The Sun's Egg
The myth of the Sun's Egg is one of several creation myths in the world of Eldara, and is popularly believed in the Kingdom of Aētheli. Originally a draconic myth, it has gained widespread popularity throughout the kingdom as an explanation of the creation of the known cosmos.
Summary
In the time before time was recorded, while Eldara was still dust, there was an egg. This great egg was of the void, dark and dark-shelled, as light had not yet been birthed into the cosmos. Despite this darkness, the egg was hotter than the hottest crucible, hotter than dragonfire. It burned within, dark and dark-shelled, until between one unknown moment and the next, it cracked.
Tongues of fire leaped from its surface, burning away the void. Fragments of shell exploded in all directions, flinging their sparking pieces into the vast darkness. What was once nothingness was now bright, brighter than the brightest flame, so bright that if life had lived in that moment, it would have been washed away in the brightness. But life had only begun to live, from inside the great egg. The tongues of fire leaping from within the shell curled around the dust of Eldara and began to forge it, heating and battering and heating and battering as if the entire world was one great anvil, and at last the dust became earth, and the earth became rock, and the rock became mountains, and Eldara was born.
The being at the center of the great egg at last opened its eyes and looked upon the cosmos, seeing the shining fragments of its eggshell suspended all around it. It was formless and burning, like great blankets and towers of fire twining around one another. It looked upon the world its birth had wrought and, curious, it reached out its claw.
The infant world of Eldara shook. It cracked, its surface gouged by the claws of the great god. The god licked the world's wounds, and the molten heat of its tongue sealed the mark it had made, its saliva melting through the stone of the world and into its center. Thus, there is fire at the heart of Eldara.
The god wept that it could not touch this thing its birth had made, and its tears fell steaming, throwing up great clouds from the surface, which swept violently across the earth and howled the god's grief across the land. The clouds then burst, weeping their own tears, which filled the great wounds torn in Eldara's surface. Thus, there are oceans, and thus, there is wind.
The infant world was changing, with its surface now obscured by clouds and water. The god withdrew from this thing, this beautiful changing thing, and looked upon it with sadness. It howled its loneliness into the void, wept its steaming tears, screamed gouts of flame across the darkness. From the flames of the god's grief, sparks fell to the surface, plummeting through the clouds. They were kin to and born of the god, and when it saw them falling on its precious treasure, it changed them. No longer would they burn outwardly, but inwardly. No longer would they fly through the void, but through the skies.
The sparks given flesh were the god's children. It saw through their eyes and flew on their wings. Through them, it touched and felt and tasted and soared across Eldara, the place the god could not touch. The god's heart was soothed, and it since those days, the god has remained watching, observing its precious treasure through the eyes of its children.
Thus, there is the sun, and thus, there are dragons.
Variations & Mutation
In many tellings of the myth, the fragments of shell from the great egg make up the stars, with one particularly big fragment having been forged into the moon. However, in some tellings of the myth the moon is another great egg and a child of the sun. The moon is not mentioned in the traditional version of the myth, which has led to multiple variations that either include or exclude the creation of the moon.
Cultural Reception
Dragons consider the myth of the Sun's Egg to be a true account of their creation, as the first divine beasts on Eldara and the oldest of species. Other divine beast groups variably believe the myth, however the sun as a being hatched from a great egg is a common feature of creation myths among most cultures across Eldara. The gryphons say that the sun was one of many gods born in the time before time was recorded, and that the winds that rushed across the surface of Eldara came not from the sun's tears but from the breath of the goddess of the skies, driving the sun god away before he could destroy the world. The finfolk say that the heart of Eldara was once ice, and when the sun god licked the wounds he had made he melted the ice and released the first finfolk to swim across its surface. The horsefolk do not speak of the forging but the birth of Eldara, as a goddess in her own right who fought against the sun god when he made to grasp her in his claws.
Beast shifters widely accept the account of the Sun's Egg to be the true creation myth of Eldara, typically because they have not heard the opposing viewpoints of other divine beast shifters and this is the version they were told. However, variations on the myth are often found among beast shifters who add their own cultural flavoring. In particular, the creation of simple beasts that roamed the lands before the time of the Gift is a point of contention among many beast shifters, since the detailing of the creation of plants and animals is not part of the original myth. Therefore, additions to the creation myth that specify the order of creature creation vary wildly across the kingdom from culture to culture.
Related Species
Comments