A Crisp Bedtime

In the fiery depths that the humans of old once called home, laid a creature of omnipotent power. It crushed the head of the human sacrifice it had toyed with for so long, with that one show of strength; the world rumbled.

The powerful creatures of the world heeded the signal and broke through the bonds set by the ancient humans. The creatures of age long toils have risen, no longer can the humans of the new age pretend amongst themselves; nigh is the time of treachery and deceit.

~~~

"Uncle Clarence, could you tell me the story of how the world was made; pleeease." Begged a small child as she sat up in bed.

"Again? I've told you this story at least a half a dozen times just this week. Don't you want to hear about something else?" Inquired Clarence as he tucked the child into bed once again.

"No! Now tell it; mommy says I've got a lot of things to do tomorrow." Demanded the child whilst she threw her covers onto the floor.

"Fine, I'll do it just for you; but remember to tell your mom how much you like having uncle Clarence over." Bargained Clarence as he patted the child on the head, ruffling her hair.

"Hey, stop that; it'll make my hair take longer to grow!" Cried the innocent girl whilst swatting Clarence's hand away.

"Okay, you're the boss; I wouldn't want to stunt the growth of that beautiful hair of yours." Laughed Clarence as he pulled out a book and spoke. "A long time ago, one of the five gods of this world was born.

She, or preferably he; was born from the goddess Tenui and the godking Adeno. Their love was unmatched by any other pair of gods and still is among the mortals, for we can never hope to dream of the devotion Adeno had for Tenui.

This made the third, now forth god angry; his rage was unquellable. In his fury, there was a hidden trace of sorrow and misery; he felt envy towards the joyous couple. And in his desolation, he robbed the two gods of their precious offspring.

He didn't know how violence would help him feel relief, but he was driven by grief and a deep feeling of melancholy; of which was rooted in the depths of his mind. He was prepared to send the young god back into oblivion, but he came up with a better idea; he would clone the child.

He hooked the youngling up to one of his creations that littered his domain. Using the power of the abyss, he powered his infernal creation; the cloning process had begun. But before he had time to think of his next move, two saddened gods entered his plane.

He tried to fight them off, but failed; how could the god of invention prevail against the god of creation and the goddess of fertility. They walked past his crying body and went to the machine that held their kin. They didn't know much about his abyssal machines, but they knew enough to be able to turn it off.

They removed their young one carefully and then took off like it never happened, both showing the god of invention their kindness and giving him a warning to never go out of bounds again; or the consequences would be severe.

The god of Invention, still sad and alone; moved to get up. But before he could, something astronomical happened; his machine had begun the cloning process with only a bit of information to clone off of. The god of invention, now ecstatic; rushed to his machine.

He watched as pieces of the abyss formed into something greater, the child that he had always wanted. In a matter of moments the door to the machine swung open, signaling the arrival of his new creation. As the excess particles of abyss cleared, he saw what looked to be the lifeless corpse of a god.

His heart shattered into a million pieces at that moment, he had such high hopes; only for them to be brought down by a failed creation. He reached down into the machine and attempted to remove the body, but a hand reached out and grasped him by the throat.

He looked down to see the open eyes of a goddess burning with the destructive power of the abyss. For a moment he thought that it wouldn't be so bad to die by the hands of his own daughter. But as soon as he accepted his fate, the hand that held him; let go.

For a moment he just stared at the face of his daughter full of love and adoration. He lightly caressed her cheek as if to check if she was real, once he knew for sure that she was real; he embraced her. And at that moment, he promised himself that he would do all it took to be the best father he could be.

Years later it was the wedding day for the goddess or god of life Denair and the goddess of destruction Hesha, for they had fallen madly in love at first sight. They were conjoined at the first light of The Day Of Beginning, forever bound to each other by the light's power.

Then came the gifts, Denair's mother Tenui handed them each a sword that could combine with the other and locate its partner no matter what trouble came. Hesha's father Otien tossed them the keys to a castle with infinite space inside, whenever they wanted more space; it would expand.

And finally Denair's father Adeno stepped down and gave his title as "godking" to Denair, of which graciously took the gift and thanked their father. The wedding then held yet more festivities and lasted a whole year, stopping when the light of The Day Of Beginning shone once again." Finished Clarence.

"Hey!" "You didn't finish the story, you can't half... half... oh yeah, it's halfass isn't it?" Questioned the child innocently.

"Who taught you that word!" "Better tell me now before your mother finds out and believe me when I say you'll get no bedtime stories for a month." Commanded Clarence as he pretended to start walking away.

"No don't!" "I heard daddy say that to a salesman once, he sounded very angry; so I thought it was a-pro-pre-ate for the time." Answered the child meekly.

"If you promise me to never say that word again, I'll let you stay up to finish the story; how does that sound?" Questioned Clarence.

"Great, I promise to never say the word I said before again; now can we finish the story?" Pleaded the child as she pulled on Clarence's leg.

"Very well, I'm counting on you to keep your promise; better not disappoint me." Threatened Clarence as he opened his book once again and started to read. "Denair and the rest of the gods were a little bored one day and felt as though it was too lonely to be in the sky all by themselves, so they had Adeno create a planet using a design made by Otien.

Denair filled this planet with life based on the ideas of Otien, but slightly tweaked them; adding or removing whatever Adeno or Hesha suggested. They ended up making two sets of creations to populate the planet, the Heart Guardians and the Soul Stealers; forever at war.

The gods watched their creations for a while and helped both sides so that the war would stay eternal, but eventually they thought it would be best if they let things take their own course. They removed their presence and that caused the final showdown between the two factions, each had only a small group of people left; but it would be enough to end the eternity of war.

The groups battled, their numbers dropping every clash; until it was just the leaders left. They fought for days on end, until the leader of the Heart Guardians stabbed the leader of the Soul Stealers through the heart.

But before the Soul Stealer's leader died, he was in the midst of casting a powerful soul spell and he released it just before he died; in turn killing the leader of the Heart Guardians by shredding his soul. No faction won that day, instead the planet won; the dead bodies of all the people created the lakes, rivers, mountains, and every other land feature we see on the planet today.

From the heart of the Heart Guardian's leader came the plants and animals of this planet, along with the hearts of the forests to watch over them; us humans were an offshoot that happened along the way.

From the soul of the Soul Stealer's leader came the intelligence and emotions of the animals, turning them into creatures. The last remnants of his soul didn't have a place, so they did the only thing they could do; turn into the evil emotions of humans." Announced Clarence as he shut the book loudly.

"Thank you uncle Clarence, I'll tell mommy about how amazing you were; maybe it'll make you able to come over more!" Yelled the girl.

"Shhh, don't want to wake up mommy now do you." Scolded Clarence as he pushed his chair in.

"Did you know that creatures may have been given intellect, but they don't give it to their offspring; instead only giving them mana and the possibility for intelligence?" Inquired Clarence, not waiting for an answer as he left the quite room.