God Stone Legends: Genesis

This is a story about a time long ago, before the gods and the demons were sealed away from the world, about when they walked among us. This story begins with not just a beginning but with The Beginning. You see; before there was anything the whole of existence was comprised of three Powers; creation, destruction and change.

To begin with these powers were unaware of each other, even of their own existence. Then something, (no one now knows what it was), was created, then it changed, and then it was destroyed. And thus it gave voice to the powers and they became aware of their own existence and the existence of each other.

They believed that they must be siblings, and thus were the first family. Among themselves they developed their Powers and named themselves. The Power of creation named himself Keldana. Elana was the Power of change, and Argoth was Power of ending and destruction. At first their powers flowed and mingled, many thing were created, changed and destroyed, but all was chaos. Then Elana proposed something she called Time. And the brothers agreed to it and then all things that were created followed the same path; from creation and beginning, through change, to the eventuality of destruction and ending.

Together they began a great project, and this project was our world. Argoth cleared away all that came before. Keldana made the earth, the skies, the sea, and the moon and a great light that suffused all things. Then Argoth destroyed almost all the light and thus, inadvertently, created darkness, Keldana was angry but Argoth apologised and to atone the helped his brother make fire, which both destroys and can produce light. They made a huge mass of this fire and set it in the sky and it was the sun. Elana perfected Time and suffused the entire world, except the sun, moon and stars, with the capability to be changed by time.

The final part of their great project was to invent the cycle of life and death. All of them put their powers into it; enabling the plants and animals to be born, to grow and change and finally to die. They gave the living things spirits, and wills of their own and the power to create small things of their own, to change the world and to destroy. The last and dearest of the living things they made were the Furries, in whom they invest the most power, and minds and spirits similar to their own.

Then the three Powers entered the world and took forms: Keldana appeared as a tall stallion-furr, his coat a deep blue and his hair shining gold like the sun. Elana chose the form of a female feline, with sliver fur, and dressed herself in soft purple silks. Argoth’s form was a strange combination; he resembled a huge black cat-furr, but he had goat horns and giant bat-like wings and wore red robes.

Now that they were a part of the world they had made their power took a very active roll. When a furr was born it was Keldana’s power, when a Furr’s body died naturally it was Argoth’s power and Elana ensured the sprit remained safe as it travelled to be born again. It was the cycle of Life, Death and Time, the greatest part of their great project.

In their physical forms they mingled among the Furrs and were worshiped by them. Keldana and Argoth took to this immediately, gaining huge numbers of followers, who they ruled over like kings. Those who followed Keldana were of a peaceful sort, interested in art and agriculture. Argoth gave the Furrs power over fire (for he saw it as his) and many worshiped him for that alone. Also to his kingdom went those who had an affinity for darkness, and for hiding.

Elana held back from this, involving herself as little as possible in the great plan. She had few followers, who were divided into those who saw her as an enigmatic wise woman and those who were wholly devoted to her.

In the heart of giant valley Keldana created a huge building, later to be known as the Palace of Summer. It was tall and shining with wonderful, large open chambers and the most beautiful art crafted by the Furrs who followed him. Argoth was known to rule his people from a large rock in a wide green field, but frequently stayed in his brother’s Palace. All the peoples mingled freely, and while the lands around the Palace were considered to be Keldana’s people’s, many of Argoth’s stayed in the Palace and the city that had sprung up at its base. There were rooms in the Palace they were specially set aside for Elana but she rarely used them, preferring instead to travel all the lands of the world and see all of the people, often pretending to be one of them. There were also times when none could find her, not even her brothers.

There was a sort of peace in the world, that stretched out from the Palace and the city. There was violence, and some died, but this was merely the cycle of Life, Death and Time. The three great Powers considered that things were going well. However there came a time when the two brothers argued, which was not uncommon, for they were the polar opposites of each other, but always in the past their sister had been able to reconcile them, to make them compromise. This time she could not, and Argoth flew from his brother’s palace in a rage. Many of the peoples followed him out their bond to him or out of fear.

Elana pleaded with Keldana to seek out his brother and mend the dispute. But he could only say that it was not his fault, that his brother had brought it on himself. So Elana herself left and sought Argoth. When she found him he was perched on the top of a tall, rocky spire at the heart of a barren mountain range. At the foot of eh mountain those who had followed him looked up confused and waited for his next words. But he was silent; even as his sister beseeched him he was silent. For hours she hovered beside him, pleading and arguing, but he neither moved nor spoke. Eventually she returned to Keldana’s palace to again petition her other brother.

As she arrived Argoth’s voice rippled across the world. And he declared war upon his brother and all those who sided with him. Elana again pleaded with Keldana to find his brother and stop this madness.

“You felt that.” He replied to his sister, “he will have this no other way. I can’t fight and destroy as he can, but I can create walls, build defences. I will hold him back.”

Appalled by what was coming Elana left. When the next day dawned and Argoth’s army marched, on a cliff above the battlefield, she stood. She watched as Argoth’s followers beat themselves upon the wall of energy that Keldana had erected, until Argoth himself attacked. The brothers were perfectly balanced. Argoth’s followers were caught in between and many had their bodies destroyed. However Keldana was using all his power for the wall and the sprits were unable to pass to a new life, unable to be reborn. When the day finally ended, and Argoth withdrew, Elana was still on the cliff top. Below the tortured sprits, chained to their shattered bodies, cried out to her. She looked down on the broken cycle. Slowly she closed her eyes and two tears slid out, through her fur to strike the barren earth below.

Time passed and the war stretched into many years. Keldana learned to use soldiers, but since he could not stand to see any die so unnaturally and could not spare good fighters, he would keep all whose bodies were damaged and every night heal them. Argoth bound the sprits of his followers to their bodies, so that no matter how damaged they were they would still fight on. Elana had removed herself from her brother’s conflict, and from the world. The only time she appeared was when there was a battle. She would hover in the air far above it, her robes wiped by a wind, and weep for its duration.

Then one year, at the end of a huge battle, Elana could stand it no longer. As the two armies retreated, their dead and wounded getting up to follow the others, she screamed, a long harsh sound, filled with her pain and frustration. “No more.” She cried and both armies stopped. She had fallen to her knees, her body shaking with grief and anger, her tears streaming off her face. “No more. Too long has this gone on. Those you use are given no rest, no peace, can’t you feel their pain, their weariness, brothers? It ends here, I will change things, I will give them peace.” As she stood up a long scythe with a shining blade appeared in her hands. She leapt down to the battlefield and began to free those who had died from their bodies. As she did it she started to sing, a long and beautiful song of resting and of peace, calling the freed souls to herself.

“You shall not do this,” Argoth roared as he flew on to the field. “you will not interfere.” Elana stoped singing and turned to her brother.

“I have spent too long ‘not interfering’.” She said. Her brother roared at her and leapt, his claws extended. Elana flung out her arm, pointing the haft of the scythe at him. There was a strong, clear sound, like the toll of a great bell, and Argoth was hurled away. “I am Death now brother, and remember, I can come for you too.”

When she left the battlefield, the souls followed, and together they disappeared, going where not even her brothers could follow.

After this event there was a lull in the war, neither of the brothers was willing to risk now mortal troops, or to risk their sister’s wrath. Keldana apologised to his sister for his part in binding the mortals. He knew though that opposing his brother took all of his power and the world was suffering for it. He used the lull to create the Gods, to care for the world and to aid him against his brother. He created them in pairs: Takot god of strength and speed and Selina goddess of beauty and harmony, were both equines like Keldana and were his favourites. Tendmar, god of bravery and underdogs everywhere, was the mate of Anita the playful trickster. Both were mice. Pendar was the canine god of honour and loyalty and was mated to Celia, the wolf mother, goddess of nature. Kenlari, a mountain cat, was the goddess of high places, distant mountains, deep valleys and mines. Her mate, the lion Cothou, was god of smiths. The last were Linana the sorceress, a mink, and Jakair, a skunk warlock.

Argoth, meanwhile had used this time to gather his strength.

And this is were our story truly begins, with the Gods new to the world, bearing millennia of knowledge but only a few months of experience. With Argoth readying his forces for a new assault. And with Elana, waiting somewhere, watching. All that came before was just the clouds gathering, now the storm would begin.

Authors Footnote: This is the beginning (well that’s oblivious) of what will be a number of stories set between the creation of the gods and the division of the world. Called ‘The God Stone Legends’ they will focus on the 2nd war between Keldana and Argoth and the parts played by the various gods and a few legendary mortals. It is not a single story that will run from beginning to end, rather each story will focus on one of the characters or a specific part of the war, without necessarily running in sequence. Some stories will run parrel to each other, others will start before the preceding stories have finished. Don’t worry, I’m not silly enough to give away the ending. This is a long term project for me, and a bit experimental, and I don’t know when I’ll write each new story.

Also, I’ll make it easy to tell which stories belong to the ‘God Stone Legends’ by using a little GSL prefix before each title.

And if you have any, comments or questions at all, please email me at <hagenclaw@icqmail.com>.