - almost like a glass doll. Crossing its top arms, it tapped the right side of the doll’s chest. "There is nothing there. Not in a human's body, nor in that of any other animal of this world." A small light appeared in that same spot it pointed out a second ago. “But still, this place houses the Sacred Fire. So, what then, is this place? ”
The Creators plunged their tentacles into the doll, then flicked them outwards. Without delay, the doll expanded, growing as large as the statue. It traced a claw along the doll.
“Heart. Gut. Lungs.” As it mentioned each organ, they lit up with the corresponding colour. “All of them right where they should be. So which organ does the Sacred Fire represent?
“Before that, could you tell us what the Sacred Fire is?” Ionyr asked, raising a hand. “In all our travels, we’ve never come across that name.”
Rayza nodded in agreement. “Can’t recall reading about it in any books either…” She mumbled.
“Unsurprising.” The Creators said, clapping their paws. The doll shrank back down to human size. “Knowledge is something that is all too easily lost. Tell us, young adventurers - does humanity still know of the World Soul?”
“Can’t say we do.” Ionyr scratched his chin. First he heard of it.
“Actually…” Rayza whispered, quivering. “I do.”
“Wait, really?” Ionyr looked at her. “How?”
As she shot him a glance, he could tell she just had an epiphany. Though at the same time, it was like she’d seen a ghost. It felt like she was trying to break his hand, with how tight her grip was.
“The book.” Rayza said quietly. “The one that got my father…”
Ionyr’s eyes widened as he understood.
“Say no more. I understand.” He said, squeezing her hand. As she nodded gratefully, he turned back to the statue to answer its question. “There are still tomes that speak of this World Soul - but they are seen as heretical. Those who own them are put to death.”
“Fascinating. How times can change the view on knowledge so fundamental.” It said, sounding almost amused. “Humans are such funny little creatures.”
The statue extended its six arms and grabbed hold of space. With the same ease as flipping a page in a book, it spun the area around - until the world that was once below was now positioned right behind it. It lightly tapped the void to stop the spin, before snapping its fingers.
The four lights reappeared before the statue.
“Earth. Air. Water. Fire. These are the four elements that comprise the physical world.” It said, swirling the four orbs around. “Entirely different tapestries woven of the same cloth. All manifestations of the World Soul - siblings born of the same mother.”
“Can you stop speaking in riddles, please? My head’s already spinning from that move you just pulled.” Ionyr said, massaging his forehead.
“As you wish. To put this very simply - the same way humans have a body, mind and soul, so does the world. Hence why we referred to these special places as its organs.” With a snap of its fingers, the statue summoned the image of the doll once more. "Which brings us back to the question at hand: what organ does the fire stand for?”
Tapping against the pecs of the doll, the Creators made a blue light appear where the heart was located. Then, right beside it appeared a red light - which slightly overlapped with the blue, creating a light violet glow.
“We believe that this is an indication of something greater - an unperceivable organ, perhaps where the soul resides. A second heart, if you will. But not pumping blood – but instead being responsible for moving the energy throughout our body. Mirroring the physical heart, it is an emotional heart - the Soul Heart."
Soul Heart? The more Ionyr heard, the more his head began to spin. Shooting a glance at Rayza, he noticed her expression mirrored his confusion - yet there was a certain sense of wonder in her blue eyes as well. Like she was slowly beginning to understand, and yearning to learn more. Suddenly, she furrowed her brow.
"There's something bothering me about this." Rayza said. "You are the Creators - the divine makers of our world. How could your own creations possibly hold any mysteries from you?"
"An astute observation." Remarked the statue, and it shrunk the doll down to a miniscule size, invisible to the naked eye. "It is true. Eons ago, we created this world from nothing. Yet, as time passed, it has evolved far beyond what we originally intended."
The previously tiny doll began to grow rapidly in size, shifting into different animals - from a small Reedjumper, to an Anoranth, to what appeared like the legendary Ravager, until it eventually settled on its human form once more.
"Before we knew it, life sprang forth from this world. Life that we struggle to understand to this day." The doll split in two, where it took the shapes of two very familiar humans. Ionyrwas almost creeped out seeing their bodies like that - it felt like looking into a ghostly mirror. "Where did this life come from? Only life can create life. Anything taken by death loses that ability - so where did this life come from, if not from us?"
The dolls stood still, unmoving.
"There are certain immutable facts to life. For one, life cannot exist without a Body to hold it." It tapped on the translucent dolls with its paws. A dark yellow light - the light of earth - pulsed from the claws and enveloped the dolls. As it dissipated, it revealed that the dolls had transformed into perfect mirror images to them.
Ionyr was impressed - the Creators got every detail right. Rayza’s soft blonde hair, her enticing curves…and her blue eyes. Yet they lacked something. Those were not the eyes he fell in love with. They were by far not as beautiful as the real thing.
"The Body also requires a Mind to control it." The statue waved its hand over the dolls. They jolted again, and blinked. But it stopped at that - they made no further move of their own. "You were made in their image." It said to its creations. “Bow.”
The two dolls followed the order, and bowed before Ionyr and Rayza. In his peripheral vision, he could see Rayza absolutely enraptured with the spectacle. She quickly returned the respectful bow. Ionyr awkwardly waved at the two dolls, trying to not be left out - but something kept him from bowing to them. They gave off an uncanny feeling.
"But even with these two important pieces, something is still lacking.” The Creators were either ignorant or uncaring of his hesitance. “Life cannot be reduced to these two aspects. A Mind and Body cannot move a body forward on their own."
The two constructs remained still, unmoving as they waited for further orders.
"Incapable of forming its own will, only able to obey. That cannot be called life." It took the dolls in its paws and shattered them, scattering small sparks of light across the void. "The missing piece...it can only be one thing. It must be Soul. Without it, there can be no life."
Soul. After all the times that word had been spoken, it had almost lost its meaning.
"What do you mean by Soul, anyway? I get what you mean by Body and Mind. That’s simple enough, it’s my body and my ability to think and understand. But Soul is so abstract, what am I supposed to understand by it?" Ionyr asked, trying to make sense of it.
He was entirely overwhelmed - he never would have expected that when finding the Creators, that he’d be sitting through such a confusing conversation. Though perhaps he should’ve expected nothing less of the ancient gods that made this world.
Humming, the statue crossed its arms.
“An excellent question, young adventurer. In fact, that’s the very same question we are trying to answer ourselves.” It nodded solemnly, closing all but its third eye, which pulsed a vibrant scarlet. "Your curious mind will be a great asset. We were right to choose you after all." Extending all its arms, it let out a majestic caw. The sun began shining brightly with a mighty roar. Bathing in the golden light it summoned, the statue spoke with a voice that boomed across the night sky.
“Heed these words, Chosen Ones. Of all the humans that have come before us, it is you that have proven yourselves worthy. As your Creators, we request this of you: help us elucidate the mystery of Soul.”
Rayza instinctively took a step back, frightened by this display of divine power. Taking a step forward, Ionyr placed her behind him, but he, too, was frightened - yet underlying the fear was an immense sense of awe.
"Long have we waited here, bound to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Flame, for the right souls to entrust this request to." The statue lowered its head, meeting their gaze. “Tell us, young adventures. Will you accept our request?”
“How?!” Ionyr yelled, trying to overcome the roaring of the sun. “How could we possibly do that?!”
“Where there is a will, there is a way. Therefore, we must know.” The Creators lowered their head down. “Do you accept?”
Exchanging the briefest of looks with Rayza, he knew their answer. Her eyes were as curious as his. Despite being frightened, despite having no idea what was coming for them, the two of them shared that determined spirit. After having come so far, what was the point in stopping now?
“Of course we will!”
“Of course we will!”
They yelled in unison.
Suddenly, the immense noise was silenced, and with it the sunlight dimmed. Crossing its arms, the Creators nodded, satisfied.
“Excellent.” It spoke, clapping its hands. The symbols from earlier reappeared, and it began tracing them, like one would a line in a book. "There are still many things we do not understand. Many questions about human emotion in particular.”
Without pause, it began listing off their various questions.
“Where does emotion spring from? Where does it go? Is Soul given at birth, or is it created over time?” It flicked its hand, sending the symbols away. “Those are just a few questions we’d like an answer to.”
“Right…so, how do you expect us to find that answer…?” Ionyr chuckled awkwardly. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. Won’t find anyone more motivated than us, but…a will won’t be good enough for us to find a way here.”
“You are correct.” The statue nodded. ”There is no way to answer these questions without studying a human. Therefore..."
It reached out with its six arms. All the stars in the sky suddenly dimmed, leaving it all dark and empty.
"We created a child. A human child."
Beams of light, coming from all corners of space, shot towards the statue, gathering in the midst of its arms.
“That child…is the Star.”
It slowly lowered its arms, a tiny white egg in its palms. It was so small it could fit in Ionyr's arms.
"It is yet unborn. Once the both of you lay hands upon it, it shall take on parts of your bodies. It will have a mind of its own, so it will be able to move and act as it pleases.”
The egg began pulsing as it got closer to the two of them.
“Yet...it does not have Soul. Humanity, with all its emotions, should be able to cultivate it freely. You two, our Chosen, are worthy to be its parents." The Creator gazed into their eyes. "Show us how to create Soul. Show this child what it means to be human."
Ionyr turned to look at Rayza, who’d stepped forward to stand beside him. His wife’s face was being torn between many different emotions. Confusion…and elation. Stunned silent, yet her mouth agape. Her hands were reaching out, seemingly of their own volition, trembling as they tried to grasp that dream that seemed unattainable all these years.
Her greatest wish, the dream she held ever since their relationship began, which she had been denied again, and again and again after what must have been hundreds of attempts – the Creator offered to her. It may have taken the hand of the gods, but finally, after all these years, her greatest desire was finally in reach.
How often had she wished upon a star to have it granted, Ionyr wondered, as he placed his hand on hers. At long last, this divine egg, the Star of the Creators, would make real what he failed to do. He felt relieved, knowing that he wasn’t the only one whose dream came true. It helped alleviate his sense of guilt, if a little.
Rayza looked at him, tears streaking down her face. He was unable to restrain a few, himself. Nodding, he turned to the ancient god.
"We thank you…oh great being. You have no idea what you have done for us." Ionyr said, his voice trembling.
“We may not understand what you feel…but we know you’ve desired this for a long time. That is why we chose you.” It held the egg close to them, in arm’s reach. “Now…lay your hands upon it. With it…your journey begins.”
Shooting one last look with Rayza, who was still trembling, he took her hand. When she turned to face him, he gave her a reassuring smile.
“Together?” He asked.
“T-together.” She said, returning his smile weakly.
They placed their hands upon the egg.
A weak white light appeared from it and flowed through their hands, up their arms and across their bodies before returning to its source.
A moment passed.
The egg pulsed in a blue light. Once. Twice. Thrice.
It began pulsing faster and faster, until it all blended together in an all-encompassing white flash.
After a few moments, the light dimmed, and eventually dissipated entirely. Ionyr opened his eyes to find his wife holding a newborn. The baby had white hair and blue eyes – the same blue eyes he so loved to gaze into.
"Look, Ionyr." Rayza said, smiling as she gently nuzzled the baby - their baby. "It’s a girl."
Ionyr could hear the ever so slight ‘Told you so’ in her tone, but it was so overshadowed by not just her own joy, but his too, that he ignored it entirely. Without missing a beat, he took off his cloak and helped his wife wrap it around the newborn. He could scarcely believe it.
Running his hand through their daughter's hair, he could barely hold back his own swelling emotions. All the guilt he'd accrued over the years of failing to give her a child was finally lifted. It was a huge weight off his chest. He pulled his wife close and pressed his lips to her forehead.
"She's…beautiful." Ionyr nuzzled his head into her hair. "Must be your eyes."
Rayza giggled - her voice was so light and angelic. Like she did as a child, when the world hadn’t worn her down so much. "Say, Ionyr? What will we name her?" She asked, gently rocking the baby back and forth.
Good question. They'd thought of so many names before, yet none of them would fit this beautiful blessing of the Creators. Ionyr looked at his daughter - man, that felt weird to say. He’d have to get used to it. By the Spirits, that made him a father. That title was something he’d need time getting used to.
His daughter had a blank expression on her face, though her eyes were curiously watching him. Her eyes...the same sky-blue eyes of her mother...there was only one name that came to mind. He instantly knew it was the right one when he thought of it.
"Ciel. We'll name her Ciel."
Rayza kept silently rocking the baby, letting the name hang in the air for a moment. Eventually, she smiled and pulled her daughter into a hug.
"I love it." She kissed her daughter on the forehead. “Hear that, dear? Your name is Ciel.”