Spring of Creation, Year I

 

This world had so much to offer. It had so much to give - life... So much life. But instead it was given death by the first creations. Mankind. They were so… Ruthless - careless… They only cared for themselves. Anything that got in their path was annihilated and thrown to the side. It's pitiful really, they were the first, they were the first example of things to come. They destroyed habitats, burnt down whole forests at a time, their motivation to better themselves. But were they really? I can remember... Remember what they did to the poor animals that got in their way, the few broken memories I do have serving only to torment me and my siblings with what happened before our creation. Before we were able to change the world for the better, before we even knew of the pain, suffering and destruction.

Maybe this is what I'm telling you, the memories I have of the past - the past that is too far gone for you to remember, but the few fragments that my siblings and I have pieced together make up a truly heartbreaking, yet hopeful story. Maybe I'm telling you so you can better yourself, rise above those who have come before you. I doubt any of you would truly understand the pain that this world and The Sentinel were put through, so maybe you are just as oblivious as those men who tore apart families for sport. The few fragments of my creators memories showing me how little they cared, how they disregarded life for their own gain.

Back to the reason I'm here. To tell you of the troubles the past had brought and how you came to be here on this rock.

This destruction carried on for years - years and years. I don't understand how The Sentinel managed to wait that long, surely it's faith was broken centuries ago? Animals and plant life were being destroyed and tortured left and right, animals forced to do the human's bidding, metal chains and pain used to bend their strength man's will. Our creator, The Sentinel, became angry. It had created these beings to bring life and prosperity to the lands and look what they had done. Ignus tells me he remembers anger. A seething, boiling anger. An unquenchable anger that consumed everything. He tells me of how The Sentinel began to think of a fresh start... A clean slate.

Pfft, naive. For such an ancient deity it was naive. I always knew humanity or something just as destructive and cruel would crawl its' way out of the pit The Sentinel made for it.

The Sentinel became angrier and angrier as each day passed, each day causing the heat in its' heart to climb a little higher. Watching mankind slowly destroy itself through famine, most of the animals who had been ruthlessly hunted, close to extinction by now. It watched helplessly as they began to turn on each other, forgetting their hunting parties that killed the defenseless; instead they wanted a new challenge. They began hunting each other, killing their own kind in stupid games and trials. All the time they ignored the suffering of men that could not hunt for themselves, leaving them to die alone on the streets of the towns they had created. The thoughts of wiping the slate clean begin to get stronger, louder and bolder as humanity began to suffer more and more, leading themselves to their own deaths. I can see the anguish that it felt as it let out all of its' rage in one swipe. All of it’s anger expelled in one strike. Destroying the race that had been destined to destroy themselves. It was almost as if it had ripped out its' own beating heart. There was a hole where there had not been one before.

Tears slid down its' face, only one ever reaching the surface of your world...

 

One. That was all it took. One tear and everything changed again.

 

That single tear, the embodiment of The Sentinel’s anguish and loss, came crashing down to the land you now stand on, a bright spark in the darkened sky, a sky now free from the torments of the human race. A sky that was once so pure, but now tainted by the tormenting images that I and my siblings have ingrained into our minds. This… Shooting Star, I believe you would call it, burst into flames just before it crashed into the ground where we stand now. It’s strange. A landing such as that should have leveled the whole forest, but it didn’t. Not a single leaf was disturbed by it’s landing. The white hot, still burning rock must have been ten feet to you, yet not a single thing was disturbed by it’s arrival. The Sentinel watched on as it’s tear began to cool, watched as it took the form of a rock, strange magic oozed out of it’s cracks. Escaping into the ground below it. It named this creation The Obelisk. The Sentinel could feel a… Connection to the Obelisk. Something like a sharded thought now and then, Cervisces tells me of the Intuition The Sentinel felt as it watched the Obelisk grow, watched life spew forth from the magic that oozed out of its’ cracks.

Maybe there is a message there, only from imperfection can true beauty arise, something you all should know… Perhaps not now… But for the future?

Lepno tells me of the joy, the bountiful joy The Sentinel felt as it watched what happened next. It watched as five beings arose from the ground beneath The Obelisk. Five beings, one, a cat, the confidence to take on anything. A fox, sly enough to trick anything into fighting on it’s side. A rabbit, innocence shining above everything. A raccoon, the ferocity of even the brightest flame. And finally, a red panda, the grace of the most beautiful oceans. The Sentinel enjoyed these creations, watched as they grew, deemed them worthy of a soul, of wisdom; of what it had been trying to create all along.

Life. This is where Ferrellum tells me she feels love… The Sentinel had learnt how to love again.

The Obelisk took things a step further, using the powers The Sentinel had given it when it was created, The Obelisk created us. It created the Keepers.

Me, the two headed fox named Vulux The Swift. I was the first, but my siblings followed soon after, each of them rising from the ground much like the first creations from The Obelisk.

Ignus The Fearless, the white wolf blessed with seething blue flames that seem to personify the anger that The Sentinel felt.

Cervisces The Wise, half stag, half fish - created from the waters of the most ancient lakes and seas, calming yet a perfectionist.

Ferrellum The Nurturer, the polar bear covered in strange crystals that seem to sprout from her very pelt. She was like a mother to all four of us, and to her subjects.

Lepno The Forgiving, a rabbit with a single tree sprouting from her back, created from the very earth the Obelisk stood on.

We were created to teach and to protect these first creations that The Sentinel had grown to love so deeply. We took up a subject each and taught them the ways of the land. We taught them the good from the bad, they took to it all well. Things were going well, the five keepers teaching our subjects like we had been created to do, the love inside The Sentinel growing larger and larger every day it watched these new creations grow.

Houses were formed. Each of us choosing subjects to teach certain ways of life, certain skills and trades. We taught them many things, ensuring each one grew to be respectable. We named these houses after ourselves in the hope that our message would carry on through the test of time… We hadn’t wanted… This. We didn’t want what has happened now. You were all supposed to respect each other, grow together and learn together. Instead you fought, you taught your selves the skills of battle.

We lost contact with The Sentinel soon after that, it simply disappeared. None of us know what happened or why it happened, all we know is we were left alone with our mess. We were left to try and fix the Houses.

We thought we had. We thought we were safe and you were safe, but over time, the meaning behind the Obelisk lost its’ meaning, the stone itself losing the magic it once had. The cracks ran dry in no time and the magic that once coursed through the air around it was gone. It seemed so… Empty without it. A tiredness washed over the five of us. We had relied on the Obelisk for our power and now it had run dry, there was nothing left for us to feed off. We fell into a deep slumber, no longer able to teach the houses that we had created - no longer able to ensure the safety of those that we held dear.

 

- Vulux The Swift, First Keeper