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The Book of Beginnings
By the hand of one who hath witnessed Her glory
Chapter 1.
A Fallen World
In the beginning, there was naught but darkness and Death. The lands were barren, and the people scattered as dust before the wind. We knew not peace, nor respite from the bitter cold of want. The earth gave nothing, for it was cursed, and we, the children of dust, toiled and bled for every meagre scrap.
In those days, brother turned upon brother, and the tribes were broken, warring over what little territory could still bear fruit. I, who writes these things, lived amongst them, my heart hardened like stone and my hands stained with crimson. I watched as men slaughtered each other for but a handful of grain, and the skies wept not life-giving water, but the blood of my kin.
The people cried out to the heavens for deliverance, though no god answered. We were forsaken. Forgotten. Alone.
Chapter 2.
Descent of The Goddess
It was in the year of my thirty-third winter when she appeared. She came not as a storm, nor as a tempest sent to wipe man deservedly from the earth, but as a light from the darkness, bright and terrible to behold. I was among the first to witness Her descent. From the heavens She fell impossibly slow until Her feet touched upon the ground in a burst of scorching fire. Her form was that of a woman's, tall and radiant, yet Her eyes held a fire I had never before seen.
She spake unto those who came to witness Her, Her voice as thunder yet sweet as the forgotten, evening breeze which flows before a deluge. And She said, "Behold, I am Kethra, She who was and is and shall forever be. I come to you in your time of need, to lift you from the dust and make you great. For I am The Goddess of all that lives and all that shall live. Kneel before me, and you shall find favour."
And the people were astonished, and they threw down their weapons and released the necks of their brothers, and fell upon their faces, for they had seen Her power. With the wave of Her hand, the skies gave forth a blessed rain where there had been drought, and the earth brought forth grain where it once was barren. The blind received the gift of sight, the lame and wounded leapt from their beds, and the starving were filled with a meal from the very air.
And none could stand against Her, for Her might was that of the Great Beyond, and Her mercy as bottomless as the sea. We knew not what She was, yet we knelt as She asked, for Her wonders were beyond our understanding.
Chapter 3.
A Time of Miracles
And so it was that Kethra walked amongst us, and we called Her Goddess, and Her name was upon the lips of every man, woman and child. In those days there was peace across the land, for She brought order where there was chaos, and plenty where there had been famine. Her temple did rise, the stones laid high by Her faithful, for we loved Her, the peak of her throne on earth reaching unto the heavens. None could gaze upon it without awe, for it gleamed as a beacon of hope in the wilderness of despair.
She did appoint priests and priestesses to serve Her, and they did minister before Her in great reverence. And the people brought their offerings unto her altar, and none withheld, for She had delivered them from the spectre of Death.
But I, who writes these things, did see also what others would not. Upon Her visage, once filled with kindness, there grew a shadow. Her eyes, once filled with light, became as burning coals. And though She smiled upon her people, there was hunger in Her gaze, a longing for more than the children of dust could provide.
It was soon that Kethra began to demand more than offerings of grain and beasts. She called forth the first sons of men, and they entered her temple, never to be seen again. And the people whispered amongst themselves, but none dared speak aloud, for they feared Her wrath. For already we had seen Her fury: when a village refused Her, She laid it low with fire from the skies, and none were alive to tell the tale.
Chapter 4.
The Choosing
In the days that followed, Kethra's demands grew. She took the wisest, the strongest, the most devout, and they all were brought within Her temple, swallowed by its great doors of stone. And though the mothers wept, and the fathers and brothers and sons held fury in their hearts, they also hoped, for She had promised that those who entered the monument to Her glory were blessed beyond measure, chosen to dwell in the aura of Her divinity.
Yet still none returned.
I, who am witness to all of that which is written here, watched in silence, my heart troubled. I saw the change which had come upon our Goddess, the hunger for worship, the thirst for dominion. But the people were blind, for they had seen Her many wonders, and they remembered the days of famine no more.
And lo, after many had entered her temple, and the people had grown accustomed to her rule, there came forth one from the temple, though he was not a son of men. His form was mighty, his fur as black as night, and his head was the head of a jackal, fierce and terrible to behold. He was Anubis, the son of Kethra, born of her power, the first of her divine children.
The earth trembled beneath his every step, and the people fell down in terror, their eyes opened to the truth, for they knew that the time of Kethra's conquest had come.
Chapter 5.
The Rise of The Jackal
And Anubis spake not, but his presence was as a judgement upon the land. He went forth from the temple of his mother, and all who beheld him trembled in both terror and lust, for the power of The Goddess poured forth from his body, and his eyes burned with the same fire that dwelt within Her. He was Her will made flesh, and none could stand before him.
And so the reign of Kethra began in full, and her will was made law across the land, for who could resist her power even without Anubis who then walked amongst us? The children of dust bowed lower than before, and offered themselves to The Jackal in ways they had not for his mother. He took for himself the wives and daughters of men, and made them his own, and there was naught that could be done in the face of his might.
But I, who have seen these things, write them now that you may know. For in the day when Kethra first came, we thought Her to be our saviour, and now, we see Her as our ruler, and our Goddess. Her desire, once a simple ember within Her glimmering eyes, is now a raging inferno.
And so passes the Age of Dust, and so begins the Age of Kethra.
Thus ends The Book Of Beginnings
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| Property | Value |
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| Name | The Book of Beginnings |
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- Added in v0.5.209