A/N: This interlude is something of a change of pace from the other narrative bits I've written before. It is intended to be read as an extract from Fire Nation creation mythology. It will also set up the turn of events that will begin to take place in the story.
Tales of the Spirit Age: Fall of the Blue Spirit
Part IX. Interlude I: Of the Beginning of Ages
"And so it came pass that out of Chaos came All Things that Have Been, Are, and Have Yet to Be. At this Time All Began, and Being was known. Thus began Life and from Life, Death. From Darkness came Light, and so on until Chaos retreated and gave way to Order and the Balance that is our universe…
"…Chaos did not give way readily. Out of anger and spite, it assumed Shape and Being and swallowed the Darkness and all that is consuming and destructive, for only in the perfection of Order that is absolute Annihilation can Chaos renew itself. And this being of Chaos took upon itself a Name – that of Koh, the Shadow King and the Face-Stealer, He Who Seeks the End of All Things.
"And so too did that which opposes Annihilation take Shape and Being, in the form of the Gods. The Brother Gods Agni and Tui rose up against Koh and his Darkness and cast him into the Abyss, wherein he would claim his foul dwelling and await a time of vulnerability in his foes. So ended the first War of Ages…
"And so it came to pass the Brother Gods and their sisters, La, Qi, and Tian together created the world and all that is in it….
"…For such was Qi's love of life that she gave up her body that it might provide shelter for all things that had come forth from her womb, Spirits, Men, and Beasts. In mourning for her beloved sister, Tian stretched herself over the earth that still throbbed with Qi's essence, becoming the firmament that watches over her. The Brother Gods swore to protect what their sisters had made. Agni removed one of his far-seeing eyes and surrendered it to Tian, so that light and warmth and life might bathe the world. The great burning eye rolled across the firmament so that day and night came to be. Tui opened his veins and created the oceans from his blood, giving shelter to countless other Spirits and Beasts that formed from the separate drops. La, the least of her sisters and brothers, gave her beauty to the darkness of night, so that light would shine even when Agni's eye could not look down upon the world. Thus the Moon became the Guardian of Night, to keep the evil that lurks in the shadows at bay.
"… In time, the Brothers quarreled, and thus began the second War of Ages, the Great War of the Spirit Age…
"… and Koh, from the nadir of the Abyss, watched with pleasure as his enemies turned upon themselves. In his cunning malice, he offered to them a truly treacherous gift, that the War would consume the world: his children as their soldiers, the race of Demons…"
Rant:
If you ever compare the creation myths across cultures, you might be surprised to be find some interesting motifs from cultures that never had any contact. Such leitmotifs include slaying old gods/Chaos before the world can begin, creating the world from the bodies of slain gods/gods who sacrifice their bodies to become the world, INCEST, and brother gods who defeat a foe only to have a falling out. I think Jung and Campbell were onto something.
/Rant
