previously written: the creation of ... everything
Long ago, the world as we know it did not exist. The earth beneath our feet, the air we breathe, the sun shining down on us - none of these were, and neither were we, or any other people.
Long ago, there was no world. There was nothing at all, in fact - a great Void, the absence of any Thing, a true Nothing - and then there was Chaos.
When Chaos and Nothing joined together, creation began.
First among all was Air, coalescing from the sparks of strangeness given off by his parents. But in the Void that remained, still he had no form, mightily though he tried. He created the first elements, the first chemicals, things that - millennia later - would be called such strange names as hydrogen and helium, and their many kin.
Where these encountered each other, stranger things than any but Chaos might have predicted occurred. With sparking heat, something that had never been known before, part of Air reformed themselves - and so Fire birthed himself, taking from Air as he would forevermore.
In that instant, following in the space between the atoms burning, Shadow appeared, cleaved from her twin yet fully herself alone. She gave Fire form, and color, her first creation - that Fire, in his great consuming heat, might give forth Light, so that there should be a difference between Light and Dark, and that Shadow his twin might always have a home in the endless distinctions between the two.
The three of them conferred with each other, and with Nothing and Chaos their parents, and found that - good though they thought they might be - still they had not created much besides themselves. They realized, with the wisdom of the very young, that the universe needed more extensive a form, that they themselves could distinguish between more than self and not-self - that there might be such things that could be other, or another's self.
They discussed these things, and considered that perhaps Fire was the one who must begin their next stage, in the same way he had created himself from Air - and so he took the chemical beginnings of the universe, those that Air made, and he heated them and bashed them into each other, from the smallest scale of one unit and another, to the largest, all of Air at once.
Air did not like that part, very much, and was pleased when more modest undertakings began to bear fruit. He began to stir those elements that Fire his brother had altered, and found that sometimes they would cling to each other in a way that they could hardly be sundered - and that, unlike Fire's efforts, these new, strange creations bore many different forms, and did not require such flash and bang and pride as Fire had, to create them.
Thus was the first argument born: for Fire felt he was not appreciated, that Air could be so pleased with something that wasn't his efforts. And Shadow found peace between them, for she was the one who quietly noted that those strange creations both her brothers had formed had continued, on their own, to mix, and meld, and alter and change with the passing of the breezes in the Void.
Shadow was the first to see their sister Water, and if she thought her younger sister fair, she kept her silence - for Air and Fire had seen her, now, and were exclaiming over her quite as though it was entirely due to them that she existed. And, perhaps, it was - but if not for Shadow, they should not have seen while Water formed herself from the eddying atoms.
The second argument began promptly, as soon as Fire realized Water's power to destroy him. It continued, or perhaps mutated to the third argument, as Fire discovered no matter how many times one of his flames might be extinguished, still there were other flames, and they were still he - so no matter how Water might try, she could not truly destroy him.
The fifth argument came when Water tried to enlist Shadow and Air to stop Fire from tormenting her, and Shadow sided with her twin, for without him she could not exist, and Air was frustrated enough that, if he were a person like you or I, he would have torn his hair out - but then, in the long-ago, before Time, when there was still only Void, there was no hair to tear.
Air solved their argument by ordering Fire and Water to leave each other be, and because he was the oldest of them, his order was obeyed - but not without clarification sought, and found. For Shadow reasoned that if Fire and Water never interacted at all, likely their world would be very boring, and perhaps they would tire of it - and what would happen, if they tired of the only world they had? So perhaps it would be wise for Fire and Water to interact, she murmured, but not yet.
Air considered his first sister's words, and he found them wise. Truly, he could not leave Water and Fire to their bickering, for they would drive him - perhaps all of them! - into madness if they continued. But to forbid them entirely was no better; he would need some way of signifying the point in which they were allowed again to speak to each other, in hopes they would have become more civil again.
And so, the first who was not an Element was created, and Air named his son Time. Air and Shadow looked at him, and thought him fair, and gave him knowledge of what he should be, and what he should rule; and he in turn went to Fire, and to Water, and told them when they could speak to each other again, and what when meant, as they did not yet know.
Long ago, there was no world. There was nothing at all, in fact - a great Void, the absence of any Thing, a true Nothing - and then there was Chaos.
When Chaos and Nothing joined together, creation began.
First among all was Air, coalescing from the sparks of strangeness given off by his parents. But in the Void that remained, still he had no form, mightily though he tried. He created the first elements, the first chemicals, things that - millennia later - would be called such strange names as hydrogen and helium, and their many kin.
Where these encountered each other, stranger things than any but Chaos might have predicted occurred. With sparking heat, something that had never been known before, part of Air reformed themselves - and so Fire birthed himself, taking from Air as he would forevermore.
In that instant, following in the space between the atoms burning, Shadow appeared, cleaved from her twin yet fully herself alone. She gave Fire form, and color, her first creation - that Fire, in his great consuming heat, might give forth Light, so that there should be a difference between Light and Dark, and that Shadow his twin might always have a home in the endless distinctions between the two.
The three of them conferred with each other, and with Nothing and Chaos their parents, and found that - good though they thought they might be - still they had not created much besides themselves. They realized, with the wisdom of the very young, that the universe needed more extensive a form, that they themselves could distinguish between more than self and not-self - that there might be such things that could be other, or another's self.
They discussed these things, and considered that perhaps Fire was the one who must begin their next stage, in the same way he had created himself from Air - and so he took the chemical beginnings of the universe, those that Air made, and he heated them and bashed them into each other, from the smallest scale of one unit and another, to the largest, all of Air at once.
Air did not like that part, very much, and was pleased when more modest undertakings began to bear fruit. He began to stir those elements that Fire his brother had altered, and found that sometimes they would cling to each other in a way that they could hardly be sundered - and that, unlike Fire's efforts, these new, strange creations bore many different forms, and did not require such flash and bang and pride as Fire had, to create them.
Thus was the first argument born: for Fire felt he was not appreciated, that Air could be so pleased with something that wasn't his efforts. And Shadow found peace between them, for she was the one who quietly noted that those strange creations both her brothers had formed had continued, on their own, to mix, and meld, and alter and change with the passing of the breezes in the Void.
Shadow was the first to see their sister Water, and if she thought her younger sister fair, she kept her silence - for Air and Fire had seen her, now, and were exclaiming over her quite as though it was entirely due to them that she existed. And, perhaps, it was - but if not for Shadow, they should not have seen while Water formed herself from the eddying atoms.
The second argument began promptly, as soon as Fire realized Water's power to destroy him. It continued, or perhaps mutated to the third argument, as Fire discovered no matter how many times one of his flames might be extinguished, still there were other flames, and they were still he - so no matter how Water might try, she could not truly destroy him.
The fifth argument came when Water tried to enlist Shadow and Air to stop Fire from tormenting her, and Shadow sided with her twin, for without him she could not exist, and Air was frustrated enough that, if he were a person like you or I, he would have torn his hair out - but then, in the long-ago, before Time, when there was still only Void, there was no hair to tear.
Air solved their argument by ordering Fire and Water to leave each other be, and because he was the oldest of them, his order was obeyed - but not without clarification sought, and found. For Shadow reasoned that if Fire and Water never interacted at all, likely their world would be very boring, and perhaps they would tire of it - and what would happen, if they tired of the only world they had? So perhaps it would be wise for Fire and Water to interact, she murmured, but not yet.
Air considered his first sister's words, and he found them wise. Truly, he could not leave Water and Fire to their bickering, for they would drive him - perhaps all of them! - into madness if they continued. But to forbid them entirely was no better; he would need some way of signifying the point in which they were allowed again to speak to each other, in hopes they would have become more civil again.
And so, the first who was not an Element was created, and Air named his son Time. Air and Shadow looked at him, and thought him fair, and gave him knowledge of what he should be, and what he should rule; and he in turn went to Fire, and to Water, and told them when they could speak to each other again, and what when meant, as they did not yet know.