Fire and the Night - Prologue

In the beginning, there was Fire. Fire and Darkness. The Fire was always and the Darkness as well, it can never be said which came first but the Fire stood in opposition to the Darkness, and it seemed this would continue forever, but from the Fire spawned the Light and the Light grew to push out the Darkness. The Light, with the help of the Fire, spawned great and powerful beings to fight the Darkness. They were glorious to behold in every way, shimmering with the power of the Light and the heat of the Fire they fought for an eternity, using their weapons and majesty these Warriors drove back the Darkness. But the war was ceaseless and endless the Darkness never becoming less and so the Warriors grew tired of their mission. There were those among them who would see the war end, not in defeat for such a concept was anathema to their very nature. But in a seal, a way to keep the darkness back forever. Long the Warriors planned together and brought those of their brethren reluctant to speak of such things to the fold, eventually all agreed to bring about the end to the war.

The Warriors gathered their strength, and they spoke with the Light their second mother the one who had helped and guided them, they spoke to her of their plan to finish the Darkness once and for all. They asked for her aid and to help bring about their plan and they explained that, to do this she needed to take physical form as they had. The Light Smiled and acquiesced to the desires of her children. For the first, and only, time the light took form and her radiance was blinding to behold, even to her children. But they were not dissuaded even beholding the might of one of their creators, the warriors in their confidence and their pride revealed their trap, chains forged of the Darkness itself were woven together around the body of the Light she could not move nor release her form. Her children then turned their blades upon her, weakened as she was by the chains of Darkness she could not fight the Warriors and their weapons drove deep cutting and severing. With a final plunging thrust the body of the Light went still, and she lay there unmoving, she was not dead, not in truth, for she was eternal but her power was gone for then. The Warriors took the body and carved it apart. From her chest was ripped her heart. A pulsing orb of radiance. This was the center, from this heart was placed the rest, her body was carved apart into five pieces: her arms, legs, chest, body, and head each placed carefully and finally her blood spattered in a myriad of droplets between them. This would become the sky, the barrier that keeps back the Darkness. The heart of the Light became the sun and her body made to create the moons, and the stars were her blood woven between them. And so, the sky was made and still it holds the darkness locked away forever the Light’s power forever protecting the Fire. Her suffering and eternal sacrifice granted to the world safety from it’s greatest enemy.

But the Fire had seen this and grown wrathful, the betrayal and destruction of the Light had angered it and so it came forth to deliver judgment and destruction upon the Warriors who had destroyed its beloved. The Fire took form with great and terrible anger and malice raging from its jaws and crescendos of power echoing from it’s wings. But this to the Warriors had foreseen, the Light and the Fire were linked, two halves of the same whole, and now the Fire was vulnerable. It had lost the grandiose power it had once wielded. And now the warriors struck against their first mother. The battle was much fiercer this time and many of the warriors fell their numbers culled by the rage of the Fire, but in the end the Warriors were victorious they chained the Fire in the same way they had the Light. Unlike the light they did not kill or dismember the Fire, part of it’s raging heat was sent to the sun to reinforce the barrier, but the rest was left chained, bound in servitude, locked in form no longer the great Fire, which was eternal, but a bound form enslaved to her own children. And so, the Warriors forsook their name, they would fight no longer on behalf of those who had created them. Indeed, with the Fire contained, the Light dismembered, and the Darkness sealed away forever beyond the stars so that it could never reach them, they had become more than their mothers had ever intended. Warriors no longer, they had become the Masters. And this was the beginning.
The Masters now stood in the space where the Fire had been, confined as it was the Emptiness before them shimmered with endless possibility, and so it was that the Masters began their long task. First, they created the Cage forging their weapons into a spear they rent a hole in the barrier and to that end they cut a part of the Darkness from itself, they forged this piece into the Cage it’s bars thick and barbed the chains of Darkness woven through to hold the Fire in place. The Fire raged and screamed but to no avail. It could not move and so was sealed away in the center of the Emptiness. The shimmering possibility that had been held by the Fire for an eternity was captured by the Masters and to that end they took it and began to create.

They forged a shell, a great mass packed over the Cage where the Fire was locked away this was to give them both a shaping to work with and a further barrier to contain the wrath of the Fire. And this mass was given the name of earth, all were involved in the creation of earth but one, who would carry the name Edar brought to bear his power to bring firmament to reality but still the Fire raged and fury burst through the earth and spewed terrible wrath, lacking any other means the Masters took the great spear and drove in down through the earth and into the body of the Fire this wound was not fatal but it did leach the strength of the Fire. And so, it could not rage as it had. The Masters packed earth around the spear, and it became a single point sticking from the world, impossibly high. This was called the mountain and it gained a power of it’s own from the spear at it’s heart, it created others like it across the surface of the earth forging new mountains, at first the Masters were dismayed for this being was not intended but they could no more destroy it than they could themselves for it was forged from them and so was part of them the mountain knew this and so stood in defiance of the Masters and did as it would creating its children across the earth and for this act of creation, the Masters granted the Mountain the simple name of Mother.

One of the Masters, given the name Une, brought forth another idea, for she had seen one different aspect of the Darkness, as it had stood in opposition to light and heat, so it had known to be unimaginably cold. Une, in her ambition, had taken part of this aspect and forged into a solid mass, the mass of her creation was called ice. And so, she took this ice and crafted it over the earth, even packing it around Mother and her children. But the heat of the Fire from below the earth still welled forth even finding escape through some of Mother’s children and so the heat melted the ice and, as many things, when the ice melted the cold became less and so a new thing was born through possibility the cold become liquid and this liquid was given the name water. The water came upon the earth and with the mountains sticking high. It was at this time that Edar and Une began to quarrel for control over the surface of the world. The other Masters having to intervene eventually, the surface of this new creation, was divided between the earth and the water with the sky encircling. For a time that is what the world was, and it was not until the eons had passed that the Masters continued their creation. They began to squabble many among their number believing they should do more, others wanting only to rest, they fought and many were their arguments. It was here that the Masters discovered something they had never known before, fear. Fear of each other and fear of losing what they had begun. But this was not simple for among the Masters every thought had form. And so, fear leaked down into the world, the blood of Light shone down upon the world between her dismembered body, some of the blood which held power had fallen to the world and the fear of the Masters mixed with blood of the Light and gave form to something new. And from this was born the third children, the Wargen. Their appearance was fearsome, for they had been birthed in blood and fear and so this was the name they gave to their power in the most ancient of tongues the Awhoonal. This cry echoed across the earth, and the Masters looked upon their creation and saw the mass of the Wargen spreading out across the lands and down the waters. Each of the two looked different forms, those of the lands long bodied, with vicious fangs, long loping strides on four legs and great masses of grey fur to protect them even against Une’s cold. While the master’s stood appalled they could not destroy the Wargen for they were forged from the Master’s own fear and to that end they moved across the world. The Wargen of the sea were cut off from their land bound brethren however, their long scales and sharp fins ill suited to the land, and so even as they spread they grew apart. But both never lost the power of the Awhoonal. But the Masters were not done yet, with Edar to lead them they shaped the earth and created further ways to isolate the Wargen from each other. They created new forms, creatures molded to be different and to distract them, one of the Masters who would be remembered as Nugri used his power to create a curse to place on the Wargen for while he could not kill them he could hurt them and this curse was called hunger and thirst. A desire which could only be satisfied by devouring that which the Masters created, but not the Masters themselves and the Masters created more and more things filling the land with forests and fields and filled them with creatures and so the Wargen became distracted, lost amongst the new creations of the Masters and to that end the Masters began to plan their way of destroying these creatures they considered abominations once and for all.

They worked tirelessly to craft many forms, some with wings, some with jaws, some large some small, they carried many names and their power was great but each failed in their attempts to end the Wargen, the Awhoonal which had created them and was created by them made them more powerful than any form they could craft. It was one of the Masters who would be known as, Zahl, who finally devised the means by which to create a being that could fight and end the Wargen, s/he had understood that the creatures they created were bound to their will, enslaved with invisible chains, due to this flaw their creations could no more defeat them than could the Master’s themselves. And so Zahl proposed that they create a being that was severed from their will that could fight on its own, away from them, at first the other Masters balked at this, having an element they could not control was seen as an almost unacceptable risk, the most vocal of these opposers to Zahl was one of the Masters who would come to be known as, Trang, s/he was heavily opposed to the idea of granting any being the ability to defy their will. Zahl simply asked what Trang’s solution was. When Trang failed to find a response, Zahl had proven his point, Trang however insisted that Nugri’s curse of hunger and thirst be laid upon the creation to allow them at least a modicum of control Zahl agreed to this, and so the Master’s set about making their greatest creation, their true children. A being that could climb and master the environment, that could think and invent and most importantly would bring an end to the Wargen. They found a small creature in the deep jungles they had created; a loping animal which had served as food source for the Wargen for long years. They took this animal because they knew it would have an innate fear and animosity towards the Wargen who had hunted their kind for untold years, they took this small loping animal and worked to modify it they stood it upright, changed it’s form, granted them muscle and sinew to stand tall and reach out and granted them the gift of will so that they could fight the Wargen and end their existence. At the final end the Masters took their creation and scattered them across the world, to this creation the gave the name Human. So that they could reach the Wargen wherever they were. After this creation the Master’s made their final work, deep within the earth the created their lair close to the cage so they could continue to feed off of the power of Fire. This home was known as the Nest. One did not go with them. S/he resolved to remain behind and monitor the war, s/he stayed within the jungle which had supported their creation, the name this Master was given was Ilt. The Nest held the Masters, their will done, and the world and the war left in the hands of their creations. They knew that, once the war had concluded in their favor, they could leave and re-assume stewardship over their creation once more.

But the war was costly and dragged for ages. The scattered humans, though creative and powerful could not match the numbers and powers granted to the Wargen by the Awhoonal, their jaws dripped venom and their gaze could stop a man’s heart. To that end humanity pleaded to their Masters for greater power and aid, but their prayers, for a time, fell on deaf ears. For the Masters had long since sealed themselves away it was Ilt the one who stayed behind who realized that, even with their considerable abilities, they were not up to ending the threat of the Wargen. One from among the human’s number a leader and explorer whom the histories know as Ralsh found the sleeping jungle where Ilt had sealed itself. Ralsh who had left his tribe had stumbled upon the area. Come face to face with one of the Masters, Ralsh pleaded for his people, and for the aid of the Masters. Ilt listened to this man and at the end agreed to bring him before its kin. It was in this that the first human was brought before the Masters and granted an audience. Ilt took the young man to the Nest and brought him before their kind. The Masters first were shocked that Ilt had brought one of them there but decided to listen to him. The Masters listened to the distress of their warrior and his pleas for their aid and they debated long amongst themselves as to how they would deal with this small upstart from the world. Their debate lasted long but, in the end, the decided to render some aid to the young human. They went to the Fire whose shrieks and howls had been reduced to a whisper. But even this they now took from her they took the Whisper, the ghost of fire’s power, and granted it to Ralsh, but Fire seeks life and this stolen piece ravaged through Ralsh, consuming his life and ripping his will from him. Ralsh screamed and cried in agony a similar agony to Fire itself. At the end only Ralsh’s burned corpse remained, but the Ghost of Fire was not done, it stretched through the body, it returned life to the eyes, the corpse began to move. And then it rose no longer dead the ghost of fire weaving itself through the corpse. The Masters were shocked initially for this was not what they had foreseen. Quickly they wove strings to this new creature to exert their control, for they could not risk this new being not serving them. As the corpse straightened the ghost fire raged within it. It remembered little of who it had been, but within it was fierce desire to consume and destroy. The Masters spoke to this new being and gave it a new name and a new identity. He was to become Tannis, the First Lich. The Lich departed the Nest having its location removed from his mind so he could not return. The Masters spoke with Ilt and set them back out into the world to observe how the new creature reacted to the world. Tannis returned to his tribe. Initially the humans were shocked and appalled by this new creature and tried to turn it away. But the Ghost Fire was within him and to that end he smote the warriors who opposed him, he burned their houses and destroyed their chief, the tribe had bowed to his rule after witnessing the terrible power he now wielded. Tannis said that he had been born from those on high to lead humanity to ultimate victory against the hated Wargen. And so, he began his crusade. He first conquered the other tribes of humans burning their leaders and making new ones for himself, the Lich found a way to impart the Ghost Fire upon his subjects. And so, the First Lich created more Liches, lesser in power to himself but still greater than those humans below them, as Tannis was bound to the will of the Masters through invisible chains so to were the Lich’s bound to him. But the Ghost Fire was not satisfied. The hunger burned within the Liches and so they went forth and conquered the tribes of humanity and forged a great empire. And thus, was born the Lichdom. The Lichdom was headed by Tannis immortal as the First Lich with others ruling across the world. With great and wanton savagery did they have the humans beneath them pursue and destroy the packs of Wargen wherever they roamed. Bu still this was not enough. Even the Ghost Fire itself was no proof against the power of the Awhoonal and so the war continued to drag on.

It was in this time of the Lichdom that Mother Mountain began to have her own concerns. The Liches told stories about her and her power and she began to fear that the Ghost Fire would impel them to come forward to try and claim the spear at her heart, she would not allow this to come to pass and to that end she began her plans. She reached out with her powers, with the Masters gone into hiding and the humans focused on their wars and grasped as series of pebbles from below her slopes. Now these were only pebbles in her eyes being instead great boulders to those below but in the eyes of a mountain all things are small. She worked with her power to create a race of guardians to protect her and her children, she crafted the boulders gave them teeth and claws to fight, legs to walk and eyes to see a great snout to smell the wilderness, ears to hear, she took much inspiration from the life which the Masters had created, she covered her creation in a thick layer of brown fur to protect it from the harsh winds and driving cold of the mountains. And finally, she took part of the spear that was her heart and imparted that power to these creatures. And so, they came alive. But more than that they could command part of her power, part of what she was, to this new life she had introduced to the world she gave a name. The Ursahl. It was to these fearsome children that Mother Mountain gave the mission of guarding both her and her heart. But the Ursahl were flawed as was their mother. As each mountain stands alone so did the Ursahl. They were solitary creatures and each stood on their own. Only at times of mating did they find need for each other and even then, only briefly. And what is more even with all the power possessed by mother mountain she could not shield them from Nugri’s curse and to that end hunger and thirst slipped into the Ursahl. Unlike the Wargen with their loose packs spread across the world, and the humans with their ever-expanding empires ruled by the liches, the Ursahl never felt fit to roam or conquer, they stayed to themselves locked with their mountain homes, rarely leaving the safety of their mother and dealt harshly with any who would enter their lands looking for to harm or pillage what lay there. The Wargen and who lived in those lands quickly took heed of the Ursahl’s power and fled the mountainous lands for safer pastures, and what few humans resided in those harsh lands learned quickly to avoid these massive creatures and step lightly around their power for no human could hope to match the power of the Ursahl and Mother Mountain.

This status persisted for many an age: the Ursahl in their mountain homes, the humans, ruled by the liches and forever at war with the Wargen in their packs the power of the Awhoonal shielding them, and the Masters forever asleep deep within the earth. And indeed, this may have persisted forever, if not for one event. As the war dragged on the rule of the undying liches became crueller, indeed they reveled in feeding the Ghost Fire for they hungered eternally for life they no longer had. They feasted on animal and human alike taking their lives in great sacrifice and Tannis, the First Lich who had been Ralsh, was hungriest of all, hundreds were sacrificed to him alone in a day, let alone the others who sustained themselves in such ways, humanity balked and finally broke under such grueling demands, whether meeting death at the jaws of an enraged Wargen or a slow burning sacrifice to the Liches and their never waning hunger some humans cast aside their vows of servitude and fled. Some sought refuge among the mountains with the Ursahl begging the protection of Mother Mountain, many of these were honored and live there to this day. Still others ran among the Wargen seeking an end to the war. But trust was slow even among these defectors. And so, the alliances were mostly of convenience and did not last long due mostly to mutual mistrust. Many humans tried to rise up to overthrow the Liches and the Ash Priest cadres but to no avail, the power of the Ghost Fire consumed the rebels and those loyal suppressed the rebels and slaughtered their families. It fell to one young explorer and scout of the rebel forces. Who this was, their name, their place, their people, all are lost to history and every people has claimed them as their own. But, like Ralsh before them, they to went searching for an answer, not to the war with the Wargen, but to end the long-held tyranny of the Liches. Convinced that such a power must exist, for none knew where the power of the Ghost Fire originated from. Merely that the Liches commanded it. They searched far and wide across seas and into jungles, until one day they came upon, a graveyard, this was no resting place for men, the bones lay in heaps, the ash thick with each step, the creatures like nothing that had ever been seen by man or other. It was in this place, this Ruination, that the young human found their answer, at the center of the Ruination, was a way down, into the earth, moulded and cast, they had found the resting place of the Masters, the Nest lay before them. Ralsh had never seen the Ruination for Ilt had brought him right inside the Nest and when he had become Tannis he left and the Ghost Fire had consumed all before him. The ruination was his making and the Ghost Fire still consumed this land and it still burned and consumed all in the Ruination so nothing new would grow. They young wanderer entered the tunnel down, and moved carefully down, passage crept lower and lower what little light there was left him soon faded, but still he continued on seeing a light far below him. It was here after walking for what seemed an eternity the entered the sleeping chamber, and they young human beheld a sight not witnessed in ages, he came face to face with the sleeping forms of the masters, beholding them in their glory the wanderer wept, but they knew that these beings would not help. The young wanderer could sense the power here and knew that these beings would offer no succor to one such as they. But still this was the place of the answer they knew this. And to that end they searched the chamber, careful not to wake the sleeping forms around them. It was here that the young wanderer found another passage leading still downward deeper into the earth than ever could be known. The young wanderer could feel the power of heat radiating from the passage all was silent it was this passage that led downward deeper than could be imagined it led to the Cage wherein was contained the Fire.

Down and down the young wanderer crept into the very bowels of the earth. The heat always intensifying they could feel the skin peeling from their body and cracking from rough blisters their mouth was dry and their throat parched of thirst. To this end the young wanderer plodded forward knowing that their goal was within sight, it had to be. After what seemed an eternity the came before a wall of black. The bars of the Cage writ before them in space. Knowing fear but knowing as well that they must go on the young wanderer pressed forward, through the blackness, and entered the cage itself slipping through the bars, and there in that moment, they came face to form with the Fire. nothing is known of the form rendered unto the Fire for no records remain of it just as no records know the true identity of the young wanderer who found the ancient force. What is written is the decree for it is the knowledge and vision that was granted to all humanity, the sacrifice and the boon granted to free man form binds of the Liches and the horrid servants of the Masters. The decree here reads: “we stand here bound in servitude, each to the other, the price we pay for freedom, and deliverance of those who turn our wills against each other, though we be different, we both hunger, we both strive, and to that end let us strive together in all things. On this we agree, for freedom and the exchange of power, we make a decree of the following, none shall bind those who would be free. To know is to see and to know more is to see more. All shall be as one with the power to create and what is before them.” This was the first decree that humans would serve Fire and that in turn Fire would serve them. But this was not the end for it was after forging their pact that Fire entered the young wanderer filling their body with it’s power. The young wanderer, carrying this energy, ran back through the tunnel and up into the resting chamber of the Masters, but now unlike before they had been rested from their eons long slumber they woke and turned their terrible gaze upon the young wanderer. The youth, not knowing, what to do used the power of fire to impel him past the resting place, past the fury of the Masters. The Masters screamed in fury and their wrath shook the very world in that instant tidal waves crashed rents in the earth were torn open part of the very world were turned upside down as the Masters tore through the earth behind them trying to catch the young human. But it was too late. As the young wanderer reached the outside of the chamber and stumbled forth into the Ruination their body could no longer contain the power of Fire in so great an amount and to that end the young human’s body at last could contain no more and burned apart, it was in this act of sacrifice that Fire was let free from it’s bonds and let loose into the world, but the being kept to it’s word it went forth. The Masters, at this moment, burst free seeking to recapture the fire and enforce its bonds once more but the Fire moved away it spread itself among humanity coruscating across the sky, with this act the Ghost Fire, which empowered the Liches, was no more the whisper which had empowered them became a roar which tore through their forms and rendered their bodies unto dust and ash. Even the Masters could not withstand this primal force of release the life which had been granted to them was ripped from their bodies, the last remaining falling from the sky as the Fire released itself. The power surged through the heavens and down in a shower of colour and life this power fused itself to all of humanity, inseparable and indivisible, the power of Fire now rooted within humanity. And the Masters were no more, with the Liches, their servants, gone from the world, the Ghost Fire and its hunger now lost. It was now that humanity could be free. It was with this ending and the eternal sacrifice of the nameless youth that humanity gained its freedom. And so, humanity pulled down the Ash priests and founded their own orders to begin anew in the world, the Wargen and humans would still war and the Ursahl still held their mountain fastness, but the new way of the world would emerge from this point, humanity would forge many different societies across the world and even they would draw into conflict but the world would continue on with newer stories and some would be forgotten in the turning of time forward. And so, many thousands of years would pass in the life of the world…