At first, there is nothing but cosmos, and the forge. The forge is an unknown creature with a cauldron for a back. This cauldron is constantly filled with a swirling, color changing liquid. This liquid frequently bubbles. When it bubbles, a new star is created.
The forge, becoming lonely, pours most of(but not all of) its liquid into the cosmos. This liquid condenses into an orb. An egg, one might say. This egg contains twins, a Male, and a female. The forge places this egg inside of it’s cauldron to incubate. The still remaining liquid begins to expand and refill the cauldron, surrounding the egg and infusing it with the powers of creation.
The forge continues on to create a landmass, separate from the realm it currently inhabits, wanting it’s future children to be safe. This landmass will become known as the Realm of the Gods. Upon creation, The realm is Lush and bright. Forests, Plains, Meadows, lakes, rivers, and Mountains, All of them come together in the creation of this paradise.
The forge settled down, and waited for the egg to hatch. The cauldron continued to bubble, creating new stars. Sometimes, drops of the liquid would occasionally spill onto the ground, creating new life; animals. The forge watched as the animals prospered in the realm it created. All feelings of uncertainty faded, It knew it had done a good job.
Time passed as the forge waited. The animals had gone about their lifecycle hundreds of times. The Forge’s only sense of time was the animal’s lifecycle; reproduce, Raise young, and die, Reproduce, Raise young, and die, rince, repeat. Some animals had longer lifespans than others. Other animals would hunt some of the weaker ones. Many of the descendants of the first animals looked wildly different to their ancestors. Others looked identical.
Finally, The forge felt the egg begin to move within the cauldron. It reached its head up so that it could see inside the cauldron. The liquid was translucent enough so that the forge could still see the egg inside, fully submerged.
She didn’t know anything, except that she was submerged in some sort of liquid, confined in a tight space with another of her own kin, and that she wanted to leave. She kicked at the walls, trying to break free, Awakening the other in the process. The female entity, who would later be named Grandleur, continued to kick and claw at the walls of her confine. The male entity, who would become known as Athen watched. As much as he wanted out, he did not want to be in the way of his sibling’s flailing.
Grandleur had finally made a crack in the walls, She continued to chip away pieces until there was a hole large enough for her to fit through. She climbed through, Athen followed. The twins surfaced, and were greeted with their parent. The two climbed out of the cauldron, spilling some liquid in the process, creating even more creatures.
The Forge watched as it’s children climbed out of the cauldron. They would be described as Humans with wings, horns, scaled arms and legs, and a tail, in the future, but those concepts didn’t exist at this time. Their scales and wings were pure white upon emerging, but as the female hopped down, Her scales were drowned in color. She had stepped on a patch of red flowers, which her scales had changed to match. The same happened to the Male child, who had stepped on a patch of Violet flowers.
A thought came to the Forge’s mind. It pointed at the female, and spoke one word,”Grandleur”, and Pointed to the male, speaking “Athen”.
Time continued to pass, And the two newborn gods observed their Home. It was always Bright, and Grandleur’s eyes began to hurt because of it, yet Athen couldn’t stand darkness. The forge came up with a compromise. Half of the time will be dark, the other half would be bright. The twin gods agreed.
During the bright half of the day, Athen was active and Grandleur was asleep, while during the Night, Grandleur would be active and Athen slept. But, as nice as it was for Grandleur to be in the dark, The sky was lacking. During Athen’s daytime, The stars were visible, and she thought that the stars were the prettiest part of the sky, while Night had nothing but an Inky black void.
Athen took note that his sister wasn’t as happy, and during the short period of time where it was neither Dark nor Bright, He talked to her about it. Grandleur Lamented that Athen could see the stars, the prettiest part of the sky, while she could not. The two brought this up with the Forge.
In response, the cauldron bubbled, and Instead of a star, a new celestial body was created. A spherical orb which emitted a soft glow, it Illuminated the darkness, not so much that Grandleur’s eyes began to hurt, but enough that Athen was no longer repulsed by the Inky darkness. The forge bellowed the word: “Astraeus”. The formerly black sky was painted in many colors. Violets, pinks, blues, and greens.
The time in between Dark and bright was painted in such a way that the bright blue sunk beneath the horizon and turned orange, while the Dark violets and blues would take it’s place. occasionally streaks of bright greens, blues and sometimes pink would appear, Illuminating the ground below in whichever color streaked.
And lastly, stars appeared, some further than others, but less bright than the ones during the day. They sparkled, adding the finishing touches to the Dark half of the day.
Grandleur and Athen stared in awe. The Night had transformed from an Inky, pitch darkness, to a spectacle. And Astraeus would become the name of the Moon which now reigned over the night sky.
The twin gods continued their lives as normal, with the difference that Athen would now occasionally stay up during the night to talk with his sister. Grandleur noticed that her wings would change to match the night sky above her. The three gods were content. The Forge’s cauldron continued to bubble, creating new stars in the realm it previously inhabited.
During one day, In between dark and bright, Grandleur and Athen witnessed the death of one of the young creatures nearby The Forge. It was a Spotted, quadrupedal, hooved beast. Small and frail, with no injuries. It’s mother nudged at it, and let out a mournful cry. “The Faun….” Grandleur mumbled. Athen looked at her confused. “I call the young ones Fauns,” She clarified. Athen nodded.
“What do you call the adults?” He inquired.
“Hmmm. I haven’t actually called them anything yet,”
“How about deer?” He suggested. The mother gave up on the young faun and trotted into the forest. Grandleur nodded.
“Deer. I like that.” She approached the dead Faun, and stroked it’s head. It was as if she could feel it’s mothers sorrow.
“Would you like to bring it back to life?” Athen asked, following his sister.
“Is that even possible?” Grandleur continued stroking the Faun’s head. The Forge lifted up his head and spoke.
“You can try,” It bellowed. The twin gods looked at The Forge, then back at the Faun. Athen placed his hand on the Faun’s body, while Grandleur kept her hand still on it’s head. The two of them poured magic into the Faun at the same time, As if trying to will it back to life.
At first nothing happened, but after a few seconds, the Faun began to glow, and change it’s form. It appeared humanoid like the twins, but kept it’s Deer features. It’s front legs became arms and the hooves became hands, the body changed to be more humanoid, It’s back legs remained mostly the same. Light brown hair grew from it’s–Her head.
The reborn fauness groaned, and propped herself up so that she was sitting. She looked at her new body, confused. She knew that she didn’t look like this prior to.... What happened? She didn’t remember what happened, Just that she closed her eyes one moment, and when she opened them, she had a different body. She looked up and saw two.... Entities? Her mother told her something about two gods, maybe these two were them? Either way, she was terrified.
One of the gods reached out their hand to her. She carefully grabbed it with her own, and she was pulled onto her feet. She found it difficult to balance at first, but it didn’t take long for her to get the hang of moving around in her new body.
This time it was Grandleur’s turn to name someone, “Harmenta,” She spoke softly. The Fauness looked at her confused. “I’m calling you Harmenta,” She reiterated.
Athen nodded, “A fitting name, I must say,” He agreed.
The fauness spoke for the first time, “Harmenta,” Her voice was melodic and soft, compared to the twins’. As Harmenta walked, flowers would occasionally bloom behind her. A Goddess of Nature was born.
You’ve been sentenced to 400 years for multiple murders. It’s been 399 years and your jailers are starting to get nervous.
Writing Tips
Punctuating Dialogue
✧
➸ “This is a sentence.”
➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.
➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”
➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”
➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”
➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”
➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.
“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.
“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”
➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”
➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”
However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!
➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.
If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)
➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“
“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.
➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.
➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”
➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.
“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”
➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.
“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”
Thank you!!! <3
dusties for skiafray and mossfinch over at the earth discord ^_^
A snake story, based on an experience I had while I was in Florida.
I have a cousin that becomes emotionally distressed in the presence of Kraft Singles.
anerican choese
Reminds me of one of my OCs, Who keeps his hair in braids that have been further braided together.
If you ever wanted to know how long Cy’s hair is completely down.
Babam.
Do you fear the Gods? Do you have the sheer arrogance, to defy them? I applaud you. This blog features: Flight Rising, Dragons, Worldbuilding, and Absolute nonsense. Have fun!
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