The Ascension

21: Creation

 In the beginning there was a void, and from this void came a thing that was not of it- an anti-void, an egg. And from this egg came the great god Ikina.

In this time, there was no land or sea, only void and Ikina. But Ikina was displeased with this existence, and gave an idea, which gave the great sea god, and he brought water into the void.

Now there was Ikina and the sea god, and they watched their new creation with curiosity. The Sea was pleased with what he had made, and looked to his wife and father for approval. But Ikina was displeased. The sky god felt something was still missing, and so gave another god, the Earth, to complete it.

The Earth was a woman, and the god of the land, and she was meant to bring balance to the Sea. But though the Sea loved the Earth, he was bitterly jealous of her existence, for he wanted to have Ikina all for himself.

The Sea thus tossed the Earth from the heavens and into his sea. Where her body fell became the land, and where her blood splattered became the islands. Her brown hair became the northern mountains while the green of her dress colored the southern plains.

This was before death had come to be, so she was not yet dead, but Ikina was displeased with her and her husband. The sky god took from each a single bone, and sealed them away in the sacred mountains of the north and south, far away from each other.

From the bone, Ikina whittled two new gods: Silan of the ocean and Laila of the land. They were less powerful than their ancient selves, and easier to control.

Now that there was land and sea, Ikina found new displeasure in the emptiness of it all. Something was missing. Silan and Laila tried their best to find what it was, and each presented Ikina with their creations: valleys, coastlines, canyons and waves. But Ikina was not happy.

Much thought was put into what was missing from the world. Finally, a thought came to Ikina from the void: life. Not beings like Silan and Laila, but life- and so, the idea of Life and the idea of Death came at once to the world.

Life became trees and grasses and fish and animals, each taking hundreds of forms. Death was not as imaginative, and only took on their partner's ideas and gave them an end. And with that end, a meaning.

Now the world was full of life and death, but Ikina still felt displeasure- though the creations of Life were interesting, they were not not fulfilling for Ikina to watch. The gods needed acknowledgement for their work, and worship.

The trees and the grasses and the fish and the animals were unable to worship, being too dumb. Ikina took some of Life's oldest children, the dragons, and removed their bones. And from these bones, Ikina tried to make new living things. But these creatures were still too dumb to praise the gods, and in frustration, Ikina buried them in sand.

For many years, life on the land and sea had to endure maelstroms and windstorms as a frustrated Ikina thrashed about in the sky, creating grooves in the earth that became rivers, canyons, and lakes.

Finally, a Creator came from the void to comfort Ikina, and this Creator brought with them the stars and the moon. From the union of the Creator and Ikina came new beings with new shapes, and these children became humanity.

The humans were wise enough to pay worship to the gods, and Ikina was pleased.

However, Silan was jealous now, as the humans were not able to live and worship in his ocean. In his anger, he flooded the world and drowned the humans. This is why there is more ocean than land. Ikina made the sea subside, but was too late to save many lives.

Those who lived near the sea and on the lowlands died, those who lived on the high lands lived but lost much of their land, and those who lived on the mountains lost nothing at all.

So it came to be that some humans hated Silan, and others loved him. And the ones who hated the sea turned to worshipping the Laila. A great divide emerged among the people of every nation.

This did not please Ikina, but it was of humanity's nature to seek divides. Ikina allowed the humans to fight, but warned them to always praise the sky, lest it be taken from them.

All was well, and the world grew old. Ikina was pleased. But the Creator was not. Upset at the warring ways of the humans, her children, the Creator made a promise of her own: Life and Death, once servants of the sky, were now gods of the universe. And they insured that life existed in every star- and death would come to each in turn. And Ikina would fall under their rule too, as would the planet, and this day would be known as the End Day.