How It All Began

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Warning: Contains spoilers for the Things of Myth and Legend storyline that I had planned out.

Prologue

Not everyone knows how it all got to this point. Creatures mythical and normal alike buzzing about on a planet three times the size of Earth but still with the same sort of features. Rivers, mountains, forests, deserts, the whole works, just with four suns and four moons instead of only one of each, and only one landmass in the center of a vast ocean. Terrater, the planet in question, had been that way since the beginning of time, except then it was much quieter, no life to really speak of except the plants.

No one really knows where they came from, but one day from the depths of the ocean, complex, intricate beings of metal started to arise. They were built much like humans would be, except everything about them was made of technology beyond anyone's wildest dreams. From the water they traversed the deserts, made their way through the forests, and found themselves on empty land on which to build. But what was there anything to build for, if there was no other life?

The beings of metal, whom the people of the planet now call the Androids, started building intricate devices called portals. They would be able to have the function to transport one being to another place, time, universe, dimension... anywhere they pleased, really. Being as intelligent as they were they always got the coordinates exactly precise of each portal they built to who-knows-where.

But each portal had something in common other than their similar designs. Every single one of them contained in the largest skyscraper in the entirety of existence - thanks to technology that allowed for more space than there actually was - lead to an individual world with sentient lifeforms. It was like it was encoded into the Androids to seek out life signatures throughout the multiverse and have as many of them as possible brought to Terrater.

The first portal the Androids ever opened was one to a nearby planet called Draconia, as they soon found out was an apt name indeed. The span of Draconia - which was actually much larger than Terrater - was covered mostly in mountains and volcanoes with large pools of water scattered about, and was absolutely covered in dragons. Different colors and types of dragons, all of them majestic and beautiful in their own right, some fearful warriors and others friendly diplomats.

The Androids spoke with some of the more diplomatic dragons, and convinced a lot of them to come to Terrater, to keep the Androids company. In return, the Androids offered them technology that would help the dragons who could change their form into other beings to better control the change as it happened, knowing that some of them had great difficulty pulling it off. They agreed to the deal, even convincing the king of dragons to make his mark on their planet.

The telling of the story of Orn Vur Achuisk and his human queen is one that many on the planet know very well, but would best be told another day. This story is about how the other races came to be on this planet, and some of the main people who have changed significant events within the span of Terrater's history and the life of My Lady Dwayna, daughter of Orn and Nerezza.

This is how it all began.

 

[Rex]

well, that's interesting. I can't wait to see the next part!

 

[Hunting Rifle]

Nerreza's going to be a queen? I wonder wat will happen with Rex, Drake, Bree and Iris! I like the idea of a story about their future. But shouldn't we continue with the Rp first?

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Chapter One: The Explorer

For every new beginning that happens, there has to be someone or something that spurs that beginning. For a little while, the Androids and the dragons were the ones opening portals to see where they went, greeting the friendly species and battling their foes wherever they came. But as much as it was splendorous visiting all sorts of different worlds, they thought it too big of a job for just them. The Androids needed to upgrade themselves every so often and the dragons needed their rest.

Portal number thirty-five was the one that gave them their answer. At first, they merely thought it to be a world at war - the dragons there were mostly evil as well as the trolls, ogres, goblins and other beasts of the like. Fighting against these creatures were beings that were mostly humanoid, their system based on militaristic things. It was a bit medieval at the time, but the dragons of Terrater noticed something odd about some of the weapons the humanoids of this place carried around with them.

Swords, daggers, hammers, axes, bows, you name it, all with strange glowing designs on them. These rare weapons were referred to as Rune weapons, supposedly having much greater power than regular weapons did. The humanoids demonstrated, comparing the power of a regular bow and a Rune bow. The regular bow shot regular arrows, barely penetrating the target. The Rune bow had no string or arrows to speak of, until the user used their minds to control it. A string would appear from thin air, as would an arrow, and when shot usually exploded the target to tiny bits.

Of course this fusion of metal and magic greatly intrigued both the Androids and the dragons of Terrater, so they sought out the maker of such fine things in well made disguises. They were told to visit a man known only as the General, perhaps the best tactician in the history of their world. He had someone working under him who was the expert of making these Rune weapons, a woman referred to as an elf, but those who respected her called her Merenwen.

The Androids made their haste to find this General, only to find that he had died not long ago in battle, many of the people mourning his passing. Merenwen, however, was appointed the head of the army in his place, supposedly learning many of his mindsets as she went along making the Rune Weapons. She looked very regal as they approached her, a pale-skinned blonde donned in masterfully crafted chainmail, a red cape around her shoulders and a red headband resting atop her head. Her cold blue eyes peered at them from underneath the short strands of hair, a bit uncharacteristic of an elf.

In private discussions the Androids and dragons revealed who they truly were, much to her astonishment. They told her how they admired her handiwork, and wished to learn her secrets of infusing magic with metal. She confessed to them that she did not want to be a General, that she would much prefer traversing the worlds with them, looking for new materials to make whatever they wished, while still keeping her profession of making great weapons.

They had found their explorer, eagerly nodding their assent towards her request. They took her back to their portal after she had sorted everything else, leaving behind a world of constantly being cooped up making weapons and following orders, to a world where she could be free and do what she pleased. It was breathtaking, the sheer amount of places she would be able to go explore and find out more about them.

But of course, a deal was a deal, and she was still very much a creature of order in what she did despite being in a free world now. She was given all the materials she asked for, setting to work almost immediately. She decided to make a sword, to fulfill a request from Orn, the king of dragons himself.

She molded it much like a regular black smith would, but then she started carving it in an intricate way, delicately making every edge of the blade perfect. A sparkle of gold came from her fingers as she worked, as if she was pouring her own magic into it. She carved a name into the blade, one side in a foreign language and the other bearing an English translation.

"Each blade that I make responds to the first touch of the user," she explained in her mystical voice, "and is bound to that person from then on. The user can tell the blade to obey another, or if the user dies, will find the next suitable user." She handed the blade to Orn with a gloved hand, who took it in his, and watched as the magic surged throughout the blade, responding to him in a unique way.

The letters on the blade lit up in order — E, T, E, R, N, I, T, Y — a silvery light twisting and turning with every curve of Merenwen's masterfully crafted writing. Afterwards the sword grew dim, every so often pulsating with the same silvery light that lined the edges of Orn's emerald scales and his dragonfire. He showed Merenwen his pleasure with a fanged smile, and learned that she much preferred the nickname Meren.

In return she was given new clothes to wear: a yellowish shirt and skirt, a brown belt with pouches in it around her waist, with the cape and the headband still there for sentimental value. But that wasn't all she had acquired, enjoying the weight of her new backpack and exploration gear. The Androids invented miniature portals so she could transport herself back to Terrater at any time that she needed to, and also decided to take her magical fusion and test it on other metal devices, including technology.

Soon they modified the technology that distorted space to make it larger into a sort of magical effect. The Androids made such things as a Bag of Holding, a small bag of sorts that distorted space within to be able to hold many things.. They tested the same method on buildings, attuning the technology to the user of said buildings, allowing them to make rooms appear from nowhere when there weren't any previously.

From the species that they had made friends with and the fact that they focused their efforts on health care technology, they made a strange concoction of which the ingredients will not be included in this story. The gist of the mixture of various elements was to give the user of it immortality, in the sense of living beyond their years, much like the creatures giving their essence to the concoction were supposed to be. They combined the magic of the concoction with technology they had developed to integrate things with the bodies of other creatures, and let them fuse together much like the weapons Meren had made for them.

Needless to say, the first with the honor to test such a thing was Merenwen herself. She gently pressed the new device to her neck, gasping slightly as it integrated with her biological system. Her eyes glowed a gold color with the device, and though her eyes dimmed back to their natural ice-blue, the device still glowed underneath her strands of hair. It had integrated with her system flawlessly, like she was made to accept it into her person.

Merenwen had expected to die at around two-hundred years, and when they found her she was well on her way already. She hit two-hundred after some years of exploring, fearing for her life, wondering if the device had truly worked. She lived on, and as a reminder of all that she had done for us, My Lady Dwayna made it so the red headband was the highest rank of explorer on Terrater.

No one has earned the red headband on their travels, leaving Merenwen to simply be the best.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Chapter Two: The Virus

Sometimes within the multiverse, you'll find the exact same person, living a different life as a completely different species. Sometimes we'll find people of the same species, looking exactly the same, except with a different name. One might find it amazing how in one instance we found someone who looked the same, had the same name, just in a sense was of a different species.

Portal number seventy-seven had an interesting twist to an already existent species. There the people of Terrater found a version of vampires, the creatures of the night with sharp fangs, pale skin due to their problems with the sunlight, and strange colored eyes. Except something was horribly wrong with these ones, as the Androids soon found out.

Vampirism on this world was a disease, much like Porphyria, but specifically needing blood to keep oneself alive. The 'Vampire Virus' as some would call it ate away any other diseases, and also kept someone essentially immortal, much like the dragons were. However everyone who suffered the disease was deathly allergic to sunlight, and if they came in contact with silver they would surely break out in a rash.

The disease completely takes over one's body, making their eyes glow slightly with an icy frost clouding over the irises. They would also find their canines sharper than usual, and as such, mainly transferred the disease from biting people in need of their blood. The 'victim' would get the virus injected into their bloodstream, as well as the DNA signature of the biter, thus why there is a sort of a syndrome where some believe themselves to be the servants of whomever bit them. However, once blood is transferred between both parties - via the biter giving the victim some of their own blood to drink - these symptoms dissipate and both parties can go on living as vampires.

Some vampires had to become hunters who stalked the night, looking for unwilling prey, whilst others fed on animals to keep themselves in check. The vampires who believed themselves to be nothing more than monsters allowed themselves to rot away into nothingness, which was a bit of an extreme. The problem became all the more apparent when the disease suddenly worked its way into one of the families of nobility on their world, and chaos ensued.

The people of Terrater, being as noble and generous as they were, went to intervene within the chaos to offer the recently victimized nobleman Marcus Dellanotte a sanctuary upon their world for himself and any descendants he would have. In the meantime, the Androids - being the super intelligent machines that they were - had developed a sort of supplement for the Vampire Virus, allowing the suffering people to only need to have a pill dropped into their daily drink and their thirst for blood would be sated. Marcus was the first to test the medical breakthrough, finding himself satisfied within moments of having taken the pill.

One who knows of Orn's queen Nerezza may recognize the last name that I mentioned, and they would be right in their assumption. The noble house of Dellanotte kept their nobility on our world, and Marcus had descendants throughout history, many of them dying out purely because they were not satisfied with living life anymore. But when my predecessors found Orn's Nerezza on that version of earth that was dying, they knew it was merely a matter of time before the same woman would appear in the vampire lineage of the Dellanotte family.

About a year before My Lady Dwayna was born, the current Dellanotte family gave birth to a little girl, her hair as black as the midnight sky. Knowing of the appearance of Queen Nerezza, they named their little girl after her in hopes that she would live up to the name of the woman who was their leader and be that woman, in a sense. Being a noble, she was of course taught to be prim and proper, balancing books on her head to straighten her posture, only she didn't totally follow her family's wishes. The Dellanottes got what they wished for: a woman much like the queen, just with a slightly different personality and a noble background.

Nerezza Dellanotte followed the wholesome, accepting personality of the queen into her heart. She would walk around the town, proud of what she was and flaunting her ethereal beauty towards the men and women who walked the streets with her. Though she was taught that having an heir would be preferable, she tended towards people of the same gender when it came to flirting and the like. She eventually was given her own mansion as well as inherited the chain of restaurants that her family had set up over the years to help their monetary wealth in Terrater, second only to the royal family themselves.

When Orn and Queen Nerezza died and My Lady Dwayna came to power, the vampire woman born into nobility was given a ladyship within the realm, and with the discovery of new religions some churches were made for those who believed they were important. Now, Nerezza was also the priestess of the Wiccan church among everything else, having stress within her person reaching its peak. She needed the help of a servant, as much as she loathed the idea, but it was necessary to have someone help her if she were to get through it all safe and sound.

It was almost a bit of a godsend when Elizabeth came to the world of Terrater. Of course, the entire story of Elizabeth is for another time, but still she showed up and Miss Nerezza took the girl under her wing out of the kindness of her heart and the need for a servant. Elizabeth was all too happy to help, and they lived together happily for many years, sometimes expanding their services in interesting ways to other visitors who wandered their way.

Eventually Nerezza started including strange things in every restaurant that her family owned. She had expanded the business to Draconia, and in a world full of dragon-kind, there she placed Alex - another human — to be a waiter there. Alex is also a story for another time, perhaps very soon in fact. The point that one would try to make is that now there were strange things adorning each and every place that Nerezza now owned, as her parents had died in the war.

So many things that cannot be told right now, nor do I wish to tell them just yet. Suspense is sometimes the best thriller in a story, it keeps those who hear it or read it wanting to come back for more. One would guess by now that a listener or reader would wonder whom is even telling these stories, and I answer how I have always answered. That story is also for another time, as I have not yet finished this one.

Nerezza still lives on, happy as can be, but can one imagine my surprise when she asked me to be the best man at her wedding? I wondered who on Earth had finally captured the heart of this noble woman, the one who had flaunted herself for so long with several partners. Of course I agreed, purely out of curiosity reasons as I hadn't even received an invitation. I asked My Lady Dwayna about it, and she merely told me that she herself would be the maid of honor for the bride, using the same suspense I leave you in now.

Today I stood and watched in awe as the beautiful woman walked down the aisle towards Nerezza, a smile resonating between the two like no other. It took a moment for my brain to register who it was, before a smile came to my face. What a gorgeous bride to Nerezza that Elizabeth made.

 

[Secad MS]

You have an interesting view upon vampires, and I like it. In addition, you have made it so that this race is not only a non-wimpy/sparkly sort of hunter, but they have a noble society as well is quite an excellent touch.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Would've been up earlier, but my editor *coughPheocough* took forever to review the chapter.

Chapter Three: The Archangel

Throughout any human history, there has always been mention of a religion. On quite a few planets the creatures on them had much of their faith placed in Christianity, or at least something similar to it. These people claimed to believe in heaven and hell, angels and demons, Yahweh (God) and Lucifer (Satan). It was always about good and evil, right and wrong, even though there was so much controversy within the subject itself and things that didn't make sense.

Those that retained their faith had a field day when we found actual angels in portal one-hundred-and-thirty-three. This place, referred to as Vehn, was a place where the 'good' spirits went after they died, to become born anew into angels - as long as they fit Yahweh's requirements that is, as he was the most powerful angel of them all. Yahweh usually appeared as a man with a large grey beard and a wizened look about him, donning a toga and standing behind a podium just outside the golden gates.

Sometimes angels aren't made from the souls of the dead, but rather a collection of energy made from lawful actions that everyone in the multiverse made. After the energy reached a certain point it would ball itself up into a sphere-like shape, much like a soul. Then a body would form around it to become the host and take on the appearance of an angel.

In Vehn, there was a line of power made so everyone would know their place. Those who were just let into Vehn after they had died were Lesser Angels, and those who had earned their wings were regular Angels. Those born of the lawful energy were dubbed the Order Angels, having much more power than that of regular angels. Not only that, but Order Angels could gain experience and become stronger in their power, eventually becoming Archangels who served Yahweh and the forces of Law and Order.

The particular Order Angel that will be focused upon is the one we know as Ethan. The body that formed around the soul was very human in appearance, as was usual of angels. His skin was peach in color and his hair was blonde, his icy-blue eyes peering curiously out at the world as he was formed. Beautiful, feathery, pure-white angel wings sprouted from his back, stretching themselves outwards for the first time. Yahweh gave him a robe to wear, white in color with red trim siphoning down the sides of the sleeves and the front of the robe.

Ethan was at first loyal to Yahweh, whom he saw as a father figure right away. He followed the teachings of other Archangels among Vehn, sometimes helping some of the Lesser Angels to gain their wings. However, he exemplified some traits that were not commonly seen among others of his kind. He soon became cynical and sarcastic, the dull and almost morbid environment of Vehn racking at his mind and heart. He was very much alive, while so many of the Lesser Angels around him were merely shells of their former selves.

Ethan walked to the golden gates, touching them and phasing through to talk to Yahweh himself. The old man was standing where he usually was, judging those who had made their way to see Vehn through their lawful actions. Ethan pulled Yahweh aside and asked him why those who had died could not become more powerful like him, why they were just meant to be less than himself.

Yahweh tried to explain that being born of Law and being reborn into an angel were two different things with two different implications of evolution of power, but Ethan rejected this answer, saying that all should have the chance to become an Archangel. Ethan spat at Yahweh, criticizing him for his harsh ways. Ethan recalls this day, saying that he called Yahweh a 'dick' out of rage.

Of course Yahweh was furious with Ethan, as he was the first Order Angel to have exhibited this behavior. He was told directions to our portal, where there he would await his punishment. Ethan resigned himself, quietly making way towards the portal just as Merenwen stepped through. Their eyes met, and Ethan found himself overpowered by the lawful actions that guided her heart. He was not only sent this way to receive a punishment from Yahweh, but to learn a lesson about Law from a strange woman who seemed to be the bastion of it.

Ethan informed Meren of what had happened, and she seemed to understand and accept him regardless. He was taken through the portal and led to Orn, his eyes taking in the beautiful splendor of this planet, not understanding how such a peaceful place would be his undoing. Why would Yahweh send him here as a punishment when he was welcomed as an equal by Meren?

Then the humans who believed avidly in Yahweh saw him with his wings outstretched, and they fell to their knees in front of him, praying to Ethan for forgiveness or mercy. Not only that, but he could sense the taint of demons upon one of the other portals, but could not act on it as he was now under the command of Orn and the Androids while he lived on this planet. He was told that he was to be a priest of a church that was built straight across from another church that was full of sin in his eyes.

Imagine his surprise when some of the demons finally came through the portal. Ethan thought they were beasts, but he saw firsthand that they were much like angels, save for the composition they were made of. Some of the demons were born of chaos, and their wings tended to be on the darker side of the color spectrum, more likely black than not. Their eyes tended to be the color of blood or glowed with a fire that burned inside of what they called Chaos Demons.

Otherwise they looked just like his people, and they had the same sort of system. Lesser Demons and Demons were born from the souls of the dead, Chaos Demons and Demon Lords born of Chaos and serving Lucifer, the fallen angel himself. They came from a place they dubbed as Vehl, of a much warmer climate than Vehn and obviously more dark. The fact that they were so similar pierced Ethan to the core, causing him to question just where he belonged in the scope of things.

Then he met Aria, the Chaos Demon who had been sent to Terrater by her master, who was a Demon Lord. She showed some friendly, even caring, mannerisms beneath her brash, cold exterior, and she often teased Ethan for being so cynical. However, from the beginning he could sense she was not as tainted as the other demons, and soon saw her get together with Meren, the very bastion of Law he had tried to become. His entire world changed when he realized that he was the same, that although his soul was mainly that of lawful energy, he had a little bit of chaos within that made him who he was.

Ethan started accepting himself, and became warmer than usual to others, though his cynical sarcastic attitude still shone through. He told those who visited him of how he thought of Yahweh, not caring what consequences came to him from it. As he started accepting himself, the true power within became unlocked, and he became a different person in that moment of epiphany.

His wings outstretched and became larger than before, tinged with an ice-blue color to match his eyes, which were now glowing with the power that coursed throughout his veins. He lifted off of the ground and his robe flapped about him dramatically, as if to add to the true effect of what was happening. In this personal moment of self awareness and acceptance, he evolved to become something that other Order Angels hadn't been able to do on their own.

Ethan had become an Archangel, laughing at the irony that it was all thanks to a demon.

 

[Aura]

I'm a sucker for history stuff, so the history of Terrater is extremely interesting. I like the style of writing for this.

However, the Nerezza vampire bit confused me a bit. Was it just one person? Or two seperate people? It's probably really obvious to everyone else but not to me.

So far, my favourite out of these stories is the Archangel one.

 

[Hunting Rifle]

Dwayna, I'm so FRICKIN' jealous of your vocubalary and writing style. Are you the result of a secret marriage between JK Rowling and Dan Brown or something? Anyway, love the new story. We already had dragons and androids, so I'm not surprised angels excist in the multiverse too. Keep up the good work and I can't wait for the next chapter!