The first sentiences crawled through a void.
creatio ex nihilio.
They looked for eachother,
but there was no light.
They listened for eachother,
but there was no sound.
But they could feel eachother,
and the siblings were united.
Content in eachother's presence,
they passed through the aeons,
hand in hand,
a smile on each face.
Tragically, one among them lost contact,
and was thrown into the void,
to spend eternity alone.
Her name was Oblivion, the forgotten one.
In desperation, Oblivion created light,
so that she could see her kin.
All was black to her, still,
but in the distance, a great star.
Oblivion travelled towards her friends in delight,
and the primordial gods celebrated her return,
they wished to know Oblivion's name, but they had no language.
So language was created,
and the way of the universe was changed,
so that the words of the gods could travel,
from mouth to ear.
So Oblivion's name became known,
but her siblings grieved that she should have such an unfortunate name,
and she was renamed Lucifer, bearer of light.
The primordial beings were pleased with their creations,
and they delighted in sharing the wonder of their creations amongst themselves.
The god Ptah created a great mass of matter from nothing,
and he named it Tathenen.
Ptah proudly displayed Tathenen to his kin,
but they found it to be too dull, colourless.
So Ptah created an assistant to help him improve Tathenen,
thus he was become the first creator of life.
Ptah and his assistant worked hard to complete Tathenen,
but centuries passed, and little progress was made.
Ptah's assistant sat upon Tathenen, and refused to continue his labours.
At first Ptah was angry with his creation, and he attacked him,
but he later sat by his assistant,
and asked him what the price for his service was.
The created one asked for nothing more than a name.
So it was that Ptah promised to give his son a name,
but he would only do so once their work was finished.
Ptah's creation laboured with much enthusiasm,
working restlessly, day and night, for millenia,
until Tathenen was finished.
Ptah embraced his son,
and named him Atum,
the completed one.
Ptah displayed Tathenen for a second time to his brothers and sisters,
and the gods gasped in awe.
Atum sat upon Tathenen's throne, the Head of the Sky,
for Ptah had given it to his son,
a token of his gratitude.
And from Atum's throne came lesser beings,
for Ptah had taught him the secret of life.
But many of the gods were jealous of Ptah's creations,
and they could not understand why he had given Atum the privelage of lordship over Tathenen,
for he was a creation, a slave.
The goddess Tiamat descended upon Tathenen,
and she acquainted herself with the living creations of Atum.
She gave them water, which Atum knew not how to create,
yet they knew not the limitations of their king,
and they demanded that Atum provide them with water.
Atum confronted Tiamat, and requested that she create an ocean on Tathenen.
She agreed to do so, in return for the secret of life.
Atum reluctantly agreed to Tiamat's terms,
and he taught her to create beings as his father had taught him before.
But Tiamat deceived Atum, though she kept her word,
for she gave water to Tathenen, but it was unclean, and bitter to taste.
The children of Atum drove Tiamat from their home, and wept.
Tiamat competed for the favour of her kin,
creating beings of similar splendour to that of Atum himself.
Among them was a benevolent being made from water, Tiamat's most prized creation,
who she named Abzu.
The children of Atum looked upon Abzu,
they asked their father to steal Abzu from Tiamat,
so that they could drink from her body,
and have a calm equivalent to the chaotic ocean given to them by Tiamat.
So it was that Atum confronted his divine cousin,
and requested that he come with him to Tathenen,
to serve its people.
He reluctantly declined Atum's proposal,
for he was bound by Tiamat's chains,
yet he pleaded to be released from his mother,
for she treated him as a mindless object.
Thus Atum declared the first war upon Tiamat.
Tiamat had the support of all but a few of the primordial beings,
but the children of Tiamat had no love for their tyrannical mother,
and they joined forces with the children of Atum.
Ptah, too, aided his son's cause.
The great war raged for six days and six nights,
until Atum confronted his enemy,
and was slain.
All hope seemed to be lost for the created beings,
and the primordial gods, too, despaired,
for Tiamat had proclaimed herself the mightiest of all gods,
and she commanded her kin to bow down to her.
None obeyed her will, and Tiamat's alliances had crumbled to dust.
Yet she proved her claim to be true,
when she slew all but two of her siblings.
Those who survived were Ptah and Lucifer,
who hid in the palace of Tathenen.
The children of Atum sought refuge with them,
for Tiamat had cursed Tathenen with a great flood,
to drown its inhabitants.
But Tiamat's children were made from water and thus were immune to its ill effects.
They protected their mother's enemies from the chaos,
and sought the council of Ptah and Lucifer on how to defeat Tiamat.
Among Tiamat's children was a champion, who was named Anu.
Ptah crafted a mighty spear for him,
and Lucifer set the spear alight with a terrible inferno.
So Anu challenged Tiamat to determine who would rule the universe.
Tiamat accepted his duel, and flew at him like a tempest,
but Anu thrust his spear into her mouth,
and her body was engulfed in flame.
Thus Abzu's chains were undone,
and she provided the people of Tathenen with pure water.
They proclaimed that Anu would be their new king,
and for many years the survivors of Tiamat's slaughter celebrated.
But few remained after the War in Heaven, when of Tiamat's children all but Anu and Abzu left Tathenen,
so the children of Atum created many new forms of life,
and Tathenen was roamed once more by creatures,
and plants grew on its barren soil.
Anu looked at the recovering scars of Tathenen,
and he realised that his kin alone would not be enough to care for the universe.
He created new beings in his image,
and he named them Man.
He taught them everything Atum had taught his own children,
with the exception of the creation of life.
And they lived peacefully with the world they were made to care for.
Ptah and Lucifer looked at the lesser beings jealously.
Alienated from the inhabitants of Tathenen, Ptah plotted with Lucifer,
and they agreed to defeat the children of Anu and Atum,
so that they could rule Tathenen together.
Ptah lifted the great palace of Anu,
and threw it into the void, so that it would orbit Tathenen for eternity.
Anu, who was watching his kingdom from the Head of the Sky, witnessed this event,
and he was set alight by Lucifer as he chased after his palace, forever burning in the void.
Ptah stood upon the Head of the Sky,
and he commanded Man to bow down to him,
to call him Adonai, ruler of the universe.
Lucifer looked upon her brother in anger,
for Adonai had taken all the power, and given her none.
She turned half of all men against Adonai,
and so the second war was begun.
Yet Adonai was far mightier than his sister,
and he threw her into the vengeful embrace of Anu,
to burn with him eternally.
Adonai ruled Tathenen with an iron fist,
declaring that, as creator of Tathenen, he was Tathenen's rightful ruler,
and that any who defied his will would burn like those who had opposed him before.
He told Man that they were heretical beings, created by Anu, one of the great enemies,
and that they could seek redemption only through accepting Adonai as their lord.
For countless millenia, men lived their short lives under Adonai's shadow,
until the children of Atum fell from the palace of Anu.
They laid siege upon the Head of the Sky, where Adonai hid,
but Adonai escaped into the bowels of the earth,
so that the children of Atum could not corner him on the great mountain.
Instead, Atum's children built a great ladder, and rescued Anu,
leaving Lucifer so as to deceive Adonai into believing that Anu's plight continued.
Thus the third war began, as the young gods challenged Adonai for supremacy.
Adonai sought the help of Lucifer, but her flames were out of control,
her body was destined to burn forever.
So Adonai built a new body for her, and allowed her to inhabit it,
on the conditions that she remain subservient to him.
She agreed, reluctantly, and fought alongside Adonai against the children of Atum.
Man was called upon to help by both sides,
but all they could do was watch in awe.
All the gods were killed on that day,
as the children of Tiamat arrived in aid of both forces,
and the armies of Anu were equal in strength to the bastions of Adonai.
The balance never tipped in the favour of either side,
for every follower of Anu killed, a minion of Adonai was slain,
until eventually Adonai was left alone against Anu,
and both died at the tips of eachother's swords.
Thus Man was left godless,
free to inherit the universe.
They built upon the ruins of their predecessor's wars,
and fought for them.
They forged great vessels to traverse the void,
to look upon the burning corpse of Lucifer, to wander the empty halls of the palace of Anu,
and to search for every lost creation of the playful gods.
