Arceus' Gifts

The universe started as a sea of energy.

There was no time in the sea, nor was there space. Many coasted in its life-giving flow, but the beings which ruled were made of pure energy, and constantly roamed the sea of light. Each had the strength of a hundred suns, and They drew Their life force from the Source, a swirling orb at the centre of Their world, feeding off it in ritualistic ceremonies. As They had no physical form, They could do no harm to the world They lived in, and as a result none could do harm to Them.

It was prophesied by the first being that at the cusp of an arc - Their sole measurement of the notion of time - a creature vastly different from anything They had ever seen before will destroy Them.

The prophecy greatly worried the immortal beings, so They went to great pain to annihilate all They deemed as threats. What They could not kill They would cripple. What They could not cripple they discredited.

They took special effort to search for and eradicate the prophesied threat during the moments before and after each arc. Eight came while seven passed, and each time They either sent the creature into exile; to wander the Wastelands for all eternity, or They trapped the creature within the confines of Their dungeons, never to see the light of the Source.

As the eighth arc ended and the ninth began, an egg hatched.

The Hatchling took a physical body, and with the aid of seven spirits it had freed from Their prison or summoned from the Wastelands, it conquered Them. It stormed Their home, chasing Them out of Their fortress, finally cornering Them at the Source. The Elder admitted defeat, and with a bow of his head awaited the noble death of his race. But the Hatchling saw within his eyes remorse, and with that in mind banished Them to the farthest reaches of the known world.

With Them gone, the spirits retreated into the flow, scattering their souls and sending their bodies into hibernation. The Hatchling shed its body and replaced it with a new form. With that transformation he took on the title of Arceus. He turned His gaze to the unordered realm, and with His claws cleaved the Source apart. He released the energy and let it spill upon His inherited dimension, and named it the Nexus. He moulded the rushing streams into His first children. The elder twin, Dialga, He tasked to shackle and give order to the tangled strands of time, the younger twin, Palkia, He tasked to weave the tapestry of space, while the firstborn, Giratina, He tasked to create the framework on which all would rest on.

Even as the rushing torrents meandered and twisted to His children's will, it struggled to be free of the bonds they placed on it. So Arceus extracted the heart of the Source, and ripped it apart from its shadow. He named the white angel of flame Reshiram, the black demon of lightning Zekrom, and the empty shell they left behind Kyurem. The dragons of yin and yang maintained the balance of the flow, and their brother, though he hungered for the energy they generated, took it upon himself to ensure that none came in the way of their duty.

Now Arceus worried for His empty worlds. They were maelstroms of blank space shifting in time, and there was no life in them. So He created three more children. The colossus He named Groudon, who raised the rocks and mountains of the world. The leviathan He named Kyogre, who formed the seas and rivers alike. The serpent He named Rayquaza, who maintained the wind and gave form to the life-giving air.

As nature took root, Arceus seeded the myriad dimensions with plants. There was no opposition for the trees and shrubs, and even the smallest sprout grew to towering heights. Next He scattered beings with ties to the Nexus in some worlds, and creatures who relied on only their wit and claws in others. The former He called pokemon, and the latter animals.

The sentient creatures kept the wild growth in check, gnawing on leaves or bones, keeping His worlds in balance. He watched as they evolved to fit their habitat, and noticing that they suffered from the whims of nature, He created yet more deities to control the flow of energy.

The silver bird of soul Lugia anchored the deep-sea currents, while her brother, the phoenix of wisdom Ho-Oh, safeguarded the chaotic winds in the sky.

The daughters of Lugia took to the skies while their mother stayed in the icy depths, and from their perch above all but Rayquaza himself watched over and kept the peace. Moltres dived in lakes of molten lava, Zapdos soared through clouds of thunder and lightning, and Articuno skirted her frozen forests.

The children of Ho-Oh, a daughter and two sons, roamed the earth. Entei roared with the fury of the volcano from whence he came, Raikou snarled with the rumbling perseverance of the storms, and Suicune howled with the strength of the north wind, her voice bringing its chill to even the most remote of valleys.

Regigigas was moulded out of the wet clay from the banks on which Kyogre made the first ocean and Groudon raised the first mountain. It had the soul of a Pokémon, the mind of a machine, and the body of a giant. It dragged the haphazard continents together with ropes of vines that the citizens of the worlds had given it. This continued for each world it visited, until it's duty was done. Then it carved its servants - from the rocks of every world Regirock, from the burnished iron Registeel, from the never-melting ice Regice - and commanded them to stand vigilant against all who would undo their master's work.

Yet more deities came. The bi-coloured birds of eon Latias and Latios, the crackling pranksters of the hurricane Thundurus and Tornadus, their master Landorus, the being of living magma Heatran, the shadow of nightmares Darkrai, the full-moon's glow Cresselia, the voice of the forest Celebi, the gardener Shaymin, the wish-granter Jirachi, the fairy of beginning Mew, the prince of the sea Manaphy, the drifting servant Phione, the symbol of victory Victini, the serene dancer Meloetta...

Each Arceus loved with all His heart, yet the itch would not stop. Yes, it was a quirk in His soul had driven the Creator to form more Pokemon, not only his boundless concern.

So Arceus gave life to his fourth set of creations - the humans. They were the least connected to the Nexus, and as a result had none of the land-sense even the simplest of animals had. But they made up for their flaw with adaptable minds and agile fingers. He watched as they shambled to and fro, walking with dead eyes and leaden feet, sometimes even sitting in one spot and refusing to move. He realised that the humans, being detached from His realm, lacked the vigor of His other creations. So Arceus distilled the essence of His realm, giving rise to the being of knowledge Uxie, the being of willpower Azelf, and the being of emotions Mesprit. Together they provided the humans with the knowledge to survive, the will to live, and the ability to enjoy it to the fullest.

But humans only went on to cultivate the dark emotions. Jealousy, greed, rage, hatred... And fear. They continuously fought over the smallest things, learning new ways to kill each other in cold-blooded murder for simple pleasures, and kin would take revenge with knives in hand. Arceus mourned every human who died an unnatural death, feeling their last release of breathe as a twisting pain in His heart.

So the Creator returned to the Nexus, and drew from the flowing Source. He darkened a handful to make His blood-stained reaper; the black flame of calamity Yveltal, who would take the lives of human and pokemon alike when he saw fit. Then to counter the black flame He brightened another handful, giving rise to His shining breathe of life; the cobalt tree of light Xerneas, whose antlers blessed those who would strive for peace and quietude. The residue from both creations He combined, and together with His own blood He made the shifting cobra of the land Zygarde, who kept his hexagonal eyes on the wars between his siblings.

The agony of death lessened, but the dissonance in His soul increased. Arceus left the dimensions and returned to the Nexus, resolving to search for an end. He endured the ceaseless tide of time, and ventured beyond the endless boundaries of space, but to no avail. Next He turned His gaze onto His creations. He was drawn to the rivals, time and space; fire and lightning; land and sea; dreams and nightmares; life and death... And understood.

He ripped apart His shadow, and cast it into the most inhospitable dimension He could find. "You are the Destroyer; the Unmaker; It who will tear the worlds asunder. You are my anima, and I will wage war against you until you cease your madness."

The shadow reared up and gave itself a body of roiling darkness. "I am the Destroyer, you are the Creator. I swear with first breathe to strike you down, and should my oath be broken I will crumble in your stead. I am the darkness and you are the light, but who is to say that light will win this war?" Its crimson eyes flashed and with a flap of Its tattered wings It sealed the tear between the Nexus and Its realm.

Up till now the walls between the worlds were weak, and the deities could cross freely from world to world with hardly any effort. But with the birth of the Destroyer the walls strengthened, and no longer yielded to them. So Arceus split their souls apart, sending each fragment to do the owner's duty in the worlds. Giratina and Zygarde He left whole, for the former now had the unexpected duty of ferryman of the dead, while the latter would slither about the bowels of the worlds, constantly sifting through the silt which fell between dimensions.

Arceus called back the seven spirits, and summoned seven of His own creations. "In three arcs I have committed a grave crime against my children, one which threatens to undo all that you have achieved, and for this I will repent. But in the next war I will expend all my strength, for if I do not all my effort will be for nothing." He turned to His children. "Before you all stand the first seven, beings older and stronger than even me. I made you in their image, so now you must bear their strength on your shoulders." Clarity He gave to Articuno, Hope He gave to Rayquaza, Joy He gave to Mew, Sorrow He gave to Kyogre, Rage He gave to Heatran, Hatred He gave to Groudon and Fear He gave to Giratina. "These gifts you must carry for all eternity, until you find apprentices you can call sons and daughters to pass on the burden to."

The seven guardians left for their forts, nursing the spark that was the spirits within them.

Now the Creator gave His final gift. He called Them back, and explained His task. It was simple: Be the judge of all that exists, including Him. He had little faith in Himself, so the Deoxi would have to, as a whole, decide the victor. Likewise, They would have to constantly judge Themselves, and when Their task was complete, They could shed the physical bodies They had claimed as Their own and return to the Nexus.

Each arc which followed heralded a war; a clash between Creator and Destroyer. He who sided with the humans was named the Arceus for the duration of the arc, regardless of whether or not He advocated life. According to Their word the Deoxi picked the victor in each case, and Their choice decided the state of the dimensions.

It took three wars for Arceus to banish the humans; to cleanse the land of their poisonous touch and toxic actions. But their disappearance from the weave destabilized the environment itself, causing once peaceful Pokemon to turn wild; to murder each other for no reason at all. But worse was the formation of vortexes, within which Ferals as they were now called ganged up against trespassers.

Again His hands were stained with the blood of His creations, so after the next arc He cast the Destroyer away, and hid the paths between dimensions. With the last of His strength, Arceus retreated into the Nexus. "The next battle will be the last. To the victor goes the multiverse, so to will the reins of fate."

And so was writ on the heart of the worlds.

Yeah, I'm done. This was entirely written on a whim, in school no less, so you don't have to take this seriously. But, and this is a big BUT, the Epic of Creation can be considered as my headcanon, so bits of it might make their appearance in my various pokemon-related fics. If you have any objections to what's written, or are all "Oh no, based on the something-or-another, this didn't happen, that did!" then keep it to yourself. I'll reiterate. This. Is written. On. A. Whim.

Now on the subject of OCs. I feel kind of bad for not going into detail, so I may make some oneshots which go further in-depth into some of the events. If you want to give your own two cents, try submitting a character! I don't need much, but here's the form for reference.

Name: (Not needed. If blank, I'll treat the species name as its name)

Gender:

Species

Rough age:

Personality: (A brief one is sufficient, but two sentences minimum to give me a feel)

Others:

See what I mean? They'll probably make cameos in a chapter each. If none are submitted and I feel like typing, then I'll just come up with my own.

Thanks for reading! Review if you feel like it, as comments and criticism alike will be much appreciated.

-Zek