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Heart of Darkness, Radiant Soul
Introduction:
Tella stared out the window looking at the bright face of the moon overhead. She was a small girl just past five birthing days, but well favored, with pretty dark hair and large gray eyes. She had an infectious grin that lost none of its potency despite the loss of her front teeth. She stood at the window looking up at the stars lost in thought. Behind her the door silently opened; a sliver of light running to the wall and widening as the door opened. Startled she turned around to find her father peeking in. Quietly he stepped in and closed the door behind him. “Having trouble sleeping dearling?” he asked quietly. Silently she nodded and turned back to the window. “Would you like to talk about what’s bothering you?” he asked walking over and sitting on her bed. Tella turned and climbed up on his lap her small face troubled, “Da, why did mom get so mad about me playing with Jere?” Her father sighed, “I thought that must be it. Dearling, Jere and his family are darklings.” “But Da, what does that mean?” Her father paused for a moment then said, “I suppose Id better start at the beginning.” He sat her on the bed beside him and lit the lamp beside her bed. “It all starts with Lord Day and Lady Night. They were the first beings. She was the essence of darkness, he the essence of light. They had a stormy romance, fighting bitterly and then making up and adoring one another. After a time they decided to make a child. They each contributed to it. Lord Day made the vaulting sky and Lady Night made the dark earth. Lord Day bellowed and the winds sprang forth. Lady Night shed tears that formed the oceans. He set down the trees and plants and she made the lichens, and fungus. He made soaring birds She made fish that swam in the sea. Lord Day created the spring as a time of birth and summer as time to grow strong. Lady Night realized that without death to offset it there would be no room for the new creatures and made Winter as a time for the old and sick to die. She made Autumn as a time to harvest and prepare for the long winter. Then they made peoples to live on their creation. She made dwarves to tunnel in the earth seeking its hidden beauty, and he made elves to revel in the forests in the sun. But then the trouble started. Lord Day coaxed some of the dwarves up into the hills. Lady Night grew jealous and seduced some of his elves into the caverns. Lord Day decided that he would make some of his own people to enter the caverns and created the Orcs filled with his hot anger. Lady Night responded by creating the Gnolls to live in the forests and planted the seeds of envy deep in their hearts. So it went each creating new races to try and prove their superiority in the other’s domain or to defend their own from the others; until they finally made war on each other. Their struggle was titanic and on the earth below their creatures fought for their makers. As the two deities struck one another the very essence that shaped them was bled from their wounds raining down on the earth. Living creatures struck with that essence absorbed some of it, other pieces stuck into the earth like giant needles or seeped into the ground. Many of the Gods were born when struck from their parent or created to aid in their struggle. From Lord Day sprang Kilton the God of Combat, Battlerage, and war, as well as Tyraan Lady of bravery and Martyrdom. From Lady Night came Pira, Goddess of deceit and treachery and Lyton the god of Diplomacy, strategy and barter. There were many others, but most of them were destroyed in one battle of another. Finally even the gods grew weary of the struggle and made peace. When Lord Day and Lady Night looked at the Gods they made they realized that Most of the ones surviving reflected the harsher aspects of their parents. They created more Gods of a gentler softer demeanor. The Loshen twins are a good example. Dar Loshen is the Lady of beauty, courtship and romance. M ira Loshen is the goddess of passion and….” Her father paused and then colored slightly. “Um, maybe they aren’t a good example. At any rate when one god had a surviving child the other would make an opposite for them; so that both sides of the coin were represented. Finally they made one last race, a race that was neither light nor dark, of the wood or of the cavern. “That’s us isn’t it Daddy?” Tella asked sleepily. “Yes Dearling that’s us. Humans were meant to be adaptable. Not as graceful as the elves, nor as hardy as the dwarves, not as strong as the orcs nor as cunning as the gnoll. But balanced. Humans more than any other race can carry the essence of light or darkness in them. Two parents with the same essence will always a child of that essence. Your mother and I are both light essence. So that means you are too.” He reached out a finger and poked the end of her nose, causing her to giggle. “So that means Jere’s parents have dark essence?” she asked. Her father paused a moment, “No in Jere’s case his father is Darkling and his mother is Radiant. He just got the spark from his Da rather then his mum” “So why does mum not like him?” she asked. Frowning. Her father paused again trying to carefully choose his words. “Well you see, some places are near large concentrations of one essence or another. The people that live there tend to be of the same type of essence, and if the parents are mixed it will always favor the essence that is near there. The essence is also usually of one tincture or another. For instance, love or honor or lies. You mother was born in Thalar, which is built around a large light essence shard. The strongest tincture is vigilance, but there are also lesser tinctures in it including pride. Your mother thinks that Radiants are better than Darklings and that the two should remain separate. “ “And do you think that da?” Tella asked looking at him carefully. “Dearling I think people are people. There are as many distasteful Light tinctures as Dark tinctures. The best healers and midwifes are darklings. I was raised by a darkling nanny, but in the end you’ll have to make up your own mind.” He kissed her forehead, snuffed the lamp and left her to stare out the window at the stars…. |