Fantasy Stream: Creation Myth 2

13 December 2025

As I note below, this is the second part of my creation myth. Those familiar with Tolkien’s works, and his own creation myth, will no doubt notice the similarity; it was the inspiration for my own, and the reason why singing powers spells. One might call it my homage to Tolkien, of whom I am an academic scholar.

6 May 2013

Here comes the second part of our myth of creation:

Of the Time Before Creation, Part 2

Both groups returned to our company at the same time, and we had not been idle in their absence, learning that by combining our voices new forms were made. By combining earth and water, new things sprouted from the globe, their forms according to each pair’s combined thought. When the voices of air were added, these new forms grew, some reaching for the sky above, some producing vibrant colors–trees, flowers, grass, and bushes sprouted across our globe as we sang in harmony, growing and multiplying as our wonder and awe grew.

At the moment of our greatest wonder and singing, Elker and his followers sang in their new voices of fire, burning to white ash all that we had raised. Guengle and her followers, not yet in league with Elker, sang with their new voices of cold, freezing our new creations and bursting them into white crystalline powder. We were at first stunned by the suddenness of their two discords, and let our voices fall, but Great God nodded and we raised our voices again in opposition to the rebellious discord of our brothers and sisters, opposing their voices of fire and ice with our voices of earth, water, and air. And out of the battle of our voices, new forms were created, unforeseen by any of us, least of all Elker and Guengle, whose only purpose had been to disrupt us. Out of the battles between earth and fire, earth melted and flowed, cold blasted the molten earth, creating crystals and gemstones in many new colors and shapes, some crystal clear, some hard, some pliable, some jagged and sharp, some round and smooth, all increasing the wonder and awe of our new, unforeseen creations. Water battled fire and steam rose and formed clouds, carried around our globe by air and fire created wind. Cold blasted these newly-formed clouds and rain turned to snow; cold blasted water and ice formed; cold blasted the trees and water withdrew to prevent the trees from shattering. Some trees’ leaves turned from green to brilliant reds, golds, and browns, falling to the earth and blanketing the ground with their colors. Other trees put forth more energy, creating more needles to surround the trunk in an evergreen blanket of insulation.

When these battles had proceeded for an age, Great God held up His hand for silence, and for a second age we contemplated the awful wonder of our new creations. Softly, as we were still caught in the wonder of what our battles had produced, Great God whispered, “Even your rebellion has only increased the beauty and wonder of your creations.”

Elker and his followers, and Guengle and her followers, flamed and frosted their respective voices in anger that they had contributed to rather than disrupted our Father’s designs for our music. We raised our voices to cover and calm them, and again, Great God raised His hand for silence; we all fell silent.

We sat for an age contemplating Great God’s words while the rebels brooded. Our globe returned as before to its perfect state, its surface smoothing, the lights falling, the flows smoothing.

Again, Great God broke the silence of our contemplation. “Greater things than even these you have made are yet possible. What more can you bring to life if you further collaborate?”

We again took thought and into our minds came images of things not yet imagined. We began again to give voice to our thoughts, more subtle, more concerted than before, and shapes arose on our globe, shapes that moved about the surface of our globe, some so small they could hardly be seen, others so large that their walking shook the surface; still others soared through the sky above, still others swam through the waters, all things of beauty and grace.

Elker and his followers and Guengle and her company both watched for a time, gazing at what we had created. As if by common consent, both groups took some of our forms and added both flame and frost, corrupting the new forms into creatures of their own malice, beasts that attacked and slew our creations, staining the surface of our globe red as their new beasts of fang and horn consumed the creatures of our thought. And Elker and his followers and Guengle and her followers laughed at the destruction. And Great God frowned but did not raise His hand.

We altered our singing voices and infused our creatures with defenses–hoof and horn, tooth and skin–and fewer of our creations were slain and consumed while many of theirs were slain. They started to alter their voices when Great God raised His hand for silence. We sat for an age contemplating the new wonder and thinking of new ways to protect them from Elker and Guengle’s corruptions. Great God saw all our thoughts and smiled.

When the age had passed, Great God spoke: “Again, your rebellions have only increased the beauty and wonder of our creations.”

Elker and his followers, and Guengle and her followers again raised their voices in anger and frustration, that they had again contributed to our designs rather than thwarting them. Again, Great God raised His hand for silence.

“All your attempts to rebel will eventually rebound to enhance the greater good and increase my glory–this is the way of all things.”

We sat for another age contemplating Great God’s words, trying to understand how Elker and Guengle, and their followers, attempts to corrupt, disrupt, and destroy increased the beauty of our designs. We communed, first in small groups, later in larger groups and across our aspects, until we understood. The greatest among us, first thought of Great God, Elos, whose mind was a mirror of Great God’s, voiced our new understanding.

“Father, we see that everything must have its opposite: without the darkness of the Void, the light of our globe would not shine.”

And Great God smiled.

And while we contemplated, the rebels brooded, still angered by–to them–their failures. They, too, communed with each other, called a truce between their opposing aspects, and concluded that they must again dissemble their purposes before us, looking for a better time and place to wreak havoc on all that we might do. Elker spoke first.
“Father, we are sorry for what we have done and wish to aid you in your work.”
Guengle added her assent, speaking for her aspect.

]Great God nodded. “Behold!” He pointed to the Void. “See what your voices have wrought!”

We saw all our creations–land, sea, sky; trees and plants; beast, bird, and fish–in the Void before us, a beautiful blue-green world riding on the bosom of the Void. We were again struck with awe at what we had, through our voices, created. And we saw new forms, distinct from those we created, moving across the world wrought of our thoughts and voices. And our wonder grew as we understood that these new creatures were us, when we would be clothed in mortal flesh, and the vision closed. Great God smiled at our awestruck silence. In us, desire grew–desire to give material form to what we had seen, desire to give material forms to ourselves, desire to experience mortal life.

The former rebels had different thoughts; in them grew a lust for power and dominion, a desire to rule all we had seen in our Father’s vision. And in their thoughts they remembered how their rebellions had turned to good and they remembered their frustrations. They communed together apart from us, having somehow mastered the ability to close the rest of us from their thoughts. In their communal lust for power awoke new thoughts: the way to this power could only be had through cunning and guile. “We must be model children,” someone said, possibly Elker or Guengle. “We must dissemble ourselves and our purposes until the time is right.”

And Great God spoke. “My children, you must prepare yourselves to make all that you have seen. You must prepare to go down into our creation, leaving our presence to take on mortal flesh. You will experience much joy and sorrow, living and dying before returning to our presence. But even that may not be possible, as clothing yourselves in mortal flesh is perilous, and few will be able to pass the test of life without help. One of you must go down and give his or her essence to break the barrier that will separate all who go down from our presence, for once this world is made, once you decide to go down, the Void will draw you and our world into the depths of time and space, cutting you off from our home and presence, else the mortal world could not be, nor the knowledge and experiences you will gain as you pass through mortality. The cost will be great, more than you can pay alone, but the rewards–knowledge and wisdom–greater than you can, at this time, conceptualize. Ponder these things before deciding.”

Elos spoke. “What is this knowledge and wisdom that we will gain should we choose this course?”

Great God nodded. “If you pass the test, you will join our ranks, and become like us.”
Elos spoke again. “Father, you are not alone?”

Great God smiled. “No, my son, we are legion, as great in number as the limitless Void; we are without end.”

The text breaks off at this point, and when it continues, a different hand writes what follows, lending credence to our supposition that it was not written by Shigmar, but after. The use of the term ‘Great God’ did not originate with the Founders; all records from the time, if they refer to Him at all, call Him ‘Father’ or ‘The One.’ This descriptor of the One came into use at the beginning of the second millennium, persisted for several centuries, and then disappeared, reverting to ‘The One’. It is our opinion that whoever copied this text from the original, altered the text to suit his own needs, sometime between atno 1000 and atno 1500, roughly, although some argue for a later date, since the term never appears in the writings of Headmaster Sheldu or Fereghen Wulfrik.

Coming next time–the final part of our myth of creation!