How the Sun Came to Be
By: CrystallicSky
Disclaimer: There really isn't one, 'cause I didn't actually use their names, but just in case, I don't own Xiaolin Showdown or any of its characters. Warnings: None.
Many moons ago, the world was a dark and dreary place. The land was infertile, the sea held little life, and the skies were polluted and blackened as if by charcoal.
It was this hopeless era that was reigned by three powerful, supreme beings; there were only three because both man and the world were still young, and needed no more than that.
The first of the gods to exist was the Pestilence God, a nasty god who would sometimes travel down from the heavens for the singular purpose of making humankind miserable with illness and death.
It was not long before this god grew bored with his lot and decided to create minions to aid him in his cruelty to humans. From the blood of a fallen warrior and the fires of a volcano, the god of pestilence crafted a woman, the goddess of war. She was just as cruel as he, but twice as vicious, possessing a stronger bloodlust and thirst for violence. This goddess often left the heavens as well, but her motive was to inspire mortals with hatred and hostility, turning brother against brother in bloodshed.
Pleased with his creation, the god chose to make another, taking hurricane winds and the very lightning from the sky to form a new minion, this time a man. It soon became clear that this had been a mistake: this man was to be the god's downfall, too powerful to be overcome and possessed of an insatiable lust for power.
It was this new god that took the position of Chief God, subordinating both the War Goddess and his own creator with the force of his strength, and it wasn't long before he ruled both them and mankind with an iron fist. With this Chief God in charge, the world was better: it did not prosper, but it better sustained itself, especially now that the forces of sickness and violence were held largely in check.
It so happened one day that the god grew to become bored, just as his predecessor had. Now, he knew much better than to handle boredom in the same way: making more gods would only lead to trouble; trouble he most certainly did not want.
So instead, the god turned from the heavens, searching for whatever source of amusement he could find in the land of mortals. His eyes of amber scanned the desolate earth; his secondary kingdom, and found nothing of interest. Just when he had been about to look away from the land, frustrated, something caught his eye.
A human sat upon the empty dirt, staring up at him. This was not new: most humans did turn to the gods, expressing their anger and aggravation. But this human did not scowl or yell violent words, demanding some sort of magical cure-all for everything wrong in life.
This human simply looked at him, smiling. The boy was pale, the Chief God saw, as all humans were, but this one was even paler than the rest, almost as if dead. Eyes as red as blood gazed at him intently, and the god found himself intrigued.
"What is it you want from me, mortal?" he demanded.
Pale hair fell into the human's eyes as a shrug was given, the answer of, "Nothing," following his question.
A frown creased the Chief God's features. "Surely you must want something," he said. "All humans want something."
The boy's head shook. "I don't want anything, my lord, I promise. I ask nothing of you."
"You lie," the god asserted. "If you ask nothing of me, then why do you look upon me so fixedly?"
The mortal had no answer and again shrugged.
The Chief God felt he was being mocked and was angered. "Fine," he said with a scowl, "since you shall not tell me what it is you desire from me, you shall be punished every day until you do!"
He struck the human with a lightning bolt, causing the boy to promptly faint and fall to the ground.
The next day, the god once more looked upon the earth, and the little human was once more staring up at him, smiling.
"Well, mortal?" he demanded. "Are you ready to tell me what you desire?"
"I'm sorry, my lord," the young creature answered him, "I cannot. I truly do not desire anything of you."
The Chief God scowled once more. "We shall see how long you can keep this up, human, especially in the face of my lightning…"
The boy was again struck with electricity, going unconscious once more.
And so it went for days and days: the god would ask the human what he wanted, no answer would come, and the boy would be punished for withholding the truth.
After as long as it had been, the Chief God was amazed that a weak mortal could withstand so much of his strength for so long, and at last, he called the other deities together.
"I am at a loss," he admitted. "I do not know what is to be done of this boy."
The Pestilence God seemed uninterested. "It is a human," he said with a bemused grin. "They're scum, you know; beneath us. This one human matters no more than any of the rest of them."
The Chief God shook his head, deciding, "No. He is more; I do not know how, but he is more."
The War Goddess, however, had more to say than her creator. "You are a fool," she shrieked at him in her harpy's voice. "If you had any sense, you'd have simply killed the whelp by now!" She was feeling decidedly jealous of the mortal in question: the Chief God was so handsome, and yet he was spending all of his time on a dirty little human boy!
Her suggestion troubled the god, and he slowly realized, "I…do not wish to kill him…"
Nonetheless, the goddess stood purposefully, drawing her bow and arrow and turning to the earth, where the boy sat patiently. "Then I shall do it for you," she snarled.
Before the Chief God could stop her, she'd let her arrow fly, and it pierced the human's chest straight through.
Immediately, the god was gone from the heavens and caught the boy as he fell. "Why?" he demanded, needing to know before the mortal's life ended. "Why did you take my abuse with a smile? What caused you to stay despite my scorn?"
Finally, it seemed, the boy had an answer after all this time, and weakly, he smiled, "Love…"
Feeling warmth at the declaration and with only a split second to decide, the Chief God made the choice to imbue the mortal with the powers of a god, ending his death before it could be completed.
Shocked at the life and energy flowing quite suddenly back into his body, the boy quietly wondered, "Why did you save me?"
"I had been very bored before you," the god answered. "I feared it would be so again were your life to have ended: I do not wish to part with you."
The mortal was intelligent, and he was sure he had been made a god. "What now?" he asked.
"I want you to become my heavenly partner," the Chief God answered him honestly. "You shall rule beside me and be the patron of love, for that is what you have brought to my life."
The former human smiled radiantly and held tightly to the god he had long loved, overjoyed that he had been accepted.
It is said that when the Chief God and the newly appointed Love God first kissed, the black sky alit with shades of pink and yellow, the ever-present smog dissipating into nothing and a bright ball of fire taking its place in the sky.
Mankind prospered because of this fire they called the sun: the air was breathable, the land thrived with crops, and the sea flooded with all sorts of life.
From then on, the sun rose and set each day, summoned and dismissed by the kisses of the gods: one each morning to begin the day and one each night to end it; and so ends the tale of the sun and the love that created it.
A/N: So, I'm not totally happy with this, but that might just be because I'm writing a little outside my comfort zone, i.e., as far away from plot, actively occurring events, and basically my entire usual style as I can get. Probably doesn't help that its for school (kinda), and its supposed to be a myth explaining something, so its gotta be mostly tame. Meh. .__. Anywho, I hope its at least not bad enough to make your eyes bleed, if a little uninteresting and poor in comparison to my other stuff.