Eathos smiled as a crowd gathered. Often the stories he told at the faire were known fables and lore. But sometimes, very rarely, he made up his own lore. He didn't tell them when foals would be present, not just to avoid confusing them with his own flights of fancy. But also because others often told him his stories were dark. He didn't feel they were particularly dark, but he knew, with his history, he might not be a good judge.
So he waited for the gloaming time of dusk when the younger audiences had been sent for dinner and bed. Gathering his audience around a bonfire into which he threw sage and herbs, creating an aromatic smoke that added a primal atmosphere.
"Gather 'round as I share forgotten truths of the dawn of time and the beings who form the foundations of our age." Eathos drops his voice, deeper and pitched soft enough the audience has to lean in to hear but somehow still projected to the furthest Soquili.
"It is believed that in the beginning three realms were created; Heaven, Hell, and Earth. This is not completely accurate. In fact, there were four realms. Though the fourth is almost unknown and long since thought destroyed.
"Heolis was created to house those who were bound to aspects other than Good and Evil. Just as Angeni and Kalona are the descendants of the representatives of those aspects, so too were created those to represent Order and Chaos. But, unlike the other aspects, both extremes were placed in the same realm. One that only three beings were created to inhabit. Sisters to represent the extremes, and the Arbiter who was the balance between them. Chalie was the sister of Chaos and of life and of boundless growth. Ordisa was the sister of Order, of laws, and of death.
"The Arbiter was neither Chaos nor Order, but the balance between them and the means by which they could interact with the other realms, a World Strider, the only one in all of creation who had free access to every realm. In reality, he only inhabited Heolis because it didn’t represent any one extreme and it didn’t place undue stress on the presumably neutral Earth.
"It was actually Chalie that shaped the initial forms for life on earth, and Ordisa that chose the one who would be the first Soquili.
But for all that Ordisa enjoyed some aspects of her role, she chafed at the confines of both the restrictions on her and her nature. For in truth, the sisters were not so dissimilar. And while Ordisa understood the need for Order and death, she was not happy being its barer.
"So, much like Angels and Demons, those gave birth to Angeni and Kalona, Ordisa found a way to slip through from her realm to Earth.
"She was mistaken for an angel on earth, but didn’t correct those who misunderstood her origin. She spent a long time exploring, getting to know the world, the people. She never stopped long in one place, eager to see the wonders of this realm where people were free to be who and what they wanted.
"She smiled and interacted and loved the experiences. She even felt a fondness for some that she met along the way. Until she realised that she had not left her nature behind. And her nature was Death.
"It was in her sorrow that she forgot herself and was trapped while she mourned. A spell cast to create a broken fate for the agent of Order.
"While she was trapped, Ordisa’s wings were cut off by those who hated her for the death she brought to the world. Thinking to be rid of her, she was thrown into Hell, her wings left behind as a trophy.
"And by her very nature, the dead were called to Hell to suffer unspeakably. She still had enough power to sort the dead, those who deserved suffering would join her own torment. Many becoming the twisted origins of Corpse Powder. The others would be drawn to her wings. A few angels noticed the anomaly and started collecting the righteous dead and carrying them away to Heaven.
"But the balance of Heolis was broken without Order. Charlie, mourning a sister she believed dead, abandoned the realm, hiding herself on Earth, disguised as an immortal human. The Arbiter, no longer having a clear purpose or company, slowly devolved into madness. And as a World Strider he journeyed to the other realms, causing great destruction in his insanity.
"Many from all the other realms came together to combine their powers to lock away Heolis, and hopefully the Arbiter, having done what they could to mortally wound him first.
"The Arbiter’s memories were lost, and because of his connection to all the realms, so too were those of all less powerful than he. Those who resisted the memory loss, could no longer find Heolis, believing it and the Arbiter destroyed.
"But the Arbiter survived, memory gone, but madness intact. And for all of that madness, still lonely in a way he could never understand.
"So he began reaching out, trying to touch upon anything to relieve that feeling of isolation. He was no longer a World Strider, but he was able to animate his shadow and send it out to bring back those he desired.
"He collected particularly those that were rare or powerful. For centuries he collected them. Even, or maybe especially, those sealed away by powers beyond his own, even if he could only keep them entombed.
Ordisa was found by the Arbiter’s shadow only recently, and though neither remembered the other, the shadow seemed oddly familiar to the lost waif who once had been Order. She clung to it as it carried her from Hell.
"Ordisa relaxed in the strange place to which she had been brought, not recognizing her former home both from her lack of memory and the change it had undergone as a realm only populated by one mad and still wounded beyond any true repair.
"Slowly the madness of the place with it’s warping of the reality around her, and inflicting of the pain the Arbiter still felt, threatened to overcome what little self Ordisa retained. She knew she had to flee or be lost forever. But no matter what she tried, she couldn’t find a way to escape.
"In her exploration, however, she found a gate that once had led to Earth. It was sealed, but she was able to reach beyond it slightly, to touch the imagination of those who came close to the other end of the portal.
"And so she brushes against the Spirits, filling them with dreams of creation. And they carry the the ideas, as well as a new knowledge that allows them to reorder the world. Granting star wishes or giving twists of a season.
"But though she can sense the dreams of those thus touched by her power, still Ordisa is trapped with the mad Arbiter in a realm forgotten by creation.
"And now you know the story of weeping death, trapped, feared, even hated. But just longing to be a part of the world she can never again touch. Carry her story. And if you ever meet Chalie you can tell her that her sister yet lives. And maybe Heolis can be healed."
As the last word of the story fades into silence, Eathos slips back into darkness, leaving his audience wondering, breath caught. How much of this tale was true, and how long would it haunt their dreams.
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