《Chronicles Of The Storylord: 12th Chronicle - Origin》 Prologue: The Grand Tale I awoke in the Void. The Void is nothingness, yet at the same time it is chaos, so it is inexplainable in its existence. There is neither darkness nor light, and time appears to not exist or else its perception is warped, as there is no sensation, no feeling¡­ nothing. But is it truly nothing if I am here? And how do I know these facts about the Void? I look deep into myself, searching for an answer, but only find three facts. One: I am but a fragment of a old, old soul. Two: It is time for the Tale to begin once more, and Three: I am the Tale and the Tale is me. I ponder on this knowledge for what seems like aeons, as I attempt to form ideas with this new-found knowledge, sparse as it may be. I know that I must create the Tale, that it is my purpose. And yet, how? How do I create this grand idea without anything at all. I am merely a soul, floating in the emptiness of the Void. I start to envision my grand creation, no, my universe as it shall be. First shall come the Talespinner, he who spins the thread of the Tale from the Primordial Chaos, the Beginning and End. Second will be the Songweaver, she who weaves the thread of the Tale to bring forth the fabric of Space, mistress of the Great Expanse. Third, the Painter of Souls, who breathes life and emotion into their masterpiece, and his brother, the Dreamwalker, creator of ambition and purpose among all life in the Tale. Lastly, shall be the Keeper of the Archive, the Guardian of Knowledge who shall safeguard my - and all the Tale¡¯s - memories until they are needed once more. As I feel my soul split into the five Entities that shall nurture and protect my creation from all that wish to harm it, I say the words that all Origin Deities must say, once in their lives¡­ ¡°Let there be Light.¡± And there was light.
As the Storylord faded, his progeny did appear, just as he had envisioned them. Bowing but once, to the space where he had resided, they turned away from the flame that glimmered and gleamed with every color in existence, and many not, before each began their grand creation to form and shape the newborn universe. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The Talespinner, using the five¡¯s unique ability to control and shape the Primordial Chaos as a part of the Storylord, created a spindle of Time to take the primordial essence and make of it thread, the center of the Tale soon to be. With the power of Space, the Songweaver sang into being a loom, with which to form the basis of the Tale, shaping the great wheel with eight spokes. Each spoke a world to be, they would support the innumerable lesser worlds that would soon spring into existence forming the ¡®rim¡¯ of the wheel. The Painter then reached out to the emptiness, searching for the wisps of essence abundant in the multiverse known as ¡®truesouls¡¯ mere wisps of energy and power, without any taint of a God¡¯s touch, the very base form of a soul, nurturing them with it¡¯s strength, to bring forth the first souls of the Tale. These he spread among his sibling¡¯s creation, to be the basis of life in this realm. The eight strongest were passed to his brother, the Dreamwalker, who did naught but touch them before sending oneto each of the core worlds, where they would eventually develop into the first Deities of the Tale. The last of the five did nothing while his brethren worked, for while they instinctively knew what was required of them, he on the other hand, did not. Most, if not all of the knowledge of their maker was known to him, and as he pondered, he realized he would eventually forget what he knew, that it would fade away with the passage of time. Struck with an idea, he created a simple tome, bound in starlight, that contained all his knowledge, and would do the same for the entirety of the beings encompassed by the Tale. He called it the Archive, for it was the sum of all the knowledge that was, and would ever be in Tale. Overjoyed, he looked up to see that he was alone, the others fading away, the Talespinner and Songweaver having joined with their works, the Dreamwalker splitting into innumerable shards before spreading throughout the Tale, and the Painter of Souls fading and dissipating, to become the soul of the Tale itself. All that remained was a single, Godly avatar of each, bowing before him. The Keeper took a breath, the last remaining dregs of power left by his brothers and sister joining together with all the power he could muster, and placed at the center of the wheel, creating what would become in the future, the Realm of the Living Myths, the home of the Gods, or simply, the Core. Weary, and exhausted from this colossal effort, he waved his hand at the avatars, saying with a sorrowful voice, ¡°Go, and guide them in their early days. My siblings have given themselves and everything they were to this grand creation, much like our Creator. I, too must soon sleep, so I shall leave you with these words to guide you: Know that this world, like all things is but a story, and that all the stories are true.¡± Saying so, he crossed his legs and sat beneath the flame, Archive in hand. The four newborn Gods and Goddess stared blankly, trying to comprehend, before staring at each other with questioning looks, as they could feel that with those final words, a qualitative change had come over the universe, defining it. So began the Grand Tale, and now our tale can truly begin. Chapter 1: Beginning ¡°Well then. What do we do now?¡± I asked. ¡°Well-¡± my sister started, before a blue box appeared before our eyes.
Congratulations! You have completed [Stage 1] of the [Deity Trials]! Of the twelve souls participating, you finished 12th. Results will be displayed below.
What is even happening? I, like my siblings, focused on the box. We were then treated to an extended explanation of how the [Deity Trials] is a grace period for the 12 new Origin Deities, to develop their newborn universes, though that it wasn¡¯t a guarantee, so one must be careful. [Stage One] was apparently a test to decide what powers the [Origin Deity] would have, and how their Universe, or ¡®Domain¡¯ would form. This test consisted of making 5 objects, which would be analyzed to produce the results. The blue boxes were apparently a power of the Multiverse¡¯s Creator Deity, and we were told that the practically infinite power of creation that our maker had during [Stage One] (That he still managed to almostuse up, somehow.), would now dissipate and be severely limited from this point. Why blue I wonder?
Because I like blue, kid. Now check the damn results already!
Okay, okay! Geez, no need to be touchy Mr. All-Powerful. Anyways, the results.
Results: Creator of the Grand Tale, Deity of Stories and Creation
Creations 1) Primordial Entities; 2) Primal Flame; 3) Supporting Realms and GodSouls; 4) The Diadem Kismet; 5) The Archive
Analysis: 1) Primordial Entities: By not succumbing to the temptation of creation for an incomprehensible amount of time, and dredging up deeply suppressed knowledge, this Origin Deity split his soul into six parts, five becoming separate Entities that personify key aspects of the Tale, such as Time, Space, Souls, Dreams and Emotions, and Knowledge. 2) Primal Flame: In [Stage 1], all deities will, at one point, utter the words "Let there be light," with varying effects. In this case, the sixth fragment of the Storylord¡¯s soul, comprised of the very essence of itself, was formed into a scintillating primordial flame when these words were uttered with its final breath. Hence the title of Primal Flame. It is necessary if the revival of the Storylord is ever to come to be. 3) Supporting Realms and GodSouls: The eight supporting Realms and their GodSouls, souls given the potential of Gods and fused with their Realms¡¯ essence, are the combination of the Great Works of the Keeper¡¯s siblings. Caution! If a GodSoul is to permanently die or is gravely injured, their Realm will be destabilized! 4) The Diadem Kismet: The ¡®Jeweled Crown of Destiny,¡¯ or the ¡®Band of Fate.¡¯ The dimensional wheel formed when a Core Realm was added by the Keeper to his siblings¡¯ creation, interconnecting them. 5) The Archive: The grand creation of the Keeper of the Archives, this tome holds within it all knowledge of the Tale and the entities that live within. As it also stores every story created or known in the Tale, its existence and the final words of the Keeper before its slumber were the catalyst for the Tale¡¯s stabilization, defining it as a universe fueled by legends and myths.
Domain: The Grand Tale. The Grand Tale is one of the rarest and most unique of all the universe templates in the Multiverse, as there can only be one Grand Tale in existence at any point, regardless of time or space. As the Grand Tale is formed and given power by stories, myths, and tales, it will develop over time into its own condensed multiverse as new worlds are continually born. Each iteration of the Grand Tale is unique, they are all formed differently. This iteration has been created with a Core Realm that connects to each of the eight supporting worlds/Realms, whichbranch out the soon-to-be ring of lesser worlds that will develop when sentient life begins telling tales and passing down legends.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Be warned! If the Core and/or enough of the supporting Realms are destabilized/destroyed, the Grand Tale will come to an end!
Well, that¡¯s not good. I¡¯m not sure, but I don¡¯t think there are any defenses in place around the new Realms. We¡¯ll have to fix that soon. But first¡­ ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you think we should give ourselves names? It¡¯s a bit annoying referring to you lot as ¡®my siblings¡¯ in my head.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± replied my sister, ¡°I think I like the name Raum.¡± As she says so, her eyes -the only feature we four share- twinkle like two slowly spinning galaxies. The only difference between our eyes is that she has a dark purple-black starscape orbiting her black hole-like pupils, while mine appear as green intermixed with gray and gold comets. Her long, raven hair reaches halfway down her back, reaching the midway point between her four wings that seem to distort space around them. The wings clearly show her domain as the Goddess born of the Entity of Space, each of her thousands of feathers a portal to a new star system. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to find out she will be able to make that illusion a reality, given enough time and power. She wears a flowing kimono-like robe, the color of which slowy shifts back and forth like that of her eyes, seemingly infinite. Seeing us study her, she grins, before curtsying and asking our first brother, ¡°And how about you then?¡± He appears much like a scholar, his eyes a mixture of all the colors that exist, and he thinks for a moment before confidently saying, ¡°I shall be Alma Ressam.¡± Unlike my sister, he had no wings, and in their stead he possessed a third, closed vertical eye on his forehead, and shimmering hair with much the same qualities as his eyes. His scholar''s robe is a base grey, but has a strange mystical quality to it, invoking all sorts of thoughts of vague possibilities. He then turned to our second brother, and asked, much like our sister, ¡°And how about you then?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t parrot me dammit!¡± He chuckles, though I¡¯m not sure how, with his lack of any facial features or orifices excepting the eyes. And what eyes! They put the rest of us to shame, a kaleidoscope of colors and emotion, which seems to have spread to his skin. Said skin is like a starscape, one that is ever changing and distorting much like a dream. He is hairless, with no clothes or sex visible, certainly the most exotic of out of the four of us. He then speaks with that strange voice of his, ¡°I shall take the name Visturas, if that''s alright. And how about you, brother? What mantle will you take up?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I cup my chin in my hand, pondering the question. What would be a good name? ¡°Why do I have this insane urge to call myself a doctor?¡± I muse out loud, before being struck with inspiration. As I am born of the Entity of Time, and this universe is dependant on stories how about this? ¡°I shall be known as Lore. Talespinner Lore.¡± ¡°Ah, lore. The knowledge of ages passed on to the new generation, a fitting name for you brother,¡± replies Visturas. The others agree, grinning. Ah, my appearance? There is nothing special about my hair or robes, no added wings or strange features like my siblings. What is special about me is that I, and all that I am wearing, are going through a constant cycle of time. My hair changes from it¡¯s base forest green to snow white, while I age instantly from child to elder, and my robes turn to dust before reforming without the chance to fall. It gives them impression that I am both unaging and every age at once, which is actually quite close to the truth. ¡°So what should we do now?¡± I ask, before being rudely interrupted by the All-Powerful Bastard again.
All participants have completed [Stage 1]. [Stage 2] is starting now! Time until completion: ??? million years.
The goal of [Stage 2] is to get started on the actual creation of your domain. With the foundation set, it is time to start building. Create a system for souls to travel through, learning along the way and gradually increasing their power...so long as they do things right. The main goal of being a Diety is to raise as many souls into a higher realm of existance than before, to become a part of your ''army.'' How this is achieved is up to you, although most do this through purification of the soul. Good luck.
Side note: In a few million years, all twelve souls currently creating their domains will have a meeting, and compare notes. This is a good way to build camaraderie, as this is a friendly competition. Additionally, your personal power will increase with your influence, and can also increase with a number of other, obscure ways. Have fun figuring out what works and what doesn''t.
[Stage 2] will now begin. 5...4...3...2...1... [Stage 2] has begun. Delivering power and returning natural memories to the participants...
Wait, what? ¡°But we already have natural memories, or at least basic knowledge.¡± ¡°Yea, what gives?¡± retorts Alma.
Well, seeing as it was the old man¡¯s soul fragment, I may have bent the rules a little to give him more time, and lied to the other 11 souls about all of them being finished¡­ This did cause time to be slightly out of whack here for the moment though, so if you don''t make the meeting, it sucks to be you! Seeya, suckers!
¡°Old Bastard!!!¡± Surprisingly, it was Raum who shouted this time. Wow, she¡¯s pissed. Let¡¯s slowly back away¡­ *Cough* ¡°Anyway, we still need to decide who¡¯s watching out for each of the Supporting Realms.¡± ¡°I suggest we each take two. I¡¯ll handle the Chthonic Realm and the Underworld.¡± ¡°Sure bro, I¡¯ll claim the Soma and Magica Realms then.¡± So Alma and Raum have chosen already. Well let¡¯s scry the essence of the four that¡¯re left then- ¡°I¡¯ll take the Beastial and Technological Realms, in that case.¡± ¡°Oh come on guys! Now I''m stuck with the Higher and Lower Realms for all eternity. I can already tell the mortals are going to get all religious about them, at least we didn¡¯t call them Heaven and Hell. But sheesh, really guys?¡± ¡°Ha ha, yup! I¡¯m off, see you in a thousand years!¡± That slippery eel Alma dashes off, followed by the other two. Well, I guess I should go meet my charges. *Sigh* This will be a looong millennium. Chapter 2: The Pair of Fools ¡°In the beginning, after the Entities had fallen into their slumber, and the reign of theTaleborn was new, there were the Eight GodSouls. Two of them were complete and utter imbeciles.¡± -The Time Codex Chapter 2: The Pair of Fools So, first thing I have to do is find the two GodSouls. That should be pretty easy, since all of the opposing realms are intricately connected on a fundamental level, meaning I should be able to find them in the linked soul realms. All the main eight have one, joined to their complementary Realm, except for the Underworld, which is the major hub for all the miscellaneous souls in the Tale. Hmm, now where in here are they¡­ Ah! Two spheres of light, one bright, the other glowing darkly somehow. *Shrug* Who am I to talk about seemingly impossible things anyway? ¡°-no, I¡¯m the greatest! Can¡¯t you see how fabulous I look?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve obviously blinded yourself with that obnoxious light of yours goldy! I am obviously better looking than you! Just look at my cool, sleek black light. I-¡± ¡°Both of you shut up! I can feel myself becoming stupider as I listen to you fools! You are just souls anyways! You have no physical body to look at in the first place! Why are you even arguing?¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s not like we know much, now is it? All we have are personalities and some basic information about the Diadem Kismet. Who are you anyway?¡± Says the golden soul. ¡°For your information, I¡¯m one of the four deities whose job it is to run this universe. And I¡¯ve been assigned your two sorry asses for next thousand years at least. Now let¡¯s get you two some proper bodies so I can at least punch you two when you aggravate me.¡± ¡°No violence please! But bodies would be appreciated.¡± This time it¡¯s the dark-affinity soul. ¡°All right then, first I¡¯ll teach each of you how to form a vessel for yourselves. After you choose your gender and form the bodies, then we can move on to you two getting some names.¡±
*Snore...* *Snore...* *Snor-¡±Ugh!¡± The fuck? Who kicked me? Hmm, I was waiting for the idiots to finish their bodies, but they started bickering, and I guess I drifted off. As a Deity of Time I always can keep track of it, so how long has it been, lemme check¡­ ¡°Fifty years! It took you imbeciles fifty years to make vessels?! How stupid can you get?¡± ¡°Well, we couldn¡¯t decide on male or female, so we each made a form for each, and then we had to go through the whole process of bonding our souls to both.¡± Speaking is a beautiful woman in a white gown withsixty four wings of golden light hovering behind her. Her eyes are striking, as unlike me and my siblings, her eyes look semi-normal, with golden sclera and white glowing irises. Elfin ears, a petite nose, and red lips complete her face. Her bust is moderate, and from what I can see, her butt is well-rounded and perky.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Oi! Don¡¯t ignore me!¡± A loud voice from behind me breaks me out of my trance, and I realize I¡¯ve been staring. I turn around to see another beauty striding up to me, nearly identical to the first, except for the thirteen horns atop her head, and the crimson dress. Nine of these horns were arranged in a crown-like pattern, with one in the center of her forehead, the rest receding on her scalp in pairs. The final four horns spiral upwards from her temples and- is that a tail? ¡°Ow!!!¡± ¡°Stop staring, perv!¡± Yep, that¡¯s a tail. Long, scaled with a sharp tip, and apparently very dexterous. After I heal my face of the tail puncture, I notice one last difference from her sister. Her eyes have irises that glow with a dark light. Oh, and she has ever-so-slightly bigger breasts. ¡°So, did you two pick out names yet? I¡¯m tired of referring to you two as light idiot and dark idiot. And what was that about having two bodies?¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s simple really,¡± said the light one, ¡°We couldn¡¯t decide on a gender, so we made two bodies and picked our favorite! Oh, and I¡¯m Astrophel!¡± What. ¡°That has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.¡± ¡°Oh yea? Well all you did was sleep!¡± Darkie has me there¡­ ¡°I¡¯m Nyxitri, for your information.¡±
*Various arguments and bickering later¡­* After squabbling for last couple of hours, we are now seated at a round crystal table I conjured from the essence of the soul realm. ¡°Now that I¡¯ve gotten you two to settled down for a bit, it¡¯s time for you to work out how you are going to mold your Realms and their first inhabitants. I recommend basing the first sentient lifeforms on your own bodily structure, as it will be easiest to make.¡± While the spirits are creating most of the Diadem Kismet, the spirits of the the eight Supporting Realms are heavily influenced by their affinity, and therefore can be somewhat controlled by the present GodSoul. Before taking my nap, I split a fragment of consciousness to keep them in flux for the most part, so that the two idiots could properly shape their Realms. I¡¯m so thoughtful. ¡°Why does he look so smug sis?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Should we kick him some more?¡± As both women get into position, I realize my predicament. ¡°Oi, I did good you know! If I hadn¡¯t kept everything in flux, you bozos would have to modify mortal races to fit your liking, instead of creating your own. Now go do it, I¡¯m off to take a nap. Wake me later.¡± Of course, instead of sleeping I disappear - or so it seems to them at least. I merely sped up my personal time relative to the surroundings. Now I can go examine how the worlds are coming along. Ever since I released my hold on the souls, the conjoined realms have been rapidly developing, with some assistance from Nyx and Phel. Their names are really annoying to say, so I shortened them for ease while speaking. They hated it of course. As I connect to what will be the Mortal Realm for these two, I see that has developed quite oddly, as have the rest of the realms that lie between the Supporting Realms. As I spread what I can only call my ¡®divine sense¡¯ for lack of a better term, across space towards the other joinings, I can tell that seemingly the only similarity between these four is their current size, and the fact that all are connected to their ¡®parent¡¯ realms, and that they seem to be¡­ melded to the Core Realm somehow. Anyways, time for sightseeing is over now. I must say though, watching an entire world develop over the course of ten minutes is incredibly cool looking. Perks to being a God of Time, I suppose. Time to see what the Grand Idiots have come up with over the century I gave them. ¡°Hehe, I crack myself up sometimes.¡±
*Back at the Soul Realm* ¡°Hello!¡± *BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!* Oops, I reflexively shot that idiot Time God. Bastard really needs to learn some manners. *Cough, cough.* ¡°Hey, what was that for?!¡± ¡°100,000 years, that¡¯s what! You vanish after telling us to wake you up when we finished making our races, and disappeared! You are supposed to be our guardian for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± He freezes, face contorted into an expression that is half, terrified, half embarrassed. ¡°You mean one hundred years, right? I set the difference to ten years per minute, not ten thousand.¡± ¡°Nope!¡± I catch him by the collar, binding him with my wings in the form of celestial ropes. ¡°Now we¡¯re off to see my sister, and you can¡¯t escape.¡± ¡°Of course I can escape Phel, I just have to- huh? What have you done?¡± I give him a smug grin, before saying, ¡°While you may have been goofing off for the last ten millennia, we have trained or powers. While you may be a stronger Deity, these Realms are ours, and we can control everything in them. Now come along, there¡¯s work to do.¡± Chapter 3: Of Angels and Demons ¡°Though many know of the cold war between the so-called Angels and Demons, very few know its cause, or that the first of the Higher and Lower Races were closer than brothers, and remain so to this day.¡± -The Time Codex Chapter 3: Of Angels and Demons ¡°So, while we created the inhabitants for the HIgher and Lower Realms in the first thousand years, me and my sister have been perfecting them ever since. The Cultivation system took a good 10,000 years by itself, ya¡¯ know!¡± Phel has been lecturing me ever since she caught me, what a pain. But seriously, I messed up big time. When watching over the Mortal Realm while in a state of hyper-time I did notice a lack of sentient life, but I figured that was because the Goddesses hadn¡¯t developed it yet. ¡°Wait, you actually developed a cultivation system for your mortal races? How, I hadn¡¯t explained that to you yet.¡± ¡°Give people a few tens of thousands of years, and they tend to figure things out. Basically, after creating our original races, we realized that they had no way to grow stronger, so we spent a few thousand years researching the fabric of our Realms, and found that that they are closely linked with the concept of faith, ideals, and of course our elements.¡± ¡°Great, but how did you figure out the faith bit without any sentient creatures to provide said faith?¡± ¡°Hehe, about that¡­¡± Oh Creator they didn¡¯t actually create life by accident somehow, right? Please tell me I¡¯m not right, because that is a shitstorm of epic proportions. ¡°While me and sis were messing around with area of naturally concentrated essence on our respective planets, we might have injected some of our raw divine mana into them, and the result was Elementals of Light and Darkness. They started worshipping us, and that was that.¡± ¡°So why did none of these ¡®Elementals¡¯ show up in the Mortal Realm while was watching over it?¡± ¡°It seems as though they depend on the natural light- and darkness-attributed mana that is found in the Higher and Lower Realms to survive. We bought a couple to the Mortal Realm once¡­ Let¡¯s just say it wasn¡¯t pretty.¡± The jabbering finally ceases as a majestic gold and black building appears on the horizon. As soon as it does, my ¡®guide¡¯ snaps her fingers theatrically, and suddenly we have arrived directly in front of the temple-like structure. ¡°As you can see here, we¡¯ve had time to decorate. At first, we only tried to create our individual races, but after we had managed that, we were curious to what the ¡®perfect¡¯ form of each individual race would be. Hence, we created our sons.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I halt mid-step, in shock. Phel said they had sons, indicating that she has some connection to then as at least a mother figure, if not more than that. I just hope she didn¡¯t do anything stupid trying to find the ¡®perfect¡¯ form¡­ I just jinxed myself, didn¡¯t I? ¡°Tell me,¡± I ask, ¡°did you two by any chance do anything particularly special to these sons of yours?¡± She stops, putting a finger to her lips. ¡°Well, not really I suppose. Oh! We did graft a tiny segment of our souls to our respective progeny, but other than that, no.¡± *BOOM* The pure, marble wall now has quite an extensive dent in it now. Why does it have that again? Oh, right, I was beating my head against the wall because of the sheer stupidity of their actions. *BOOM* Demigods! They made time-be-damned demigods, and act like it was nothing. And not just any demigods either, nooo, they have to create demigods that have the potential to become gods. Now I¡¯m actually going to have to work to ensure the Realms don¡¯t somehow become stardust. *BOOM* I should probably stop the inner monologue and the destruction of the wall by forehead. Phel¡¯s getting that look again¡­ *Cough, cough* ¡°Anyway, moving on. So where are these sons of yours?¡± ¡°If you¡¯ll hurry up, they¡¯re right in here, with Nyxitri. Though they are technically the first of they kind, we put them into stasis after ten years of living with us, so you could be a part of their lives. Sis! The old bastard is finally back!¡±
*Inside the Twilight Garden* *Sigh* I miss the rascals. The old coot better get out of whatever time-space he put himself in soon, or I¡¯ll punch him so hard he¡¯ll end up in the Mortal Realm. I look at the surrounding plant life, the beautiful vines and flowers created form the mixture of mine and my sister¡¯s divine mana. Though we have created many other species which reside in this garden (we actually had to convert it into a minor dimensional pocket after the first thousand years or so), they are our pride and joy, omnipresent throughout this space. Their dark, shadowy vines emit a purplish radiance that blends with the golden light of the blossom to generate the constant twilight which the Garden has been named after. In fact, the plants have such a high affinity for both light and darkness mana, a regular mortal -even an elemental- would die immediately after touching it. The only way to safely come into contact with them is to have equal or greater affinity than they themselves have for either element, namely to be a demigod or higher at this point in time. Though that old Time bastard would probably be able to, considering how stupidly powerful his Domain is. ¡°... a part of their lives. Sis! The old bastard is finally back!¡± Hmm? *BAM* *Ughh!!!* ¡°Why the uppercut.. Why¡­ Don¡¯t you people know that men don¡¯t like violent wome-¡± *Oomph!* Oh, it seems I kicked him when he was going to say something strange? Oh well.
*Inside the Twilight Garden* After I finish rolling around on the floor in pain, I finally get a chance to examine the two crystalline coffins that are set up in the center of this clearing. Phel, of course, gave me no warning before dragging me into this dimension, so I was completely unprepared for the swift uppercut to the gut, courtesy of Nyx. ¡°So these are your children? What are their names, and for that matter their race¡¯s names. Please by the Creator tell me you didn¡¯t name them Angels and Demons, please." The two Goddesses stop chatting and turn to me. ¡°We were considering it, but something felt off about that, I don¡¯t know why.¡± I sigh inwardly. Thank the Storylord, one thing the actually didn¡¯t fuck up somehow. Then Nyxitri speaks up again, saying ¡°We instead chose to give them unique names, resulting in the Sinh-L?tt and the Sinh-Terr.¡± She then gestures towards the boy with demonic features ¡°This is my son, Lucius,¡± Phel suddenly breaks in pointing excitedly at the angelic boy, ¡°And my son, Gabriel.¡± After doing so she snaps her fingers as she seems so fond of doing, causing the coffins to disappear, and the Goddesses to catch the suddenly falling children. *Yawn* ¡°Is it time to wake up already mom?¡± Lucius asks this, while Gabriel just mumbles tiredly, shifting around in his mother''s arms. ¡°Yes, we thought it was time you two met your Uncle Lore,¡± replied his mother, before both of the other divines present turn around and stare at my newly adapted form in obvious shock. I now appear as a tall, curly-haired teenager, slim but muscled, with my robe a neutral gray, and hair green with white tips as well as a short and scruffy beard. With a shit-eating grin on my face, I explain. ¡°You want me to show my true form to some kids without any mental protection at all? Are you mad?¡± I step forward, brushing some dust from my robe. ¡°Nice to meet you children, I am your Uncle Lore.¡± Chapter 4: Of Boys and Gods ¡°Not much is known by mortals of the childhood of the Princes of Light and Darkness, and even less of their caretaker in this time, a being known to most only as the Timekeeper.¡± -The Time Codex Chapter 4: Of Boys and Gods ¡°Eeeh? Since when have we had an uncle?¡± Lucius is the first to break the stunned silence, raising my opinion of the kid, though his brother is still wiping the sleep from his eyes. ¡°Since now, brat. Geez, to your parents not tell you about me or anything? Pretty inconsiderate if you ask me, when you take into account all the work I put in for them.¡± Giving a theatrical sigh, I can almost see the anger visibly radiating off of Astrophel- actually never mind that¡¯s just her mana reacting to the extreme emotions that she seems to be feeling. I of course have no idea why she would be so angry after all, given the amount of effort it took to keep the newborn Realms in flux. It¡¯s going to take another thousand years minimum to regain all the power I spent on that stunt if I only rely on passive absorption. It¡¯s one of the reasons, alongside my lack of training, that Phel could toss me around like a ragdoll when both my Domain and status as a Deity, and therefore my legend engraved into the very fabric of the Tale, are all much greater than her¡¯s. At full power, even without training, I could most likely take her on with one hand - and win. At least one good thing has come of me angering the Goddess of Light, as the bright glow seems to have finally woken up Gabriel. Though, he must have been less asleep than I thought, as he immediately asks me ¡°So are you the ¡®old bastard¡¯ and ¡®idiot time god¡¯ that Mom and Mother always complain about?¡± *Facepalm* I really wish I could be mad at the kid right now. I really, really do. The dilemma I¡¯m facing here is that the angelic little brat looks so damned innocent asking that question, even though I¡¯m completely sure he knows exactly how he¡¯s insulting me. Trust me, demigods mature really fast in some aspects. The golden hair, white skin, and puppy-eyed look with those pure glowing eyes like his mother¡¯s, they all come together to create an image of perfect innocence. ¡°Well brat, I¡¯m here now, and I think it¡¯s high time for a family reunion! See you in a year ya¡¯ pair of idiots, I¡¯ll take care of the boys for you. Seeya, suckers!¡± With a swish of my extensive sleeves and burst of chaotic energy, the three of us disappear. And some people say I have no sense for show business. Little did I know, but this year-long journey of ours would eventually become a legend in it¡¯s own right, and would soon spread throughout the Realms. Meanwhile, the Twin Goddesses had their own project to work on...
*Meanwhile, in the Chamber of Creation a.k.a. The Goddesses¡¯ secret lab*Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Immediately after Lore disappears, my sister turns to me with a wicked grin on her face, one I am sure that I¡¯m mimicking. Both of us instantaneously flash to our hidden experimental lab, to create what I hope will be the first progress in centuries. ¡°Did you get it?¡± The question immediately bursts from my mouth, as I practically salivate over the prospect of completing our stalled project. ¡°Yes!¡± my sister squeals, hugging me tight to her breast as we jump in place, giggling like mortal schoolgirls. The fit of glee eventually ends, as we both turn to our crowning achievement floating in the massive crystal cylinder that takes up the center of our lab. Within are the two prototypes of the lifeform we hope to use to populate the Mortal Realm. Astrophel holds up her hand, finally revealing the Essence that was stolen from Lore in the instant of disorientation and binding when she, for a few brief milliseconds, had complete, unfettered access to the God¡¯s power. The Essence of Time drifts paradoxically above her outstretched palm, static but animated, fleeting but eternal. I chuckle once more, ¡°It took a long time, but now we can finish our duty, and create mortals for the Mortal Realm.¡± The issue that us sisters had when creating these specimens is that as a side effect of Lore holding the Realms in flux, all three, but especially the Mortal Realm, were infused with his aura and attribute. We could take control of the Higher and Lower Realms easily enough, as we are interconnected with them on a primal level, but we couldn¡¯t tamper with the third Realm very much at all, with every life form we created have an innate need for either light or dark mana. I glance over to one of the thirteen sides of the room, ignoring the various clutter, burn scars, and powdered godstone from failed experiments, to examine one of the few successes we had fusing Light and Dark attributes within a living organism, the Twilight Godvines. Through testing, we have determined that they have an innate talent for cultivation, becoming fully sentient at 10,000 years. This behemoth of a plant is Vinya-Muzg, the first of his kind, and our most powerful creating to date, almost to the state of attaining minor divinity. Nowadays, he has sunk into constant meditation, pursuing an understanding of his domain. In a moment of recklessness, I snatch half of the Essence of Time, passing it on to Vinya-Muzg. ¡°What did you do that for!¡± ¡°He deserves it sister. How many centuries has he supported us in our endeavours, cultivating only so that he may be of more use to us? This Essence will help him overcome the barrier of his comprehension.¡± She sighs, but nods her head in agreement, helping me to push the flame-like Essence into the vines. [Many thanksss, Motherss. Thiss one will put it to good use, it shall not be wassted.] His voice recedes from our minds, the entire mass of vines trembling and contracting into a tight cocoon, in preparation for the oncoming hibernation. *Clap!* ¡°Anyway, back to business, we have mortals to create!¡± The two Goddesses return to the task of creating life once more. Meanwhile¡­
*???* ¡°Screw you braaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaats!!!!!¡± Currently I am falling into a seemingly infinite abyss, and all because of those two little nephews of mine! I really should have sealed their divinity before we left from the mountain, shouldn¡¯t I? *Sigh* Well, back to the grind I suppose.
*The Chamber of Creation* Done! The Essence of Time is fully integrated into the first of what we have named the Lauruka. They are a large race, standing a full 7 feet tall, with ash-grey hair, moderately slender bodies, with two pairs of arms, the lower shoulders extending out from the middle of their backs, each limb ending in a six-fingered (or toed) hand or foot. Their as of yet unopened eyes are flamelike, slit-pupiled, their skin black as the vines used as the basis of their creation. My sister is now checking the specimens over, having transferred them to one of the few unoccupied tables in the room. ¡°Hmm, well though the Essence has made these two essentially immortal, others we create from their template don¡¯t seem like they will inherit this feature, only gaining a longer natural lifespan of about 200 years from its influence. It must be the innate divinity from Lore, let''s hope he never finds out about this.¡± I nod silently in agreement, before placing my hand on her shoulder and saying, ¡°I think it¡¯s time to wake them, let us head to the throne room.¡± With a flash, we sitting on our intricately thrones, and the mortals are clothed. ¡°Now first of the Lauruka, open your eyes, and awaken!¡± Chapter 5: A Year of Chaos, Begins ¡°Only one event in all the history of the Higher and Lower Realms created such a melding of fear and awe in the hearts of Gods and mortal men. The Year of Chaos Born.¡± -The Time Codex Chapter 5: A Year of Chaos, Begins A flash, a bang, and the tree of us are standing on a plateau that I saw develop while in my state of hyper-time. We are of course in the Mortal Realm, as it will be the best place to base ourselves for the next year, and about as secluded as possible given that the realm lacks sentient life for the most part. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a few of the idiots¡¯ creations roaming around, but they should be easy to take care of. As my charges are currently incapacitated, I might as well make us a place to live. And- [Time Freeze]. *A moment later* *Whew* I¡¯m now leaning against one of the brilliantly green, jade columns of our new residence, a temple/dojo hybrid, with a center tower half as high as the plateau upon which it rests, fully fifty stories high.. My two new disciples have stopped muttering between themselves, and are now staring in slack-jawed awe at my creation. ¡°Well boys, welcome to your home for the next year, well five years if you take the time dilation into account.¡± ¡°¡±Time dilation?!¡±¡± It seems their mind hasn¡¯t caught up to the fact that I can create massive structures instantly, or at least seem to. ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll show you around, and after lunch you two can explain your mothers¡¯ cultivation system to me.
*A while later, in the garden* ¡°Thanks for the food Uncle!¡± Gabriel is the more polite of the two, his brother still systematically looking away from me for some reason. ¡°Now can you two explain how the cultivation system, it seemed pretty open-ended when it was briefly explained to me before.¡± Now Lucius speaks, ¡°The system is slightly different for each race, but the ranks are roughly classified as Mortal, Renowned, Heroic, Legendary, Mythical, and finally Divine. When at the Mortal level of power, the Sinh-L?tt and the Sinh-Terr are practically identical, though the Sinh-Terr tend to be darker skinned than the Sinh-L?tt. When mana is cultivated to the Renowned level, their evolved features will appear, and most societies see this as the final step to becoming an adult. This usually happens, given diligent cultivation, at about fifty years of age, a tenth of an average mortal¡¯s lifespan, given then never cultivate any farther. At the Renowned level, the Sinh-L?tt gain their first pair of wings, while the Sinh-Terr gain their tail and their first two horns.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Ooh, ooh, ooh! I know the next bit!¡± Gabriel breaks in, ¡°The Sinh-L?tt supposedly double the number of wings when they ascend a rank, though none have currently broken through to Mythical status as of now. The Sinh-Terr, likewise, have no individuals that have broken through to Mythical, while we are supposed to gain four more horns at Heroic, two larger horns at the back of the head and our forehead horn at Legendary, two temple based horns at Mythical, and a second pair at Divine.¡± I sigh, beckoning them forwards as I fall into a lecturing stance, ¡°The ranks you have stated are correct, yes, but you are missing one crucial bit of information. The names of the ranks? They are quite literal. Most of your kind grow to Renowned at adulthood because by that time, enough people know of them for them to become known - or Renowned - which allows them to reach this stage. The same stands for the rest of the ranks. To be Legendary ranked, one must be a living legend. To attain Mythical status, one must be a myth spanning worlds. Even so, to become a Deity, or even reach the peak of Mythical you must go beyond these three worlds of yours, and become known throughout the Tale, becoming an integral aspect and pattern in its weave. With no mortals currently residing in the Mortal realm, funnily enough, there is no possible way for any form of life untouched by Godly hands to rise beyond a Legend.¡± ¡°But enough of that, not it is time to train. Come at me!¡± *BOOM!* With a clash of fists, the training begins.
*Outside* Well, I guess I can leave my avatar to teach those two nephews of mine, I have bigger things to do. This will also serve as my first test in the use of an avatar, though I have limited its power to about three times that of one of my nephews. Now, I should probably take a look at how the Tale has progressed, and catch up with my siblings seeing as how I missed the last meeting. Leaving this Realm, I gaze at the changes that have appeared while I was in hyper-time, as the structure of the entire Tale seems to have shifted slightly. Whereas before all the Supporting Realms were arranged in a wider disk-like structure, now each pair of interconnected Realms have shifted to opposite sides of the Core Realm, each Realm equidistant from one another, forming a more condensed spherical shape. Each pair¡¯s Divine Realm appear to have melded to the outer reaches of the Core Realm, the Mortal Realm I just exited from appearing much like the three others, elongated and reaching towards the Primordial Flame. Shifting my gaze outwards, I see that my brethren appear to have attempted to create a sort of defensive shell of Primordial Chaos as a first line of defense against invaders, surrounding the Realms of the Tale. It does, however, seem incomplete, most likely caused by the lack of my assistance. Still, this is understandable. Examining the inner reaches of the Core on the other hand¡­ Well that confuses even me and my innate understanding of the Tale. The Primordial Flame appears to be affecting the entirety of the Core, as within the Primordial Chaos surrounding the Mortal Realms (I assume this is where all the extra Primordial Chaos not used in the shell went), there appear to be worlds within worlds, some half realized, almost dreamlike. As I go closer, I notice that the deeper I delve, the more my own power of Time is affected, while fluctuations of space and emotion wildly differ from world to world. As I examine them one by one I start to notice a theme, those with a more concrete existence gravitate towards the Mortal Realms, while those less so move towards the Flame, shimmering in and out of existence. I pull a small, tiny world to myself to take a closer look, before noticing something fascinating. This entire world is centered around the existence of one boy, almost as if he is the main character of his own- wait. I see now! How could I forget?! This is the Tale, it grows with stories and legends, as they grow so does it. Though this means extremely slow growth in the beginning, it has the potential to grow exponentially, more than any other universe type in existence! In fact, the Tale itself will become its own condensed multiverse. And this is exactly what I hold in my hands, a story. That¡¯s what they all are, and as each world becomes more and more fleshed out, it literally becomes a reality. For after all as the Keeper said, ¡°This world is but a story, and all the stories are true¡­¡±
Lore soon moved on, leaving the boy-come-warrior and his world to drift away, never noticing the glimmer of grey light now contained in the God-touched orb. So distracted was he by his revelations, he even failed to notice that the boy was of a race never before seen,with four arms and charcoal skin, ashen hair now containing a hint of emerald green. The story would soon drift on, given power by the acknowledgement of such a powerful being, then migrating towards the Mortal Realm of Light and Darkness. What would become of it, well¡­ that¡¯s a tale for a different day.