I have included another passage. It begins similarly to the first one, save that one had been imparted to some of us in alarming dreams, while this other had been found in the archives during a time access had been granted.
I believe much of the context of this initial relationship has been lost, and I hesitate to color it with experience, as some of that might be too close for comfort. They behave much as two opposing forces would be, and all they might affect, and the results of what happens when one pushes the other too far.
Much of it all seems to predate the knowledge of the citizens, despite their immortality, although some have been showing more of an interested in the 'Winged Lord' to the point of holding ceremony--at least, in the previous year. Whether that will once again occur might depend on their whims. It might be cause for any excessive agitation however.
The world began as thus: it was a rock. That's all. He came upon it first, and loved it immediately, this empty rock where nothing lived. He burrowed deep inside and devoured it inch by inch, teeth breaking upon the surface and growing anew. Through Him, over time, the stone became the soil.
His task was all but complete when the Winged Lord appeared, still new and uncertain of the path He was to walk. He was hungry, so He clawed at the stone to find where His prey crawled. He toiled the earth, stirring it up, and the seeds of other worlds fell from His claws. Burrowing deeper, the Crawling One eluded Him, laughing, and they played this game for a millennia, until the entire surface of the world was rich and vibrant and full of life. The Winged Lord loved it. The Crawling One however loathed what had been done to His home. He snarled and dug deeper, calling out to the dead to join Him. And so the two chose their domains.
In the core of the star, He nested. The dying sank to Him and He swallowed them, ever hungry. Above the world, the Winged Lord circled, delighting in all that He had created, but He missed His friend, too. He missed the game they played. The day He chose to start it anew is when the darkness fell upon the world.
The Crawling One met Him beneath the surface, and instead of play, it was war that they wrought. The soil within Him turned to poison as He shed it, and it spread to every corner He touched. Through the soil, through the plants, through the creatures that walked the land unknowing. Like a parasite it was passed through life's endless circle. Like dust it moved into the air. And like that which birthed it, death followed. Weeping with joy, the Crawling One toiled endlessly to regain the empty stone that once was His.
The Winged Lord saw what had become of His world, His beautiful paradise of life and colour, and He rebelled. He burned the poison from the earth in a scorching fire, He devoured the animals corrupting the land, He breathed life back into His beloved people, that they might rise and praise Him and grant Him new power. Balance, He told His followers, must always be kept. Nothing shall die here that I do not allow.
When the poison claimed Him, the whole world wept. The whole world grieved the passing of life itself. Even the Crawling One, deep, deep beneath it all, cried His poison into the core of Aellyn for the loss of His oldest friend.
The decay began anew, and there were none to stem the flow.
Note that these stories say naught of the four gods within this barrier or their balance. Although it would speak a lot to the state of the world beyond it and what makes it so dangerous, if one had more facts to tie it to.
no subject
I believe much of the context of this initial relationship has been lost, and I hesitate to color it with experience, as some of that might be too close for comfort. They behave much as two opposing forces would be, and all they might affect, and the results of what happens when one pushes the other too far.
Much of it all seems to predate the knowledge of the citizens, despite their immortality, although some have been showing more of an interested in the 'Winged Lord' to the point of holding ceremony--at least, in the previous year. Whether that will once again occur might depend on their whims. It might be cause for any excessive agitation however.
Note that these stories say naught of the four gods within this barrier or their balance. Although it would speak a lot to the state of the world beyond it and what makes it so dangerous, if one had more facts to tie it to.