saga of the ancients

In the beginning there was the father. From the father there were two sons and they lived in the in a magnificient floating palace. One son was loyal and the other was curious and their father loved them equally and granted them whatever they desired. There was but one rule, they were forbidden to leave the palace and the gardens that surrounded it.

And so everyday the brothers wandered the palace together playing games and enjoying the delicious fruits that grew in the gardens. One day the loyal son went before the father alone and asked for a companion. “What about your brother” asked the father. “I love my brother” he replied. “But he does not stay with me at night and I should very much like to have someone to lay with.” “Very well” said the father. “How shall I make your companion?” “Make my companion gentle where I am strong and skillful where I am clumsy.” replied the loyal son. And so the father created a beautiful girl for the loyal son.

The loyal son and the beautiful girl went home together and for each day after that he spent a little more time with his new companion and a little less time with his brother. And so each day the curious son spent less and less time with his brother and more and more time with the father. His favorite activity was to ask his father questions. One day he asked his father questions that he could not answer. “Why can’t you answer my question?” asked the curious son. “Because I have grown weary.” replied the father. Not satisfied the curious brother left and went to his brother’s dwelling and was shocked to find him with the beautiful girl. He felt something strange he had never felt before and left his brother’s dwelling. It was still early in the day and because his father had grown weary and his brother was with his companion he did not where to go.

The curious son decided that he would break his father’s one rule and look outside of the palace and began to make his way through the garden. The trees grew thick and dense and he struggled to make his way through. Eventually he reached the edge of the world and he peered out into the void. What he saw both excited and frightened him and he quickly turned back before he could get caught. His mind began to fill with questions, many times more than he had ever had before. There was one question however, that he most desperately wanted answered.

"Can I create?"

Then the son returned to the father and asked him his question. His father told him that someday, when he died both he and his brother would be able to create. He asked the father what death was but his father refused to tell him. This made the son angry. A scheme began to form in his mind. The son told the father that he saw his brother with his companion and demanded he make him one as well. The father agreed and asked the curious son how he should like his companion to be. “My companion should be clever and it should be good with its hands. Above all else make it obedient to me.” “This is will be different than your brother’s companion my son. Are you sure this is what you want?” “Yes.” replied the son. “Very well” said the father and he created a henchman for his son.

The two left together. The curious son was determined to defy his father and create life. Ever since he had looked into the void the curious son had grown fascinated with shapes and numbers. He began to draw up plans and he and his henchman set to work on them. The next day he brought several tools and trinkets to the father. “Look what I have done father. I have created life!” The father scoffed at his work. “You have not created life. You have merely manipulated the shapes of my rocks and minerals. True creation is movement, it is breathe. It is life, it is death!”

The curious son was once again experiencing a new sensation. He was annoyed. “How can I understand things that you will not explain to me?” The father was strong and stern. “When the time is right, you shall understand. Hear my words son. So long as I live you are forbidden from continuing your experiments with creation.” The words of the father evoked more new thoughts and feelings inside of curious son. They were not pleasant. But then he had a grand and devious idea. He would lie to the father. “Very well father.” He replied before returning to his abode.

Several days passed and the father realized that he had not seen or heard from the curious son since they had quarreled over creation. He summoned the loyal son and commanded him to seek out his brother and to make sure that he was not up to anything that he shouldn’t be. The loyal son went to the dwelling of his brother and found him hard at work with his henchman. The curious son was excited to see his brother. “Come here and have a look. See what I’ve done!” The loyal son followed his brother into the center of his home, towards a pit. There was a great heat emitting from it. The loyal son was amazed by what he saw. “What is this?” He asked his brother. “I call it fire” replied the curious son. His brother was confused. “What is its purpose?” “its purpose is whatever I choose it to be. You see, I can bend it, and shape it. And use it to shape others. You see, it moves, it breathes. It eats. Just like you and I. It is life.” “What you say is true… But this is not life. Only the father can create life.”

The curious son laughed at his brother. “I am the father now!”

The loyal son was shocked. “It’s true that you have changed. You used to be my brother. I don’t know who you are anymore but you are not the father. What you have created is an abomination to the father and it must be destroyed!” And with that the two brothers fought for the first time. In the end there was a great accident and some of the curious brothers inventions fell into the fire causing an explosion. The loyal son was knocked out during the struggle but sustained no visible damage. The curious brother was not so lucky. He lost his hand and an eye to the explosion.

He did not understand what he was feeling but he knew that he did not like it. He went to the only place he could. He went to his father in his anger and shook him violently demanding answers. His father told him that the feeling he experienced was pain. "Then you will know pain!" cried the son as he continued to shake the father. Eventually his father stopped moving. The son had killed the father and what was worse, he realized the pain had not gone away. In fact it had gotten worse. This made him angrier still. But then a wicked thought entered into him and it excited him. Reminding the words of the father he realized that he was now free to create.

Meanwhile the good son had awoken and headed back to his home, seeking first the comfort and nourishment of his wife. But there too, surprises awaited him. Something amazing was happening, his companion was having a child. And then she had many children. The good son raced to find the father and tell him the good news. To his horror he found his father slaim. The loyal son realized that the only one who would or could do such a dastardly thing was his brother. By the time he had reached his brother the curious son and his henchman had fashioned a mechanical arm and eye to replace the ones destroyed in the fire. When confronted, the curious son said that he had peered into the void and could not unsee what he had seen. Attempting to rationalize his actions he attempted to make light of the situation. Now, with the father dead, they were free to create. He was in the middle of constructing a horde of minions and was about to finally give them life.

Now angry in his own right the loyal son asked but what one question of his brother. “What is the void?”

The curious son paused briefly then answered. “It is the place where questions come that do not have answers.”

Then this is the place where you belong.” And with this condemnation the loyal son grabbed the curious one and cast him out of the palace and into the void.

Now fully immersed in the void the wicked son finally understood the rules of his father. The void was emptiness that the father had neglected to fill. The once curious and now wicken son was excited as he realized that he had all of this space to create and within it he allowed his mind to wander. But somehow things went terrible wrong. The vision of fire, of pain and of his treachery lingered in his mind. Not only did they linger in his mind but they manifested in his creation. As the void began to take form it took on a mind of its own and it quickly spiraled out of his control. The fire's hunger was unquenchable and he soon realized that if he did not feed it the father's palace would be consumed by it.

The wicked son called his new home the Nethermurk and he set himself to continuing his work. Meanwhile the golden palace floated in the sky.

The good son and his wife and their children learned that life without the father posed new challenges. For one thing, they now required daily renewal of energy for survival. He attempted to create animals for them to eat but that too became complicated as they were bound to similar laws. Furthermore the palace soon became crowded. Beside himself he and wife looked out into the world. They noticed something had formed in the fog above where the wicked brother had landed. There wasn't much there but the land appeared live-able.

"What if we sent the young ones there?" The Good Son thought aloud.

"Cast them out? Away from us?" Replied his wife. "They're good kids. They're be alright. And if any of them are really special we will bring them home."

"What about your brother? Won't he watch them? Won't he try to harm them?" Asked his wife.

"We'll be watching them too."

And so it was decided and so is the story of our world.

                                                                                                                 ********