[Askoga]: 89.Novels.Edont

Note from the author: This work is far from finished. This is a very rough draft of what will eventually be a log of my view of Eden, God, and Earth. It is a story, so there will be quite a bit that's made up, but the bare bones of it are my personal beliefs. Any comments or suggestions are welcome, but bear in mind that this is still only a first draft, and not even a finished first draft! Thank you for reading.

I am getting on in years now, and it is nearly time for my successor to come, that I may train him in the ways of managing this, Garvela Edont, and that, Earnat. And yet, I am no longer alone in my governing. Lysal has seen fit to bring into being another, to govern with me. But I get ahead of myself. It all began before I came into being, and this I can only know by sharing myself with Lysal, when it allows me.

Ah, speaking of Lysal, it would be both unkind and dishonest to ascribe a gender to it, and so through my story, Lysal shall remain simply it.

When time began, there was only Lysal. It began as a nut, we shall call it here, and slowly grew. And as Lysal grew, so did the place around it. But it noticed, as it was growing from a nut into a seedling, that there was little nourishment to be had. And so Lysal pulled life from itself and created some land, into which it could dig its roots. Then it noticed that there was no break from the light, and so Lysal pulled from itself again and made darkness. This is why, when it is most dark, the night seems alive. Lysal did not create the light, but only the dark, and so it is the night that lives.

Soon Lysal became lonely, and so it made more, like itself, spreading the land to accommodate them. For a time it was content as it grew, but the other trees were not. They began to die and wither, for they did not have the same means as Lysal to keep themselves alive. After only a short time, Lysal pulled life from itself again, for as it created it seemed to only grow, and I came into being.

From here, it is my own memories that I will record, and no longer Lysal’s. It is much easier for me to record them this way, you see, because Lysal has such a different way of thinking.

I say that I came into being, but I do not describe who I am. Allow me to begin by introducing myself to you, for that is only polite. My name is Tom, and I am guardian of Garvela Edont. Well, I was guardian of this place, but now I share my duties with another. However, that comes much later in my story. Some who see me call me human. Some call me God. I claim to be neither these, nor anything else that they call me. I am simply Tom, guardian of my home. I was the first that Lysal created, and so I have bits of all others who came after me, within me.

I will not bore you with more of a description than that. Come, I shall continue with my tale.

I was created so that I might care for Lysal’s companions, the Trees. I quickly learned how to care for them, and that each tree required different care. Days (as you humans call one passage of dark and light) turned into years (what a silly way to mark time, if I may say so), and I was content caring for the trees of what I came to call Garvela Edont. However, my duties were, if nothing else, rather boring, and so I went to Lysal and asked it if I might make more creatures to be my companions. Lysal lent me use of a tiny bit of its life, and I formed the shapes of various animals.

At Lysal’s insistence, for it was learning even as it grew, I created two of each creature that I made, and Lysal gave them each life Some I helped to change and grow as time progressed. This occupied me for a while, as I tended to the trees. All too soon, though, I began to feel lonely again, and I asked Lysal, once more, if I might make two more creatures. Lysal agreed, and thus came about the first two humans.

These two humans I named Abah and Imah, and I told them that I had created other companions for them, in the shapes of the other animals. They were delighted, and wished at once to begin exploring, but first Lysal bade me warn them never to eat the fruit of its branches, for Lysal’s fruits are as alive as Lysal, and from them spring new life-spirits. I warned them of Lysal’s fruit, and told them that from any other tree, they might eat. They were to mingle with the other animals as they pleased, and life was content once more.

I often strolled through the bright garden with Abah and Imah, talking with them and enjoying their company. We played with the animals, and sometimes Abah and Imah and I would catch one and eat it. Times were, indeed, very nice.

One day, when dark was nearing, I was tending to some trees in the outermost part when an awful cry reached me. It was not an audible cry, but I felt as though a part of my …what do you humands call it again? A soul? Yes, my soul. I felt as though something had taken a bite out of my soul. Immediately I knew that one of the humans had plucked a fruit from one of Lysal’s branches, and tried to eat it. I ran for the center of Garvela Edont, as quickly as I could, even as the ground began to shudder beneath me.

As I came within sight of Lysal and the two humans, I realized what it was that Lysal was doing, and what had happened. These humans had eaten a life-spirit, or what you humans call a soul. The foolish humans did not realize what was going on, but they hid from me, and they tried to hide from Lysal, too.

I feel that I must break in my story here to explain something to you. Every living thing has a life-spirit. I do, Lysal does, you humans do, the other trees, and all of the other plants and animals. When something dies, its life-spirit returns to Lysal, and becomes a bud on one of its branches. Each bud slowly ripens into a fruit, and when the fruit is ripe, the life-spirit detaches from Lysal’s branch again and finds itself a home. To eat a life-spirit is….one of the most awful things that anyone can possibly do.

Ah, now where was I? Oh yes, so the humans were hiding, and the ground was shaking. The moment I saw Lysal, I knew what it was planning to do. I threw myself towards it, but it was already too late. Far too late.

The land broke apart, and as I clung to my own bit of earth, I felt myself being lifted, as though in a parent’s loving arms. Grudgingly I released the earth I’d held so fast to, and I hung, suspended, near Lysal. I watched as all was destroyed, scattering the bits and pieces of my home, the place I’d come to love as life itself, in all directions. Humans now call it the “big bang”, and that, I think, is a fairly accurate description. There really was no bang, quite, but the ripping and tearing I felt in my heart was enough of a bang for me.

Lysal was hurt, I could feel it in my life-spirit, and so I floated towards it. The great tree, my parent, reached out with its branches and enfolded me in them. I let my life-spirit speak to Lysal, realizing that this must be similar to life as it was when Lysal was just a seedling. After a very long time Lysal pulled from itself, and I could tell this was a great effort for it after Abah and Imah’s treachery, and it created Garvela Edont again, creating humans, plants, land, animals, all that had been in Garvela Edont before.

I was so pleased, but then I noticed that around the seemingly boundless Garvela Edont, there was now a very high wall, a wall that seemed to have no purpose. When I asked Lysal about this wall, it gave me the impression that I did not need to know yet, and so I asked no further. As I looked around, I realized that this could not be the same as the place that had just “banged”. There seemed no less space, even with the wall, and there were the same types of creatures, and there was Lysal, just in the middle. But now, I realized that Lysal had created a ring of trees around it, whom I came to call the Sentries.

Many years later (millennia, perhaps? Such a silly mark of time) I longed to see what was outside the walls of Garvela Edont. I approached Lysal, and asked it for permission to go beyond the walls. It seemed to think that the time was ripe enough now, and allowed me to go.

I walked to the wall and searched it for a gate. The gate I found rather quickly, a large archway with solid doors made of some material you humans, and even I at the time, know nothing of. I pushed at one of the panels and it swung outward immediately. I was amazed and shocked to find a path leading away, toward….nothing! I began to walk down the path. Looking around me at a strange landscape that seemed made of unreal things. Before me slowly materialized the place that had once been Garvela Edont, and was now large chunks of stuff floating around.

Amazed, I turned to look back, and found that the trail I was walking on had no gate at the end. It just…disappeared. At the end that I had been heading towards, however, there was another gate, though it lacked any sort of solid wall.

At the gate I thought of why I’d come. I wanted to try something, if Lysal would let me, but first I would need a place suitable. It had to be able to sustain an increasing population, and I knew that there were now only bits of floating rubbish past the gate. That would mean that I needed a sizeable piece of rubbish, with enough light and water to hold life, but enough land to make it interesting for them.

As I was considering this, I placed my hand on the panel of the gate, and it swung open to reveal a barren place, that had water and land aplenty. I was overjoyed at finding this, and I stepped out onto this place, looking around. From where the gate had let me out, I could see a vast amount of water, but there, behind me, were mountains. It looked promising. There was a flaming ball, which provided light, and there was the darkness that had obliterated the all-encompassing light that had once been normal.