ITS BACK!
For those of you that remember my old “Book of Elements” threat, I just have to ask. “Don’t you have anything better to put in your brain?” In all seriousness, this is the rewrite of the book of elements from so many years ago, with deeply expanded lore and features. Without further delay, I will set the stage with the world’s rewritten “Creation Story” which plays off/inspired by the christian biblical creation story.
Prologue Act 1: Creation
Day 1: A Thought
…At the Beginning of time, there was nothing. A black void, occupied by emptiness, completely mute and desolate of anything. Then, in the barren, vacant space of the void, a thought appeared. That thought was named Sophi’avi, the wisest and most ancient of all the gods and the mother of the divine children, the Bonum. Sophi’avi took a piece of herself and set it free into the void, which it then split again making two, and the two pieces of herself became bright and shined like two stars in a blank sky. This was the First Day, and Sophi’avi had much work to do…
Day 2: Twin Beacons
… The two pieces of Sophi’avi shined like diamonds in the darkness, then Ignis and Lux were born and the two gleaming objects grew to magnificent sizes, filling the hollow emptiness with two massive balls of fire and light. The brighter more luminescent orb of golden amber color was named the sun, and the fiery more passionate orb of hot red and orange color was named the Garden. This was the Second Day, and both Ignis and Lux grew tired and went to rest.
Day 3: Endless Ocean
…the Garden and her sister stood quiet and radiant the void, glowing and leaving a warmth in the boundless nothingness, then Undine was born and she wrapped the Spark in rolling waves and oceans, extinguishing the great flames and forced it to hide beneath the rock that formed over it. This was the Third Day, and Undine grew tired and went to rest.
Day 4: Stone Spires
…the oceans that covered the Garden cascaded endlessly over an infinite blue sea that never rested, crashing, lapsing, tossing, and turning for eternity, then Terra was born, she rose cliffs out of the sea and formed land. Mountains spired above the water and kissed the fickle clouds in the sky and the valleys embraced and bathed in the vast open void above. This was the Third Day, and Terra grew tired and went to rest…
Day 5: Life Emerges
…the Garden laid barren and sterile like the sky above it, accompanied by the jagged spires that dominated the rocky landscape and gazed upon all there was, then Vita was born and she breathed into the softened soil and life emerged from it and painted the land vibrant shades of green. Trees appeared and bore fruit, grass rolled across the hills like waves, and the animals ate from the feast that was nurtured by the soil. This was the Fourth Day, and Vita grew tired and went to rest…
Day 6: Null Void
…the Garden basked in the light of its sister and only companion, the sun, keeping company in the awe of the looming abyss, its appetite ever growing. The black veil covered the land and expanded over the seas, the sky was left desolate and the surface vulnerable to it, but the goddess’ greatest accomplishment, the Garden, thrived and flourished in the emptiness. This prosperity would prove finite, however, as the stir that the goddesses had created woke an ancient hunger. Voro’avi, the Great Devourer, had at last awoken, and she looked upon the Garden with an insatiable hunger, and she said to them…
“I created nothing, and nothing I shall return this world to.”
The Bonum, weary and tired, stood before Voro’avi ready to defend their creation from her powerful appetite. Like them, though, Voro’avi was sluggish as well, having just awoken from her long slumber, so she gazed up on the five goddesses and took pieces of their essence and they collapsed. She fused their essences with her own, and gave birth to five new children, the Malum, and sent them to wreak havoc on the Garden. This was the Sixth Day, and Voro’avi grew tired and went to rest.
Day 7: Violent Storm
…the air ran and chased itself through the garden, knocking over trees and carrying away smaller animals. Light fell from the clouds like rain but crashed into the surface with terrible power. Scylla, the oldest of the Malum, danced and ran through the fields and forests with endless spirit, and where ever she ran, the wind followed her, and when she danced her dance of dynamic vigor, hurricanes formed and shattered all around her. This was the Seventh Day, and Scylla grew tired and went to rest.
Day 8: Coldest Night
…the rain and water in the Garden froze and turned into snow. The lakes and rivers that ran through it became solid and still. The animals inside the Garden became cold and suffered in the sudden winter. Everything that Heima came near turned to ice. Permafrost formed over the soil and hail fell from the clouds. Snowstorms erupted and covered the land in sheets of white and left everything caught in it cold. This was the Eighth Day, and Heima grew tired and went to rest.
Day 9: Steeled Intent
…the soil became hard in the Garden, and in some places, it became even harder. The corrupted soil became harder than the rock that composed the tallest mountains or the bones of the toughest creature. The sharpest mind among all the Bonum and the Malum, Mercura, transformed soil and rock into metal which could not be cut by the mightiest beast or washed away by the most extreme torrent. Having created this perplexing material, she scattered metal talons across the Garden that were sharper than hunter’s fangs. This was the Ninth Day, and Mercury grew tired and went to rest.
Day 10: Mortal Day
…the sun grew ever more weary watching over the Garden, and Lux grew too weaker each passing day until she could no longer keep the sun in the sky anymore. Lux succumbed to her fatigue and fell asleep, thus the sun fell out of the sky and the Garden was shrouded in darkness, and then Umbra and Anima were born, the youngest of the Malum.
Umbra was born when the sun set and could no longer wash the Garden in its light, but while nothing could see in the pitch black the world had become, Umbra could see, when she was about to join her sisters in chaos, she stopped and gazed upon the untouched landscape in front of her and she fell in love with the beauty of the world that the Sacer had built, and was so moved by it that the world around her began to glow a little just so she could see it better. As Umbra was admiring the scene before her, wind, snow, and lightning fell upon it and destroyed it, replacing the delight in her heart with sorrow.
When Anima was born, she walked among the dying animals and shattered trees. She looked upon the devastation created by the Malum and saw only pain. She became sympathetic for the ill around her and she tried to heal them, but could not. She looked upon the plants and the animals who were injured from the ravages of the hurricanes and snow storms and metal talons and she released them from the pain they had endured and peacefully died, their essence released back into the world and their bodies returned to the soil which they came. This was the Tenth Day, and both Anima and Umbra grew tired and went to rest.
Prologue Act 2: Devastation
…When Sophi’avi looked down upon the Garden, shattered by the Malum, and saw Anima and Umbra not behaving like their siblings, she fashioned a plan that would save the dying world from destruction at the hands of Voro’avi and her children. The Chief Goddess appeared before Anima and Umbra , which filled them both with fear and shock, but to their surprise Sophi’avi simply asked them if they would like to help her and the Bonum save the world that they had created. This shocked Umbra and Anima even more as well as confused them, but Sophi’avi said to them that if they helped calm down the other Malum, then they can help make the world beautiful again, and help ease the pain of the life being destroyed. Anima and Umbra turned and stared into each other, thought it over, until they both turned back toward Sophi’avi and agreed to help her.
Umbra began by throwing an orb into the sky in the likeness of what she believed to be the sun, but she could not make it bright enough to completely illuminate what remained of the Garden, but it was still bright enough that everyone could see better than they could before, so she held the faint orb up in the sky with pride and called it the mun.
Sophi’avi and Anima appeared before Scylla who was sprinting wild and creating whirl winds in the process. Anima asked Scylla to stop as she was hurting the life around her, but she ignored her and started spinning in circles and which began to create a cyclone. Sophi’avi, however, simply asked her if she could run in bigger circles, which Scylla looked at her confused as she ran, but complied, and the wind grew weaker. Sophi’avi asked her if she could run in even bigger circles, and Scylla made it so, and the torrent of wind became a soft breeze the further out she ran.
Sophi’avi and Anima then appeared before Mercura, who had expected their arrival and built a fortress of thorns to protect herself. Anima asked her to come out and remove the thorns from the Garden, but Mercura refused and materialized more thorns around her. Sophi’avi, however, simply called out to Mercura and asked her if she would like to play a puzzle game. Mercura peered over here sharpened battlements with a baffled expression, then reluctantly asking what the conditions of the game were. Sophi’avi stated that if Mercura could solve three riddles, then she would be left be and the metal thorns would remain, but if she got three riddles wrong, then the metal would be allowed to remain but must be returned back to the ground in which it came from. Mercura complies with vigor, feeling confident in her own intellect.
“I’ll start with something simple. What can run but not walk?” asked Sophi’avi.
“Easy, it’s water.” replied Mercura.
“Very good, now, what goes around a tree but not through it?“
Mercura stops for a moment, pondering the question.
”…Um, I don’t know. What?”
“Bark” Sophi’avi answered.
“Ohh, ok. Very well, that one was… ok. Give me my next one.”
“As you desire. Say that a deer runs into a forest, how far does the deer go before it is no longer running into the forest?”
“What?” Mercura asked in a confused tone. Sophi’avi repeated the question back to her.
“Uhh, you can’t answer that question without telling me how big the forest is.”
"I don’t have to. The deer runs about half-way into the forest, then it is running out of the forest."
Mercura, dumbfounded for a short while, exclaims “Wha-?! I should have known that one!”
“He-heh, ready for your next riddle?” She asks.
“Say that same deer is standing on one side of a river, then it crosses the river without getting wet or using a bridge or a boat. How?”
“Uh… ummm…” Mercura looks away, thinking to herself, her eyes wondering over the white snowscape illuminated by the moonlight cast by Umbra, until she snaps back around exclaiming “The River Is Frozen!”
“Very good, its two to two now, are you ready for the tie breaker?” asked Sophi’avi.
Mercura nodes, her eyes intent, focused, and alert on her next question.
"What belongs to you, but others use more often than you?"
Her face becomes blank, her voice silent. A few seconds pass, then she turns around, and more seconds pass by. In the background, Scylla is having the time of her life as always.
Mercury, with gloom in her voice, slowly replies “I… I don’t know.” She turns around to face Sophi’avi. “Tell me! What Is The Answer?! I Need To Know!” she exclaims, frustration evident.
“Your name.” she answered. “My what?” Mercura returned, and Sophi’avi explained “Your name is what is yours but others use more than you.” A sigh of relief escapes from Mercura’s mouth, her head hanging with dread.
“That is two to three, so I win, now will you return the metal to the ground like you promised?” asked Sophi’avi.
A short pause is present, then Mercura in a long tone replies "…very well…"
Then the metal talons receded back into the ground which they came from.
While this occurred, Heima watched from a distance behind a broken tree line. She witnessed that the Bonum and all of her sisters were in the Garden playing games together, and this made Heima grow with great envy that she was being ignored. She believed that all the other goddesses disliked her because whatever she got near turned to ice. Heima grew very upset at this idea and began to cry. After she had wept her pain away, Heima picked herself up and decided that if the other goddesses didn’t need her, then she didn’t need them.
When Voro’avi awoke again and realized what had happened, that her daughters had abandoned her and their mission, she was filled with rage. She declared that her daughters, the Malum, were all traitors, and that they would be devoured along side the Bonum and the Garden. The Malum grew fearful for their lives, but Anima quickly wove a net crafted out of thousands of smaller lights and threw it into the sky above the garden so that Voro’avi could not reach the Garden. When Voro’avi was blocked out, she grew furious and swore then that she would never stop trying to return the world to nothing.
Eventually, Lux awoke from her slumber, and the sun rose back into the sky when she did, and Anima was relieved as she did not need to hold the mun or the stars in the sky anymore. When she looked around, she was surprised to find herself in a world that was not actively being destroyed, let alone the disbelief she found that the Bonum and the Malum had made peace with each other.
This was the final day of creation, and the goddesses went to rest.
Prologue Act 3: Inheritance
With the Garden safe, Voro’avi banished, and the war between the Bonum and the Malum over, the goddesses grew incredibly weary and jaded. The war they fought destroyed the Heartland of the Garden and left them drained. Maintaining and keeping the Garden in a state of balance in the new found peace was taxing, but each goddess had their own idea of balance and what the world should be like. The goddesses became spiteful toward each other as the desire to create their ideal worlds grew, but Sophi’avi saw the hate that was forming in the goddesses and forbid them from attacking another goddess or their creations. Peace would be secured again.
The peace would be short lived, however, as Voro’avi had already discovered a new way into the Garden. Voro’avi split off pieces of her insatiable hunger and infinite influence, and then slipped the fragments of herself through the gaps in the net of stars that Anima had woven. The fragments of her apatite fell from the night sky as giant pods of black and purple slime which burst upon impact with the world. The masses of goo and muck that formed from the remains of the pods then rose and took the form of heinous abominations who’s only purpose was to consume in the place of their creator, Voro’avi.
Monsters now roamed the Garden and resumed the battle the Malum had started, only this time there was no playing. The goddesses, exhausted and jaded, longed to rest once more, but the new threat prohibited them from doing so. The goddesses gathered one last time and decided to create their own creature to help them protect the new world they wanted to build. Terra and Undine created clay from the barren rock and sand forged by conflict and war, then the goddesses shaped the clay into their likeness. Vita then breathed life into the shaped clay and this was the birth of Mortality, and the goddesses each gave the mortals gifts for them to keep, the eleven virtues.
Lux gave them pride so they could find satisfaction in their accomplishments, Ignis gave them passion so they could find love in their work and each other, Undine gave them serenity so they could find peace, Terra gave them confidence so they could stand on their own, and Vita gave them compassion for the things and people around them. Scylla gave them courage to face their hardest challenges, Heima gave them solidarity so they could find unity in each other, Mercura gave them creativity to help them find new roads, Anima gave them gratitude to find solace in dire times, and Umbra gave them luck for when skill can’t pull them through. Then Sophi’avi approached and gave them gnawledge… I mean wisdom so they could learn and understand, and taught them how to harness the magical energies found in the Garden.
When the mortals had received all of their gifts from the goddesses, Voro’avi, using all of her might and willpower, temporarily broke through the barrier of the bright blue sky. When she appeared before the mortals she said to them “In order to truly be like your gods, you must act like them. They are hiding from you what you truly need to be their true image” and before the goddesses could stop her, Voro’avi gave her own gifts to the mortals, the eleven vices. She gave them prejudice, anger, malice, laziness, greed, envy, solitude, doubt, sadness, fear, and ignorance. As soon as Voro’avi had completed the task she had set out to do, she was gone. Despite the goddesses’ best effort to undo the damage, the mortals were infected with the seeds of corruption.
By this time, the goddesses were weak and wasted from their exhaustion and longed to rest once again. The close proximity of all of the goddesses together caused the essence around them to be conflicted, so they all, with their work done, went their separate ways, looking for an unravaged place to rest at last. The care of the Garden was left to the mortals, as is their purpose, but like sheep, they followed the goddesses that sculpted them where they went. Upon realizing this, the goddesses opened holes in space itself and created portals to their personal worlds where they rested to escape from the physical world. Now the goddesses could finally rest, watching, with tired eyes, over the mortals tasked with the protection of the world they created. Thus the mortals would wait for the return of their creators and deities, to preserve and reward them for their love and labor. Eons will pass before the goddesses are strong enough to return to the garden and save them, but the mortals, no matter how many generations pass, will wait for them.
For those of you who want to read it, you can go to the original base of operations here.