FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Good Die Young

Preface: Genesis

Scripture Stone for the unwary traveler:

~`~

Eir, the fundamental energy behind all magics.

Azumand, Regent/God of entropy and darkness. Referred to often in nomadic literature as the black or entropic serpent.

Neir, Regent/God of pura or light. Twin and counterpart to Azumand. Also called the dreamer

Shia-Tam, The Frozen Muse. Female, known for being wicked as she is playful.

Tyagore, The Giant or Steel God. Serious nature, cold but loyal. The first Regent to be defied by humanity

~x~

In the Four-Fifths Dark Chocolate galaxy, there hung a little pale blue sphere that was most commonly known by all as a rock.

But, to a very small and inconsequential number of living bipedal creatures, it was referred to as a 'moon' in their surprisingly simple yet ingenious means of communication. The little ball of not-actually-dust was not to be alone, and was accompanied by a much larger, and much hotter rock that managed to terrify some humans so much to the extent that they saw it fit for worship. In English, as will be the author's precursor of language for this story series as they are far too lazy to learn anything else, this brilliant orb that dwarfs its dusk-ridden counterpart is called a 'sun'. Sun and moon encircled and reflected and took light from one another in an everlasting dance that was to mark night and day for the tiny rock that sat markedly in between them both, which itself was something that wasn't quite a moon and most definitely not a sun.

Goeth was verdant, with the occasional languid interposing of blue in its livid greeness. Brown obtrusions, some of them topped in white fluffy decor, lined seemingly random yet contourous parts of the planet. If you were to see it, you would probably say it looked awfully familiar.

The denizens of Goeth were happy with what they had and who they shared with it. Most of the time. For there was also war, and it rose out of the deepest sentiments of self-righteousness and a willful obliviousness to the childhood concept of playing nicely. Disease (in what the people would call the 'modern times') was a rarity, but struck like the wickedest, most cruelest bolt of lightning whenever it did. And unlike most people unfortunately, famine was wholly unaware of the consequences its actions brought, so there was no bargaining with the affliction even when it had your most beloved in its festering coils. With famine, there came the concept of sorrow in humanity, and with that the promise of a future of despair to mirror along their finite hope.

But there was also magic.

It existed as much as night and noon, and greatly alleviated mortalkind's ceaseless burden that war, famine, and sorrow brought. For as long as civilizations has been around, so have the Regents who held sway over this magic and its use, as well as its more complex components and who they deemed fit to use it. So as to aim for a balance. But sometimes magic was not enough, and the nights on Geothe grew long and cold. So cold that on a chance night a babe could be heard giving its last cries. So a fox, clever as he was loved by his fellow mortals, could no longer stand by and watch his friends suffer. He made the beginning of a choice that was to eventually seal the fate of humanity. He decided to steal fire from the gods.

This was known as humanity's first true sin.

With it the Regents punished the buoyant transgressor, making his silver tongue that quickly swayed others to ultimately be his harem. Death would have been far too kind of a punishment, so instead immortality was given to the mortal. And with this new found everliving, he was forced to witness and watch as the many friends he was sure to make slowly became decrepit and eventually nothing more then a pile of ash. As if the emotional implication wasn't enough, he was made to carry a physical remnant for each companion passed, and with every one the fox's burden magnified tenfold. It was a message to mortalkind that there was no stealing from a god, only a price to be paid.

This however would not stop a dear companion of the first sinner from committing a mortal peril of his own. A blacksmith thought meager his entire life was to build a staircase, one that would reach so high so as to come knocking at the heavenly door of the Regents themselves. He wanted to ask them why they punished his friend so, but before he could complete it, one of the gods caught him in the act and in fury sent him crashing down back to Goeth, along with his life's work in a shattered menagerie of useless pieces. But as he fell, instead of letting him meet his end when he reached the very ground he was born from, the four granted him ownership of the physical world of Goeth, making it so any facet of the little green planet itself would not kill the blacksmith. This way, when he landed and lived, he could feel the full weight of the world and the blunder he had made. Immortal he was not, but only was he to age in the way that planets do rather than along with his fellow people.

The back on back transgression had caused an ominous stir amongst the Regentry. Never had they thought possible that things so fragile would be willing to overstep the boundaries set before them. In response one of the great deities, one of four, went completely dark - disbarring all use of its own magic from the mortal race and abstaining from communication. The Regents eventually forgave in time however, as hubris was a defining characteristic of being mortal, so very human in nature, and something that the Regents realized they could never fully understand themselves. The great watcher that had gone dark came to life once more, as did its gift to humanity. But never again did it speak another word to the likes of man.

The third sin was committed when humanity began using magic for warfare.

Mortals were aloud to fight amongst oneself, even to the unfortunate side effect of death, as those that watched over deemed folly necessary for mankind's growth. But something as sacrilegious, so disrespectful as to use the gift of the beings that had watched and protected mortal livelihood for something as debaseful as war was unmistakable. Unmistakable in answer to the question of whether or not humanity had more potential for bad than it did good.

The use of magic in such a way had always teetered underneath the surface and along horizons most forbidden, being used as a means of utility for the simple things like keeping clothes dry in a storm so as to avoid sickness, or an inscribed incantation of repulsion that kept provisions from rotting too quickly. But soon, and inevitably, its limited use bled and slipped its way into scouting missions, and then recons, and eventually swords and guns were soon being given powerful enchantments - objects with a single, manic purpose that magic was never meant to be a part of. The abomination that was magical warfare took hold as a cornerstone to tribal rivalry, and its prolific use in a battle between factions turned what was normally a simple and small skirmish into a drawn-out, wholesale slaughter. Man acted different when such huge amounts of magic lay at his disposal and in such fashion, as man acts different when such potential of power over others presents itself. Magic used in this way awoke something in the dark corners of man's mind, so primal, so pure and euphoric in sensation, that soon mortalkind was more about warfare than it was anything else.

They saw it as a step towards the future, something to be had at the price of progress. The Regents, however, saw it for the blood-lust that it really was.

Another great watcher was to go quiet, silenced at the grand loss that it felt. The loss of respect and belief of the purpose it had been created for. Surely the First did not intend the four for this? For such blind and erroneous use of magic to commit grand-scale atrocities and to go at it like two snakes constantly trying to constrict one another in their coils. At this the other three Regents followed and went silent as well at the transgression, and in their wake they left a gaping void that mankind could never have anticipated. So much had humans relied on the use of magic that in its absence they no longer saw themselves as indomitable pioneers of the world, but as the feeble invalids that they really were. Forced to live and survive in a world that they themselves had shattered with the blatant abuse of the very power their gods had given to them as gift, but before they could admit to themselves they were crawling, mankind entered a frenzy that would wreak havoc with or without magic. Warfare was no longer a means of progress, but became the only way of life. Few naive optimists clung to the ever increasingly distant memory of peace, only to be eventually crushed under the heel of a steel-plated boot.

Humans were for the first time given the full agony of their own burdens, and, for the first time - truly humbled. Even as they'd gained a realistic view of their place in the universe and the role that they played (or the lack of), it took nearly a scape of eighty years, an entire generation, and the coalescence of several great wars before finally the Regents awoke and returned to their watch once more. Despite all of the sufferings humanity had had to endure in their absence, the watchers felt that mortalkind had to be punished for their reckless actions no matter how akin hubris was to their inner nature. Because if mortals were to ever truly amount to anything thought the Regents, they had to be willing to sacrifice a fundamental part of the humanity that so defined them. Magic became usable once again, but not without severe implications of limitations. The Regents bound certain kinds of magic to worldly forces such as the air that blew through the trees or the fire that blazed them to the ground. Each person born from then on was predisposed towards a physical element, and allowed only to use the magics associated with that kind. This restriction greatly leashed what humans did and could do with the Regents power, and ultimately encouraged that they work together so they could achieve the same efficient capacity that they had once been so proud of. The decision was an astounding success, and tribes and towns quickly conjoined, becoming whole nations that rallied under a single approach towards prosperity and went on to make strides in medicine and technology and even go so far as to build marvelous things called skyships and cities.

To rejoice, every ten years the gods sent down a child of the pure, one born on the solstice of the moon and bore the mark not only one but all four marks of the gods. It was to make a covenant with mortals once and for all, to bridge the gap between human and Regent and set the line between benevolent watcher and corrupt quartet of metaphysical dictators.

The Regents had regained their faith in humanity at last.

All except for one.

"Every day, they toil away at their meager trivialities while we just sit here and let them do so. And why? So they can swell up once more in their festering pride and try to kill us themselves? Like the one that had the gall to build a damned bridge at the edge of our home."

Four figures draped over an expanse of nothingness, not really caring for the whole existing bit and only coming into the direct vicinity of one another's presence when communicating was necessary.

"'Meager triviality' is poetic, but tautological, my dear Azumand." Spoke a playful and effeminate voice. "It goes best when you leave the fanciful expressions to your more...talented counterpart."

"As always" Came the third of the four "I cannot tell whether you seek to tease or compliment me sister. And that 'toiling' as you put it, brother, is what the humans call living, the very thing we exist to guard and help flourish."

The female deity giggled once more. "See what I mean Azumand! He calls us sister and brother with an affection that would almost make me think him human. Oh but how I adore you for it brother, how I do, how I do!"

"I think adore is a bit of a stretch for a frosty witch like you." Huffed the fourth, a gravelly and calm voice that rumbled through the void. "Amuse does better, as it makes one think of a cougar toying with its meal."

"Hmph" pouted the female. "I might be frosty but at least I don't have the musty wit of a dampened rock."

"Call it what you will Neire." Continued the one called Azumand, ignoring the other two. "But this errand we have been so tasked is absolute madness, how can you not see it? We give them solid ground once more to stand on when they crumble the one from before, and they promise to be good, only to blame it on 'hubris' and shattering our gifts once more. How much ground are we going to allow before we finally end this charade, giving up on this dying dream father left us with? Do we not have a whole other world to govern?"

"That world governs itself better than we ever could." Huffed Tyagore. "Nothin' but mountains and enough Eir to even make a Zodiac shake."

"And what of you, Tyagore?" The dark regent brought its focus on the Giant. "Was it not you who entered the first silence when that mortal showed the rest of the world how to conjure fire and use it like it was his plaything?"

The expanse filled with a noticeable haze of tension, but the god of iron steeled himself. "That was...a very grave error on their part. I cannot ever truly trust them again after that, but I can trust Neire here. It was him, after all, that surmised we interpose the elemental restrictions on the mortals and tie their use of magic directly to their souls. Never had I known how capable the humans were at self-discipline until we established the need for it."

If the younger deity had a body, it would probably have given a humble nod.

"Hubris guides them just as any of their other strengths do brother." Said the god of pura. "Without it they would never make any mistakes to learn from, and would be as void of purpose as the other world you speak. We must allow it while they come into their own and learn to live in a way that no longer requires us, as father intended. We must continue to give while they grow as we are their guardians and they are but children."

"Oh, how I'll never understand how you view things in such an interesting way Neire." Pined the female. The more gruff male grunted in a way that could only be taken as agreeance.

"Strengths!" shouted the elder. "You call them strengths brother? Insanity is what it is, like a snake eating its own tail. You're a foolish runt for taking their tails out of their mouths for them, if only for the sake of compassion! Only an imbecile rules with the childish sentiment that you do."

The female made a small gasp and Tyagore growled loud and low.

"Watch yourself, Azumand." Warned the Giant.

"Exactly what are you implying?" Asked Neire, voice becoming noticeably less steady.

The entity in question gathered in presence, becoming a permeable force that bared down on the other less currently present three. "Nothing is to be implied, brother, only seen. I am laying it out right before your very eyes and still you refuse to acknowledge it! How long am I to put up with your insufferable castles in the sky while Shia-Tam and Tyagore remain too timid to fracture your absurd little dreams?"

"How dare you call any dream absurd!" The younger deity surged. "You haven't the right to criticize that which you cannot have! If we were to see it your way, nothing would ever change and everything would meet a pointless end in a black pond of stagnation!"

"And you would have them destroy themselves and take us down with them!" Roared back the elder. "You go on and make it sound as if they are starving children when really they are gluttonous swines that are taking advantage of a fool who doesn't know when to put down the spoon." Shia-Tam and Tyagore wanted to instantly reprimand the elder then, but being the god of Entropy, and the eldest, he overpowered the others before they could, effectively forcing and shutting them out of his immediate presence. If Neir had not gathered himself in that moment, he would have been shut out as well.

"I know where this is going and what you plan to do brother, and I cannot allow it." Spoke Neir. "You may be the check to the Frozen Muse and the Steel Giant, but I am your check. Do not think I will simply stand by and let you annihilate the young race."

"Allow?" Spat the entropic serpent. "You are not nearly as strong as you think Neire. It seems mortal hubris has pinned a stake in your very own heart."

Yes, he has let himself be taken hold by those ungrateful little insects, thought Azumand_. They are a parasite feasting on him and worming their way into the others, and Neire was the rotting limb that attracted and sustained the maggots._ Azumand would have to deal with the fallen younger one later_, but first...his progeny. The mortals sit so content and lazily on their hills and in their walls, making contrivances and bastardizations of father's creations. Gifts, magic, it will never be enough for them, no, they'll ruin everything father has willed into existence and then who will be to blame? Only I, the eldest, as I have allowed it to happen. But no longer shall I! If I am to redeem myself and my siblings in father's eyes then I must purge the disease that plagues us all..._

In the Dragon's mind, the images, the intentions, they were so clear. They even brought him a certain glee. Hilltops turning to a mulched brown, becoming tombstones on the fields that they once rolled over, surrounded more and more by a mounting inferno. Forests burn, bosoms of trees that once stood so proudly to storm and snow succumb to fire and scorn. The seas broil and go dry, the final river runs red, but every time the Dragon stopped in his mad dash of what he was created for, he reached out for the mortal world of Goeth and he sensed that not a thing had changed. The more he willed his internalized apocalypse upon the feeble little sphere, the greater he became aware of the block that had been placed ostensibly in front of his will. A great barrier that caused even the greatest and most costly of his exertions to deteriorate into minor ripples of destruction. The end he sought would never be reached at this rate, he knew, so long as the Dreamer stood there right next to him, pushing back with equal force.

The fool.

"INSOLENT WHELP." Entropy bellowed. "YOU DEFY THE ONE FORCE THAT IS IMMOVABLE AND FOREVER BECKONING IN THIS UNIVERSE? WHO ARE YOU TO DECIDE WHAT GETS TO OUTPACE AND DENY THE REACHES OF THE DARKNESS?"

Neir felt the elder grow, pull up, and focus to full - preparing himself for the last-ditch End that he so frantically craved. Such a reckless release of entropic energy would undoubtedly leave the entropic deity impotent and unfocused for the decades to come, but that cost seemed to matter very little to the dark serpent so long as the end to humanity was to follow.

Something Neir would not allow.

"I am the light at the end of every tunnel that you have demanded to be blackened, brother. I am the flower that grows in place of the forest the Giant decreed be burned to the ground. I am the hope a lost child clenches fiercely to as the Muse leads her astray in a blizzard far from home."

He pulled up himself, readying for the attack.

"I am the Dreamer, Azumand. And as long as I exist humanity will never be left alone in the dark."

The deity of Pura knew that to pit himself against his equal would mean to exert himself just as much as his twin, perhaps even further. He would be fragmented and impotent for decades, maybe even centuries to come, which would be well after his brother re-manifested back to full strength.

And then no one would be around to stop Azumand from bringing the end of the world, no one to save an entire race from the god driven mad with contempt.

Yet still some part of him hoped...

"Shine your light wherever you like, little dreamer. Just know the children you shine your favor upon will forever be followed by my shadow, ready to devour them should they fall.

"Then let us hope" spoke Neir. "That whenever they do fall, they are picked up by friends surrounding."

The Regent of Entropy let out one final roar, setting forth an impossible surge of energy that seethed the name of a tiny ball comprised of green, blue, and people at the opposite end of the universe. Neir simply focused on that ball and all it meant to him, and willed himself calm, bearing against the deafening force of a thousand starving supernovas.

Unimaginable shapes and shadows flooded against a single pillar of white, echoing soundlessly across the galaxy until neither was any more.

And for the second time in the world, there was only darkness.

And then, there was light.

---

Whoo boy, bunch of pretentious prose with extra cheese - just how I like it. Good times begin in Chapter 1, stick around.