EXCERPT [BOOK ONE]

[1] In the time before there was the darkness humanity reared, there were three beams of light. These were the creators of all things good and bad, and of all things which are unexplainable. These creators are blinding, and they can not be defined in any way that is manmade. They are sexless, they are without morals, and they have existed longer than all else.

[2] The first of these three creators is named Nour. She, resembling the mother of all things, created the heavens and stars. The second of these three creators is named Kataž. They, resembling the space inbetween states of being, created nature and weather. The third of these creators is named Uuad. He, resembling the harbinger of death, created the underworld and seas.

[3] There is a distinction between the time of living creatures on Earth and the time that preceded us. These times are Before and After. Before, the three creators hung the stars in the sky. The brightest of these stars was named Sōnus. And the day was endless and good, but Uuad, the Master of Time, ordered for a way to track the passing days. Thus, he hung a pendulum in the sky, naming it Mōnd, and as it danced with Sōnus, the day and night cycled.

[4] Kataž moulded the great lands of earth from pieces of star and flesh, making grasslands and islands and forests. From the cornucopia of their own ribs, they bore mountains. From the pools of their eyes, they bore streams and rivers. From the thunder of their voice, they bore storms.

[5] Nour built great spires of glass and the winter of the North. From the bounty of her breasts, she bore snow. From the ichor within heart, she bore the Northern lights. From the cavern of her chilled womb, she bore fantastical beasts. These beasts were beautiful and miraculous, with one hundred eyes and tusks made of gold.

[6] Uuad flooded the rest of the world with deep water, black and uninhabitable. There he built his own kingdom, among the unimaginables and the most dangerous of the beasts that Nour nurtured. There were sea serpents the size of an empire and water vines which pulled down anything that should get too close.

[7] Thus, the three creators and their beasts lived for eons, watching over the animals eating the grass and fruits from the trees, and the smallest creatures burrowing into sand, and the largest creatures sinking to the Underworld through the sea.

[8] Kataž, who is the most mischievous of the creators, created a great river called Bōdyäch. And one dawn, as Nour herded the hooved animals on the hills nearest to the river, Kataž asked their sister to bathe in the river, for she had dirtied her oak skin while herding. Nour, being kind as she is, obliged, kneeling on the riverbank to splash the clear water upon her face.

[9] And Kataž said, “Mother of the Earth, Mistress of Life, how greatly I adore you. Accept this gift.” And from the red of their lips, they created a thorned rose. “How kind you are, sibling!” Nour took the rose in her hand, but a thorn caught on the skin of her thumb. From the wound, a drop of ichor fell to the river. Nour failed to notice this, and, as one of her animals needed tending to, she left Kataž. But Kataž had been tricking their sister, and from the single drop of ichor in the river, the water was now blessed with the gift of life. Kataž, who was bound to create only flora and fauna, yearned to create creatures of their own.

[10] And from the wet sand and soil of Bōdyäch, Kataž created the first Anai: Bōde. He was the ideal of mankind. And because Kataž was mad with their glee at the act of creating life which breathed, they created more beings of blood and bone, men and women and hermaphrodites and children and elders. These Anais were in awe of their own bodies and the miraculous world that surrounded them.

[11] Kataž smiled with the splendor of a thousand pearls. To the Anais, they declared, “Hark! You are the greatest things to breathe this air. You are the children of light itself. Go on, explore the lands and wander and wonder. For you will be, from this day forward, the human race. My devoted little ones, you are all so beautiful and clueless. I shall call you the First Anais, as you will be the first of many.” And the Anais all celebrated their new given lives, and Nour heard their cheers, but when she approached them she saw and felt their merriment so deeply that she vowed not to intervene. The fantastic beasts which she had created could not speak or sing or dance, and thus, she let the Anais live on.

[12] They began to build homes and cities, and fashion clothing to keep warm, and make mead to quench their thirst. The Anais reproduced, birthing more generations to inherit the blessing of life. But the Anais were curious as all creatures are, and stricken with hubris. As time passed, the Anais took their spears and arrows, and thrust the pointed edges through the gullets of the fantastic beast so they might use their hides and tusks. Nour bore witness to these tragedies, and called upon her brother Uuad, the King of Retribution. “O, brother,” Nour weeped. “The humans have turned to savages! What are we to do?” And Uuad said, “O, sister, if the humans can not exist among the beasts, so be it. If something must be done, we will create guardians over their realm. A guardian will watch over the rocks on the shore, and a guardian will watch over the trees. And so it will be done; and so they will keep the humans in line.”

[13] Thus, the three creators created rulers to watch over all facets of the world, and they were called Heili Weachtern, Human Watchers.

[14] The Heili Weachtern were born in the realm of the living, but were not exactly so; they were immortal, walking among mortals, with dominion over different channels of nature and manmade objects. A Heili Weachter guarded iron, and a Heili Weachter guarded figs, and a Heili Weachter guarded conch shells.

[15] When an Anai man beat his wife, the Heili Weachter of forest fires burnt his home to the ground; when the Anai hunters killed bass only for the thrill, the Heili Weachter of rivers condemned them to live through drought. When the Anai children paid their respects to the elders among them, the Heili Weachter of sunlight painted strips of color in the sky. There is an eternal balance to be met, and the Heili Weachtern ensure the scales do not tip.