Around four thousand years ago the world was created by lord Xalalt. He was kind and graceful but was alone in a vast void, so he decided he was to create something new. There were no materials to build anything, you see, as Xalalt was all that existed so he made the earth with part of his flesh and the sea with his blood.
This was not as you see today; the earth was cold and dead while the sea was dark and toxic. It took him time and effort to create his sons and daughters with abilities he did not possess so they, together could continue creating.
They all came from him, his flesh and blood, but after a century or so years they could start building up our world.
All his sons came from his flesh while his daughters from his blood. He wanted to make them all equal but he needed the differences for them to create as a group what he could not alone. Among his new family were the ones we call the thirteen, but they were not alone.
The hundred and one gods cleaned and prepared the world together and close to five hundred years after the creation, the world as we know it began. It was dark and cold but it was their creation, they thought it beautiful but incomplete.
However, Xalalt had used most of his power and parts of himself to create the world and his family. Exhausted he gave his youngest child Ittyx a last gift before going into a deep slumber; you see, he was the kindest and most dedicated of his sons. He retreated away from the earth becoming the moon moving through the sky.
Ittyx now with the power of light began to guide his brothers and sisters towards the goal of creation as their father before them. They began by dividing and combining the raw materials in their world; this gave way to movement and change. Water flowed as rivers and fell from the sky; the wind blew hard moving and shaping the earth.
During this time the gods started to interact with one another. Ittyx grew close to lady Qhistia first-born daughter and lady of the sea; they came together in marriage, their love eternal. Together they shaped the world in the direction their father had commanded showering the world in the eternal light.
But even with this the gods felt the world was empty. Ulborh [Karlo whispered his name as it was taboo] the first-born son and master of the dark suggested to his youngest brother that this world needed more than them to evolve, to bloom. He planted the idea in a way to indicate a competition was the best option as he knew his brother was bold and prideful.
Intrigued with the idea Ittyx divided the gods into seven groups and commanded them to create life. This was the most difficult task as no individual god could do it alone. They had not the power of their father and so their creations were frail.
The dragons, the demons, the angels, the beasts, the humans, the spirits and the plants were created and scattered through the world.
They all lived in this world but they were not equal.
Some were powerful and long lived, other were smart and cunning, some even abandoned certain traits to be able prosper in their own way.
Every group declared their victory when they had finished.
‘The dragons are the most powerful’ declared Ittyx. ‘The Angels are most divine, closest to us’ answered his wife. ‘My demons are the most resilient’ declared the lord of darkness.
With no way to declare a victor the gods decided to observe their creations to see which thrived better in this world.
As time went by the gods drifted apart, some argued the conditions were not equal to all; some of them led by the dreaded one said Ittyx had made it so him or his wife would be the clear victor. This was because, only the Dragons and the angels could live under the eternal light without consequence as this power came from their creators.
The other races were damaged by the constant light, hiding in caves half or more of the time. The plants traded away their mobility and intelligence to adapt to the light while the demons sought power by rejecting it and living underground.
Alliances were made between groups as tensions grew.
Finally, close to two thousand years ago the war started.
“Excuse me gentlemen” It was the serving-girl of the tavern with some plates and beverages. “I apologise for the wait; the cake took a little more time than we expected.”
She placed a piece of cake and a beer in front of each of them. Eigil had been entranced in the story and forgot the missing dessert. Before speaking he made himself remember his character.
“I don’t know this dish, what is it?” He asked in an innocent playful voice.
“You really are an outsider” Responded Karlo not waiting, stuffing his mouth with a large piece of cake. The old man closed his eyes and relaxed. “That is a beautiful three milk cake”
“Thank you” Responded the girl with a smile, “I helped make it today, please enjoy” She finished before turning and walking away.
Eigil took a bite. The cake was soft and fluffy with a delicate flavour. It was sweet but not to the level of what Astrid made back at the university. The grated dark chocolate contrasted perfectly with the soft sweetness of the whipped cream topping.
“I never tasted anything like this. What is it made of?” Eigil asked, just a young curious man.
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“I thought you lads at the university knew all there was to know or at least were smarter than us normal folk” Karlo said with a laugh. “It is called three milk cake for a reason boy”
Eigil acted embarrassed and stopped speaking for a while. The cake was excellent and the soft beer to accompany it was refreshing in the summer heat of the south.
It took another five minutes for them to finish. Karlo had been haste-full with his first bite but enjoyed the rest of the cake at a much slower pace.
“Now where were we?” the old man asked while Eigil re-accommodated himself to take notes once again.
“Oh. Yes, the war began”
We humans are weak, short lived and corrupt. You know that; everybody does. But have numbers and we are smarter so we created weapons to take down our enemies. However, we could not kill the gods; you see, only divine power can harm a divine being.
There were two battlefields; mortal and divine. You would think all creations fought in the mortal battle-grounds; you would be mistaken. First the plants did not participate; they are plants after all.
The dragons, angels and demons, however, had enough power to fight along their respective gods.
There was no glory in this war, no honour or victory. Those are things we humans crave, not the gods. They fought out of pride and hate.
You see, boy. The war started as a free-for-all between the seven groups, with the passage of time and death all united against the dreaded one and his demon army.
After centuries of war and uncountable deaths the last battle ended with the remaining gods lead by Ittyx and his wife surrounding the last opposing god, their older brother.
Only fifteen of the original hundred remained and were ready to leave all behind and live in peace.
But their enemy had other plans; before he was captured, he managed to kill the twin gods Khathos and Thunos who always took to the front lines, absorbing part of their power and burring himself into the underworld with the remaining of his demon army.
The gods knew the amount of life it would take to invade his domain and decided to make peace. The treaty that resulted defined the world as we know it today.
The lord of darkness was to stay in the underworld and take care of the souls of every dead mortal as punishment for the war he started and the lives he took. His demons decided to stay by his side serving him in darkness.
The remaining thirteen gods would distance themselves from our world creating the sun where Ittyx would shine his light at the world; this time he gave all the creatures a period of time to rest from his divine light and so the day and night balance finally began.
Qhistia took charge as head goddess as she was the kindest of the gods; her husband was a good general but lacked patience to rule in peace.
The remaining creatures were given a boon by their creator gods for them to grow and bloom. Qhistia and her followers gave the angels a choice and they decided to serve all the remaining gods and went to them in the light.
The dragons declined the offer and stayed to protect the creation as wise and powerful creatures. Ittyx and Ziolt gave them power over fire and lightning for this purpose.
The plants were granted several great properties by their god Udaldin; this gave them a responsibility like no other, to provide for the other creatures as food, medicine and more.
With the gifts of fertility and chaos from Tharrue and Iien the beasts grew in number and changed into thousands of different animals and monsters to populate the world. The three remaining gods gave to the spirits the power to fuse with the land, the rivers and oceans so that they could maintain balance and judge those who break seek to destroy. Khathos and Thunos were the last of the gods who created humans and with their death there was no got to protect us or help us. The twelve gods of the sun seeing our pain decided to aid our cause in a way to honour their fallen brothers and sisters.
They could not give us boons or abilities as we were not a part of them so they did the next best thing; they gave us their human sons.
Six humans created with boons and knowledge of the gods to guide us in the chaos after the war.
These powerful individuals went through the world creating and protecting. Some gave us medicine and understanding; I believe they started the University you came from, boy.
The son of our lady Qhistia and sun lord Ittyx came to us in Ria becoming the first king; he started a royal line that remains unbroken after a millennium.
“Mister Karlo, may I ask a question?” Eigil asked in a shy manner.
“You already did” Responded the old man before busting into laughter.
Eigil had to contain his anger and acted as he had found the joke funny himself. Before old man Karlo continued Eigil asked.
“I have learned a lot about your beliefs, but I still don’t understand, what does this have to do with the children of the garden and what is happening in Atrix at the moment?” This was the information he was looking for.
Eigil knew there were holes in his story, this man had been a priest for decades so his information was not incorrect where the religion was involved, but neither was it accurate to the real-world facts.
The university was stablished close to one thousand nine hundred years ago; there were more institutions like it around the world but none as old, prestigious or advanced as THE university. He knew this was true due to documents and reports from the Brimish kingdom and the Orozen kingdom that control the area before that, not a thousand or less as the story suggested.
“It is simple my boy. There are predictions and stories that tell us what is to happen and what we have to do to delay it” He made a pause, took a large mouthful of beer and continued.
“In the book of remembrance, we can find the signs of the beginning of the end. The first sign that predicts the holly pages is the sickness of the royal family. When the divine blood is corrupted so that it attacks the young the dreaded one will begin to move. That is it, world for word; most people are not familiar with this part of the holy book, we keep it to the clerics to avoid panic. This is the prediction that speaks of the sickness that afflicts our young princes; the blood of the gods has been corrupted and the boys are falling.” He sounded worried and cautious with this information.
“Next comes the abandonment of the faith. At this point we have only abandoned the dreaded one but this ‘children of the garden’ believe in only one pagan god. It is similar to Xalalt with the clear distinction that it became the earth itself and not the moon. With time those who turn away will stop the prayers to the gods of the sun and when the lord of darkness rises from the earth, he will guide humans against the other living creatures and the gods.”
Eigil kept writing all this, if he could find a way to convince the people to turn against the children, he could get this mission done in no time.
“Sir, how can the ‘dreaded one’ fight against all the other twelve gods and the rest of the creatures? Wasn’t he defeated the first time when he had more support? What is the next sign?” Eigil was not really interested in the rest of the mythology but he needed any information he could to change the loyalties of the people.
“You are one annoying boy” He sounded enthusiastic as if he wanted to tell this story for a long time. “At the end of the war, he was alone, all the gods that followed him were dead. However, he has been getting ready; since the end of the war. The god of darkness has gathered the souls of those who despise the sun gods and corrupted them so they can fight once more against the living. The size of his army is greater than anything this world has ever seen.”
He looked around; he was nervous, un easy. Finally, he whispered.
“The people of Ria will bath in blood”