Posted by Gobnait on January 7, 2000 at 20:001:16:
In Reply to: Stories for your enjoyment. posted by Gobnait on January 7, 2000 at 19:49:52:
The Night and the Day, a tale of the beginning (another early one, only loosely based on traditional origin tales.) In the beginning, there were only two Gods. I am sure you have heard
some of this story before, but perhaps you have not heard this part of the
story before...
Lord Rahvin of the Violet Spider and Lord Derit of the Shadows had
already created much of the world, the lands, the plants, and the animals.
They looked upon Their creation and found that it was good, but it yet lacked
people to walk it and discover all that the Gods had wrought together.
Lord Rahvin and Lord Derit began to fashion creatures after Their own
images in different parts of Thera. Lord Rahvin began in the plains with the
many races of humans. Lord Derit began in the mountains with the so-called
demi-humans, the dwarves, the elves, the gnomes, the arial, and the giants.
Some have said that Lord Derit's creations were poor attempts to copy the
humans Lord Rahvin created. And yet the demi-humans have so many things that
humans do not and will not ever have.
Lord Rahvin found that His human races could not see in the twilight
of those early times, no matter how well He fashioned their eyes. And so He
used His mighty magics and fashioned an enormous ball of fire. He hurled the
ball of fire up into the sky, and it stuck there, shining down on the earth
so that all the humans could see. And Lord Rahvin was pleased as His
creatures began to explore Thera.
Lord Derit in the mountains was dismayed. He had been pleased by the
shadows that covered Thera, and He did not want this ball of fire in the sky.
Many of His creatures also could not stand the light. Some of them fled into
nearby caves and later became the duergar, the dark-elves, and the
svirfnebli.
And so Derit reached up a tremendously long arm and plucked the great
ball of fire from the sky. The ball burned His hand horribly and with an
enormous howl of pain, He flung it far into the west, where it plunged into
the ocean.
The ball of fire exploded into a million pieces when it hit, and
these pieces scattered back up into the sky and became the moon and the
stars. What remained of the ball in the ocean hissed and spluttered, sending
up great clouds of steam, from which came the first storm and the first rain.
And Lord Derit was pleased that the shadows covered Thera again, although His
hand was horribly scarred and would take a millennium to heal.
But Lord Derit had underestimated the strength of Lord Rahvin's
magic. The ball survived its plunge into the dark ocean. The strength of Lord
Derit's throw sent it all the way around the bottom side of Thera, where no
mortal, even to this day, has walked. It took the ball many hours, but it
eventually reached the eastern end of Thera and soared into the sky once
more.
Lord Derit did not dare try to catch the ball once more to halt its
heavenly orbit, lest He burn His hand so badly that it would never heal, not
even in a thousand millennia. And Lord Rahvin was pleased with the strength
of His magic and with the orbit of the ball, and so He also left it as it
was.
And that is how they say the night and the day, the sun, the moon,
and the stars, all began. But only the Gods know for certain.