Wondrous, were the Fae…when they sparked out of the dark primordial soot and black salt waters of the ocean deep. In the dark times, darkness ruled ALL. The dark was the master of the planet and all there, within, bowed to its rules of inhabitance. The rules of the dark were never spoken by a language, they were set by pure dominance. Any who tried to defy the rules would be reminded of the power the dark had over the world. The rules as it is said today from oral traditions passed on eons and eons, originating with the Fae, and Faery languages learned by human-folk, were as follows:

Light shall not pass the heavens to the land

Chaos is the judge, jury and executioner of all there within the dark

You cannot fight the dark

If there be light then shadow will follow until darkness destroys it

These were the rules of the world, a world filled with no light, oozing pools of molten earth, volcanoes erupting, the only hint of light was the red glow of lava when it erupted violently out of the ground. There were strange homunculi that sprung forth from the primordial soup of dark ocean water and minerals. They were ghastly malformed creatures, crawled out as experiments of nature, creatures with no sense of light, crawling and wandering with no aim, falling into pits to their death, being burned by molten lava, poisoned by the foul gasses that filled the air. Creatures that survived the primordial ooze were doomed to die miserable, confusing, deaths on the planet’s surface, over and over, to the delight of Markhan’ai, the darkness itself. The Dark one, Markhan’ai, was a formless ethereal being and was the most powerful being of all beings on the planet, he who makes the sky dark. His favorite planet however, would soon change, it would be home to a miracle of nature itself. Somewhere, in the darkest boiling pits of a particularly dark area in the land mass today known as Jakaar, a spark of flame from a molten rock floated gently down to the bottom of an incomprehensibly deep and dark pit.

At the bottom of the pit was a boiling puddle of water from which a little living life form, no taller than an index finger sprung forth, the being looked like what we know as a mushroom fungi, today, but it was not, it was nothing, just a miracle of nature destined to know no light and to die out, presumably, without any other being knowing its existence ever occurred. This life form survived by keeping itself warm with the boiling pit water, but its body needed to absorb the water to keep warm so the puddle was soon depleted. As this little cursed being, born in the foulness of all foulness, lay dying, the spark from the molten rock floated down onto the pit floor, as it landed, the life form felt its warmth and its stem and cap bent towards the spark. Though the creature had no eyes nor ears, it had a mouth and nose below its cap, it sniffed and stretched towards the  small spark, and in a desperate attempt to warm itself the little creature stretched as far as it could, opened its mouth, got a hold of the spark and swallowed it. The spark burned the insides of the small creature so badly that it screeched out in pain. As it lay dying a painful death, a miracle happened, little tiny beings in what we would call the mushrooms “belly” were dormant but with the introduction of the spark to their home they reacted to the warmth by fluttering and dancing around, the little creatures had the ability to use the heat from the spark to make themselves float, as they floated around happily inside the mushroom creatures stomach, the mushroom creature felt them. To the creature, it felt like tickles that could not be stopped from within, like “butterflies in its stomach”, and it let out one last groan before it died. As the mushroom creature let out it’s last groan, the little creatures floated out of its mouth and floated up, up and up, out of the pit, on to the planets surface. The higher they floated the bigger they became until they were each about the size of a Blue bird.

The little beings that floated from that poor creature’s mouth are now known to humans as the Fae, they looked similar to how humans do now, a head, a mouth, a nose, ears, two arms, two legs, but they were made of light and biological material. The Fae were three in number, Hilea, Tilea, and Illea, they were sisters, feminine creatures. Because they were technically birthed of a creature and not of the dark primordial ooze, they did not act like the rest of the creatures on the planet. These little beings, the Fae, they had purpose, of course when they first sprung forth, they had no names or story, they were just little beings discovering the world, whose inherent purpose was seemingly to find more light. There in the pitch-black pleasure dome of Markhan’ai, three little tiny beacons of light floated around, lost, and unable to see very much.

However, being born of creature and spark, they had some gifts that others did not, namely they had a mind, they were aware that they were alive and aware they had a purpose. The next gift was that they produced their own light, their bodies radiated with light energy, the spark that helped birth them, imparted small little embers to each of them which their hearts kept aflame with the energy of it pumping, as long as their little hearts pumped, the light they produced stayed on, and the faster they floated, the brighter it became. The next gift they possessed were eyes, three of them for each Fae, two for looking around and one for seeing light through the dark, finally a mouth, a mouth they used to whisper to each other in languages unknown. The three Fae floated aimlessly, towards the lights they saw in the dark. After a millennia of aimless floating towards distant light, they soon started to acknowledge each other, before they would only stay together because any light they chased would surely be stamped out by the dark by the time they got to it, so the brightest warmest place they could find was always next to each other, so they stuck together naturally. However, one fateful day one of the Fae, Illea, would have something that would change the course of existence forever, Illea would form a thought…

To this day, we do not know how a thought entered the little pre-historic head of the Fae but it was a new type of spark that only the individual could see. The thought she had was, “Where am I going?” of course the words in which I describe the thought are not how they came to the Fae, they came in more of a feeling, a little spark of feeling that meant the same thing as “where am I going?”, in her little mind. This new spark in her little head caused her to stop floating aimlessly and become quite aware of herself, she looked around at the unending darkness and to her two sisters floating and had another thought, this one was, “The place is cold, and these here are warm”. That’s when Illea did the next extraordinary thing, she, a tiny being that became truly self-aware not just a few seconds ago, immediately, for the first time in the worlds existence, felt love. Love, was the first good feeling ever felt on the planet, and as she felt it, her little body vibrated with energy, her energy caused her to glow so bright that her sisters floated in towards her and together they shone as bright as a lamp in the dark. This brightness of their mutual love started to heat up their surroundings so much that the coldness of the dark mixing with their heat began making little droplets of water form. The three sisters in a vibration of love and warmth floated up into the air, until they exited the planets darkness and ascended to the heavens and saw it, there they saw it with all of its warmth and splendor, the Sun!

However, before they could all three float out to the sun together and live happily ever after, a voice made of thunder and earthquakes cracked from the darkness below them and said, “Duum Kai Markahn’ai”, or as we say in our tongue, “You cannot fight the Darkness”. With that declaration a vortex opened and a dark void of energy started to pull the Fae back down to Earth, like tentacles of darkness stretched to pull them down. With all their might the little Fae tried to float away but the darkness was too strong, it’s power too deep. They started to descend faster and faster until, Hilea and Tilea, the two sisters of Illea the first of all lovers, the keeper of the sparks, pushed Illea away from them, they both pushed on their sister until she was free from the pull and floated freely away. There were no words or instructions spoke but Illea knew in her little mind, to keep floating towards the sun and not look back until she was there.

Illea floated away and her two sisters were drug back down and put into a deep dark cavern in the dead center of the Earth. Markhan’ai did not destroy the little Fae because he thought them fair, he thought them precious. So he locked them in his bowels (a cavern below the ocean known as the bowels of shadows) so they could be his forever. However, every now and then the Fae would float out of cracks formed by interior earthquakes, and escape Markhan’ai’s cavern. They would always be caught trying to float up and away to the sun to reunite with their sister, and returned to the cavern. Markhan’ai grew so tired of dealing with retrieving the Fae he decided to kill them. However, upon his decision to kill them, his action was interrupted, a large ray of light peered the dark of the planet from the heavens, one solitary beam of light. Markhan’ai grew furious, he and the sun had a deal…he would let the sun have all the other planets if he could inhabit that single planet as his own. Feeling betrayed and disrespected, Markahn’ai lifted an incredibly immense mountain off of the planet’s surface and hurled it at the sun, the mountain as it hurled towards the sun collected asteroids on its path until it was a mass of innumerable asteroids surrounding the mountain, the clump of rock was the size of the sun itself by the  point it reached the sun. Upon reaching the sun’s surface the mass of rock slowly plowed its way down through the suns mass, but was stopped half way through and then hurled back towards the dark planet of Markhan’ai with power tenfold more potent than it was hurled originally. Markahn’ai let out a foul roar and stopped the mass of rock from hitting Earth with indescribable dark power. The mass of rock floated still under the spell of the dark planets pull, and floated freely in one place. However, this rock was no ordinary mass of rock, it was special, for as the sun shined, it reflected the sun’s rays in a pale light, this object is what we call the Moon. On that Moon Illea is said to have travelled away from the sun and stayed, she made the Moon her home. She lives on the Moon directing sunlight to surfaces of the planet that the sun was not facing, so even the night sky had light in its atmosphere.

Ever since that time, Markhan’ai , scowered the planet stamping out light beams from the heavens, trying to maintain the dark. Between trying to, stamp out the light beams, of moonlight and sunlight and chasing down the very determined Fae trying to escape his cavern, he grew annoyed. He was too weakened by his attempt to destroy the sun, he had to wait before he could try again, so if he was to eliminate light, he needed to focus and regain strength. The sun was no silly being, it was enduring and prime, Markhan’ai needed to put his full attention to it, so in order to have enough energy to travel the planet destroying the light and store enough energy to destroy the sun, he would need to create a being to watch the Fae in his cavern, so he did. He grabbed one of the recent homunculi that crawled out of the dark ooze, and hailed thunder to vibrate a conscious mind into the being, then gave it wings to fly, a powerful body of gleaming obsidian color, then gave it eyes to see, and a deep dark heart to exert darkness everywhere it went, this new being was named Majus, and he would be later known…as the Oppositioner.

Not much is known about what happened after the Oppositioner was stationed in the middle of the Earth to keep the Fae trapped in the dark, but what is known is that after thousands of years of destroying light, Markhan’ai roared a roar of deep dark hatred, once a being of dark cold calm, Markhan’ai was now a being of darkness and hatred. He obliterated all light on the planet, besides the two little Fae, and he did so  in one cosmic effort. A storm of dark energy filled every inch of the planet, the likes of which no planet had ever seen, his energy erupted and all was completely dark for 1000 more years. After 1000 years however, the light that was being held in the heavens made the sky heavy with energy, and it caused the planet to rain for decades until the entire earth was flooded. As the Earth flooded Markhan’ai lost track of his Fae he locked beneath the Earth surface. The water filled planet disconnected him from the core and made him delirious. In a fit of delirium Markahan’ai called forth thunder to vibrate the water, seeing if Majus would answer somehow. However, Majus was asleep, the sound of the water above was like a lullaby to him. With the planet he hailed as his pleasure dome ruined, Markhan’ai left the planet, on his way through the cosmos to the deep beyond, he cursed the sun to slowly but surely burn out, once the sun was burnt out, Markhan’ai would return to the planet and try and restore it to its dark glory.

After Markhan’ai was long gone. Illea with her moonlight and the Sun with its beams kept poking holes in the darkness left behind by Markhan’ai. Eventually the entire earth was filled with sunlight during the day and moonlight at night. Beneath the black ooze a fungus rose out of the crust of the planet to form sea fungi’s, this fungus was similar to the life form the Fae were birthed from and one of the first beings of life on the planet born of the lights influence after the Fae of course. The fungus provided nourishment that was not avaible before, and creatures who formed in the black ooze, evolving in the vast sea now survived a lot longer, feeding on the sea fungus, and thriving under the warm waters of the planet, being warmed by the suns light. Once sea life started roaming the ocean, Hilea and Tilea, feeling the warmth of the new planet outside, snuck out of the deep dark cavern through a water leak in the caverns ceiling, they floated up through the warm water stream and out into the surface. Majus would stay in his deep slumber due to the ocean still being above his cavern. Once on the surface Illea used light reflections and shadows to communicate with her sisters until she and her sisters figured out how to send whispers of their language to each other from planet to moon. Eventually, the lands rose again, making the planet part land, part Sea. The land parts were especially kept away from the cavern beneath the sea that housed the slumbering Majus.

The lands rose and gave way to new creatures crawling forth from the sea. Illea communicated to her sisters in languages unknown that one of them would need to guide creatures of the sea, and the other creatures of the land, while Illea guided creatures of the air from her throne on the moon. Tilea would be made to guide all creatures of the sea, and Hilea the creatures of the land and the forests, plains and mountains that sprung up on the lands beyond.  Creatures would soon evolve on the land as they did the sea, and it was a peaceful time. Until one day, in an extra mischievous mood Hilea the mother of all lands and land creatures made a bargain with her sister, if her sister could produce the most magnificent creature on the planet she would allow the planet to be nothing but sea for the next ten-thousand years, allowing the sea creatures to dominate the planet, but if Hilea the mother of land made the most magnificent creature then the land would be the place of wonders and creation for the next ten-thousand years, her ocean reduced to nothing but lakes and rivers for her sisters creation to enjoy. Illea the lofty sister who sat upon the moon would be the judge.

So henceforth with all her might, Tilea ruler of the ocean deep, brang together the salty waters of the sea, the fungus of nourishment, a few creatures of the sea and warmed them together in a swirl, the swirl was a mixture, getting warmer and warmer with the light of the sun, until it was at a boil, at one point, the whirlpool was miles wide and from its center, a being swam out against whirlpool spinning up and up and up, it swam until the whirlpool formed a water twister, and there atop the water twister made to be floating in the water calmly was a creature half-Fae, half sea creature, that Tilea named proudly, Sera.  She was marvelous, beautiful and elegant, she had the upper half of a Fae but larger than them, and the bottom half of a fish, she swam with grace and honored her mother Tilea with each smile she gave to her aunties Hilea and Illea above.

Hilea was enthralled by the creature her sister made, so much so she almost didn’t make one of her own, but she looked back at her land and felt despair that none of her fellow land creatures had such a beautiful creature among them and set forth to create her own creature. Hilea gathered ash, dust, and soot, and mixed it in with freshwater from her inland lakes, and took the nourishing fungi that grew from the sea and made it on land. From her mixture, she focused the light on the planet and produced the first unnaturally conjured fire. She mixed all of her ingredients in the fire of the light and slowly but surely a form began to take shape, this form was very similar to Sera in form except for where Sera had the form of a fish, this new creature of land had two legs stretched out side by side. The creature stirred and moved and once the mixture was done it breathed life and stood tall for the first time. There standing on the shores of West Jakaar was a Woman, the creation of Hilea, she named the creature Filianore, and she was radiant. Her skin was dark as soot, but glistened like onyx in the sunlight nonetheless, her eyes equally dark but full of light somehow, her smile was dazzling, her hair like puffy clouds but colored dark like the night sky and her demeanor was feminine and irresistible.  Tilea of the sea looked at the creature of land and her beautiful legs and despaired. The ocean trembled as she despaired and storms began brewing on the oceanfront. Illea seeing what was happening spoke in her unknown language to her sisters and proclaimed the contest a tie, and the planet would be half ocean and half land, both the creatures would make their respective birthplaces their home for ten thousand years, henceforth.

However, Hilea, passionate and brave, stood up to her sister and proclaimed in her language, “I would not let my sister’s wrath, ruin my victory, I know Filianore to be fairest of all, and Illea to be coddling Tilea, saving us from her rage.”  Saddened by her behavior Tilea apologized but still had her own agenda. Tilea, clever as she was, played on her sister’s hubris and spoke her language and said, “If Hilea doth create a second creature as glorious as her first, I shall make my creature love yours immensely, so much so that she will call for it all times of the night and day.”. Illea let Hilea decide if she would risk another wager, and without a hesitation, Hilea did indeed, with her hubris, accept her sister’s new wager. She gathered together all the same ingredients she used the first time but stopped short of mixing them together, she floated pondering what “secret” ingredient she could use to create something a little more imposing than Filianore, she thought on it a bit and her mind sparked with imagination. She decided to create something with a darker feeling, something not quite all light, something her sisters could never imagine making. Hilea grew a mischievous smirk and set off. Her sisters watched as she floated by at the speed of light and disappeared into the ocean. Hilea was in the ocean and floated deep down and found the cavern where Majus lay sleeping, ever so gently Hilea floated down to Majus, and there she collected dark energy into herself only enough to corrupt a quarter of her heart and floated back up to the surface. She carried the dark energy that now pumped in her heart up to her mixture of ingredients and pricked herself sharp rock, and bled the dark energy out of her heart, and out of her blood, onto her mixture. Thereafter, once Hilea was done with this new mixture, a being sprung forth, this being was a Man. It was like Filianore but different, a bit bigger, and with much more darkness within its being, a propensity for violence but a brooding gaze that lit a fire in the hearts of Filianore, Sera, and the Fae’s alike, they loved this creature called Man. The man stood upright and strong, skin and hair the same as Filianore, but he was more rugged and imposing. The man did not smile but grimace, but when his eyes fell upon Filianore, a passion raged within him, he was enthralled with her, he was in love. The man was named by Hilea, Elysian, and he lived to love Filianore for all his life. However, now jealous of the land woman, Sera screeched to her mother, Tilea, for a man of her own, but Tilea was not as brave as Hilea, she controlled the sea but only did so to keep Majus asleep, she dare not risk waking him how Hilea did. So Tilea tasked Hilea with creating an identical creature for her sister. So, using her wily creativity, Hilea gathered ingredients once more and instead of floating to Majus for dark energy, she pricked Elysian, and spilled his blood upon the mixture, and made another man, and named him Ulysses.

Years went on, and Elysian and Filianore lived happily on land with their mother. Meanwhile Ulysses, grew angry, his companion was no woman, she was cold and cruel, not warm and inviting like Filianore. So, one day Ulysses came to land with gifts from the ocean deep for Filianore. He gave her pearls and coral, and shells a plenty. Filianore was overtaken with joy at her gifts of the sea and fell in love with Ulysses. Ulysses took his new companion to the ocean with him to be with him and his other companion Sera. Elysian soon noticed his companion Filianore was gone and searched for her endlessly through the lands, until one day, he saw Filianore and Ulysses basking on the sea shore, laying together amongst the waves. Sera who grew more and more jealous of Filianore’s bond with Ulysses, and at the same time Elysian grew jealous as well. Together Sera and Elysian plotted the death of each of their respected original companions. With terrible ferocity, Sera , swam to the shore, grabbed Filanore by the legs and dragged her to the darkest recesses of the ocean deep. Filianore could float on the water endlessly, but below its surface she would drown, her body was not made for life below the ocean. As Sera drowned Filianore, Elysian brought his hands to Ulysses neck and squeezed with all of his might. As the two creatures foul with jealousy slowly killed their companions the Fae stirred into action. At once both Fae cast light onto the creatures and paralyzed them, saving the lives of Filianore and Ulysses. Illea who watched this transgression stated in her language that, these creatures need abundance, for if not, their dark ways would awake Majus. So, she ordered her sisters to tirelessly create creatures of land and sea that would satisfy each other in companionship, there would be companions for all. So, they did, and from then on, many types of humans existed, and many types of sea creatures. Hilea so in love with her original creation made more humans, just a variety of skin colors, shapes sizes, some men, some women, some dark-skinned some light-skinned. She placed them all in separate areas of Jakaar, where they established their first communities. They were all different but unquestionably equal, only their minds separated them from each other, they had free will and rose and fell of their own doing…..Until one foul night, due to the clever mischief of one certain Man….Majus was awoken…

Written by Marcos Lopez Originally 5/18/2021 – Edited and posted 5/28/2023