How the Sky was Made

This is a favorite children's story among Beasts, and is used as a way to explain the origin of the sun, stars, moons, and planets.

Summary

Windshadow had always been taught, as had all Beasts, that nothing could live beyond the great dome of sky that protected their land from the airless and freezing Void. Sometimes rocks would fall from the Void, but this had been explained. That the Void was like water, and their home was like an air bubble. The rocks floated through the Void, and sometimes got caught in the "bubble" of their sky. Because the Void was so cold and their sky so warm, it would make the rocks crack apart. Then the fire spirits, attracted by the metal inside, would try to eat them, so most of the smaller rocks would burn to ash before hitting the ground. This thought sometimes made her feel very small. She remembered how another cub had asked, "If the Void is like water, how does the sun stay lit? Why do the moons glow? And what are the stars and planets?" The teacher had answered, "You know about the Dragon Lords, correct?" The students all answered yes, for their parents had taught them. The teacher continued, "You all know how the Dragon Lords hatched in the Void and made the world, filling it with magic and creating the elemental Spirits, and how the God-Blooded are the children of the Dragon Lords. How the Dragon Lords created the Beast Gods and we are their children." Again, the class had nodded. They knew the stories by heart, but that didn't stop them from getting excited at each retelling. Windshadow had hoped like the others that maybe Teacher would tell them again. But Teacher had only given a knowing smile, and continued, "When the Dragon Lords finished making the world, they had to protect it from the Nex, the Void Wanderer, the World Eater!" Windshadow couldn't help but smirk at how frightened she and the other cubs used to be at that old story. How Teacher had tried not to laugh as they collectively gasped in horror at the monster's name. Her thoughts drifted back to the rest of that lesson, "After the battle was over and the Nex driven away, the Dragon Lords found themselves too weak to continue guarding the world. But, being gods, they couldn't die. They would only turn back into eggs. So they took the Beast Gods and turned them into star pictures to guard the world until they hatched again. The other stars in the sky are the scales they shed floating around in the Void. They needed to lose many scales as they shrank back into hatchlings before they could fit into their eggs again. But the Dragon Lords also knew they would need something to keep them warm until they hatched. Remembering how they had made the earth-fire to keep Dra'cora warm, they gathered up all the Void rocks and metal they could find and made a big ball out of it. They put the ball into Dra'cora's sky and soon fire Spirits swarmed all over it trying to eat it. But there were soon so many that the Dragon Lords feared they would burn up the world. So they took the flaming ball and put it in the Void. Now, normally it would have gone out, because water kills fire Spirits, but there were so many, and so much for them to eat, and so much magic was released when they died, that it formed a Spirit nest. As long as there is plenty of magic to birth them, and plenty for them to eat, the sun will stay lit. Knowing this, the Dragon Lords crawled back into their eggshells, and the eggs were made whole again, and they slept. The two moons and the planets you see in the sky are those eggs. Each egg holds a Dragon Lord. They glow because the sun shines off them. Dragon eggs can be very shiny. "But then why do they disappear sometimes?" Windshadow had asked, "Why do we only see parts of the moons and why do they cover the sun?" "The hatchlings move in their sleep." said Teacher, "The moons have two different colors. They don't disappear when you only see parts of them, that's just them rolling over to show the other color. The fire Spirits on the sun roll it around too. That's why it moves across the sky. An eclipse happens when the hatchlings roll the moons into Dra'cora's shadow, or when they roll in between us and the sun. Those things are perfectly normal." Teacher had smiled reassuringly, and the lesson had been ended.

Historical Basis

As a rule, Beasts have short memories, much shorter than those of the myths, at any rate. Many records were destroyed during the Slayer War, and many elders killed. The basis for this story comes from a mixture of the Beasts' origin myth for Dracora, with the battles fought by the Wardens of Ruin (most of whom were dragons) to contain the Nex. The only evidence of these battles are the largest of the lifeless black deserts scattered around Dracora.

Spread

This is a very common myth, and can be found all over Dracora.

Variations & Mutation

There are several versions of this story, due to it being passed along by word of mouth from person to person, but the one shown here is the most common and well known. The places where the story changes most tend to be the parts before this section, during the actual battle between the gods and the Nex, or the reason why they were fighting in the first place. Sometimes The Pearl Egg of Creation is mentioned, especially in the earliest tellings, though in varying forms and importance to the story. In later versions, The Egg was removed from the story completely, most likely due to being forgotten about.

Cultural Reception

The constant retelling of this myth helped to reinforce the Beast's belief that Dracora was the center of the universe and that nothing lived out beyond the sky. This, of course, was turned on its head once the human space colony showed up. Even after the discovery/invention of the telescope (which was made before humans arrived), the children's story was still vastly popular, and if anything, grew in popularity now that the dracorians could actually see the "gods' eggs" in the night sky. The Gods-Blooded, on the other hand, mostly ignored the story, or thought it harmless, amusing, and (for dragons) flattering. They held similar beliefs as the Beasts about the night sky, but had their own legends about how it came to be.

In Literature

This myth is normally spread through oral tradition, but versions have been transcribed over time and found their way into libraries as collections of tales, poems, and plays. The invention of the printing press has greatly helped with this.

In Art

This tale, along with the gods' battle against the Nex and the creation of Dracora are also a favorite of artists. Recreations of the stories in paint, weaving, and carving are often used as a practice method for beginners, since everybody knows them by heart, and carvings of the gods can already be found in shrines in settlements, inns, and crossroads. Retelling the stories as a ballad or other song is also used to teach music, or as a way to help with recovering a lost muse.

Date of First Recording

Unknown

Date of Setting

At the Beginning of the World

Related Species