Chapter 4
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Fall from Grace
“And so it was, in the Garden of Eden - a location lost to time - the souls of the First People of the four races were created, whole and fully developed. Each member was the perfect example of their race; The Humans were cunning and had a strong sense of community, the Elves were all magically gifted and exceptionally agile, the Dwarves were masters of their prescribed crafts and as solid as stone, the Khati were keen of mind, well tempered yet capable of great wrath. Every one of the First People were far stronger, faster, and longer lived than those in the following generations.” – The Book of the Divines 1:14
All at once, the four gods who had yet to fulfil their Purposes did so, none could hold back any longer.
The divines believed there was a limit to how many people they could each create, one hundred. Elementa had already reached this point and described how she was unable to make any more elementals. The landlocked island had been filled with baby elementals that helped make the place feel just as alive as the flora and fauna that distinguished this plateau from the sea of barren rock around it.
The gathered gods had agreed not to push themselves to this limit; they would only summon twelve of each race as a test. It was fortunate for them that they did, for in the flash of Divine light which accompanied the creation of fifty new life forms, a great cry could be heard.
It was not the cry of a beast, declaring its anger to the world, nor the cry of pain that accompanies an injury to the body or mind, this was the cry of fifty pairs of tiny lungs taking in their first breaths and declaring to the world, to the universe that they were here - that they existed. The first souls were born.
Why fifty and not fourty eight? Both Visok, progenitor of the elves and Helka, progenitor of the dwarves had sought to do one better than their counterpart. Now however, neither had the energy to complain about the other’s unfaithfulness.
After too many days ignoring their Purpose, the four gods were too tired and too ill to do much but stare at their offspring.
Makir had assumed that his dozen newly created children would come into this world whole and fully developed, though he couldn’t say why. Elementa, who had already begun to fulfil her Purpose, had made infant elements]als and never mature ones - why would khati be any different.
He sighed, feeling a mixture of weariness and honest joy as he looked down onto the crying faces of his sons and daughters. Makir was lucky as his offspring would be able to hunt for themselves in just a few weeks, he knew the others would take far longer to develop. Still, the coming days would be exhausting. And so they were.
For the first two weeks Helka accommodated the whole hoard in her complex and Visok didn’t utter a word of complaint, he didn’t have the time. All the gods, even those who did not create souls, helped pitch in. They found raspberries, apples, pares, salmon, venison, fungi and more to suit the varied diets of the four races’ infants.
Peaceful nights on an otherwise empty planet were replaced with the demanding cries of babies demanding food, comfort, or attention.
Two weeks were as long as the Elf could manage before his prejudice overcame him. Helka and he fought over the food that should be the focus of the searching gods. Visok wanted more “natural”produce, that which might be termed the bounty of the earth, plants and the like. Whereas, Helka demanded substances higher in mineral content - meats and such.
It was soon rediscovered that the two could not live under the same roof when part of said roof was blown away in one altercation. Visok left to live amongst the trees and Makir, having previously agreed to it, took his progeny and left for the forest with much apologising and consoling to Helka. He promised this would not divide the group.
For the following week the burden of providing for the young khati and elves fell to Makir as Visok shaped the woodland to his desires.
With Leå’s aid the task was done relatively quickly and the skyline of their little island was changed. A new forest had formed, the trees far more sturdy and nearly self aware. It felt comforting and homely to those it deemed friends yet unsettling and hostile to those it did not.
At the heart of this elven sanctum was a tree that rivalled the smaller mountains in size, though it did not compare to the island’s central monolith. This great oak was broader around than the entire dwarven hold and was grown to create a plethora of rooms.
As Makir entered the gigantic living structure, decorated with a panoply of flowers - designed so that no matter the season there would always be a colourful display - he couldn’t help but think it was every bit as beautiful as the murals and statues the Dwarf had created, though more natural.
The Oaken palace was comparable in other regards as well. There were a number of rooms for any manner of profession and function, even a strong hold within the roots that Makir believed could survive a meteor strike.
The khati had a wing to themselves with all the amenities they might need, but Makir only intended to use them for a week and then not again for another year. Elves and dwarves could take twenty years before they were self-reliant and nearly fifty before they were considered mature enough to set out on their own. Humans required half those numbers and khati half again.
The length of each species' lives were also somewhat commiserate. While both dwarves and elves, like elementals, were immortal they went about ageing in very different ways. Once elves reached adulthood they looked the same for all time whereas dwarves never stopped ageing, though they did it slowly. A dwarf might look as wrinkled and grey as a one hundred year old human on their two thousandth birthday but they could live far past that. A khati on the other hand was lucky to live to seventy, most would die in their fifties and sixties, based on the length of the years Makir had calculated his new home planet to have.
Makir’s children would grow up fast but it was important they grew up properly. Because of this, he had long intended to follow the traditional method of raising kits to ensure they were strong of mind and of body.
One month after being born, a baby khati would be left alone in the wild for one year to learn to hunt and survive on their own. Makir felt hesitant about doing this but by all measures his children were exceptional: when they were newly created even the smallest of the litter could grip hard enough on his little finger to hurt a supernatural entity such as himself.
He knew that the boar, wolves, and bears that now lived on this island wouldn’t stand a chance against the claws of his kin. Still, Makir couldn’t help but feel nervous.
He debated back and forth with himself, whether or not to go through with his plan, until the morning of their first month on this earth rolled around. It was the right thing to do, he had known it throughout his internal debate but the softer parts of him disliked its necessity. They would grow up proud and strong or not at all, that was the khati way.
By this point, the young cat folk could no longer be considered infants. If compared to a human they would be equivalent to a five year old; Makir’s kits could speak and move without issue.
Two clung to the stoic leonid's arms, the others followed behind - distracted and playing with each new thing as they walked further into the forest. He had made sure to inform them as to what they were doing and the young khati were far more excited about the proposition than he. He left them in a clearing far from any predators and surrounded by fruit and prey.
Brooding, Makir leapt back the dozen miles to the elven citadel to sit in his room and hope for the best. Nothing else was on his mind beside the fate of his children. He had told himself that he would not become attached to any of them until they had undergone this initiation - Makir had not even named any of them, unlike his peers.
The Khati had thought he would be able to remain unattached but as he sat at the window near the top of the mountainous tree and looked across the miles of forest without any difficulty and spied on his children, playing with one another chasing butterflies and having fun, he realised it was already too late. Love had bloomed in his heart without his noticing.
That was when it began. Weeks earlier, Vasti had told the gods that the planet was surrounded by a ring of ice chunks and indeed it was visible in the night sky. It was where she had obtained the water to start their life creating project. She had even warned Makir that it wouldn’t be long before that water, that ice came down to the surface, but he had forgotten.
It started with a light misting of rain as the smallest chunks were vaporised in the atmosphere. The Khati thought nothing of it, until he realised that this was the first rain he had seen on this barren planet. The rain grew heavier in a second and was filled with hail and before the god knew what was happening chunks of ice the size of his clenched fist were striking the earth at terminal velocity. Makir watched on in horror as his children scrambled for a nearby cave.
The storm had arrived.
✯
“It was in the great flood, when it did rain for forty days and nights, that the Garden of Eden collapsed, never to be seen again.
The divine peace the gods created in that most holy of places was brought to an end by The Evil One, Lord Over all that is Dark, Fouler of all that is Right and Just, King of the Demons. No longer would the four races live in harmony. Where before, fellowship and camaraderie did bloom, the great demon did sow the roots of evil into the hearts of mortals, tempting them to damnation. He did plant greed, selfishness, and revenge - the signatures of a demon.
The Human’s were the first to fall. They stole a pair of priceless gems from the Dwarves, who then in turn stoll a precious fruit from the Elves believing them to be the culprits - thanks to the human’s deceit. The gods tried to stop the ensuing conflict but they had granted the mortals freedom of choice and thought it an inviolable right so the four races were separated to the four continents of the world by the gods so that peace may once again return to the world.” – The Book of the Divines 1:28
The Evil One, Lord Over all that is Dark, Fouler of all that is Right and Just, King of the Demons, sat on his throne and scratched his stubbly chin in thought. He had worked his way to the top of the harsh demonic plane not with brawn alone but with brains.
Demons grew in power by absorbing that spark in all things; not mana, not life, but something ineffable that was present throughout the universe. Many names had been given to it but all the great demon knew was that it tasted divine.
When a ripple passed through the universe carrying on it the scent of a great collection of this power, far more than The Fouler had ever seen, he needed to find its source and consume it. With that level of power, he would be untouchable, unkillable, undeniable.
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Demons created portals to the other planes to conquer and consume. The Divine Essence which permeated all things conglomerated and congealed in life forms and the more intelligent the more power the creature could hold. Thus civilisations throughout the universe had long been ideal targets for the power hungry demons.
To move between the planes a navigator, a demon with a natural ability with spatial magics, was required to create the portal. That was why the King of Demons called for Inanis, head of the Voidwalkers and one of his twelve apostles.
The creature of whispering shadows that coiled into ever shifting tendreals burst into the throne-room seconds after being summoned. So eager was he not to incur his King’s wrath that he cracked one of the skulls that comprised the throne-room door upon his entrance.
His Majesty didn’t so much as bat an eye. Ordinarily, such an offence would be repaid with at least a month in the torture chambers but the King needed to know more of this shift in the universe, and besides, there were always more enemies who’s heads might be used to fix his door.
Inanis had felt the ripple and rushed to his King without delay, no words needed to be spoken between the Master and his apostle. The Chief Voidwalker partitioned a part of his shadowed body off, creating an oval before his King, through which they could see the source of this disturbance.
On a bald planet, without anything but stone, there was a mountain that reached far higher than any mountain naturally should. Atop its flattened peak, stood a number of beings of varied shapes and sizes talking loudly at one another.
The King knew from a glance that these creatures were soft; any self respecting demon put in their position would fight tooth and claw until only one remained and then consumed the others to gain their Essence for himself.
Soft though they were, these things were not weak. The Essence within even one of there number far eclipsed his own mighty pool of power. Seeing this for himself, the King of demons knew he must grow even stronger.
At first, it didn’t appear as if they would stay together. Whatever these things were, they didn’t want to work with one another. That was until one of their number let out a roar that any demon would be proud of and united the others under some purpose - the demon knew not what.
The King thought he might need to do something to separate these colossi of power, he got Inains to open a portal to the far side of that ball of rock except… it didn’t work. The mana was invested and the portal opened but only for a fraction of a second, not at all long enough to send through the scout The Lord of Darkness had intended.
Twice more the leader of The Voidwalkers tried and twice more he failed. The whispering shadows pleaded for mercy from their King as they saw his annoyance rise with each failed cast of the spell.
The King ignored his snivelling apostle and focused on the split second image he had seen on the other side of the last collapsing tear in reality. He had seen the outline of a girl filled with nothing but emptiness, broken up by balls of light that gave the appearance of far off stars.
The Demon King recognised her as one of those Essence filled creatures… but that was impossible. His subordinates' scrying spell was still active and he could see her standing behind that silver haired boy, she hadn’t moved an inch. It was as if she was in two places at once and on top of that, she had closed the rip in the fabric of space with seemingly no difficulty.
This was going to be more difficult than he had at first surmised, but no matter. Any form of travel to the solar system appeared to be off the table but travelling through space was no obstacle for a demon.
Fighting all of them would be impossible but given time they would separate and he could be patient, there was already one in there number set on tearing apart their little group. Until that happened the King needed to become stronger.
On that day he began his campaign across the universe killing and consuming entire planets with the eventual goal of conquering that strangely large planet with a blue sun. He would achieve his ambition, of that he had never been more sure, though it would be many years before he could feel confident setting foot anywhere near that treasure trove of Essence.
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Athæ was excited. She had been bored ever since Makir, someone she had thought was fun, made her promise not to start any conflicts. He had not, however, forbidden her from getting the others to start one themselves. So, when the endless hail began she set to work.
Makir’s focus was entirely on his children, he shadowed them as they struggled to survive in the first storm the planet had ever seen, never wanting them to know that he was there to deflect a large lump of ice from landing on one of their heads or to drop a helpless rabbit near their cave.
Volta had also left to follow the kittens and was helping them in secret. A calming flower might bloom nearby when tensions ran too hot, none of the khati would think anything of it. Both gods were so good at remaining undetected in their actions neither suspected the other of interfering.
With both of Athæ’s biggest obstacles otherwise occupied she could work uninterrupted. Over the last few weeks, she had been pushing both Visok and Helka closer to fighting and, while their animosity had gained her some small amount of Divine Essence, it was far from enough.
The storm brought with it another blessing. Now that water was being spread across the planet and the oceans were starting to fill, Leå and Dem wanted to sow seeds of life across the continents. Vasti agreed to help them travel the great distances required and Tempi decided to tag along, having quickly grown tired of the sounds of babies crying.
With the storm as cover, Athæ entered the underground dwarven complex, out of sight of the Elf. She made her way down through the outskirts where Homos and his ilk slept and into the deeper depths where the Dwarfs preferred to live.
She found Helka sitting on a stone rocking chair in a long room, lined with cribs that were being swayed to and fro by a stone golem arm that the Dwarf had made in collaboration with Magus in order to help the baby dwarfs sleep.
Helka’s normally bedraggled and unkempt appearance was only exacerbated by having to take care of thirteen new dwarfs but being a god she was still conscious.
“Helka,” Athæ greeted with a warm smile.
“Athæ?” the Dwarf asked, the tiredness of newfound motherhood showing through in her voice.
After the pleasantries were over and done with, the goddess of war set about revealing what Visok had been up to. For the past two weeks, she had been acting as a double agent with each god thinking she was on their side.
She told Helka of the project the Elf had been working on; a fruit, an apple imbued with much of his Divine Essence that he intended to gift to his most promising child. It would make him weaker but he would be able to brag that he had the strongest and greatest offspring.
For a long moment there was silence after this revelation, filled only with the sound of a scurrying rat that had somehow made its way this deep into the tunnels.
Eventually, Helka let out a breath and a wicked grin overtook her. Then an annoyed look fell upon her features like a shadow.
“I can hardly win against him if he’s weakened…” she thought aloud, then she snapped her fingers as an idea came to her. With her hands she scooped two lumps of stone from the wall, one in each hand, and imbued them both with a portion of her own Divine Essence. In a flash, a change overcame the rock as it turned into two dazzling, clear gems which appeared to emit a soft, pale, yellow radiance.
Athæ was shocked with how readily Helka gave up a part of herself but didn’t say a thing as she followed the Dwarf through the complex and out towards the stormy surface.
As they passed the massive statue of Helka, the woman herself melded the gems she had created into the breasts of the figure.
It didn’t take long to march through the heavy hail, ice bouncing off their godly hides even as it pockmarked the land. In no time they had made it to the garden Visok had constructed behind his main tree.
There, on the branch of an isolated tree Athæ pointed to where there was an apple that had a corona of light green light. Or, where such a thing should have been. The goddess looked high and low but it wasn’t there and with each passing second Helka grew more and more agitated.
“Thief!” Visok’s voice called from an overlooking balcony as he came upon the scene.
“What?!” The Dwarf shot back, her temper bubbling up, “What is this, a set up?”
“Don’t try and deny it, I’ve caught you in my garden. You have stolen my apple and given it to your kin. I should expect nothing less from a dwarf!” The Elf spat, nearly frothing at the mouth with anger and indignation.
Athæ began to grin in anticipation of the Divine Essence that was about to come her way. She hadn’t expected someone else to take the apple before she got here but a fight was about to break out all the same and she couldn’t wait. This would be the first real battle she could witness. Or it would have been if from the curtain of rain and hail the god of humans didn’t step forth.
“This is the course of your conflict?” he asked rhetorically as he held aloft the fruit and all eyes turned to him. “Then I shall remove it from the equation!” he declared and before any could react Homos tossed the apple into the waiting mouth of his pet wolf.
On that day, unbeknownst to any present, the first demy god was born. Visok stared down furiously at the Human who stared back defiantly but no one looked into the eyes of that wolf. If they had, they might have seen a new light taking root in there.
Helka huffed, threw up her hands, and stomped off back towards her home. Visok on the other hand turned his anger onto Homos and an argument was birthed anew.
Athæ was surprised by the turn of events but she couldn’t say she was displeased. She wondered, as the shouting crescendoed and the coming blows were imminent, how Homos had discovered the presents of the fruit? Then she looked at the wolf shaped dog standing at his side, growling at the Elf, and remembered the Humans odd connection with animals and the sounds of rats she had heard when divulging information to the dwarf.
Just as Visok raised a hand to strike, the Elf was blown off his feet by a forty foot gold and jewelled statue without any breasts followed by a screaming and cursing dwarf. Had anyone been able to see The Mountain through the storm they might have noticed a slight shiver as the earth elemental that had grown rapidly to fill its rocky innards after finding a delicious meal down in the earth, shook in fear upon seeing the wrath of the gods. And on that day was also born the second demigod.
This was a fight that changed the world forever, it grew and grew in strength and scope. At some point, Makir and Volta returned and chose to rescue the children. They brought the baby khati, humans, elves, and dwarves to the cave the goddess of peace had created on the side of The Mountain. Oxygen was provided by Elementa’s air elementals.
Before long, The Mountain was all that remained and all that was built was destroyed. The tremors from the conflict were so great that the expedition of gods to the greater world returned, expecting some kind of meteor storm, only to find a crater around the base of the Mountain that was swiftly filling with water.
Thus, it was decided that the gods could not live together in harmony. Even Makir, who had harboured some hope for unity could not overcome his anger at the other gods of mortals. Now that there were kits in his life, their safety was all that mattered. Even discovering that he and his peers were unkillable was no consolation.
Leå relayed that the effort to create life across the planet was incredibly successful now that there was an abundance of water. So the five races, and the respective gods, spread to the five different continents with the aid of Vasti’s teleportation.
The next day the storm broke and Makir was able to look over his new lands as they grew rapidly with the influx of light. The continent he and his children chose had a mountain range that divided the land from east to west. In the south, thick and humid rainforests grew and to the north there was a great desert but even beyond that life grew. First a servana then wide and open planes of grass. Beyond, a beautiful and bountiful coast lay.
The continent Elementa chose was unwanted by the others, it had very little arable land but plenty of volcanoes, swamps, and windswept islands which were perfect for her children.
The human continent had mountains, though they were relatively small. It had planes, though they were not vast. It even had a few volcanoes, though not many. Most of the land was rolling grassy hills that were perfect for farming.
Helka chose the most mountainous of the five continents as it was filled with precious metals just waiting to be mined.
Visok chose a forested archipelago where each island, on any other planet, would have been a continent.
And so, with a world separating the mortal bound gods, peace finally rained and for the next thousand years each of their respective civilisations expanded, unknown to one another.
At first, Makir was as a father to his children but as more and more grew, and the generations passed, he became like a king. He directed the khati to build first a village then a town then several then a city. Before long, as he watched more and more of his children be born, grow old and die, he became evermore removed from them. After only a few hundred years he was a god that walked amongst them and helped as and when he could. After a thousand he was little more than a figure of religion that many prayed to but none expected to meet.
The other mortal gods had followed a similar pattern and they left their children to their own devices whilst they followed other pursuits.
Helka secluded herself deep in the earth, perfecting her smithing skills, only ever leaving to retrieve more supplies and to hide mythical grade artefacts where anyone might find them.
Visok sought to merge his consciousness with the forest that protected his kin and, as such, his perception of time slowed dramatically.
Homos liked to interact with his people, not as their god but as a regular man so he spent his days travelling the human lands as a merchant or a mercenary all the while with his dog by his side.
Finally, Elementa was happy so long as she was surrounded by fire, air, earth, and water.
All was peaceful in the world, that was until the day one couldn’t die.
Map of Gaius [https://i.postimg.cc/FKBFdqJ2/20241114-112612-0001.jpg]