Nivenmage

The Man In Chains

"I am the prisoner." He said with a bitter grin as if amused at her ignorance. "I am the father" He paused again, his eyes staring ahead as if in deep thought, or perhaps in the grasp of some painful memory. Then he became angry and his voice made Tyril cringe. "I am an angel of chaos! I am death!" Finally he seemed to become slightly more lucid, and looked straight into her eyes as he said the next words. "I am a god, child, I am Seryth."

"There is no such god." She said, but her voice sounded weak and childish in his presence. She knew it was true; looking upon a god was never meant to cause doubt. He exuded perfection, he was exactly what she would have imagined, but her education betrayed her. She had learnt of only four gods: Nevenym, Daghus, Fereanor and Valeph.

His eyes pierced her. His breath sounded almost harmonic as he spoke again. "I think...I need to tell you a story." He looked sombre, almost saddened to see her. "Will you listen?"

Slowly, Tyril nodded. Seryth inhaled again and his breath sang as he braced himself before he started to recount his tale.

"In time forgetting, most is lost, but blood is our memory. It is our gift. How can our children forget us when our gift runs in their veins? What is a god if his children cannot maintain his legacy? We knew this. My brothers and sisters and I could see that the only true immortality is legacy.

"There is and has always been five gods. Nevenym the eldest and wisest, her Fabric created and enveloped the most beautiful things. I was always in awe of her powers. She made the realm of course; starting with the spirit, the soul, the least tangible things and building upon them. An infinite number of realms, layers, abstractions of the underlying ones, until finally the last two layers, the most crucial ones. The Omnisphere with the world of the living around it.

"The Omnisphere was to be the last home for the souls of our children, in their least abstract but ultimately eternal form. They would retain their identity there, and remain at peace forever. I am proud of it, it was my idea. Our legacy would have continued in the Living Realm regardless of the Omniphere, reborn and retold with every new life. But, I couldn't stand the thought of my children's spirits succumbing to chaos upon death. A soul without a concious mind is a terrible thing, so I gave them a concious plane of eternal respite.

"My brethren were sceptical, but I promised them I would maintain it myself, my children would guide every spirit through the barrier. So they agreed, and thus we began."

"Nevenym created the lake, and the Shimmering Trees, and bestowed upon her children the power to manipulate the Fabric. They could play with it; the Fabric that made the Barrier itself. It was not dangerous, they would only be able to move it, fold it, stretch it, never break it. That would insure the integrity of the Omnisphere.

"Daghus was only slightly younger that Nevenym. He loved the notion of giving our children a physical realm. In a physical world they could collide, clash, feel the pain and exhaustion on the most exhilirating level. They could challenge themselves, compete against each other. Those are the aspects of life: challenges, failure, despair, victory. Do you know those feelings? Then you are alive.

"Daghus gave his children that desire for sport, and gave them the strength to exercise that desire. His children were large, strong, both physical and mental. They would have the wisdom to know the value of failure; it is far more valuable than victory. Failure alone lets our children grow and become wiser.

"Then it was my turn, but Nevenym had suddenly changed her mind. She started to worry that my children would abuse their power, escape from the omnisphere to live again. It seems she never knew that I planned to give them the power to tear the Fabric and make portals in the Barrier. When she found out she told me to stop, she said that my children should only be allowed to pierce the Barrier upon death, that their wings would allow them to carry lost souls across.