Teaser for "Giants will Come"

 

Giants will come (tentative title)

The Beginning of All Things 

Before the creation of all things, long before anything came into being, there was the Aether. The Aether permeated throughout when there was nothing. Only the Aether existed before the beginning.

Out of the Aether, The Source of Consciousness and All Things emerged. He subsisted everywhere, like the Aether He originated from.

After a time, The Source became lonely. Above all else, He hoped for a Companion to be His equal in all things, and hope became part of the Aether.

Out of the Aether came His companion, as He hoped. She embodied His equal in all things, but She remained opposite, and He loved Her.

She named Him, 'Suneidesis', and He named Her, 'Dianoia'.

From Suneidesis and Dianoia the Four Elemental Spirits, their children, arose. The Salamander, The Undine, The Gnome and The Slyph came to be. The Four Elements of the Aether- Fire, Water, Earth and Air, that which make up all things, resulted from the Four Elemental Spirits.

Suneidesis designed a garden for Dianoia to tend, and She loved the garden He created. Dianoia tended it diligently, while the garden bloomed. The Four Elemental Spirits, their children, lived within the garden and helped it thrive.

The garden developed, and in the garden The One Tree sprang up, which became Dianoia’s favourite. Dianoia gave everything to The One Tree, and She grew tall as Dianoia sang to Her. Life flourished under Her wide branches.

Soon The One Tree realized who and what She was, while She cast Her seeds abroad onto the fertile earth that came from the Four Elements of the Aether.

This comprised The Time of the Beginning. Only what The One Tree has enabled the Elves to remember in their many lifetimes, and the Dwarves to write in books, has transmitted through the Aeons in myth.

The First Aeon: The Age of Contentment 

The One Tree imagined what could be, like Suneidesis had done before Her. The Elves and Dwarves composed the first of The One Tree’s children. She cared for them as they cared for Her.

From the deep roots of The One Tree and the fertile earth that came from the Four Elements of the Aether, the Dwarves existed first. They remained in their caverns to care for the roots of The One Tree, where their population grew as they constructed immaculate cities deep underground. Suneidesis revealed Himself to the Dwarves, and they revered Him.

As The One Tree's sharp needles settled onto the earth that comes from the Four Elements of the Aether, the Elves came into being. The Elves loved The One Tree and vowed to be Her guardians for all time. They dwelt close to Her, as She sheltered them under Her branches.

Dianoia, noticing the devotion of the Elves and the Dwarves to The One Tree, blessed them with long life. The Elves became special to Her, and She allowed them to know Her.

During the Age of Contentment all the animals, birds, reptiles, and insects, with every marvelous creature that ever was and ever will be, developed from The One Tree’s imagination and the rich earth that came from the Four Elements of the Aether. They multiplied and adapted throughout Her creation.

The One Tree grew as the First Aeon ended. 

The Second Aeon: Time of the Titans 

The Titans, personified from stone, became arrogant as they constructed lofty towers that reached the Baldachin. They were cruel and violent, destroying the earth that came from the Four Elements of the Aether and caused harm to The One Tree. They selfishly took from Her whatever they desired, and The One Tree suffered.

The Elemental Spirits created their children during the Second Aeon- the Salamander, the Undine, the Slyph, and the Gnome dwelt apart from the Titans, protected by The One Tree. The Wylde Creatures developed their Elemental magic, and dragons soared in the sky for the first time.

“The Sprites of fiery Termagants in Flame mount up and take a Salamander's name.
Soft yielding minds to water glide away and sip with Nymphs, their elemental tea.
The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome, in search of mischief still on Earth to roam.
The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair, and sport and flutter in the fields of Air.”
-Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto 1

At the end of The Second Aeon The One Tree grew again, and the Earth moved. The tall towers of the Titans shook in their foundations. The Wylde Creatures came forth and caused horrible war upon the Titans. The salamanders melted their vast cities of stone, and they became the spired mountains that ascend from the water. The One Tree utterly destroyed the Titans at the end of The Second Aeon.

This was the end of The Second Aeon, as The One Tree grew again.

 

The Third Aeon: Time of the Giants 

The Giants came into being at the beginning of The Third Aeon, from the remnants of the Titans. They were as cruel and violent as their predecessors. The Giants also hurt The One Tree, as they destroyed the earth that came from the Four Elements of the Aether, while constructing their architecture on the cornerstones of the Titans.

Corrupted cities rose from the Giants, profaning The One Tree. They created dangerous items of magic with the potential to destroy Her, as they attempted to escape the Baldachin.

The One Tree couldn't tolerate their existence, so as the Third Aeon ended and The One Tree prepared to grow, the Giants readied themselves for the end. However, The One Tree couldn't utterly destroy the Giants like She had with the Titans, for Her Spirit could not bring them to extinction. The One Tree, instead, separated the Giants unto themselves away from the rest of Her creation.

So concluded the Third Aeon as The One Tree grew again, and She protected all other creatures.

 

The Fourth Aeon: The Time of 'The Children of Earth' 

Out of the water came The Children of Earth, and they called themselves Human because of the diversity of colour in their skin. The One Tree loved them, but they didn't know The One Tree, for She resolved not to reveal Herself to them. Only through the teachings of the Elves and manuscripts of the Dwarves were they to know The One Tree.

Berthed in the Fourth Aeon, the Goblinkind were born from the mire of the Giants. They’ve hated humans since the beginning, waging constant war against them to energize their magic. The Goblinkind are like the Giants in their ways, prone to destruction and violence. They construct vast towers of twisted architecture to reach the sky, as they attempt to escape The Baldachin.

The humans created their glorious architecture in harmony with The One Tree, of whom they did not know. Until The God-Kings came forth, and humans thought they were the Giants of old. The God-Kings now rule with their hidden agendas and create their architecture for their own purposes.

From this point, I can not write of what has not yet happened. The Fourth Aeon will soon end as The One Tree prepares to grow again, and what judgment She may bring is still unknown.

-Dwarven Lore: The Book of Aeons
-Theodore Groundspike, Grand Master Mage of Suneidesis