Author's note: Umm...yeah. Since the goddesses really appeared in the last chapter, I thought it made sense to add a little mythology to this story. This is the creation myth of Xodus. I guess it's kinda a combo of Greek Mythology and the Garden of Eden story. Read this with an open mind. Remember, this is just a fanfic, not a religious sermon nor a theory of creation. Thank you.


--Interlude: Mythology--


Long ago when the world was barren, the great mother, Ghea, grew lonely. As a young maiden, she walked the earth, young and wild, bare skin baking in the sun. Then, when she matured, the Lord of the Sky took notice. In hopes of appeasing her, he gave her a gift. He took five of his most prized possessions, the diamonds of the sky, and held them out to her.

"These," he explained, "are seeds. Plant them in the earth and water them with your tears. They are the seeds of the universe. Tend them carefully, and they will grow."

When she received the precious gift, she wept tears of joy. She planted the star seeds and slowly they grew. They grew like flowers with violet stems. Stems of amethyst sparkling in the sunlight of the eyes of the Lord of the Sky.

His plan had worked. At night, when the lord could afford to turn away his sun-fire eyes, he lay with her, while his brother, Old Man Moon, did the watching over the earth.

Day by day, the flowers grew. Night by night, Ghea lay with the Lord of the Sky, Sun Fire. Soon, the Amethyst stalks gave way to pale, silver buds.

She continued to water them with her tears.

After months and months of this ecstasy, the buds burst open into translucent rainbow petals that sparkled like gossamer wings. In the center of each flower, was a young girl. Ghea immediately dubbed the girls her daughters. Soon, she saw that each of her daughters had a talent.

The eldest was Physhica. She could control all things physical, setting it in a pattern of right. Night followed day, gravity held Ghea to earth, and the stars glimmered in the sky.

Next, came Chandrika, lady of light, also born with great power. She could move light and darkness, as well as righteousness. She felt thoughts and dealt with emotion, trying to keep all at balance so that light remained stronger than dark.

The third was Stikare, who gave life by creating energy. She charged life into the earth and made it have the power to support life of its own.

Next came Lightena, who sustained life. She would cry and create storms of rage to temper the balance. Also, she'd take some of the warmth from Lord Sun Fire and give it to the earth in a gentle, motherly caress. It was storms of rain and storms of heat that kept life flowing.
The youngest, however, was remarkable. The fifth goddess. She, perhaps, had the hardest and most misunderstood talent. Change. Her name was Cataly. She made sure that no matter what happened, things changed. This change was important, because if things stay the same for too long, they rot and dry out and loose their life force. It hurt her so much sometimes, but she knew that sometimes things had to change.

Ghea loved her daughters and raised them well, for she knew that now, through her evenings of ecstasy, she contained new seeds within her, the seeds that would create plants and animals. But because these daughters of hers had come out of the stars, they had power and talent. They would live forever, as would their mother. Ghea knew that while only she could nurture all the life that would soon live on earth, only her daughters could sustain it with physical order, light and righteousness, power and energy, water and sun, and constant, gentle, lesson-teaching change. So they would live as goddesses and protect Ghea's children as they lived on earth.

However, Lord Sun Fire was furious. In this new world, now teeming with life, he had no control over it. Furthermore, Ghea was now content to stay day and night preparing for the new life to arrive, and readying her daughters for the great task before them. He grew to hate the beautiful young girls who took up all of Ghea's thoughts. So he devised a plan to counteract all their plans and preparations. He took a sixth star seed from the sky and planted it on earth. Then, he struck Ghea down and watered the seed with her blood. The seed grew quickly, into a stem as red as the blood spilled by the earth mother, and petals like a rose, except, very peculiarly, this rose was black as ebony coal. Instead of a beautiful young maiden, however, this one contained a handsome young boy. A boy with eyes as black as the flower he grew inside. The maidens understood who he was when they looked at him. The earth mother, weakened from loss of blood, understood.

In his anger, Lord Sun Fire had created Sadisto, death, pain, and chaos. From the time the boy opened his eyes, he darted to the girls and attempted to stab them with the tail of a comet, to no avail. The five goddesses, at least for the moment, were stronger than this young boy who was just born. But the boy grew stronger and stronger.

Eventually, Ghea had her children. First, there was plants. Then bacteria. Then animals. Finnally, humans. The five goddesses watched over the life was interest and compassion, treating each and every creature like their children. They knew that for their children to grow strong, they must temper mercy with justice and teach them lessons.

Sadisto was unhappy. The five wise goddesses kept the pain and suffering on earth to a minimum, only hurting when it was necessary. He wanted the chaos to begin. So, he had a plan. He knew that the only way for him to be unleashed on earth would be for a human to release him. Hiding himself in a delicious, pure-looking red apple, he journied to earth. A young maiden found the apple, and was tempted to bite its crimson flesh. One could not blame her. The apple was perhaps the most perfect ever created. Anyone would have eaten it if given the chance. However, with the first bite, Sadisto escaped and was let loose on the world. The five goddesses tried to work together to bring him at bay, but he had already spread throughout the world. So they constantly battled, trying to keep suffering, death, and chaos under control. But they cannot always keep him chained up. Once in a while, he runs free and takes or ruins a life. Fortunately, he is never completely free, and the goddesses can protect us all from him most of the time.

And so, in a burst of happiness, blood, pain and revenge, the world came to be.

To a few, there always seemed to be something wrong with this creation myth. What was the purpose of those born different?