Eight Interwoven

1 - Dusk

In days long gone, there were nine gods. 

Long before the world had been truly forged, there was nothingness. From the aether, a series of figures began to emerge. They were embodiments of the elements, paragons of virtue and love determined to share it. The empty void that had once thrived even while hollow was quickly filled with more than anyone could ever hope to imagine. The entities would take many decades to be named and many more centuries to be properly written of by human hands, but they had a title that is still known now: gods. 

The legends speak of eight primary figures who appeared to bring life and light to the death and darkness that had come before them. There may have been others who were forged by the stars, but their names were forgotten by time or erased from the pages of history. Even so, the truth of the world remained, and it endures to this very day. 

The gods' first action together was to unite hand in hand and create their greatest blessing: the world. They built a universe from nothing and gave it all the care they possessed. Oceans parted, and the continents rose. The gods saw to the birth of many places that go by many names, and they smiled down upon all of them. 

However, one continent rose above the rest as the favored of the gods. The continent was split in twain, and yet, it was united beneath a common banner in the eyes of its creators. To the east, snowy mountains gave way to towering peaks and sweeping greenery. To the west, deserts bled into forests, sandy seas, and vast rusty plains. In between, islands dotted the ocean, thriving with warmth and love. The ocean divided the halves of the land, and yet, it felt united. In the eyes of the gods, the two halves were one in the same. Two always returned to one. 

The land of Solistia has lived on since long before there were humans present to give it the name it so desperately craved. However, texts of faith and history alike agree on the path that brought Solistia to its current glory. A continent as shining as Solistia could only have been forged by the gods, and the people would never dare to forget the kindness that had been granted to them by the powers that ruled above them. 

Each of the gods blessed Solistia with a new gift to show their love and care. The world would not have existed without their generosity, and to this day, religious texts sing the praises of those who gave rise to the world known so many centuries later. Without the kindness of the gods, the world would be naught but void. Every life is owed to the eight gifts of the highest beings to ever draw breath within this universe. 

Aelfric was the leader of the gods. He was the paragon of light and life, bringing a new glow to every step he took. With his staff in hand, Aelfric created the light of the world. He pressed his staff to the sky, and the heavens, once nothing but pitch darkness, began to spark to light with the birth of the sun. The beauty of the land was renewed beneath Aelfric's watchful eye, and his smile is said to live on in the stars that dot every night sky. Each one of them is a blessing from his staff, and whether near or far, they signify that the gods are always looking over the world they forged from nothing. Some priests even say that the stars are the twinkles from Aelfric's eye, and that each night there are stars in the heaven, Aelfric is looking down on Solistia with a smile on his face. 

In these long gone days, Aelfric offered one other gift to the land: four silver fires. They burned bright and strong in the places they were needed most. The flames protected all who were close to them from the forces of darkness, offering safety and peace. The fires never extinguished, burning with the very power of light that Aelfric had provided to them. They would come to be known as the Sacred Flames in the days of humanity, the most important gifts the gods had ever granted to Solistia. 

Aeber stood opposite Aelfric, a master of the darkness who thrived when there were no eyes to see. He was a god of chance, roaming the land in search of its greatest of treasures. He created the blessings humanity came to covet most, but his favorite of treasures was the moon in the night sky. Aeber tore apart the darkness with his dagger to bring the moon out of the shadows, and the world no longer had to fear the darkness that awaited them when the sun faded across the horizons. Aeber never asked for thanks for his act of generosity. Instead, he vanished into the shadows, always there with his brethren but never close enough to be seen. His presence was felt strongly, and the prince of thieves spent each night reaching up for the moon with pride that he could call it his.