Chapter 23: Awakening
All was dark save for her. Opening her eyes, she looked all around at the vast darkness that surrounded her. There was no ground, no air, no sea: only a vast emptiness broken only by the light shining from her body. Whispers passed her ear drawing her attention in many directions. Everywhere she turned only revealed more emptiness.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she called. Silence was her only answer. Time felt as if it had no meaning, no direction. And with nothing surrounding her, how was it that she even existed?
"Where did I come from? Have I always been here?" she thought, extending her hand into the nothingness feeling her body move in that direction.
"Who am I?" she wondered, looking down at herself seeing that she was naked.
"Where are my clothes!" she shouted, realizing that she felt chilly. She imagined a full dress around herself slung over her shoulder that flowed from her hips. Within moments, the dress appeared, wrapping lovingly around her body. She then imagined daintily strapped sandals for her feet and a gold crown on her head which also appeared in their respective places.
"Who am I that I can do this? And can I do more?" she wondered, looking to her feet.
"What is my name? Do I even have a name?" As she pondered, images of a world she was sure she had never seen came to mind; forests and plains, Cities and countryside.
"Why would I imagine something like this? Have I ever seen these things? These images though feel more like, memories. Or are they merely things that I wish to… no, these feel like imaginations of… others? But I am the only one here." Looking around once again, she confirmed that she was indeed the only one there. Though it felt as if hundreds of presences and minds spun around or within her. It was frightening and strangely comforting: so many minds existed beside and within hers. Perhaps these minds would need somewhere to live, and what better place to have them live than one of the many images that she had seen.
Once again, she looked down her feet, extending her leg and stretching her toes down when she felt something solid below her. As she flattened her foot to the ground, soil and grass began to appear around her spreading from her foot. Hills began to form, ponds and marshes appeared as more and more of the ground formed around her. After a few moments, vast plains edged by majestic mountains appeared surrounded by a regal blue sea crashing upon the shores. As she wandered around her new creation, she came to a great desert to the west. Rock formations stood tall everywhere. Some even forming canyons with a rainbow of differing sedimentary colors.
To the north the mountains reached high into the air pointing out the empty blackness still surrounding this entire world. She thought for a while, imagining an immense blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. As she stared and thought, the air around her exploded into color, punching back the emptiness in a great swell of blue and white. The magnificence however quickly faded from view into darkness once again, cooling all the colors of the world to dim shadows of their former brilliance.
"No no no! They need to be bright! This world can't be like this! No one will be able to see!" she called. She tried to imagine the world as a brighter place, but nothing she did seemed to help. As she tried imagining different things, a small spark of light formed in the darkness, darting here and there over the plains and flowers that had been brought into existence. As it darted, it came across the girl as she stood with slumped shoulders in the darkness. Shielding her eyes against the light as she turned to it, she almost felt drawn to its presence.
"Well, that's what I need but I don't know what to make that would create it." She said muttering to herself when the Light began to grow and took on the form of a person.
"Well, hello new goddess. What is your name?" the person asked, the light calming enough that she could clearly see his warm smile and comforting features.
"I-I don't know. I only knew that I existed and by imagining things started appearing. But I created a sky and now everything is dark." The man smiled and nodded.
"Ah yes. Creating a sky does leave a world dark. This world you are creating is a brand new one, and as of yet has not been seen by the master Light Spirit. That is, until now. I have been assigned to be this world's Light Spirit and Conduit. As such I will help you light this new world of yours." With a wave of his hand, the sky was set ablaze where a sun began to form over the horizon. Reds, golds and even some greens shone as the great yellow mass slowly ascended in the sky. When the sun had risen fully above the horizon, she turned to begin making something else when she came face to face with a large blue lion. The sight of him made her jump back, falling to the ground.
"Ah, Nexus. I was beginning to wonder when you would show yourself here. I honestly believed that you would have beaten me here, seeing as she is the goddess of this world." The Light Spirit smiled. Nexus turned his black and red eyes to him, nodding slowly making his cream-colored mane wave with the motion and adjusting his leathery wings when the hair tickled them.
"Finding this world was somewhat difficult Neirin. But now that I am here…" Nexus answered, holding up his paw as an ethereal cloud seeped from it, seeming to look around before gravitating towards her swirling around her almost like a pet.
"What is this?" she asked, holding out her hand allowing the form to rest in her palm.
"That is Khaled, the Time Spirit and Conduit for this world. It can become any form you can think of." She looked to the presence, almost able to see a face as it looked to her with expectant and eager eyes. As if from a faraway memory, the image of a sprawling temple in the clouds came to mind. The presence sensed her forming thought as some of its form reached to her, surrounding her head before taking off into the sky. Brick by brick the grand building she had imagined began to form, spreading out until its enormous form sat high above the ground surrounded by ribbons of light.
Nexus placed a paw upon her shoulder, instantly transporting them within the building. Miles upon miles of arches held up by round columns lined the halls. Fountains of sand stood throughout the building while a steady rhythm quietly clicked throughout. On the walls appeared to be gears and mechanisms that made up clocks. As they toured it, creatures began appearing: many of they were sentient sand timers with small wings on the top and a single eye on the top of the sand. Humanoid creatures dressed in brilliant green, blue and red robes roamed the halls accompanied by other creatures made of breastplate armor. Green, Blue or Red flames resembling fabric quietly thundered from the plume of their helms and torso hole as she moved.
"What is all this? I don't know what any of it is, yet it all feels so… familiar somehow. Who am I? or rather, who was I?" Nexus took a breath and nodded, his long tail whipping through the air as the horns atop his head glowed.
"You mean that you don't remember?" Nexus asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Remember what? Is there something I am supposed to remember about who I am?" She asked, her voice becoming desperate. Nexus tilted his head slightly and stared at her long and hard. She almost felt as if she had done something wrong as he remained motionless in his stare.
"It would appear she didn't intend for this to happen. You've forgotten all of it." Nexus answered cryptically. She kept waiting for some kind of answer but this great blue lion wasn't giving her anything except more questions.
"Nexus, please. Who am I? Have I done or forgotten something important? Please tell me, I need to know!" she begged. Nexus nodded, rubbing the top of her head with his massive paw.
"Apologies goddess. I meant no harm. You are Rhinne, goddess of this world. If you ever require my help with time, do not hesitate to call me. I am Nexus, the master of All Time."
"Rhinne, that's a pretty name. I like it. But what is it that I have forgotten? Is it something important?"
"No chi… pardon, goddess. It is not important. In time you will find who you are. But for now, you have a world to name and populate. What shall you call this world of yours?" Nexus asked, guiding her to the railing where she could overlook the entirety of the world below her. From her vantage point, the world seemed so small when at ground level it had seemed so expansive.
"I feel as if this world is so old, yet it has only just begun, is that strange?" Rhinne asked to which Nexus smiled and shook his head. Minutes passed as Rhinne thought about what she would name this new world of hers. It would have to be something stout sounding. Something that sounded as if the world had been there for a very long time despite its young age.
"Old…old fern, no. Ol'springs, no too lazy. Old horizon? No, no, no... it has to be well established but still new. Sap… yes sap, short for sapling. Hmm…" minutes passed by as she contemplated the name and the spelling of her new world, taking a handful of sand and spreading it on the dirt to write it out. Eventually she settled on a name complete with its spelling.
"Nexus, I have a name for this world: Olde Sapp." Nexus was joined by the Light Spirit Neirin and was told the name of the world.
"Now, remember once you have named the world this, you can never undo it. Doing so would require you to destroy the world and start anew."
"Yes Neirin, I am certain. I would like to name this world Olde Sapp." The moment she finished speaking, thunder cracked across the skies as a bright golden light sprang up, shrinking quickly to the center of the island-like land mass below until it all merged at the center. The same golden light shot skyward parting the clouds above.
"What was that?" Neirin smiled as he looked to Rhinne.
"That was the birth of the very root of the world, the one thing that will allow all life to exist here in Olde Sapp: The World Tree. It has a direct connection to the Life Stream and will grow based on how many people live here in this dimension. Every dimension has one and it takes on the form of a different tree in each." He explained, placing a hand on her shoulder teleporting to the small maple sapling.
"So, how do I make this grow?"
"By having people inhabit this world. It grows in reaction to the amount of people living here." Rhinne considered his words for a short while. Perhaps the presences in her mind were people waiting to be born, to be given form. Jitters ran through her body as she thought of how these people should look, what it would take to make them or at least give them a way to exist.
"Perhaps I can use pieces of the world to make them a body." Looking to her own body, she felt along her arms, legs, chest and back, feeling the hard bones within her skin. Was that what kept her upright? If so, what would she use to make them? While the bones needed to be strong she wanted to make it mean something, something that would show these people just how valuable they were to her and to each other. As she thought, her eye caught a glimpse of a yellow-ish metal laying on the ground.
"That's it!" her mind shouted with glee, turning away from the small sapling and holding her pamls out as gold seeped from the dirt, forming into the bones that Rhinne had felt in her own body. But they were all the same height and size. If they were left like that, there would be so many boring people. With waves of her arms and intricate movements of her fingers, some of the skeletons became taller and larger while other became shorter and smaller. With the basics made, she thought of what she should put within the heads: something that could absorb information and help them learn. There was nothing that she could find or think of that would meet her wants, so she set about creating it.
When she first started, it was almost as large as one of the rooms within Khaled. Days passed as she worked, putting in place hundreds of millions of threads made of gold connected to small nodes made of diamonds. The round shape of her creation was split into two halves: One half was rather plain made up of symmetrical cubic shapes, while the other was freer formed. The threads meandered through the space connecting to the nodes in random places.
"And what is the purpose of having two haves like this Rhinne? Wouldn't be more prudent to have the entire thing made one way or the other?" Nexus asked, having watched her as she worked from the very first day.
"I don't think so. This boring side is supposed to help them in making choices, such as if something is better or not. This freer side is more to allow them to be happy, create things and even imagine." Nexus nodded his understanding when Rhinne spread her hands out, closing them together as the giant apparatus shrank until it fit within the palms of her hands. The wires and diamonds became so tiny and dense, they almost appeared solid. Going to the golden skeletons, she opened the head and placed the apparatus inside, snapping her fingers as dozens more filled the head of each skeleton.
"Now they will need something to help this skeleton move." Rhinne once again felt her arms and legs, carefully noting the way her own muscles moved, swelled and changed with each movement she made yet remained firm. Wandering away from the skeletons, she searched for something that would be similar to the properties that she had felt in her own body. She found it on the edge of a marsh: clay. Waving her hand over it, she pulled a mass of it from the ground taking it back to the skeletons where she applied it over the bones. Time passed her by slowly as she painstakingly fashioned each muscle after what she felt in her own body, applying the final form to the rest with a snap.
Finally, came the skin. There would need to be a stout difference between the men and the women she could feel in her mind. But a difference that would be appealing to both of them. The women would need something soft, pleasing to the touch. The men too would have something favorable, but not quite as soft. Surveying the whole world, there was nothing she could see that would serve her desires. Something in the back of her mind felt like it was trying to surface: it was a creature that walked on all fours, ate grass and had a soft, fluffy puffs of hair all over its body. Waving her hand over the ground, the creature began to form from the grass, all of it melding into one as the creature came to life.
This creature's hair she called a Birk, would be the one to serve as the skin of the men. Still the women would need something different, something softer. Another creature began to stir in her mind. One that walked on two legs, had a long slender neck and wings. Its whole body was covered in slender flat sticks. No not sticks, feathers. Again, the creature formed from the ground and grass around her until it all merged and became a creature she called a goose. She would use the under feathers from these creatures called 'Down' to make the skin of the women as it was much softer than the hair of the Birk.
The images that she had thought of however felt more like long suppressed memories, things that she had seen before. More and more of these creatures came to mind as she created them faster and faster. Birds, cattle, fish, whales, monkeys, all kinds of creatures that roamed the sea, land and air of Olde Sapp. After the whirl of creation, she gathered some of the Birk's hair called wool and the down feathers and applied them to her skeletons A snap of her fingers covered half the skeletons with wool, and the other half with down.
She had been so busy in creating the bodies for the people, that she hardly noticed that the World Tree was growing little by little. When she did finally focus her attention on it, she surprised to see a small tree only large enough to have sprouted a few dozen leaves.
"If the World Tree is a Direct line to the Life Stream, perhaps parts of it can give these bodies life and provide a place for these presences to go." She had created a number of bodies, more in fact than she had leaves. But she had a feeling that with each person brought to true life the tree would grow and provide more. Sure enough, with each leaf she touched to the chest of a person, a presence would leave her and the tree would grow. Each of the bodies she had created combined all the elements until a full human had been created.
Within moments, all the presences she had within her were now living beings. Rhinne then taught them to speak, to read and write, to weave cloth and farm, to care for the world around them. Decades passed by and the people began to travel the world she had created. Some of the people would seek out knowledge, learning how the world worked around them to harness its power for their own: Wood, Stone, water and fire. Some of the people sought out Rhinne and asked that they be taught or given the ability to manipulate these things at will, and she granted them.
Once the world had become populated with a number of people, The Light Spirit and Nexus each convened with Rhinne, telling her of the need and purpose of Transcendents: a person within the world chosen by Light, Life and Time.
"These people will ultimately become a steward and defender of the world within the bounds of the aspect of reality that has chosen them. Their power will come from the Conduits of the world." Neirin explained as the three of them were seated within Khaled, of which Rhinne considered to be her home.
"And what are these conduits?" Rhinne asked, intrigued.
"The conduits are manifestations through which the chosen transcendent draws power from for their aspect of reality. For Light, it will be myself as the sun, moon and stars. For life, it is the World Tree, and for Time, it is this very temple." Rhinne turned her eyes all around her in wondering contemplation
"I see, then I am to choose someone to represent the power of time?" asked Rhinne, already thinking through the hundreds of people having been born in the world. Nexus shook his head and placed a large paw on her hand.
"No goddess, Khaled has already made that choice."
"Then why come to me with this knowledge if such people are needing to be chosen? Shouldn't such a choice be made as quickly as possible?" she asked, looking to both of them for answers when Neirin explained.
"We are but parts that make up the world as a whole. This world is yours first and foremost, and we wanted to make you aware of the need for them. Every world needs them, and this world is no different. But we did not want to simply begin making changes to a world that does not belong to us without your permission."
"I see. Then by all means, make your selections." She was pleasantly surprised when Nexus informed her that she would be the Transcendent of Time. Neirin chose a small girl no older than ten to be the Transcendent of Light. The Transcendent of Life was chosen as a man with many years behind him as a grandfather. With the aspects of reality now having chosen protectors for the world, Rhinne turned her attention to the people of the world and their ever-expanding wanderings.
Those whom had traveled abroad asked for her guidance as they faced new and sometimes dangerous creatures. When she heard of this, she was shocked to learn that the very world she had created was beginning to spawn nightmarish creatures. Stone and trees came alive seeking out those that wondered too far from safety, more appearing and becoming ever stronger with time. After nine generations, the people learned to forge, smelting metal from rock to create weapons and armor for fighting off these creatures. But even they were not enough to protect them fully.
Those that called themselves warriors begged for the strength and ability to better protect the people. To a few Rhinne granted tremendous powers whom in turn taught the people how to harness and use the power they were granted. And still the creatures became more and more powerful. Animals began to turn into ravenous monsters, while the people began to slowly turn on one another.
And then she felt it; something in the air. No, something in the world. It felt like a bad dream, a nightmare trying to swallow her whole. It was this something that was corrupting her creation. She tried to stop it, tried destroying it, even tried to find where it had come from or where it had settled, all in vain. Desperately she began granting the people of the world more and better powers to help defend against this invisible force and the creatures it spawned. But still it persisted, growing in strength with each passing year.
She convened with the Transcendent of Life, Ward Crimsonheart, to ask if there was a way to fight off this invisible, intangible foe twisting the world. Rhinne, Ward and the Transcendent of Light Louisa all agreed that something would need to be done or it would twist and corrupt the world from the inside out. The three of them journeyed across the world finding the very edges of the presence. They all tried to battle it back with little to no success, finding their powers would be destroyed.
"If we can't fight it back, what else are we supposed to do?" Louisa asked.
"There is only one this we could try, but it will require all of us."
"What did you have in mind young lady?" Ward asked, his wise eyes watching the edge of this presence and how it almost seemed to be growing.
"We have to contain it." Louisa and Ward both looked at her with questioning eyes.
"Do you even know how to do that?" Louisa shouted.
"With all of us together, I'm sure that we can contain it in a form that is more manageable. It may take some time, but we would need to start from the edges and pull it all together." Ward pointed back to the World Tree which had since grown enough that its topmost branches began to gather clouds around them.
"If we use the World Tree as the center and start at Noon when Louisa's power is at their strongest, we will be able to do so."
"Yeah, but the problem is the noon sun only lasts for a few minutes."
"Leave that to me Louisa." Nodding to each other the three of them spread to the far reaches of the world and the edges of this malicious presence. Just as the sun reached its highest point, Rhinne threw her hand forward. A wave spread from her palm coloring the world slightly grey as time slowed to a near standstill save for Ward and Louisa. Threads of lightning and quakes within the air rumbled as the three of them fought with all their might to force this presence to bend to their will.
As they neared one another, small crystals began to form and the struggle became ever harder as it wanted to spread from its containment. At times, their power would simply disintegrate allowing the presence through their containment reversing progress. Monumental effort used by all three of them eventually compressed the presence into a single place creating a massive crystal. What power that remained within them was used in ensuring this presence would never again spread through the world, locking it into the crystal form it had taken. With their power exhausted, Rhinne's time slowing ability collapsed and time once again resumed.
"What has happened here? Time has been…" Melting into existence, Nexus began to demand an explanation but stopped when he saw all three transcendents lying utterly exhausted on the ground around a giant blue-white crystal. He couldn't let them fade away in such a state after whatever it was they had been through. Holding his paw between them, the sound of clocks clinking rung out as he restored their energy and healed over the small wounds littering their skin. As he worked, Nexus felt his attention drawn to the crystal as if it were calling to him. He ignored it but the persistent beckoning of the crystal kept his attention divided until Nexus breathed a sigh and focused all his attention on the task at hand. Once the three of them had been taken care of he once again began to demand an explanation.
"I sensed something was wrong in the world and tried to contact you, but I could not. Now that I am finally able to contact you, I find you exhausted and created this crystal. What have you been doing? I haven't been able to contact you for almost 2,000 years!" All three of them looked to one another with wide eyes and stupefied staggers.
"I didn't realize so much time had gone by." Rhinne breathed, staggering to a root of the World Tree and sitting down just as the strength left her knees followed by Ward and Louisa.
"There was a presence that has been corrupting the world. The people of Olde Sapp have been trying to fight off its effects in the form of monstrous creatures made from the world and its animals. I finally enlisted the help of Ward and Louisa to fight it off but even that was failing." Nexus looked to the crystal, feeling the same beckoning as before when his eyes fully looked at it.
"And this crystal? What is it?" he asked with an edge in his voice, doing all he could to rend his gaze away from the crystal.
"This is the presence that had been corrupting the world. We found its edges and drove it all into one place, and in doing so created this." Rhinne explained as she held her hand towards the crystal.
"Now that you have it all in one place, can it be destroyed?" Asked Nexus, feeling his eyes being drawn back to the crystal until Ward stood between him and it. Within his chest, Nexus felt a burning hate swell within him. Rhinne held up her hand as a mirror appeared before her it. Images of destruction followed by the nothingness scrolled across it, the same nothingness Rhinne had first encountered upon awakening.
"No, unfortunately. Doing so would only release it in a catastrophic explosion. It could possibly destroy the world and rip time itself apart." Nexus' hate continued to rise until Louisa put a hand to his shoulder and shook him gently, waking him from his angered trance.
"Nexus, are you alright?" As his senses came back to him Nexus stepped away from the crystal, turning so that he would no longer face it.
"That crystal is powerful. My very looking at it draws me to it with an almost fanatical urgency. I am afraid that if I were to touch it, I would not be able to resist its will."
"Then we must rid this world of it presence." Ward suggested, looking back to it but not feeling the same beckoning that Nexus spoke of.
"We can't so that Ward. That would only make another world have to deal with the problem." Louisa said in response.
"Then what are we to do with it? If it stays here, the very thing that Nexus explained will happen to someone else." Rhinne stood and walked between them.
"Not if we three were to choose a person and give them the power to overcome its temptation. They could in turn tech others how to resist and be guardians of this crystal for all time."
"And why can't one of us take it and guard it? We are supposed to be the defenders of this world, aren't we?" the demanding tone of Louisa made them all stop and ponder the question until Nexus answered for them.
"That would still be a problem. You are only able to resist it because of your proximity to one another. If I were to have the Master Light Spirit and the Master Life Guardian here with me, I would be able to resist without incident."
"But if we're only able to resist it because we are all here, how is a single human supposed to be able to resist it?" Louisa shouted until Ward calmed her, bringing out a sheet of paper and drawing a shape on it with a clump of rich soil.
"We shall give them a mark drawn by all of us to help them resist it. This mark will then be the sign passed down to the future generations of guardians." Rhinne and Louisa looked to the shape he had drawn of a simple 'v' when Rhinne took the clump of earth and drew two small wings pointing down. Louisa then added to it by drawing two more wings pointed up on the ends of the downward wings. When Nexus felt they had found their answer he quietly left through a portal back to his home dimension.
"It is set then. This will be the sign those we shall call the Grandmasters." The three of them nodded in agreement to their accomplishment until Rhinne spoke up.
"Who will be the first of the warriors to guard this crystal?" looking up and winking, Ward thought hard while rubbing his chin until he shook his finger and raised his brow.
"Before I was called as a Transcendent, I was head of my family, The Crimsonhearts. Over the years we made ourselves a keep in the state of Versal to keep the west safe from attacking creatures. One of my Granddaughters would be an excellent candidate as the first Grandmaster. Crimsonwood Keep is well build and fortified to keep those who would use this crystal for ill intent far away."
"And what is the name of your Granddaughter?" asked Rhinne as they began transporting the crystal to said keep.
"Lukania. She is a fine spearman and strong willed. There was even a time when…" Rhinne and Louisa smiled as they listened to tales of the girl they were to meet and choose for the important task. It wasn't a perfect solution, but the world would remain safe for some time as long as the crystal wouldn't be used for ill.
