Beyond the link below is the first chapter of a story that I’ve been writing over the past several weeks. Something unique about this story is that I never really sat down and thought about it, the words just came to me, and I watched the story unfold as I wrote it, almost like the story wrote itself, and just used me to hold the pencil. A few little parts of it I thought about, but almost everything was purely in the context of the story, I really didn’t have to force anything on this at all. There are also some interesting analogies in the gender and order that I picked for the elements, which has actually taught me a lot, as I’ve thought about it. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to suggest a title in the language of the story.
In the beginning, Akla formed the Great Ones. He sent them to the World, a limitless expanse of nothingness. The Great Ones were mighty spirits, and bold of heart. To them he gave the power to shape and mold, and to create matter, but not to destroy it. He directed them to create and to build, and told them of his will, that he would bless their creations with life in due time, for he gave them not the power to imbue any creation with spirit.
Filled with the wonder of Akla, the Great Ones, eight in number, went forth into the world with glee, and created the wide worlds of the Universe. The eldest of them, Arakor, formed great spheres of metal and rock, naming them in the tongue of Old “araben,” which denotes “of Arakor,” which today are called planets. The second eldest, the Lady Onéil, decorated the araben with water, for the great wastes were parched and lacking in beauty. The third, Vynor, created great globes of fire, mighty in girth and power, and he sat them in the world as lights for the araben, and he named them “Vybenlok,” which is “the lights of Vynor.” The fourth, the Lady Akaeli, wreathed the araben in air, and the planets drew breath and gained a sheen to the eye when viewed from far aloft.
The second four were lesser than the first, and are often called “Tinular,” meaning “the young ones” or “the little siblings.” Arakor’s brother was Artinor, and he covered the land of the araben with plants of all kinds, with threes and grasses and herbs and flowers. Onéti, the sister of Onéil drew long rivers through the lands, dug wells for springs and filled the mountains with lakes. The sister of Akaeli with Tinaél, and she drew up water from the deeps of Onéil and the streams of Onéti and made the rain and the snow, and the Great Ones rejoiced in their creations.
But Vytin, the sibling of Vynor, was filled with envy at the beauty of the araben, and deemed his power over fire to be unfit for the wonder and splendor of the creations of the Great Ones, and in his heart wrath, like a consuming fire, was kindled. Therefore he lit fires in the bellies of the mountains and filled the clouds of Tinaél with great sparks of flame. Then when it rained, lightning fell from the skies like great lances of flame, and the forests of Artinor were caught ablaze, but the fires in the mountains Vytin held quiet for another time.
Then Vynor Vytin’s brother held his brother in contempt, and were it not for the pleading of Onéil and the command of Arakor, he would have set the soul of Vytin to flame, to consume him forever. At the word of Arakor, Vynor brought the lances of Vytin into submission, so they fell not as rain but only sparingly, and indeed the great lances of Vytin added to the splendor of the araben.
Vytin then was filled the more with hatred for his brother, and today they are remembered in “vylaug,” which is the word for war. When his lances did not destroy the splendour of the araben, he spited the wisdom of Arakor, and loosed the fires of the mountains. Vytibenfaug the fires were called, the consuming flame of Vytin, and they melted rock and burst the caps of the mountains of Arakor, and the burning rock flowed as rivers over the forests and covered all the plains, and the flame of them boiled even the great seas, and so many of the araben were utterly desolated to total ruin.
But Akla in his great wisdom laid on the hearts of Arakor and Onéil that the doom of the araben was near, and the eldest two Great Ones chose from the araben a select number to save from the wrath of Vytin, and those araben are forever called the araköm, “the chosen planets.” And to the araköm, Arakor and Onéil put forth their full power, to save and protect them, and much of those planets was saved, excepting only a handful of deserts. These deserts were named auvyt, the horror of Vytin, and evil would dwell there in the later days.
Then Vynor subdued the flames of Vytin, and withdrew from his kindred, and Arakor rebuilt the mountains on the araköm, which were spared, and stopped up the wells of the vytinbenfaug. Tinaél shrouded the araköm with great clouds of mist in the skies, to banish the spirit of Vytin and keep him without. Then the Seven made works of glory and wonder on the araköm, building great caverns, tall trees, and forming the bodies of their Children from the elementals, all save flame, for Vynor would not allow the taint of Vytin to touch the Children of the Seven.
Akla perceived their works, and also saw Vytin, being frustrated by the mists of Tinaél, forging for himself an army of fire, into which he intended to cast his spirit. These soldiers were beings of fire, terrible of form and aspect, and powerful. But before they were finished, Akla cast the spirit of Vytin into the greatest of them, and caused all the others to be subject to Vytin and require his word for their every action. And so was Vytin diminished, and locked in bodily form, and he became the chief of the firelords.
Then Akla came to Vynor, and drew him out from his exile, and sought his help in the creation of a great spirit, unlike any that had been created before. Burning with the fire of Vynor, the spirit was strong, and yet Akla did not grant it power over creation, or knowledge of the secrets of the Ancient. Then Akla blessed the works of the Seven, for his time had come to bestow life to creation. Into the forms of the Children of the Seven Akla cast this new spirit, and the Akben were born then, the Children of the Great, and the Seven watched them with awe. Then they made forms for themselves, creating animals and beings of the wild and the seas and wisps of the air, and in those aspects they would appear to the Akben and walk among them. Then seeing this new work of the Great Ones, Akla filled these creatures and beings with spirit, a lesser spirit without the fire of Vynor, and so all things were given life.
And so was all life created on the araköm, and it was untouched by the evil of Vytin. The Children lived in bliss with the Great Ones for a long age, before Akül Vytin, the Great Return of Vytin.