Prologue/Mythology
Please tear me to pieces! I haven't had any outside editing done on this piece, so any critiques would be awesome. 8/23/09 Updated. I edited some of the beginning things to hopefully make it flow better.
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The ancient world of Nasilia was a paradise in earthly form for the denizens that lived there. The land was bountiful and beautiful, easily producing all of the pleasures those that who lived there could dream of.
Five gods ruled over this paradise in harmony. There was Shicharta, the goddess of the earth; Kortara, the goddess of fire; Vorance, the god of the sky; Fioreine, the goddess of the waters; and Risu, the god of the forest. They each ruled over their own people and rarely interacted but their separate governments worked effortlessly together to maintain peace and order.
But as with all good things, there were flaws. All of the major gods fell in love and raised a family. All that is, except Risu. Risu stood alone amongst the families of the gods, caring for and tending only the animals that lived and died in his forests. Risu soon grew lonely and yearned to raise a family, but he could not find anyone who wished to raise a family with him. He soon withdrew completely from the circle of gods, and was only occasionally glimpsed walking amongst his beloved animals.
Risu loved his animals; he would know when one of his darlings gave birth and he would be there to name and love the newborn animal. After a while, Risu decided that if he could not have a family of his own, he would create one. He worked for years, molding and changing his darlings into beings that were not animals, but not gods either. They walked like the god, and talked like the gods, but they retained the base instincts of their animal counterparts and developed the ability to shift freely between their “godly form” and their animal form. Risu loved them; creating houses of trees and stone for them to live in and a vast, perfect forest to hunt and forage in. He cared for them and called them his children, the Irisu, meaning “from Risu”.
The other gods soon learned of Risu’s deeds and grew furious. Beings that were neither god nor animal were abominations in their eyes and they sought to destroy them. They gathered those that served under them and headed for the great forest with the intention of forever wiping this stain off of their planet.
Risu was furious at the other gods actions. He gathered all of his children to him and granted them another power; the power to fight against the gods themselves. He told them what the gods planned to do and bade them to defend themselves. He set guards around the forest and retreated to his sanctuary deep beneath the center of the forest and began working. For three months he worked his magic deep beneath the ground while war raged above him. He felt a deep pain each and every time he felt one of his children fall in battle. Finally, he was finished. He called once again for all of his children to come to his side. The Irisu fell back to their fathers side and listened in mute horror as he explained his plan to them. They tried to dissuade him, but he would have none of it. He would not allow for another of his precious children to die. In front of their horror-stricken eyes, he cast his spell. Magic rushed up and out of the ground and spread across the forest in a vast wave of immense power. All of the minor gods that were in the forest were killed immediately, and the other four major gods were thrown out of the forest.
A great barrier stood tall around the forest, invisible to the eyes but painful to the gods’ senses. They tried to penetrate the barrier, but all of their efforts were for naught as nothing could even damage the great barrier. After a while the gods gave up, and retreated back to their own homes.
Eventually the gods forgot about the Irisu, and slowly and unknowingly their powers were drained away by the powerful magic of the forest. As several generations of the minor gods came and went, the major gods slowly passed away, one by one. The minor gods themselves lost their power, being reduced to mere mortals who lived and died without knowledge of magic.
Hundreds of years later, the Irisu slowly filtered out of the forest, leaving the safety of their fathers’ domain behind. Eventually only the wolves remained, guarding the immense crystal that once was their beloved father. The Irisu that left the forest bred in with the mortals, creating half-breeds that were like their mortal parent but carried the potential of magic within their bodies. The mortals soon learned to control that magic and those that could use it were valued highly amongst the settlements.
