creation

In the beginning, there was nothing but the Abyss. It was dark and empty, except for a strange entity. For an unknown period of time, they stayed there, simply existing. Then, slowly, they became aware. The Creator tried to do many things that were impossible. They tried to breathe, but there was no air. They tried to open their eyes, but there was nothing to see. They tried to walk, but there was nothing to walk on. They tried to shout, or scream, or make any noise possible, but there was nobody to hear, not even the Creator themself. They tried to weep, for they were deeply upset by the nothingness, but they could not even form tears.

The Creator stayed like that, deeply upset and fiercely alone, until something came to them. A thought. An idea. A stroke of creativity. It was a genius idea, on their part. There was nothing around them? Then they would make something to be around them. A world, or many worlds, or many worlds in one. Stars or planets or suns or moons. Air and water and earth.

The Creator started small. They formed stars first, gifting the first one with a brightness far exceeding the others, which they called the sun. Then came the sky, which they set the stars into. Then they formed the earth and the seas, and set them under the sky. But the sky they had made was much bigger than the land, and was shaped too awkwardly to fit it, so they made more to reach to the edges of the sky. The Creator then separated the lands with great walls of ice, calling the separate lands Realms, and they named each Realm. The first, they named Earth, because they couldn’t think of anything better at the time. The second, they named Phofroain. The third, they named Anarian. The fourth, Faragorn. Finally, the fifth, was called Wanderlands, because they had run out of ideas.

After creating the Realms, the Creator set to work filling the lands. First, they created mountains and valleys and other geographical features. Then they created plants. Trees, flowers, ferns, all sorts of plants. After the plants, came the animals. They filled the waters, the land, and even the skies. They even created humans, equipped with the tools needed to take care of the world they had been placed into, and to carry out their own form of creation. The life and beauty of what they had made brought them joy, so much joy, but… It was not enough. The Creator surveyed their work and was saddened to realize they had only filled Earth. They had run out of creativity.

As a final act of creation, they created the gods. The gods were a mix of human and animal, a mash of their favorite creations. Five gods for each Realm. The Creator tasked the gods with creating more for the Realms they would be assigned to, and they showed them how to use their magic. The gods were assigned groups, and then, one or two at a time, they were sent off to fulfill their duty. The Creator watched them curiously, and felt joy at what they were witnessing.

The gods had another purpose, too. For as the Creator had been filling the Abyss with a vision of life and beauty, another entity had appeared, and began a new world. This is what the Creator dubbed the “Otherworld” and at first, they were curious and excited about what it could be. But as they watched, they noticed the new creator taking things from their world. With one exception. The plants looked dead, and try as they might, they could never get any animals to survive. The Creator felt a deep sadness at what they saw. So, in an effort to help, they suggested putting humans in the Otherworld. Humans were different to animals, so maybe they would survive. But, when the other creator tried this, the humans corrupted into hideous, miserable creatures.

The Creator was horrified at what had happened, but the other creator was delighted at the corruption. When the Creator had finished with Earth, and before they made the gods, they learned that while they had been distracted with their work, the other creator had stolen some of their precious animals and attempted to corrupt them as well. It never worked, animals didn’t have corruptable souls, but this worried the Creator. So, when they made the gods, they tasked them with guarding the Realms from the other creator or any of their ‘creations’.

After the Creator had done all of this, they took a step back to admire what the world they had made had become. The gods had filled their Realms beautifully, and the gods in charge of Earth had helped the humans to advance and become skilled in many things. The Creator loved all that they saw. They named their world Enchantarian.

Something troubled the Creator though. The Otherworld still existed, and the poor corrupted souls still suffered there. It hurt them to see, and they wished they could help it somehow. The other creator had done nothing after they’re failed experiments. The Creator tried to convince them to try again, to try creating something new in that world, to try uncorrupting the human souls. But they refused. So the Creator decided to connect the two worlds, and to allow the gods to travel into the Otherworld, hoping they could help. Unfortunately, the corrupted humans became like their own creator, and this only caused the need for the gods’ protection to become more urgent.