“I will leave at first light,” Rima said as he tied up his hammock. I noticed he kept looking off into the distance in the direction of the village.

“Uncomfortable being so close?” I asked.

He turned quickly to look at me, his warriors knot wobbling on his head. “Of course not Champion.”

“Well, I am,” Nel said as she poked at the fire with a stick. The orange tongues of flame shed their warm light around our little clearing, beating back the darkness of night. “I feel uneasy being close to so much death.”

If I was being honest, I wasn’t too fond of it either. But if I said that then the others would have all the reason they needed to pack up and move further away and they needed their rest. Even I was feeling a bit worn out from the long day of travel and fighting and then digging the mass grave. It was a dark, heavy weight that settled at the back of my mind and pushed down on my thoughts.

I squirmed around on the ground, trying to get more comfortable and ended up with my head propped on my sack of clothes and my feet facing the fire. It wasn’t ideal but I was too lazy to do much else.

Nel, once she was finished with the fire, settled back down cross-legged and looked over the flickering flames at me. She smiled in a way that brought back all my uncertainties and I hide a scowl. I don’t like being uncertain...its...bothersome.

“Alexander, would you care to hear a story?” She asked, her voice light.

I wondered if it was a dirty story but remembered that Rima was present and she wasn’t likely to tell me one when he was nearby. Tima was off somewhere hunting down her dinner.

“Sure.”

Rima tied off the final knot with a strong tug before joining us. He pulled out a bundle of thick green leaves from his pack and unwrapped it to reveal more of the seedy bread from earlier. I declined and he broke it in half and passed a piece to his sister. She nodded her thanks, took a bite, and swallowed.

“I’ll tell you about the creation of this world. At least, the story I’ve been told of the creation of this world.”

She took another bite and looked deep into the flames as she chewed. Once she had swallowed she started.

-

They say this world started as an afterthought. A product of the child of gods who thought of nothing more than a distraction from the bickering of his siblings. I know not if this is the truth, that is for you to decide, but listen close and I will tell you how such thoughts came to be.

Before time was known and life was given there were but two figures standing together in the expanse of nothing. Itra, Goddess of Life and her partner Xavhra, God of Death. They did not have their titles then, but we do not say their names alone for fear of the retribution such disrespect would bring.

-

The fire popped and cracked as a log shifted in the heart of the flames.

-

Itra, Goddess of Life loved Xavhra, God of Death and accompanied him across time and space, but if the stories are true, she grew bored and distant the more they traveled. All was nothing, and nothing never changed. She wished for more, she yearned for it. The more the Goddess thought of it, the more distant she became and her husband grew enraged for he did not understand the concept of change. Death is final and unforgiving and that…that will never change.

Wary of her husbands anger Itra, Goddess of Life, worked in secret. She created a spark, the first of its kind to ever be seen in the great expanse. Around that spark, she wrapped more and more of her power and with it went her love, her joy, her pride, her will, and her unshakable confidence. But her emotions and ideas were twisted by anger at Xavhra and much too pure for what she was creating. What is love if it brings you to ruin and what is joy if it takes you to addiction, or pride if it corrupts, will if it never bends and confidence if it never learns?

The expanse had known nothing but the two…but now there was a third. Itra, Goddess of Life, looked upon her creation and whispered. “Lumin.” for her daughter had been born and she was everything she wanted.

-

I shifted a little, a twig snapping under my back sounded like a gunshot in the silent night.

Nel looked up at the stars before turning her large red eyes on me, the firelight reflected and made them shine with an orange tint.

-

Light cannot hide in darkness though and Xavhra, God of Death, felt the new life. His rage shook the expanse and in his anger he ripped it apart, searching for his wife’s daughter. But Itra, Goddess of Life, had expected it and she hid her child’s light by filling the expanse with little pockets of lights she called stars, so bright they drew Xavhra, God of Death’s eyes like a beacon.

For untold eons, Lumin hid among the stars as her father's anger cooled. Unable to find the child, Xavhra, God of Death turned his mind to revenge. What she could do, so could he.

The spark he created was dark and twisted from anger but around it, he wrapped his power and with it went his strength and determination, his devotion and his unyielding stubbornness, his wrath and his spite. But a tree with rotted roots will fall and so his ideas and power got twisted by that spark of anger and rage at its center.

The expanse, now used to three…was introduced to a fourth and Xavhra, God of Death smiled as he beheld the face of his daughter. “Hela” he murmured, her name echoing out into the expanse.

Itra, Goddess of Life, came to her husband then, interested to see what Death could make with life. As she beheld her new daughter she smiled and whispered: “Come, Lumin, come meet your sibling.”

Xavhra, God of Death’s anger eased with one look upon his wife’s face. She had achieved that which she had longed for: change. So it was that the family of immortals toiled together through the expanse in peace and joy…but joy is fleeting and peace rarely lasts.

-

I found myself nodding along, those were two concepts I was all too familiar with. Nel must have known what I was thinking because her smile was warm when she continued.

-

Lumin, in her pride as eldest, would often attempt to best Hela in whichever form she could. When Hela created the moon and smiled, Lumin created the sun and boasted of its warmth. Twisted by the dark seed of hate deep in her core Hela created shadows to scare and torment her older sibling but Lumin lashed out with twisted joy and conjured light to banish them away.

Tired of their children bickering the Goddess of Life, went to her husband with a proposal. A child, made from their combined efforts. A child to tamper Lumin’s dark pride and Hela’s bright anger.

A spark was formed, not twisted and dark or bright and blinding, but something in between. From it's mother the child received love of family, pride of place, joy of life, and an unyielding will to do what it must whatever the cost. From its father it received the strength to protect, the devotion to duty, the stubbornness to persevere and the wrath to carry it when all else failed.

Together the couple looked upon the little boy and whispered. “Aeris.”

Lumin as the eldest felt it her place to keep Aeris under her wing and her pride dictated she be the one to teach her brother their games. Hela viewed him with jealousy and distrust for upon him lay the blessing of both parents. Aeris, youngest but brave, refused to bow to either sibling and removed himself from their games.

Looking out at the sun and moon and stars he held his palms together and made a planet. It was not blinding in its brightness, nor cold and silent in the dark. It was blue and green and brown and with a breath of life he populated it.

Itra, Goddess of Life, watched on. Xavhra, God of Death at her shoulder.

-

I could picture it, two shadowy figures standing side by side, as a third crouched figure cupped a world in his palms.

-

Finished with one planet Aeris built another, then another, each as different and strange as the last. When finally he was done he settled back and watched the little lifeforms he had created play. He did not interfere for that was never his purpose, he simply watched and learned. When the creatures evolved and attacked the others only then did he whisper words of assurance and gifted both sides' strength so they may better protect that which they loved, as his father Xavhra, God of Death, had taught him at birth.

When the life forms died and grieved he reminded them that life and death are part of the same idea and that one without the other is unbalanced and unjust.

Lumin, believing she could do better, whispered words all her own to the creatures and when they listened she swelled with pride and offered them power, not unlike Aeris, but hers she called blessings and she demanded devotion in return.

Angered at being left out, Hela joined her siblings and her words fell upon the world in a dark shadowy cloud. Her’s were more forceful than her siblings and the power she gave was simple but powerful.

Aeris stood back and joined his parents to watch the now, finally silent siblings, continue their warfare by proxy.

“Mother. Father. It is done. You may rest.”

“You have done well, youngest. Though can you leave your creations to suffer so?” Xavhra, God of Death asked.

“I have given them life and death, this is balance. I have given them the freedom to choose what they wish and the means to get there and in return, I will not catch them should they fall, this is balance.” Aeris looked to his parents before turning to walk away into the expanse. As his form dissapeared his final words reached them in a whisper. “In return for the pain and grief, joy and love my siblings will subject them to, I have sacrificed my heart. This is balance.”

And so Aeris has become a world of war and a world of peace and though the ideas of each sibling have shifted and blurred with the passage of time, each faction remembers that at their cores is a little bit of balance.

-

Done with the story Nel took a final bite of her bread and dusted off her palms. Gentle snoring could be heard coming from Rima and I had to fight back a laugh at what I saw. He still sat cross-legged but his upper body had fallen back, if his spider legs hadn’t been there to support him he would be laying flat in the dirt.

“Whenever he had trouble sleeping our father would tell that story.” She whispered, still watching her brother with an indulgent smile.

“I didn’t meet him or your mother, are they back at the Brood?”

“No,” Nel turned from the dozing Rima and pulled her knees up to her chin, before wrapping her arms around her shins and hugging herself. “They died. Our mother during Rima’s birth and our father some years later from the Riddling Flu. It is fine though, I have my memories and one of the gifts Aeris has given me is the gift of replay. I can remember anything I have seen with perfect clarity. Saza is quite jealous of it.”

“I’d imagine,” I laughed quietly. “So are you related to Saza? You two seem close.”

“I had only seen twelve summers when my father succumbed; too young to look after Rima and I. The Brood Mother adopted us and Saza offered to educate me. Once it became apparent what my gift of replay could do and how much I enjoyed the work, she took me as an apprentice and somewhere along the way she became a grandmother I hadn’t known I wanted. I love her dearly...perverted nature aside.”

I had to laugh at that. There was something about the old hag that drew you to her.

“And Rima? How did he become the Guardian Apprentice?”

“By being the most stubborn candidate Zavanrosiphra has ever seen.” Nel laughed. “I may joke, but it is also true. Being raised in the Brood Mothers nest meant that we saw a lot of him. As a child he was easily distracted and I think the shinyness of Zavanrosiphra’s armour was a little too dazzling. Rima being Rima was determined to be the Champion or the Guardian. I actually think he only became Zavanrosiphra’s apprentice at first so he had something to do whilst he waited to become Champion, it was only once he had grown up enough that he realized that was impossible.”

“I would expect him to hate me...or at least resent me.”

“Why, Alexander?” Nel cocked her head, not understanding.

“Well, you know, I’m the Champion...so he’s looking at me and is reminded that he isn’t it...but...fuck, it’s hard to explain. Back on Earth, a lot of people hated others for having more than them or for being more important...just expected the same here.”

“Perhaps that is why Aeris gave us the stat system as well as classes and promotions. You have proof of how far you have come and how far you can go...it breeds determination. Though some still wish to achieve it easily.”

I shrugged, my eyelids heavy, I could feel sleep coming for me and drawled out one more sentence. “Sh’all like a game. Stats and levels. No respawn though. That wouldn’t be balanced.”