The Lost Tablets

[DanteMGalileo]

Creation
Once there was chaos
From that chaos, a woman appeared
She was powerful and clever
But also lonely
So very lonely
She made iced lands in reflection of her mind
But then she realised something

From flame, sea, sky, land, sun, and shadow
She made her first children
The child of flame was strong yet nurturing
The child of sea was vibrant and creative
The child of sky was brilliant yet stern
The child of land was gentle and protective
The child of sun cherished all life
And the child of moon sought to maintain the balance

The children were named
Soon, more were created-
Soon, her creations became civilized
Soon, her creations had a name:
They dubbed themselves angels
Soon, her first children also took the name
And soon, the creator also accepted the name

Her iced lands thawed
Her first children assisted in creating their home
A name was agreed upon:
Paradiso!
For it was a place of perfect joy
For eons, the angels lived in peace
Away from the outside world, they could afford such
But even this perfect peace could not last

[DanteMGalileo]

Strife
A man charmed the creator
By him she bore a boy and a girl
The girl was as sweet as could be
Fair yet resolved-
A noble queen to be!
But this could not be said of her brother
His soul craved power-
Power for the sake of power!
He resented his sister always
He believed that he deserved the crown

The fell brother concocted a plague
A plague of shadow and blight to ravage the people
One, two, soon many dropped dead before the creator could intervene
The creator ensnared the pestilence in chains of light
She gave it an incarnate form
She gave it a name
The saved being then swore its loyalty
“I will serve the true heir of House Serapis!”
The fell brother’s ire grew
He would have to try something different

Many eons had passed since the creation
The creator knew even she was not immune to the clutch of death
She had ruled as queen for a great many years
When it came time, she knew what had to be done
The creator slipped off her crown to her daughter
And had the incarnate plague claim her while she slept
The common folk cried for their late creator
Her children mourned their mother
All except the fell brother
Who plotted while the people grieved

A great many years passed
But then the fell brother struck again
He released a horde of locusts on the people
Not a single stalk was spared
The common folk began dying
Not even the powers of the six children could revive but a lone blade of grass!
But the queen was clever
She reached into her body-
And lo, she removed her own womb!
She had it cut up into many pieces
Then had the six children scatter it across the lands
And behold-
Plants grew again
The locusts fled
The people were saved!
The queen declared,
“I will never bare children so that my mother’s may prosper!”
Once again, the fell brother was enraged
He would need drastic measures
With a wicked grin, a most unholy thought came to mind...

[DanteMGalileo]

Fall
An ungodly noise shook Paradiso one day
The queen found a beast attacking her people
She knew it was the work of her brother
She sent the children of flame, sky, and shadow to capture the fell sibling
While the children of sea, land, and light stayed with her to fight

The beast was a massive being
The child of land, largest of all, was shorter than its eye!
But none of them were afraid
The children of sea and land called upon their constructs
Together they wove a net of sea and land
It fell upon the beast and trapped it
They raised their blades and prepared to execute the creature
But the child of light, who valued all life, begged the queen to spare it
Moved by her words, the queen agreed

The queen drew a seal with her own blood
She created seven locks in the hearts of living creatures
Then the beast was sealed away into the forbidden realm
She rendered it tame
When the child of light asked who the locks were,
The queen named six
But she refused to name the lock of heaven

As the beast was sealed, the three children had found the fell brother
He readily admitted that it was his doing!
The child of flame was enraged and threw her weapon at him
He laughed, and proclaimed himself the true king.
Before the children of sky or shadow could react
The fell brother lunged for the child of flame
He tore off her wings!
Blue blood stained the ground!

Her siblings were enraged
The child of shadow captured the fell brother’s shadow
And then the child of sky, in a moment of rage,
Cast a curse on the fell brother
At once, his body began to fall apart!
It was not long before the fell brother was no more
The child of shadow asked if it was necessary
And the child of sky said it was
They returned to the queen with their sister’s remains

The temperature fell without the child of flame around
The land began to freeze again
Soon, the queen’s grief hit a fever point
A massive hurricane ravaged the homes of the people
Ground-splitting quakes ruined the fields
A great flood devastated the lands
The light was either too bright or absent altogether
The survivors pleaded for the queen to stop
The surviving children pleaded that the queen return to her senses
But their pleas fell on deaf ears and the death toll rose ever higher

It was the incarnate plague that stopped the tragedy
It went to the queen one particularly bloody day
It offered the queen the ability to forget
The queen, in her grief, accepted its bargain
The plague’s incarnate form took hold of the queen
Its form broke in a wave over her
A new woman stood up
When the child of light went to check on the queen
Her chamber was completely empty...

[DanteMGalileo]

Death
The five surviving children gathered to discuss what to do
The child of shadow looked out of their home
She saw potential!
She proposed her plan to the others,
“There are plenty of other worlds,
We could trade with them,
Brothers and sister,
Build star-faring ships”
The four other children agreed to her plan

The children of earth and sea went to work building ships
The child of sky let the people know
And the children of light and shadow taught them such
A crew was established,
A fine ship was built
And it went out on its maiden voyage
The child of shadow went with her crew

In her absence, the lights in Paradiso never went out
The meagre recovery of the land was stunted
So the child of light went to find a solution
Leaving just her three brothers in power
While she was out
The children of sea and sky blotted out the sun with their clouds
And the child of land created large trees to provide shade
The child of light took notice
And doubled her resolve to find a solution to the endless day

Eventually she came across someone on the southern pole
It was her queen-
But something was wrong about her
The queen’s regal appearance had been tainted by the plague incarnate
Her powers were feeble
The queen explained,
“To prevent another disastrous era,
I have sealed away my powers.
The stone is in the deep.
I do not wish to return.”
The child of light offered to have the child of shadow seal away her worst memory,
But the queen said,
“I know she is out exploring.
I failed to save your sister.
Please, leave me to my misery.”

But the child of light refused to abandon her queen
She took the queen upon her back
Together, they flew back to the castle
The children wept with joy upon seeing their queen again!
The children of sea, sky, and land undid their protections
But when the queen tried to cast her spell to bring night again,
It was but their first eclipse!
The child of water offered to scour the depths to find the queen’s powers
But she refused
A metamorphosis took place in the queen
No longer the queen nor the plague incarnate
Nor a mere fusion of the pair!
A new woman stood where they had
And gave a lone feather
“Wave when the time comes to end a day,
And night will break through.”
And then she left, vanishing into the mists.

Soon the child of shadow returned
Her crew bore crops and materials to fully rebuild their home
The people celebrated!
But not the child of shadow
Although the other four children tried to hide it
She had seen the dark feather
Believing in the old balance,
She accused the other children of trying to replace her!

A fight broke out
Where sister fought brother
It ended when the castle floor was stained an ugly blue
The blood of the shadow child on the light one’s hands
The child of sky was repulsed
“You killed our sister!
You are no sister of mine…
Begone with you!
Or you will meet the same fate as the fell brother!”
The child of light did not respond
But merely flew away
This action brought no joy to the child of sky
Who tore his soul out
And locked it away in a pendant
This child always wears the pendant
So that he may not be ruled by his emotions ever again
For he had been the one to strike the killing blow
While he had been merely trying to stop the fighting

Sea and land, the other brothers,
Set out to utilizing the bounty of their late sister
Both to save their people
But also to distract themselves from their own loss
The child of sky left the throne vacant in memory of his late sisters and missing queen
He established a council to rule with his brothers
But left a seat open for his surviving sister

The child of light travelled to a remote mountain peak
This was known as the killing mountain
Due to the high fatality rate
But she met another living creature-
Another angel!
He was kind and gentle
They grew close over the eons
This blossomed into love
And their love resulted in the child of light having a divine egg!
But she felt her strength drain
She begged her love to follow her back home
And he agreed

The pair went back to the castle-
But oh, how things had changed!
The three sons had a dispute!
The child of sky argued that a strong people were needed to resist despair!
The child of sea argued that if people had no worries or turmoils, they would be joyous always!
And the child of land believed that a moderate approach was needed
But still, the three brothers dropped their conflict to greet their estranged sister
They could sense that she was dying-
But from what, they could not tell

The child of sky did not like her mate,
And he told him such,
“You deceived my sister with honeyed words,
But you’ll find me a harder target to woo.
Try anything, good sir,
And you will suffer the same fate as the fell brother I cursed
All those years ago.”
And her mate responded,
“Child of the sky, I assure you,
My love for your sister is genuine.
She merely wished to see her brothers again in her last days.”

The child of light succumbed to her ailment, or maybe a curse
Her brothers and mate mourned her passing
“Oh! Dear child of light!
What will I do without you lighting my life?”
The child of sky turned on him,
“It was you!
Killing a god warrants a fate worse than death, you know?
I shall curse you such!
The same way I did the fell brother, all those years ago!”

The mate was unfazed by the sky child’s threat,
“I did no harm to her,
Either in recent times or in eons passed.
You, good sir, are blind to your feelings.
For a so-called rational being,
Your beliefs are very emotional.”
And thus he departed from the caste

The divine egg lay in the castle
“We shall raise her offspring as if it was our own,”
Said the child of sky
“In memory of our late sister, this is our promise,”
Said the child of sea
“They shall be the new sovereign, it is their birthright,”
Said the child of land

Elsewhere, unbeknownst to the three brothers
Her mate had another partner!
From her fell egg would come a thorn in their side
Their offspring would become a mythical figure!
But also one of deep unpopularity...

[DanteMGalileo]

Another
On a distant planet
There lived another race
A common insect changed
One became many
And soon came an entire race-
But they did not agree upon a name

While a name could not be agreed on
They settled their differences
And burrowed under the earth when it struck-
A meteor to destroy life!
They remained underground for a great many years
Some became less like their origin insects
But despite their varied appearance
They lived in harmony

The world was too cold for them
But they sent scouts up every few centuries
One day a scout brought news-
“The ice age is over, my friends!
We can return to the surface!”
The queen was joyous
She declared,
“Then let us return!
My people,
It is time to see the sun again,
The same sun not since seen by my forefathers!”

These people returned to the surface
But the scout did not notice a third race-
Humanity!
Upon gazing upon their wild appearance
A human scout sounded the alarm!
“My people!
Demons!
Drive out the demons!”
The warcry was sounded
And the people from the ground were driven out
By spear and flames alike

The people from the ground did find their name-
Demons, the name the humans used as a curse!
But they knew they could not survive amongst humans
The queen declared,
“My people, my fellow demons!
We have returned to the surface!
But we are not welcome, aye.
We will scatter to the ends of the earth!
Deserts, tundras, jungle depths…
We will go where they will not dare…
My people, my fellow demons!
We will survive!”

Those who had more commonalities with their insect ancestors
Fled to the deepest jungles
Those who took more after the creatures with fur
Fled to the north and south poles
Those who took more after the creatures with scales
Fled to the depths of deserts
And those who could pass for human or were adept at hiding
Hid on the outskirts of human societies
Many years passed
The peak of demon civilization had been established
In an eastern desert
Demons from around the world flocked to it year after year
They lived a different kind of underground!
But they did not merely share this world with humans...