The Book of Elements

The Ruler of Earth

Long ago, before humans ever walked the earth, the earth itself was just a dark void of nothingness. Then, by some means, Time began to flow and transformed the black void into a solid shape. Placed on this shape, were six dragons that were somehow formed from the essence of Time itself. Each one of these dragons possessed the powers of one of the six elements that were fire, water, earth, air, darkness and light. Then Time spoke to the dragons and said to them, "Go forth and create."

So the dragons did. Using the power of the elements within them, they created everything from the sky above to the land and oceans below. When they were done they called it 'Earth', after the earth dragon, for he had created the most and put the most effort in to forming this new place.

However, the dragons still felt that Earth was bare, so they began to create animals. They fashioned each animal with the beauty and grace of fire; the twisting endurance of water; the steadfast defence of earth; the speed of air; the clever cunning of the dark or the kindness of the light. When they were done, they had created every animal that lives on Earth. The most successful creation was a type of animal called humans, who walked on their hind legs and had just as much intelligence as the dragons. These humans called themselves the elemental tribes and worshipped the dragons like gods. Each tribe followed the wisdom and guidance of one of the elemental Dragons who gladly taught and lead them.

The fire tribe called themselves Flare Kyzer, which in their language meant "servants of the flame". The fire dragon taught them to be able to harness heat, not just in the physical world but in the feelings of love, passion, courage and bravery, to fight for what they believe, to always find beauty, to let their feelings show and to always attain their desires.

The water tribe were named Aquirial, meaning "water's students". They followed the ways of water from the water dragon, to follow the path carved out for them, to live with dignity, honour and chastity, to respect everything and to shape life to their standards.

The earth tribe were dubbed Eartheran which translates to "stone generals". They learned from the earth dragon, to have stability, to live in unity with nature, to be honest and loyal, and read the feelings of the world and other people.

The air tribe were christened Cyclonikyn, which came from the phrase "storm seers". From the air dragon, they were taught to be free and flexible, to not be tied down to anything, to love freely, to have spirit and optimism and to turn any serious situation into something fun.

The dark tribe were called Creper Cordis, meaning "shadow heart". They turned to the dark dragon for guidance. He taught them to accept the darkness with them, to depend on no one, to lead themselves, to think and to plan, to find patterns in life and how they could be used, to manipulate others and see through deception and that knowledge itself was power.

Finally the light tribe were called Lyrancena which in the ancient language means "people of light".

The light dragon, greeting his followers, showed them how to be kind and gentle, how to make decisions and listen to their hearts, to be humble, responsible and grateful and to take care of each other.

When they finished, the dragons filled Earth with light, so their new creations did not have to live in the dark as they once had, back when their task was first given to them.

But the dark dragon was not happy that other dragons had filled the world with light, for they hadn't consulted him. He could not walk in the darkness as he once had. Now he was forced to stay in a dark cave or hide in the shadows like a coward. The only way things would go back to the way he liked them, was if he was the sole ruler of earth. So he hatched a plan.