How it began

There was only the Void, a vast emptiness as far as the eye could see. There was no light, no darkness, no life, no death, no time, no concept of want or need.
Then the void felt a disturbance, a change. From opposite ends of the vastness of emptiness arrived two beings as different as can be.
Light and Darkness.
At first, the two entities fought each other, each trying to devour the other, creating Shadow in their wake and leaving fragments of themselves all over. The Void, for a time, simply observed, intrigued by these new concepts before it. This fascination did not last long, for the Void quickly realized these newcomers were making a mess of it's domain. It also saw what Light and Darkness could not: one could not exist without the other.
"Cease this foolishness," it demanded. "Can you not see you will lead each other to oblivion? But if it is oblivion you both desire, I can deliver it to you myself."
Light and Darkness paused in their quarrel at once and each hovered in silent thought for some time. They both looked around, seeing their scattered essence, then at each other, both coming to the same conclusion the Void had. At once they went around and gathered their essence, but found that they could not reabsorb it into themselves. Light and Darkness conversed between each other, wondering what to do. Once more, the Void spoke to them, giving them a suggestion.
"Use your spilled essence to create something new."
And so they did.
Light created Ember, the element of fire and Gale, the element of Wind. Darkness formed Clay, the Element of Earth and Tide, the Element of Water.
Exhausted by their act of creation, both Light and Darkness fell into slumber, while their creations roamed and played. The Void watched as these new elements eventually came together and decided to create something of their own.
Clay formed a sphere, followed by Ember giving it an internal heat. Tide followed, moistening the new land with rivers, seas and oceans and Gale brought the wind to help mix it all together. A planet was born and soon the land and sea were filling with plants of all shapes and sizes.
Yet it was still, aside from the occasional storms and eruptions of volcanos. Plants, they decided, were not very exciting to watch. The quad of elements wanted more, so they once again went to work.
Clay sculpted various bodies out of dirt and stone, while Tide provided the water to allow the forms to move. Ember then warmed the bodies and Gale infused in all the gift of breath. And thus animals of wing, leg and flipper came to be.
Yet it was still not enough. Animals lived by instinct, there was no thought, no awareness. So once more, the Elements got to work.
They created the Daulka, intending for them to have the sense of self, of thought and awareness. Yet, to their dismay, their newest creations acted the same as the animals before. They lacked the ability to give the Daulka what they needed to be intelligent.
It was then Light and Darkness, whom had long awakened and watched their children create, came to their aid. Light gave the Daulka the gift of thought, while Darkness gave them the ability to dream. With those two gifts, the Daulka became whole and started to invent and create all on their own.