Fables of Eden

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Throne of Ember

"His Magic, burning bright with desire and endless magical ability sprung forth the goddess Lilith of Esse..."

From the beginning of everything stemmed the Eldest of the Trinity, and from the beginning came infinity.
Even then, Magic had been capricious at best, burning through reservoirs of infinity supply - and The Elysian's incomprehensible amount of power was simply sitting in a constant state of rest, for there was simply nothing for the Elysian to unleash this upon.

This Magic, broiling and brewing deep within the confined of his body was once sweet and soft - almost akin to honey soaking through his veins and warming his lonely soul.

But, as millennia of nothing but his own company passed, this sweetest honey curled and spoiled into acidic bolts of turbulent urgency - a toxin driving The Elysian to near madness. This insanity sustained The Elysian in his final hours - his brilliant mind drugged by the allurance of something grander coming from himself. A passion, a desire, a need to create what he couldn't in this life.And so, he simply burst into flame.

Lilith thrived where her father could not - a wolf of pure passion and lunacy wrapped in flame and smelling of the acidic magic she was born from. Created without much thought or rationality for her actions, the land we walk upon was born of her bellowing laughter, the sky born of her tears, and the sun born of her mighty snarl. Plants and foliage sprung from her pawsteps, the barren terrain springing into an endless paradise of eternal sunlight.

However, Lilith's playground came with one flaw that remained oblivious to the joyful Goddess - Death did not exist, for the goddess was far too old to understand such a concept. And, ignoring a duty integral to the survival of her World, Lilith simply created.

That is, until the Desolate came.
Pure, unadulterated embodiments of the Elyisans undying loneliness, his spite for a world he would never see and the bitterness that lay deep within his untouched heart.

These creatures of vile intention slunk about Lilith's domain, their inky tendrils curling about her precious toys and turning them to biting toxins that burned and blistered Lilith's skin without relent.

However, while anything else may have sat and died in despair, Lilith did not know of Failure - and so, weakened form laying prone, the ceaseless Goddess created one last thing.

A champion with eyes of flame and spirit burning bright with the endless desire to persevere sprang forth from the earth itself. This first mortal molded from her likeness, a lone beacon of light in the scarred and blackened world ventured out into the immortal wilderness, fighting and besting each of the Desolate.

Even though her skin was puckered with scars and fur blackened with hate and malice, the wolf simply refused to give up - turned Death and Desolation away in favor of restoring her goddess to her rightful throne.

And, when the battle was finally over?

Lilith's chosen lay at her paws, head bowed in reverence of the brilliant goddess - Her radiance only making her heart slam against her chest and flame pour through his veins.

"You have done well."

The goddess was too old, too ancient to understand such things as spoken language, but the wolf knew Her words all the same - magic crackled and popped, a near-maniacal thing almost symphonic to her ears.

"You are the First of my creations, and the first to receive my Blessing. You have restored my sanctity, and for that you have my thanks. Though your valor is commendable, I have already given you many gifts - the land you walk upon, the sun that warms you, the meat that feeds you and the spirit that fills you."

"And I do not ask for more, nor is there more to give."

"Ah, but what little faith!"

Her booming laugh was not heard, rather, felt - Her land shook beneath then, great pillars of stone and rubble erupting from the ground to reach for the sky from whence she came.

"My little spitfire, I was born of chaos and created all that you see before you. Do you believe I am incapable of making more to give?"

"Of course not."

"Then listen well."

Her great horned head lifted to gaze around them, impish eyes surveying her dominion with the bright mischief that signaled the coming of Life.

"Its a pity. Such beauty in this world, but nothing has something to call its own. Dare say, what is to separate you from the next?"

She waited, but she remained quiet, for she did not know herself. The trickster goddess simply twisted Her face in a smile of purest delight.

"A Name." She announced proudly, reveling in her quiet surprise. "And you will be the first to bear such an honor."

The goddess lowered Her great head once more, the winding horns atop Her head crackling and winding with barely contained energy.

"With this breath and the holy light within me, I call you Prometheus. May you carry this name, blessed by my hand and forged in My flame, with the same honor with which I carry mine. Go, Prometheus, my chosen warrior, and bring Light to this land of ours.

And so, enthroned with this holy duty, Prometheus began her work.

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The Requiem of Sun

His Soul, deep and aching with loneliness and kindness gave life to the goddess Seraph of Wraith...
From the ashes of a ruined world grew new life, growing boundlessly over the vats of malice created by the vanquished Desolate and knitting over any evidence of struggle.
Prometheus's journey to bring the light of Name was not fruitless - with every Name gifted to the creatures of the land added another word to the steadily growing Lexicon of Lilith's creations.
Finally, once every creature and object had been gifted name, Prometheus knelt once more at her goddesses's paws.
"You have done well."
Prometheus felt a rush of pride wash over her blistered black fur - her goddess using the language she had created, every raspy word a brand of praise and admiration across her mortal body.
Lilith regarded her Champion with playful eyes, great head tilted her tail tapping the ground in thought. Finally, the ancient goddess spoke with a certain finality:
"I like you. I would like some more."
Prometheus lifted her head, amber eyes burning with barely concealed curiosity.
Lilith leaned forward, a wicked grin on her face that promised mischief to come.
"Yes, I would quite like some more. You, my Prometheus, are created in my likeness. So, more will be born of your loins in Your likeness. You had purged this world of imperfection, you have bestowed Name and Knowledge to my dominion, and now you will populate my world with your children and carry out my will."
Prometheus rose, bowing her own head upon receiving this sacred task.
"It would be my ho-"
"Ah, you speak too soon! Despite you being part of Me, you are still only a fraction, and a fraction of my power you hold. In order to create, you will need another."
Lilith herself rose from her seated position, lifting her head to the heavens and humming the song all too familiar to the growing world, horns and body glowing with celestial light.
And from this light came Ark.
A wolf of speckled brown and white, small in comparison to the two females and undeniably male.
Prometheus had little hesitation - her life had been filled with lonely desperation, and now there was someone to fill her days with conversation and light. The two departed, leaving for the center of Lilith's world and creating a home.
And, in due time, came the first of their litters.
Every litter only grew in size and intelligence, growing and spreading and populating the world in tremendous qualities. Prometheus. ever digilent in her duty and strong beyond belief, refused pain and continued the duty bestowed upon her by Lilith. From her chest and heart sprang light and love immortal, with every litter the world growing and never aging beyond Prometheus, every wolf in perfect health and perfect state of mind.
That is, every wolf save for Ark himself.
With every litter and day that passed, his body only grew weaker, his mind became sicker, his soul crippled and tired. His mate was made in perfect likeness of the Goddess herself, but he was made from a new (and vast imperfect) mold.
Soon, a time came where every bone ached and broke, every step searing agony through his muscles and tear tracks permanent in his face. Night never came, for the Sun never died, and so Ark would lay himself in the darkest corner and close his eyes and beg The Elysian and Lilith for the finality of sleep.
But no rest came.
For the immortality graced by the goddess above, a blessing to his reckless children and herculean mate and their fatal misunderstanding of risk, was an endless curse to Ark - a promise of immortal suffering.
This sickly lullaby, his endless pleading for rest was the final ingredient for Seraph's Rise.
From the freckled light cast upon Ark's decomposing form by silvery minerals walked a God of silver and blue, soft eyes framed in metal and petals. This God knelt by Ark's bedside, wrapping himself around his child and crooned gently.
"My dearest child, my sweetest." Seraph sang, gentle light giving rest to Ark's tired eyes and soothing his wary soul.
"What can I do to make it stop?" Ark cried into heavenly fur, unknowing and uncaring of this gentle entity. "Please, I just want rest."
"If rest were mine to give, my child, it would be yours." Seraph whispered, rising from Ark's side and instead sitting among the crevices of the cave.
"But nothing is that simple. I must ask one thing of you, my chosen."
"Anything," Ark gasped, pale eyes wide and devoted. "Ask me of anything, and it will be yours."
Seraph looked down at Ark, pity and love filling ancient eyes. "Anything, you say?"
He bent, cradling Ark's head in his tail. The next words were soft, a plea of his own.
"Kill the First. She carried my sister's blessing, and it is the thing that binds you to this world. Do this one thing, and rest will belong to you both."
Ark gave a raspy exhale, for while his body and soul were weak his mind was sharp and clever. His rheumy eyes scanned the God's sympathetic form, before he spoke once more.
"Promise me that, when their time comes, my Children may play eternal in your Kingdom. May they find the same rest I crave."
"Of course, my darling."
"Then my Beloved will be yours."
Ark rose, a slow and arduous ordeal. Seraph rose as well, silver flashes of light leaving thin incisions along his sides, the aromatic ichor flowing from his heavenly body and collecting in a skull made of pure crystal. "Your body is tired, my chosen. Let this be a vessel for my wish, and prepare yourself."
Ark nudged the skull, the sweet scent of smokey jasmine easing his lungs as he spoke. "And what am I to do with this?"
Seraph did not reply, only leaned forward - divine brow resting upon Ark's matted fur, knowledge of the arcane arts and magical prowess leaking into Ark's mind like a stream of water from a faucet.
"I understand," Ark leaned back, eyes lidded and relaxed as he lifted the skull into his weak jaws and prowled from the dastardly cave.
Prometheus was easy enough to find - a massive splotch of black among the soft greens that made up their home. His mate was resting quietly in the sunlight, most likely dreaming of sweeter times surrounded by grown children.
Ark moved forward with more power and confidence then he ever had in life, the skull and pull of his soul growing heavier with every determined step. Guilt already pierced his throat, tears stinging his eyes and slowing Time.
Before he was aware of it himself, he was above her - heavenly ichor spilled in thin rivulets from his paw, the soft golden fluid freckling his mate's achromatic fur.
Prometheus stirred in her sleep, murmuring Ark's own name before she fell into sleep once more.
And before Ark could thing about much else, he lunged.
Imbued with millenia of forgotten knowledge, Ark painted a large swirling rune in broad strokes upon his mate's fur, a lilting language lost to time falling from his tongue like venom from a cobra's fangs.
With a burst of acidic crimson the Rune came alive, searing and scorching Prometheus's exposed form without relent. The She-wolf awoke in undying agony, writhing and screeching as the rune went about its wicked works.
Ark felt searing pain erupt across his body, guilt and shame and his own weakness corrupting his senses.
"Im sorry," he sobbed, falling beside her and curling around the writhing she-wolf. "Im sorry, forgive me, im sorry."
Their symphony continued long into the day, a nightmarish orchestra demanding the attention of every god and mortal alike.
In contrast, the aftermath was deafening.
Their bodies lay curled about each other like snakes, the crystalline skull discarded in favor of letting the gruesome blistered flesh and twisted golden spirals adorn Prometheus's form, her fur still and endless heart finally falling into silence.
The First twitched, then moved no more.
The sky bled along with the she-wolf, reds and crimsons cutting across the sky in a gruesome tapestry of light, bathing Ark in golden light.
Seraph descended from this holy massacre, brow knitted as he wiped the grim and blood away from Ark's face.
"May I rest now?"
The wolf's voice was quiet, and broken - his body no longer able to move, his eyes unseeing as he lay in his Mate's lifeless embrace.
"Yes." Seraph hummed gently, paws dancing across His champions prone and bloodied form. "She waits for you in my Kingdom. You have done very, very well. Now, rest."
Ark breathed a sigh of relief, eyes fluttering shut, and did not stir.
Seraph did not rise as the moon clawed its way into the sky, bringing a serene blanked of calm and gentle rest to the world.
Nor did she rise when the Eldest appeared in a burst of fury and grief.
"Do you understand what you've done?" Lilith snarled, the large goddess low to the ground and fiery fur prickled like the mountains that dotted the terrain about them.
"I've let them rest, sister. Something you don't understand."
Seraph turned, rising to face the enraged goddess. The soft, mollifying eyes had turned cold with ice and venom as He surveyed the snarling trickster before him. "You create with no regard to how your creations will survive, or feel. You are insane, for thinking they can live in pain for eternity."
"How dare you. You come into my world, and meddle with things you are too young to understand." Lilith growled, horns and eyes blazing with uncouth rage.
"This is no longer your world, Lilith." Seraph snarled in return, composure finally lost as he squared himself off. "Your age and childish behavior have blinded you to reality. You are putting my children in danger, and for that you must pay."
Life and Death clashed in hideous harmony, holy claws and teeth bared and flashing. The God's brawled above their chosen's corpses, their snarls and blows shaking the earth and instilling fear into their children's hearts as they watched the arcane beings rip at celestial flesh.
And so, under the blanket of first moonlight and above the fallen, the divinity commenced their endless, gruesome dance.

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Lies of Pure Intention

His Mind, brilliant and overflowing with golden innocence, formed the final of the Trinity - Eden of Purity...
For a hundred years, chaos reigned supreme.
Lilith and Seraph, locked in seemingly endless combat, shook the very earth itself with the force of their snarls and howls - night and day fighting in the sky, a jagged line of purest gold dividing star-speckled light from blinding sunlight. With every blow landed upon immortal flesh caused the stars themselves to shatter and shake out of place, oftentimes dislodging from the sky and falling to the world in a hellish onslaught.
Those who remained in this brutal landscape cowered in fear among the mountains and ravines created by this endless combat, too terrified to step outside and gaze upon the rotting corpses of their forefathers, much less test the new limitations of mortality.
In fact, the only thing they dared to do was pray.
Pray, for the arrival of anyone, anything that would liberate them from their self-imposed cages, to establish peace and save them from the endless twilight and war between Life and Death itself.
But their prayers were fruitless, in the end.
Before long, the mortals of the world were content to simply roll over and die - quietly huddled in their homes, eyes fixated on the warring sky with nothing but selfish desire and regret filling their minds.
That is, all but one mortal.
The youngest of all Mortals, the last of Ark and Prometheus's pups - a child by the name of Annas - retained undying hope and faith in a savior that others had abandoned. Unwilling to cower in her home while her paws craved exploration, Annas set out towards the highest mountain peak where the Gods were engaged in combat. Every step was tread on bleeding, broken paw and weary limbs, but for fear of falling and never rising, Annas journeyed for 3 days straight.
Once the small thing reached the mountaintop, her body sagged with exhaustion and bruises littered her soft ivory coat, spirit ever unbroken, Annas simply stood in awe. Protected by nothing but her own mortal flesh, watching Lilith and Seraph fight tooth and bone, Ichor splattering across her face like gruesome warpaint.
"Stop"
She croaked as the Gods rolled closer, their heavenly anger threatening to sear her eyes from her head. She cleared her throat, squared her shoulders and screamed herself raw atop that mountain top, screaming for a savior and praying for salvation.
And as Lilith and Seraph turned towards her, ugly claws and mutilated teeth reaching to silence the small thing interrupting them, Annas simply closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and embraced her bitter and untimely end.
"That is quite enough."
Golden light erupted from the sky itself, coiling and winding like a great snake as it floated down from the atmosphere, curling around Annas. Every brush of the ethereal golden light soothed her wounds, purifying the fear and doubt from her mind and soul.
"Pitiful children, squabbling like pups over a bone."
"And who are you to challenge us?" Lilith demanded, teeth bared and prepared to take on another challenger.
Instead of answering, She descended.
A wolf formed of purest light, glowing softly and crowned with golden laurels. She towered over Lilith and Seraph, her quiet reverence demanding silence and respect from the Gods.
"I am Eden of Purity, purger of sin and holy judge." Her voice echoed across the chasms, a general speaking to her troops with righteous fire burning in her white eyes.
"I was born of the chaos you have created in a world you sought to protect - a chaos I am sworn to banish from this world. For millennia you have abused your children, banishing them to the far corners of the world to plead and cry for repentance." She lifted her head, a movement almost serpentine in its grace.
"No longer will I tolerate your needless bloodshed, for Today order will be restored. When your souls have become tainted by impurity and vile grievances, I will be the one to strike you down and welcome a new version of you to this world, clean of the filthy memories and thoughts that plagued your prior self. I will be the one to dictate when You Create," Eden turned to Lilith, who had become quiet and contemplative - an emotion the goddess had never displayed before. Eden surveyed this sudden change in character with something akin to pity, before swinging her gaze to a stunned Seraph. "And when You Take."
"A-And what of us?"
Annas, paralyzed in fear of the gods congregating above her head, shook like a leaf and squeezed the words out of her - it physically hurt to interrupt such ethereal beings. Eden did not laugh, but amusement played clearly across her divine features. "My Apostle." Eden did not walk, nor did she materialize before Annas. Instead, the goddess's voice curled around the small pup, language of divinity and mortals alike filling her entire body.
"You have done well, to summon me here. And for that, I must reward you." A searing pain rolled over her body in the way rubbing alcohol stings a wound, Annas marveled at the light stinging sensation clearing her body and mind of imperfection. _"Go, Annas. Tell your brethren it is safe to come out and celebrate under My light. Spread my gospel to the masses." Annas nodded feverishly, amber eyes wide and almost unseeing of the heavenly sight before her.
"Yes." She choked out the single word, throat dry and mind scrambling to keep up with what was occurring before her. "Yes, of course."
As the pup scampered down the mountain in order to complete this sacred task, Eden returned her steely gaze towards the gods before her, wounds long since healed and transgressions presented before the Holy Judge.
The moment Eden's attention turned back to Seraph and Lilith, the former spoke with gentle curiosity.
"So, you are the Arbiter?"
Eden nodded, not caring to explain herself further. Brushing off a still-fuming Lilith's attempt at conversation, she rose and lifted her chin. "You two have destroyed this land of yours. With my help, purity and balance will be restored. Are you prepared for what this may entail?"
"Yes." Rough and melodic voices intertwined in a strange symphony of agreement.
"Then let our work begin."
But, still slaves to time, such sweet things soon became rotten.
As the world beneath Eden grew more prosperous and beautiful, her mind only became more twisted and corrupt - delicate golden radiance stained with her own avarice for more beauty. Oh, how far she had fallen indeed! Her quest for purity was her own undoing - Her tongue rolled from her jaw, frothy saliva dripping sickeningly from her lips in an insatiable hunger for purity she no longer possessed.
"Dirty." She sang to herself, eyes fixated upon the mortals below her as Lilith and Seraph watched from beyond, their faces twisted in disgust. "Dirty little creatures, polluting my world. How Disgusting!" She cackled, tossing her head back and letting it loll back across her shoulders, blood-shot eyes locking onto the pair behind her with nightmarish clarity. "What. What has inspired those pitying looks."
"You've fallen far from what you once were, Eden."
Lilith's gravelly rumble was filled with little more then pity and disgust for the wretched creature before her. Seraph did not speak, nor did he look at the vile sight before him - he feared even glancing at the goddess would make him retch.
"What did you just say? Did you forget to whom you speak?" Eden twisted to look at them - a horrible, slow motion that started with her shoulders and rolled back around, head snapping unnervingly into place "Why? Why such...such hostility?" Her voice was soft but her face was jagged and horribly giddy, sweat and spit dripping from every plane of her once-righteous face. "Just...Just hear me out, ok? Hear me!" She did not walk, nor materialize before them - rather, she crawled across the floor with horrifying practice, eyes never leaving Seraph's face.
"Our world is impure. Unbalanced. Disgusting, too ugly for us. We just need to...wipe it! We make an army, and we kill everything and make it beautiful again. Isn't that great?" Her breaths were short and raspy, every wheeze and gasp only emphasizing the atrocities that spilled from her rotting mouth.
"We refuse." Lilith spit, fur prickling across her spine. "You pitiful thing, you disgust me. Why would I even dare consider-"
A gruesome smile split open her neck, her next words horrible gurgling and squelching noises. Lilith's eyes bulged from her skull, falling to her side and writhing in quiet agony as golden life spilled form her neck. Eden stood hunched beside her, jaw unhinged and dripping with Lilith's ichor. "Too bad. This cycle has my favorite by far" Eden giggled to herself, eyes rolling back to stare at Seraph, who's silvery bile stained the holy graves beneath them.
If one had to choose a moment, this would be the instance where Pure, Raw Fear had been introduced to the sullied world.
"Maybe your next incarnations will be more inclined to agree."
Seraph made to scream, but no sound left his lips before his head hit the floor.
"You've done well!" Eden screeched in horrifying laughter, her sibling's bodies already solidifying into new, refreshed and younger bodies. Her taunt was a sickening imitation, no remorse in her wicked cackle. "You done very, very well! Now," Eden lurched forward once more, divine fur still dripping with the blood of the new gods predecessors and breath stinking of malice. The godly pups clung to one another, eyes wide and glossy with fear.
"Where is my army?"

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An ancient tablet, long ago buried by unknown forced and caked in the bones of the Earth herself lay proudly in the center of camp - its rough, primitive text nearly illegible, but its ominous aura and celestial decree sends shocks of acidic fear through all who gaze upon it...

Listen well, Children of the Divine, to our holy decree, lest you be riddled by the very transgressions listed within this stone.
Long ago, you were given many gifts. The air you breath, the water you drink, the bodies you inhabit, the earth you make home and the sky that blankets you are all given to you by Our Grace. Your Transgressions have long been purified, deeming you worthy of such celestial gifts.
But children be warned, for children you are; such gifts are not free of cost.
Your souls and hearts are to be devoted to Us and Us alone - our presence in your spirits maintaining the Sacred Purity you so desire. Our Will is Your Will, and Our Word is insurmountable.
If your heart and spirits stray from this Divine Duty, if your soul turns to transgression and your Doubt taints Purity then the holy gifts we have given will be ripped from your grasp.
Every breath the defectors take is ripped from our lungs, every step a blight upon the earth itself.
If There come a day when our holy legion strays from its pure intentions, let Servants of the Heavens rain down justice upon the land, taking form of the 12 beasts sworn to protect the skies.
Take heed, Children - for these holy eyes see all.