Envie De Voyager

Freewriting #4- Old Man's Words

They say that behind every legend is a sliver of truth.

Even in the most fantastical of stories, the most unbelievable of anecdotes, and the most outrageous of myths, a shred of truth shines true. It is this fragment that ultimately gets built upon, reinforced, and exaggerated. After all, one cannot really create a story without drawing from reality—something seen, something heard, something experienced. And while you might dismiss such myths as simply...well, myths... they are more true than you can imagine.

But let's start at the beginning. Why heroes have even appeared in the first place. Why gods are prevalent all over the world. Why stories of grand fantasies even exist in the first place.

One day, beings opened their eyes. They knew not why they were around, what had brought them to be, but they were there. At first, they acted out like machines—they were born of the Planet's Will for order, and so they acted like it. Electricity where it is due. Whirlpools where they would form. But these beings soon discovered their own autonomy. With intent, they then looked at the world, which was one with life, but very primitive life. Single-celled organisms growing at a slow rate. It was then when they pushed things forward—faster and faster, until they created megafauna. Large creatures. Grand organisms.

But they got bored of them. They offered nothing much to them. And so they wiped them out with a great catastrophe. Extinction. They had done it a few times before, but this was the biggest yet. And so they continued to let things go with accelerated growth. This gave rise to what would become their greatest curiosities.

While the beings traveled across the land and did as they pleased, they observed that a group of primates soon began to emulate them. Unlike their sleek forms, these primates were cumbersome—but the similarities were striking, as if the Planet had somehow created lower beings that resembled them slightly. The beings were greatly pleased, and they took a handful, allowing them to grow faster, better, smarter. Their forms soon became similar to their benefactors; and this was repaid by the primates. And thus began The Age of Gods.

"Humans", as they were called, began to associate these beings with greatness. A fiery being who flew across the skies was called a Sun god, and the being who calmed the waters was a sea god. This greater race, "Gods" as they would be called, found the praise and offerings to them to be pleasant. It was not the burning of meat that gave them strength, but the hopes and dreams of the Humans, which strengthened the Planet's Will. In turn, they were also positively affected.

The Gods, not without gratitude, granted these Humans gifts. Like them, they were free. Like them, they could improve. Like them, they could create. And more. Humans then invented things such as "morality", and "laws". This "flavoured" the god's food, in a sense. They became more attuned to particular things themselves, and the Humans responded by calling them Gods of particular things.

For a while, this was all good and well.

Until a few had discovered the "taste" of Human fear, Human negativity. Much more common, this was a more powerful power source—especially since the Humans had been incredibly stained themselves, in a way that the Gods could not understand. These few became "Beasts", "Adversaries", and more. And they used their powers to create nightmares, forming the various monsters that populate myths. Thus began The Age of War.

Now you might ask, why didn't all of them opt for the same power source, then? Well, they saw what it did to these Gods. These Gods became unsavoury, to say the least. Beasts inside, as well as the outside. And they did not care about the Planet's Will anymore—while they had been long liberated from the Planet's Will, they had always kept a strong connection to it. In the case of these Beasts, they lost their connection to the Planet's Will, becoming truly free, but losing what seemed to be "sanity". With no reason to preserve things, destruction is all they have in mind. These were not awful Gods of darkness, no, these were true Beasts.

Gods and Beasts, with Humans being in the middle of the fray.

As time went by, both sides had been trying to one-up one another. The Gods made beings that could perhaps give them even more strength to overcome these Beasts. The Beasts, on the other hand, made nightmarish creatures that haunted everything the Gods made. Not only humans stayed in the middle anymore. More were thrown into the middle of the war. But the Gods realised that they couldn't just keep doing the battles themselves.

And so they empowered Humans. Some were given the gift called Magic, an authority over the Planet, allowing one to bypass its rules. Some were born from their union with Humans, by taking Humanoid forms themselves. This was the Age of Heroes, where not only Human Heroes flourished, but other species. You know this as the time when myths were prevalent. Despite all the differences, there would always be something common. Call it the Argo, the Twelve Peers, or the Round Table. But I call all those groups under a collective name—Sentinels. Gathered Heroes to fight together, orchestrated by the Gods. Sometimes brought back from the dead, even—as long as they could help defeat the Beasts.

But the Gods had already been fading away. They were losing hold over Humans and the rest. This was because the Planet's Will was dividing over time. It couldn't handle the conflicting interests of all these races, their conflicting beliefs of reality—especially with Humans and their innovative thinking. As such, the Planet slowly splintered into Layers, and what was once reality slowly obscured into myth. After all, the evidence of their existences soon moved to another Layer, in the attempt of the Planet to segregate them.

The Gods themselves were torn apart, led into a sort of hibernation. Dependent on the Will, its segregation caused massive rifts in their psyches. The Beasts were not as affected, being independent of the Will, but they were sealed away by the Gods. The seal was maintained, even with this hibernation, though it had weakened enough for the Beasts to subconsciously affect Humans and other races from behind the scenes.

Thus was the Age of The Mundane, a time when Gods and Beasts have no hold, and Layers keep people from believing in one another. To the Elves, Human Heroes were myths of long ago, tales of short-eared, nonmagical warriors being preposterous. And more. Beings that coexisted had been divided.

But I believe that they will return. The Beasts are breaking free. The Gods have little say. But the Age of Gods have long been past. In order to prevent the Age of Beasts, we must have a new Age. An Age of Rebirth. Revival of the Age of Heroes. A new set of Sentinels.

Besides, they are out there, somewhere. Minor Gods only weakened to the state of near-oblivion. They only need the power of the Planet's Will to gain enough standing.

Your hopes and dreams. They are imperative.

Dream, young one. Hope.

Never let go.