"Some stories are told because they needed to be told. Others were allowed to fade because they needed to fade. History is told by the Winners."
-Anonymous
----------------
Where did we come from?
Are we really just monkeys who gained intelligence through the simple passing of time?
Humanity always believed in the supernatural… so perhaps we are indeed the divine creations of some supreme deity?
Or perhaps we are an alien species introduced into the planet as some conspiracy theorists embrace?
Why did some religions thrive while others expired?
Why do we have the small animals we have today but find evidence of giant ones from yesterday?
Why do geographically faraway places inhabited by completely different cultures have similar mysterious structures like the pyramids in Africa, Asia, and America?
Why do both eastern and western cultures acknowledge the existence of dragons?
This History ties up our varying histories.
**********
In the beginning, the El brought forth the Universe by shattering into many pieces and so Creation began.
Light cannot exist without Darkness. Order cannot exist without Chaos.
Thus when the El shattered, it shattered into Light and Darkness, Order and Chaos.
Elohim, or Sons of the El, manifested from Light and Order. Darkness became the Void that is space and Chaos became the dominant energy that permeates in this Void.
However, the El only retained Its Sentience with the Light and so only the Elohim had Will – the ability to Think, and the consequent ability to control the different forces, both light and dark, of the Universe.
At first, it was balanced. The Elohim operated with the Consciousness of the El, working in harmony with the dominant Chaos energy in the Void to Create all that exists in the Universe. Stars were born. Planets were made. And Life was formed.
Everything changed when the El commanded the Elohim to grant Sentience to Life, in one planet called Eidos.
Some Elohim did not understand this Will of the El. Their Sentience rebelled against the idea of granting Sentience to other beings. This questioning broke them apart from the El's Consciousness.
Now separated from the collective whole, the surrounding Chaos energy began to influence them.
The first to fall was Lucifer, also called Morningstar, the brightest of the Elohim. The Chaos energy made him believe himself to be greater than the El. Corrupted by the Chaos, Lucifer lost his brightness and became the Primordial Demon of Darkness. He then led the corruption of half of the Elohim and they likewise all turned into Demons.
But while Lucifer may be the brightest, he was not the strongest. The title of strongest Elohim belongs to Michael.
A war ensued. A War of the Heavens. Demons and Elohim.
The Elohim triumphed, and Lucifer and those who followed him were banished to the Void.
Creation continued on Eidos. The Garden of Elysium was made, and Sentience was granted to Humans. All was well.
Seeing that their job was done, the Elohim decided to rest and leave Creation to flourish on Eidos. Most of them collectively gathered and turned into two trees that stood prominently in Elysium – the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge, a collective repository of all of the Universe's Life and Knowledge. Now, only a few Elohim remained.
But somehow, Lucifer managed to reach out from the Void and trick the humans to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, angering the remaining Elohim and getting humanity banished from Elysium.
The Tree of Knowledge unbound the humans from the Consciousness of the El. They became a blank slate, capable of both light and darkness. They have attained Free Will, along with access to all the Knowledge in the Universe.
In truth, the Elohim feared that if humanity ate from the Tree of Life as well, they would become even more powerful than the Elohim and become another threat to Creation like Lucifer.
So the humans were driven out from Elysium, which retreated back into the Realm of Heavens, further guarded by Elohim in flaming swords.
Humanity survived and thrived in the Eidos. With Elysium gone, Eidos also became a blank slate. Now both the forces of Light and Darkness have equal access to the planet.
So the Heavens sent Elohim to watch over the humans, anticipating trouble from the forces of darkness. Likewise, the Void also sent Demons to influence the humans. And thus, Eidos became a spiritual battleground of light and darkness.
Most of the time, the battle was only between Elohim and Demons. An occasional human or group of humans would get caught in the crossfire but both forces tried to keep human casualties to a minimum. The Elohim genuinely desired to protect the humans from harm and the Demons were only instructed to influence and sway the humans towards Chaos and Darkness, away from Light and Order.
The scales tipped when Demons began mating with humans and produced powerful offspring.
The Demons who took up male forms, Incubi, and mated with human women produced Sorcerers. The Demons who took up female forms, Succubi, and mated with human men produced Thralls.
Sorcerers were either Witches or Warlocks - Humans capable of wielding magic, with a predisposition towards Chaos and Darkness. Thralls include Wyverns, Chimeras, Lycans, Vampires, Trolls, Goblins, Ogres, and other creatures of darkness, depending on the strength and dispositions of the human man mating with the Succubus – stronger men produced stronger Thralls.
Therefore, the Elohim countered this strategy by likewise mating with humans. Elohim who took up male forms, Grigori, and mated with human women produced Nephilim. Elohim who took up female forms, Gregoroi, and mated with human men produced Gibborim.
Nephilim were basically demigods, gifted with super strength and the ability to wield magic. Gibborim were either humanoid giants, or sentient creatures of Light like Gryphons, Unicorns, Pegasi, Phoenixes, Faeries, Nereids, and other mystical creatures, depending on the strength and dispositions of the human man mating with the Gregoroi – the stronger the father, the stronger the offspring.
The Progenies turned out to be more powerful than their Progenitors and the war advanced humanity's technological and magical progress in Eidos. Empires rose and fell. Civilizations sprouted and were wiped out. It was an age of magic, darkness, and war.
Feeling the chaos that ensued and witnessing the pace at which humanity advanced, the El awakened and stirred the Elohim into action.
Our legends call that incident The Great Flood.
We were told that a handful of animals and humans survived while the rest of the sinful world drowned.
But it was more than that.
The Elohim, with direct guidance from the El Itself, created another world, mirroring the old, on the same orbit around the same Sun in the same Solar System; and transferred a handful of creatures and humans from the old to the new – giving humanity and Life a fresh start.
The Elohim then proceeded to destroy Eidos, but the Nephilim, Sorcerers, Thralls, and Gibborim – now collectively called the Ancestors, fought back. Yet, while the Ancestors were more powerful, they were not immortal, unlike the Elohim. So instead, they elected to seal Eidos from the new planet, and from the Heavens.
The sealing process used massive amounts of energy and resulted in a cataclysm called the Sundering, which dwindled the powers of the Ancestors – many losing their lives and others being rendered incapacitated. The Nephilim's and Sorcerers' ability to wield magic were vastly reduced while the Thralls and Gibborim lost most of their intelligence – making them non-sentient like the simple beasts of the land, air, and sea.
All this resulted in Eidos being invisible and inaccessible from the new planet and the Heavens. The Void, however, still has access to Eidos. And the inhabitants of Eidos could oftentimes see the new planet as a big moon in the sky, alongside its new moon.
And the history of the new planet, which we now call Earth, proceeded as we were told. Two worlds in one orbit. One hidden from the other. One with magic. The other without.
Aggrieved by all the destruction that happened, the El opened the Heavens again for the Humans of Earth, symbolized by a rainbow. This allowed the Elohim access to Earth and interfere with the affairs of Earth.
But if only the Heavens have access to Earth, why do we still find manifestations of Demonic influence on this planet? Because the Void still has access to Eidos. And while it is virtually impossible for anyone on Earth to cross into Eidos, beings from Eidos can cross over to Earth.
A few cracks in the barrier would open and true enough, some Eidosians have crossed over and oftentimes dictated the course of our history.
I'll name a few. The Mad King Vlad Dracul was a Vampire. The Dragon slain by St. George was a Wyvern. Notable Sorcerers of legend were Merlin and Nicholas Flamel. Thus the Demons also found a way.
As Eidosians, and the Demons traversing through Eidos, can cross over to the Earth and affect our history, what would happen if a human from Earth finds himself transported to Eidos?
This is the story of Jin.
This is more of a prelude but I thought it fits better as Chapter 2. Author's liberty, my friends.
Disclaimer: I am not espousing any particular religion. This is purely a work of fiction and any reference to real people, beings, or events is purely coincidental.
As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Any support is appreciated - power stones, reviews, chapter comments, and whatever other stuff legally and ethically OK for you to give.