Prologue
Imagine a Time before there was a history to record. Newborn, fresh, untouched.
Some Legends say that ‘God’ created all types of life forms from clay that he molded, personally, and imbued within certain attributes. First came the physical; the color of skin, hair if there was going to be any, limbs or none. Then came how the individual pieces worked together, or didn’t. Once there was a vessel, he began to craft each individual soul with all of its personality, strengths and weaknesses packed inside, then cast these creatures upon the surface in like groupings and let them be. Always the observer, always watching . There are parts of these legends that are true and others that are fallacies passed on to pacify those that need it.
There might have been a “One True God” that began it all, but there is no proof, too much time has passed and they have abandoned the project it seems. What I can tell you is that at one point there were many Gods, there were so many that their jobs and roles within the universes sometimes overlapped and within the overlapping came strife, chaos and rivalries.
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Some were creationists that occasionally grew bored, a project would begin but be quickly discarded. Planetiering was the largest of the abandoned themes. Those planets never knew life; they merely float around the universe to this day like dead rocks in space. Others really got into the creation process and created many galaxies, along with all of the planetary systems within, even down to the minutiae of the way every little thing worked moment to moment, micromanaging every piece.
How invested would you be? Would you create disasters, disease, famine? Would you answer every prayer? How in depth would you be with these lives or would you step back and watch it all play out generation after generation? Would you get angry and wipe the world clean and start over again? Would you take it personally if they abused the gifts that you gave them? Would you give them free choice? Would you step in if evil began to thrive? Would you condemn it, would you encourage it?
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Ours chose to abandon us, but not before creating 8 very special beings. He divided the bulk of power to each, ensuring they had everything needed if they worked together, with the intention from that moment on the decisions made would be all theirs. For good or bad, the die should have been cast.
Our God has stepped in three times to date; the last was final and the most devastating, yet as always, life found a way. Eventually, after the world had become a cold black rock, great ice ages came and went, the ground broke apart, reshaped and brand new biomes breached the surface and flourished. Alone, unsupervised, without direction.
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The last beginning:
Excruciating pain flared along the center ridge of his skull, a searing sensation quickly followed and flooded through his core then spread to every extremity. Naturally, with this type of a sensation, the body would typically turn and twist from the agony, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t open his mouth to scream, and couldn’t open his eyes.
Moments later, muscles flexed instinctively, his jaw cracked slightly to one side, and through sheer raw power and determination the rock form that had engulfed him began to break. Huge boulders split and rolled down the mountainside in a great avalanche, the sound almost deafening. Earth crashing against earth, the foundations shook.
As if crawling out of the pits of hell, he emerged. Large hands reaching from the depths and pulling his body from the grave he had awakened in. The sunlight blotting his vision, he closed his eyes tightly and opened slowly again and again blinking the dust and pebbles away. Little by little each part of his form re-taught itself how to function, and eventually thoughts began to fill his mind once more.
One foot in front of the other, he walked. With every movement came something new, between sounds and smells, thoughts and memories, time and distance, eventually the jigsaw pieces began to fall into place.
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“A gift and a curse.
I have scattered you all, stuffed you deep into the core, and sealed you beneath. Time will pass and the world will go on without you. My greatest creations became my greatest disappointments following in the exact steps of all that came before you as if you learned nothing! But you will see when your own creations respond the same.
Eventually you will awaken and you will find the others. You won’t be able to help yourself but to do what you were meant to, create and populate. And you will suffer the same fate as I, debilitating disappointment. The difference is that you will have to live with them for the rest of Eternity and experience this cycle continuously until the end of time.
I would wish you luck but the truth is I no longer care. Find a way to work together and thrive or destroy each other again and again. The choice is yours. I’m choosing a new project and leaving this one behind. I should never have given you free will.
-God”
The words rushed into his mind and echoed along the walls of his skull, repeating until each word and their meaning struck deep like a dagger in his chest. A message left for when he and the others woke.
God had abandoned them. There was no turning back.
Alone, he discovered great mountains and lush valleys, vast bodies of water and tiny little streams. It had clear light and dark cycles, temperature changes, and seasons. The planet had fallen into its own little patterns, something they had not been able to accomplish before. There had been too many distractions and too many individual agendas. But once each of the Paragons had been temporarily disposed of…Earth took care of itself.
There were small insects, birds, animals on both land and water, though there weren’t any complex creatures. Night after night the first Paragon asked the universe where to go from here and got no answers. Save for the words that had been etched into his mind, the last words from his creator.
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“You will awaken and find the others. You will create and populate. “
The instructions were clear. He just needed to push the emotions aside and truly listen.
Of the seven others he was able to find four. Together they formed a hierarchy. The first Paragon had become the new God, the father, the task manager, and tiebreaker. He would step up in times of crisis only, while focusing on finding the missing three. Only then would they be complete. Only then could they make things right once more.
Much time has passed. Each of the four began to do what came naturally meant for them. There was a lot of trial and error and eventually even that found its natural flow. Each Paragon adopting their own specialty, their own groove. Each putting their own gears in motion then stepping back to watch, but never abandoning their beloved creations.
That was the beginning, we are now within the present.
Each race is part and parcel of today’s society. Only the Paragon of Humans chose to keep this history unknown. Allowing humankind to forge their own way with their own belief systems and origin stories passed down. The existence of the others are only known within stories and fantasy alone. It is said that once a human discovers the truth they are never the same again.
For some, the structure of the mind is unable to comprehend this new layer of reality and can break from pushing its boundaries too far. While others adjust and adapt as needed. It is often that once the world is in full color, they choose to embrace the change, shed their humanity and step into a new existence.
What will you do?