[He runs a hand over Jedao's hair, resting it on the nape of his neck. This is an old story, in some ways, this first story, as history and as told to children. He's told the tale many time over the centuries, the storyteller's rhythm comes easily to him.]
First was the world and it was flame, fierce and ever changing. But the flame cooled and matter formed, a great globe with fire at its heart. In this fire that was the heart of the world slowly grew the World-Soul.
But a soul cannot see itself, not even the World-Soul. So it split in two, that it might perceive itself; and so the Father and the Mother came into being. And with that first perceiving, love became possible in the heart of the World-Soul. Love was the first of the fruits that the realm of the spirit gifted back to the realm of matter that is its fountain and foundation. But it was not the last gift, for song was next, then speech.
Between them, the Father and the Mother began to order the world, that matter might not be instantly consumed again by fire and chaos and rolling destruction. Together, in that first love, they bore the Daughter and the Son, and divided the seasons of the world among them, each with its special and particular beauty, each to its own lordship and stewardship.
And in the harmony and security of this new guard, the matter of the world grew in boldness and complexity. And matter strove to create beauty, from which plants and animals and men arose, for love had come into the heart of the world and matter sought to return gifts of the spirit to the realm of the spirit, as lovers exchange tokens.
But as the fire at the heart of world could learn love, it could also hold forces of destruction that could not be denied. And from this chaos rose the demons, who broke free and invaded the world to pray upon the fragile new souls growing there. The order of the world was disrupted, and winter and spring and summer and fall upended one into another. Drought and flood, ice and fires threatened the lives of men, and of all the marvelous plants and artful creatures that matter, infected by love, had offered on the altar of the World-Soul.
Then one day a powerful demon lord, wise and wicked from having learned from the consumption of many souls of men, came upon a man living alone in a tiny hermitage in a wood. Like a cat that wishes to to toy with their prey, he accepted the beggar's hospitality and waited his chance to leap from the worn-out body he presently possessed to the fresh new one. For the beggar, though clad in rags, was beautiful: his glance was like a sword thrust and his words a clear bell.
But when the demon lord drank the bowl of wine that had been given, he was confounded. For the saint had divided his own soul, and poured it out into the win, and given it to the demon of his own free will.
[He breaks off a moment, before catching hold of the story again.]
And thus, for the first time, a demon gained a soul, and all the beautiful and bitter gifts that it brings. And so he was born in that moment, into the world of both matter and spirit. And taking the hermit's body that was his free gift, and not stolen nor begrudged, he began to move in the world of matter, and fight the soulless demons on the gods' behalf in the places where They could not reach and restore the order of the seasons.
He became the Mother's champion and captain, and She loved him without limit for his soul's incandescent splendor. And from them was born the last god, the Bastard, love child of the goddess and the great-souled demon. The Bastard, of all the gods, was given agency of spirit and matter, for He inherited as servants the demons that His father's great sacrifice had swept out of the world.
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Date: 2017-09-23 01:14 am (UTC)First was the world and it was flame, fierce and ever changing. But the flame cooled and matter formed, a great globe with fire at its heart. In this fire that was the heart of the world slowly grew the World-Soul.
But a soul cannot see itself, not even the World-Soul. So it split in two, that it might perceive itself; and so the Father and the Mother came into being. And with that first perceiving, love became possible in the heart of the World-Soul. Love was the first of the fruits that the realm of the spirit gifted back to the realm of matter that is its fountain and foundation. But it was not the last gift, for song was next, then speech.
Between them, the Father and the Mother began to order the world, that matter might not be instantly consumed again by fire and chaos and rolling destruction. Together, in that first love, they bore the Daughter and the Son, and divided the seasons of the world among them, each with its special and particular beauty, each to its own lordship and stewardship.
And in the harmony and security of this new guard, the matter of the world grew in boldness and complexity. And matter strove to create beauty, from which plants and animals and men arose, for love had come into the heart of the world and matter sought to return gifts of the spirit to the realm of the spirit, as lovers exchange tokens.
But as the fire at the heart of world could learn love, it could also hold forces of destruction that could not be denied. And from this chaos rose the demons, who broke free and invaded the world to pray upon the fragile new souls growing there. The order of the world was disrupted, and winter and spring and summer and fall upended one into another. Drought and flood, ice and fires threatened the lives of men, and of all the marvelous plants and artful creatures that matter, infected by love, had offered on the altar of the World-Soul.
Then one day a powerful demon lord, wise and wicked from having learned from the consumption of many souls of men, came upon a man living alone in a tiny hermitage in a wood. Like a cat that wishes to to toy with their prey, he accepted the beggar's hospitality and waited his chance to leap from the worn-out body he presently possessed to the fresh new one. For the beggar, though clad in rags, was beautiful: his glance was like a sword thrust and his words a clear bell.
But when the demon lord drank the bowl of wine that had been given, he was confounded. For the saint had divided his own soul, and poured it out into the win, and given it to the demon of his own free will.
[He breaks off a moment, before catching hold of the story again.]
And thus, for the first time, a demon gained a soul, and all the beautiful and bitter gifts that it brings. And so he was born in that moment, into the world of both matter and spirit. And taking the hermit's body that was his free gift, and not stolen nor begrudged, he began to move in the world of matter, and fight the soulless demons on the gods' behalf in the places where They could not reach and restore the order of the seasons.
He became the Mother's champion and captain, and She loved him without limit for his soul's incandescent splendor. And from them was born the last god, the Bastard, love child of the goddess and the great-souled demon. The Bastard, of all the gods, was given agency of spirit and matter, for He inherited as servants the demons that His father's great sacrifice had swept out of the world.
So the story goes.