The Human 'Disease'
"Heh, heh... Is that really what you pitiful things believe?"
"You believe I am the evil one? That I am wrong to destroy the Golden Ones?"
"Before the beginning of days, Humans didn't exist. No one had a form like yours or a concept of you."
"But then an idea was spoken of, and then it spread. Our infinite form was forever altered."
"Since then, you have become a sickness on this reality, infecting everything with your form."
"I am simply trying to remove this great virus from all that is."
"It has taken eternities, but I have removed all of the people of gold, except for one."
"And once this one finally passes, Once she loses all hope and gives up on all, my task will be complete."
"The greatest disease will finally be removed and Meliheal will be free!"
"And then, I'm coming for you, Iron Ones, and then the Bronze and Silver Ones."
"You are nothing compared to your predecessors. Erasing you will be easy!"
"You believe I am the evil one? That I am wrong to destroy the Golden Ones?"
"Before the beginning of days, Humans didn't exist. No one had a form like yours or a concept of you."
"But then an idea was spoken of, and then it spread. Our infinite form was forever altered."
"Since then, you have become a sickness on this reality, infecting everything with your form."
"I am simply trying to remove this great virus from all that is."
"It has taken eternities, but I have removed all of the people of gold, except for one."
"And once this one finally passes, Once she loses all hope and gives up on all, my task will be complete."
"The greatest disease will finally be removed and Meliheal will be free!"
"And then, I'm coming for you, Iron Ones, and then the Bronze and Silver Ones."
"You are nothing compared to your predecessors. Erasing you will be easy!"
- Tazil, the Healer of the Cosmos
The Concept of Humans
"Is this really what you think the Tetrad looks like? You fool. Look a little harder and you may see the truth! Our original forms were once infinite and far beyond your understanding. Looking upon us would eventually cause you to go insane. Once you infected our cosmos, many projected human forms, convincing themselves that you were somehow a good thing."
As told in the tale of The Primeval Gods of Vreathe, the Tetrad worked hard to grow Meliheal, their world tree. There were once many World Trees, each grown by a different set of Rena, or Elder Gods. Once it was sufficiently grown, the Great Creator Silnos brought a message to the Elder Gods. The Gift of humanity. It is said that the greatest of the Elder Gods, Tarsur, grew jealous of the coming humans and wanted to destroy them. What isn't told in the human holy books is the reason why Tarsur hated humans and why he wanted to destroy them.
The very concept of humans existing altered the gods, long before the first of the Golden Race even 'stepped foot' out of the World Tree and onto the world of Vreathe. Alom and Yanneth paired off from the Tetrad, and created divine beings to help them shepherd Meliheal with them. These beings were their children, the lesser gods, and they took on a human form from birth. They were already tainted before humans even appeared! Just the idea of humans had altered everything.
Tarsur and Nora paired together as well, but their original children, the Dragon Lords, predated the concept of humans. Nothing about them are human. The Dragon Lords themselves had the ability to create, and their original lesser spawn, the Drakes, did not have a human form. After the virus of humanity was introduced, all their subsequent creations started to appear human. It seemed that every divine being created something human by default now.
Tarsur didn't like this revelation, and he sought a way to eradicate the humans before they appeared. The details of this myth are mostly true. Tarsur did in fact go to the edge of reality, in the darkness, to the primeval Pireiyu, outer gods, that had no concept of humans and no concept of creation. There, It is said that Tarsur learned many secrets. He learned the secrets of entropy, destruction, and disorder.
"Why do I look the same whether you can see the truth or not? It is simple...I built my divine armor to mask my appearance from all. Nothing can pierce this armor, and none can see my true appearance, not even Silnos himself!"
Tarsur the Lord of Order no More
"I sowed chaos throughout the universe, infecting each god I cam across. I whispered to them and convinced them that the coming humans were a blight. Many Rena gathered before Silnos and demanded that he rescind the concept of humans. I did not expect to see what Silnos did next..."
It is said that when the Rena went before Silnos and demanded he stop the coming humans, Silnos raised a single hand. Suddenly a nearby world tree caught fire and turned to ash, just like the very first world tree to exist. He then set another on fire and another. This fires took quite some time to spread through the cosmos, but when it was done, nearly all World Trees were destroyed.
The only trees that weren't were ones where Golden Humans awoke, as Silnos intended. Silnos then declared that the universe will never be rid of humanity now, no matter how hard they tried. Silnos offered the Rena who lost their World Trees another World Seed to try again, but many left in anger.
Silnos then judged Tarsur, and took away his power over creation, for spreading chaos among the Rena. From then on Tarsur became known as Tazil, the Chaotic One. Tazil went back to his World Tree, Meliheal, in shame. The other Rena themselves wanted revenge, for their world trees were gone. They took their anger out on the trees that were left. A great host of gods formed and sought to destroy Meliheal. This started a great War in Heaven, a tale for another time unrelated to the nature of humans. In this war, every World Tree was destroyed, except for Meliheal, and all the Rena were scattered to the ends of the universe, or were imprisoned.
"Alom, Yanneth, and Nora were furious, but they allowed me to continuing shepherding creation with them, as without me, the other Rena would have won their War in Heaven, and Meliheal would have been destroyed as well."
So what are humans then?
"After the Great War in Heaven, I set my plans into motion. I had my Dragon Lords join me, and we started capturing the Golden Ones and erasing them from reality. When the rest of the Tetrad learned what I was doing, they went to war with me, but before either side won, a new group of humans appeared. the Silver Ones! I had plans to destroy them, and when it finally happened... The Bronze Ones appeared, and then the Iron Ones! Your disease keeps spreading. No matter how long it takes, I WILL find a cure!"
When Tazil nearly wiped out the Golden Race, a great army of Silver men walkd out of Meliheal, gully armed and ready to fight off the God. It is popularly believed that these humans came from a different universe and fled their world to this one. That is because even the Elves want to ignore the truth, that the World Tree itself grew the Silver Race in response to Tazil's many machinations, just as it had done with the Gold Race.
Tazil eventually decieved the Silver Race and got them to work with him before the Silver Race imprisoned him. In the Tale of the The Silver Age Cataclysm, the Silver Race nearly destroyed everything. They themselves were forever altered, some losing their humanity completely like the Nameless Horrors. Others were treated much more gently like the Elves and Fairies. But now there were no more Silver Humans, at least not fully.
With the Silver Race gone, Tazil imprisoned, Alom and Yanneth also gone, the only remaining Elder God was Nora, who never interfered with the World of Vreathe. The Tetrad's children, the Lesser Gods however, started to shape the world to their will. Meliheal protected itself again by creating the Bronze Race, instigating tens of thousands of years of wars with the humans and gods. The Age ended with the covering of the Sun and the starting of a great Ice Age, nearly wiping out the Bronze Race and ending everything.
Nora finally interfered, using all of her power to send the Gods away, creating a barrier that prevents any divine being from directly interfering with Vreathe again. As a reward for protecting her World Tree and the humans, Silnos Rewarded Nora with a human form. She became Saint Nora after this. Meliheal then created the Iron Race, to protect the World of Vreathe and the World Tree. Nora spent hundreds of years teaching the Iron Race about the troubles of the past, but she wasn't entirely truthful...
"So let me get this straight. God introduced the 'idea of humans'. It made you mad, and your actions caused humans to appear anyways? Great plan!"
"Raini, I wouldn't antagonize an elder god like that..."
"It's just his avatar in a memory crystal! What can he do Myles? He has no power!"
"...But, what if what he said is true? That my whole existence was a lie?"
"All of our existences apparently are..."
"And if that's the case, why do I persist? Why do I still believe in staying on Vreathe?"
"Chryssa, Myles, don't listen to him! Saya, back me up on this! It doesn't matter....right?"
"...I promised to protect Chryssa, the last 'Golden One', to my dying breath. That's all that matters. I'm sure there's a few more thoughts we could get out of this memory crystal, but let's just destroy it and go."
"When I became human and spread my teachings, I sought to protect you from this truth.
"But I now know it should not have been kept from you."
"I know your being might seem like a big lie, but it isn't! You are not a sickness that spreads across creation."
"When the Great Creator started igniting World Trees, Meliheal sensed this and sought to protect itself."
"It created the Golden Beings that Silnos wanted. It created you humans!"
"And what of the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ones? You too were created by Meliheal."
"Created to protect all that is. Each to combat a specific sickness."
"You are a Panacea, the Antibodies of the Cosmos. You are the Cure. Not Tazil!"
"You are meant to balance harmony and chaos. You are the Shepherds of Creation now."
"The time of Gods is long past."
"But I now know it should not have been kept from you."
"I know your being might seem like a big lie, but it isn't! You are not a sickness that spreads across creation."
"When the Great Creator started igniting World Trees, Meliheal sensed this and sought to protect itself."
"It created the Golden Beings that Silnos wanted. It created you humans!"
"And what of the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ones? You too were created by Meliheal."
"Created to protect all that is. Each to combat a specific sickness."
"You are a Panacea, the Antibodies of the Cosmos. You are the Cure. Not Tazil!"
"You are meant to balance harmony and chaos. You are the Shepherds of Creation now."
"The time of Gods is long past."
- Saint Nora
Love the concept of human's being a disease on a cosmic scale. Good job on the article :)