The Beginning of Time
The Origin of the Fable of the Halved Souls
(this can be read or skipped. It's mostly the setting of the world ahead, as if you were reading a mythology book.)
The Supreme Being, Adohr, creator of all, had failed his assignment.
All traces of life on Earth went extinct within the span of a thousand years. Due to their greed and selfishness, mankind has wiped themselves out to the last human being, leaving the realm destroyed and unlivable.
These individuals, whom Adohr had thought to be flawless, had long since fallen out of his control, and his inattention and carelessness had led them to their premature downfall. His failure threw him into an upset mood that lasted for several millennia, during which he completely abandoned the Earth Realm. Seeing his canvas ruined and slain by his own creations was frustrating, and disappointing.
He therefore devoted himself to his family and his queen, Ada, Mother of All, and their five children: Famir, Udarr, Khaaos, Inakea and the youngest, Gaelira.
Heavenly family life occupied Adohr in the Golden Realm for many long years. He never ceased to marvel at the imagination of his children and their thirst for knowledge. One day, while watching his three sons at their role games, he had a mournful thought for this world he had created eons before.
Filled with a new idea, he met with his queen to share the new project.
"I want to repopulate the Earth again. Our progenies could remake the world with their own souls, before I add my own creations to it."
Remembering all too well how failure had thrown him into a terrible state, Ada had concerns and opposed the father of her children.
"They are too young for these kinds of responsibilities," she argued.
Adorh suggested giving them the ability of creation. They’ll start with creating their first soul, shaping it as they want, and if they are able to keep their soul alive for a hundred years each, they would be gifted with the power of reproduction. They would be able to duplicate the shape of their soul down to Earth the way they wish to ensure diversity among all the new species. Adorh had learned the hard way that having only one breed in the Earth Realm was not the key to balance, but rather a recipe for stagnation and ultimate collapse.
Ada agreed to her husband’s lofty idea, albeit grudgingly, worried for the safety of her beloved children.
Filled with a new energy, Adorh ordered his heirs to create a soul, a perfect being according to their ideal and imagination, an entity that would be faithful to them for eternity to come.
Famir, the oldest of the five, went to work. Fascinated by water and rain from a very young age, he created a gigantic whale covered in golden scales, with a belly painted in silver and cloud-white fins. The creature was graceful despite its size, and sang enchanting melodies, allaying the doubts and fears of the most disheartened.
Udarr, who loved the feel of the wind in his hair, created an immense bird capable of carrying him on his back. It had wide, curved wings adorned with an array of colors, a long, feathery tail that mirrored the sun’s reflections, and a beak coated in stardust. When it lifted flight, the breeze it created frightened away the wicked spirits lurking in the shadows.
Khaaos, with his interest in earth and stones, modeled a tall mantis, protected by an iron black shell. Its heavy body was supported by six large slender legs and topped with a long thorax, with rock-solid claws, a mouth with gleaming fangs, and large silver eyes. He was tough and intimidating, persevering and industrious.
Inakea, wanting to impress her brothers, focused on a giant horse, with gold-colored hooves, strong enough to fracture the earth. His flaming locks warmed the air around him, and the white of his coat absorbed the heat of the sun. His presence brought good weather and promised abundance along his path.
Gaelira, the youngest sister, found herself a bit intimidated by the towering souls of her siblings. To her father’s dismay, she decided to wait for inspiration before proceeding, since she wasn’t really sure what course was appropriate regarding her soul.
Years passed, and Gaelira remained undecided. She liked to observe the godly creatures, finding their faults and qualities. She liked the sweetness of the whale but not its smell. She enjoyed the bird’s freedom but disliked its flashy colors. She admired the intimidating presence of the mantis, but not its harsh and rigid appearance. She loved the warmth and the strength of the horse, but not its independence.
As the soul of his eldest son, Famir, approached a hundred years of age, Adohr grew impatient with Gaelira. He gave her a year to create something, or he would revoke her privilege of creation. She promised him that her soul would be complete by then.
She shaped her soul night and day. It was a daunting task, but she got there, and at the end of the year, Gaelira went to present it to her parents.
It was a wolf, as big as a tree, with a silver-colored coat and white sides. The softness of his fur rivaled the finest fabrics. Its paws, mounted with large pitch black claws, could both dig the earth and caress light foliages. Despite its size, the soul knew how to move quietly and without being noticed. Its golden eyes exuded benevolence and kindness, and its natural warmth kept the lost beings feeling safe, nestled in the hollow of its sides as they searched for comfort. She secretly named it Feldris.
Adohr was perplexed by his daughter’s creation. Her soul seemed dull compared to the others, bland in color, with no distinct features. Although very pretty, Adohr did not see how this soul could meet the needs of her daughter. But she seemed happy with her choice, so he didn’t care any further.
Famir’s whale finally reached a century years of age, and, as promised, Adorh gifted his eldest son the ability to reproduce his soul. To celebrate, Adorh took his family down to the Earth Realm, and he was in for a shock.
In the absence of humans, the vegetation had taken possession of the canvas. Trees, plants and flowers flourished everywhere, as far as the eye could see. A now perfect place to create new species, though Adohr.
Famir got to work right away. Using fragments of his whales’ scales, he filled the seas, lakes, and rivers with creatures of different sizes, shapes, and colors. Seduced by the verdant surroundings on earth, he imitated the vegetation at the bottoms of the waters, adding colors and greenery for his creatures, to their greatest pleasure.
A few decades later, it was Udarr’s turn to descend to Earth and duplicate his soul. With the feathers of his bird, he created many flying creatures, some tiny and some large, some with scarlet feathers and others more discreet. He gave them the ability of music, and their songs vibrated through the treetops and the heavens of the earth.
When Khaaos stepped in, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He produced millions of small creatures using pieces of his mantis’s shell. Some were flying, others lived underground, hard or soft shelled with claws or stingers. Despite their small stature, they worked hard and shaped the Earth, creating mountains and valleys around the world.
Feeling that her brothers had monopolized almost the entire canvas with their creatures, Inakea decided to make room for herself. Galloping on her horse through the lands, she divided the earth into continents, choosing the largest piece to settle. Using the mane of her soul, she gathered her creations in groups here and there, all on four legs, some larger, others smaller, some adorned with horns or stripes. The hordes then rushed across the Earth, leaving broad and lush prairies in their wake.
Discouraged, Gaelira didn’t know what to do when her turn came. Famir had appropriated the waters, Udarr the skies, Khaaos the land, and Inakea the vast plains. All that was left to her were the dense forests scattered around. Her soul nuzzled its soft head under her arm, calming the doubts that were building in her mind.
"It’s soothing underneath the trees," Feldris whispered in her ear. "The ground is velvety under my paws, the sun barely peeks beyond the foliage, and the wind dances with the leaves and through the pine trees. There is a lot of food and many comfortable places to sleep. It’s perfect."
Reassured, Gaelira brushed her soul with her hands, and took a handful of its coat. Blowing gently on the tuft, she conceived her creatures in different colors and sizes. She didn’t change much in their shapes, always keeping the same kind of fur and the same kind of face, without adding anything to it. She adored her soul exactly as it was and didn’t want to alter the perfect reflection of her companion here on Earth.
Now that his canvas was full of life, Adohr was eager to populate the world with humans again. In his youth, at the origins of the world, Adohr had created men with nothing to keep them company, other than those of his own kind. With hindsight, he understood that his creatures were not strong enough to survive on their own. Humans lacked the instincts of beasts and didn’t have the resilience of the divine. They were fragile, and they withered like unattended crops without the support of something greater.
Adorh therefore decided to develop new models, drawing inspiration from the souls of his children, along with the basic humans. One by one, he went to each soul, taking a part of their skin for his modeling.
With a man’s torso and a dolphin’s tail, and the ability to sing like Famir’s whale, he created the man-fish.
He fashioned the bird-man, a rendition of Udarr’ soul, from a human body topped with an eagle head, with wings and talon legs.
Next came the insect-man, a human with a hard and thick shell, with immense claw-like hands, capable of destroying stones, like the mantis of Khaaos.
From Inakea’s horse, he took the powerful body of the animal and simply added the human thorax at the front.
Galeira, horrified, objected violently when her father approached her soul. She deemed the creatures her father had created to be unsightly and misshapen, and she vehemently refused to allow her own soul to be subjected to such abuse. Furious at such an impertinence, Adohr reminded her that he was the Supreme Being, the creator of all, and that he had all the power to create whatever he wanted, however he desired.
Wise and empathetic, Ada the queen tried to defuse the situation by suggesting a compromise between the two parties. The creature would maintain its wolf appearance, but he would be standing like a man. It would not be the half of each, but rather a creature acting like a human. Left without much choice, Galeira agreed, heartbroken to see her soul slaughtered like this.
Adohr then created the wolf-man as his queen had proposed, but dissatisfied with his daughter’s entitlement, he altered the creature. He exaggerated his facial features to resemble a human, and he enlarged his hands and feet, purposely making him look like a monster, hoping this would teach Galeira a lesson in obedience.
Heartbroken by her father’s broken promise and distraught by the disfigured creature he created, Galeira took refuge in the confines of the Golden Realm with her silver wolf, and no one saw her again for several hundred years.
During her long absence, conflicts erupted in the Earth Realm between the species Adorh created. Lycanos, the wolf-man, the only one of his kind, got bored of hiding in caves all day and living in the shadows all night.
One morning, he decided to make a friendly attempt by approaching the fish-men leader, Sirenias. At his sight, the people of the water withdrew into the depths of the ocean, calling him a monster without giving him a chance to beg for himself. He tried to plead with Sirenias, but the latter quickly chased him away, forbidding him to ever make contact with his people again.
Lycanos felt offended by the injustice, but continued on his journey to meet with Horus, the bird-man. He reached the mountain where the bird-men resided, and they scattered in every direction into the sky at his sight. Horus forbade the creature from entering his realm, claiming that his people would become ill from simply gazing at his repulsive appearance.
Rejected and increasingly enraged, Lycanos continued on his quest to meet Mandra, the insect-man. Mandra allowed him into the confines of his cave, and without flinching or interjecting, he listened to Lycanos’ plea. But at the peak of his rant, Mandra warned him that they had been instructed not to mingle with the monster wolf-man, or face dire repercussions. Lycanos urged him to elaborate, but a colony of armed ants assaulted him brutally, and he escaped the cave without receiving an answer.
Bruised and distraught, still not understanding why he was so ostracized, Lycanos journeyed into the great valleys to speak with the horse-man, Centole. Centole was known to be a violent and brutal creature, and as soon as he saw the wolf-man, he raised his spear.
"Centole, what have I done to deserve such hatred?" begged Lycanos.
“You are cursed,” spat the horse-man. "Unlike the others, who bear the balance of man and beast, you are nothing more than a wolf mimicking humans. You’re revolting to look at, and no one will ever be fond of or respect you for who you are. It would be better for everyone if your race faded from the Earth realm."
Centole threw his spear high in the air and it landed into Lycanos’ heart, and the wolf-man died before hitting the ground.
Lycanos’ death made Gaelira’s wolf howl in pain. The first violent slaughter of a part of Feldris’ soul shattered his heart, and he cried all the hatred that the creature suffered through his life. Feldris howled for so long and so loud that the moon cracked under the power of his song, leaving the once-perfect white orb marred with jagged scars, making it forever marked by his grief.
Distraught by the sight of her pained wolf, Galeira emerged from her concealment. She soon learned what had happened down on the Earth Realm, and she unleashed her fury on her father, whom she held responsible for everything. She yelled like a storm tearing through the heavens that Lycanos did not deserve to be ostracized simply because of his appearance– an appearance that Adorh himself had sculpted out of spite. And the tragedy would not have occurred if her father had not broken his promise.
Insulted at being moralized by his daughter and tired of her insolence, and to teach her a lesson, Adorh dragged Feldris to the edge of his kingdom. He lifted his celestial sword over his head and cut the wolf in two before kicking the halves down to the Earth Realm.
Galeira dove desperately after her cleaved beloved companion, but the fall was so long, she lost her way during the descent and landed on the ground not far from where Lycanos’ lifeless body rested. Feldris’ halves were nowhere to be seen, and she collapsed in despair, crying a river of sorrow and defeat.
Her father’s hubris had caused so much pain around her. She swore revenge, and hatched a plan to get rid of Adohr’s horrible creatures once and for all.
She kneeled beside Lycanos and hummed a lullaby that brought him back to life. Galeira promised Lycanos that if he wiped out all of the other hybrid creatures made by Adohr, she would transform him back to a graceful silver wolf.
Lycanos accepted, motivating with the promise of a normal appearance. She took a few strands off his coat, and duplicated the wolf-man by hundreds.
While the Lycans concealed their plan for the battles to come, Gaelira’s thoughts were consumed with finding Feldris’ halves. Souls were never meant to be ripped apart, and the longer they remained separated, the more they risked vanishing entirely. The thought of Feldris dissolving into the dark void, alone and forgotten, was a fate too dire for her heart to bear. She could not imagine an endless span of time where his soul, once whole, would be forever incomplete.
Before leaving on her journey, she turned to the Lycans, offering a solemn blessing for the hard path awaiting for them. Strong from their Goddess benediction, the Lycans marched toward war with determination, while Gaelira walked into the unknown, guided only by divine hope.
Lycanos’ army was merciless. They easily annihilated the people of Centole. The centaurs were strong and cruel, but they were lacking in agility and were few in number. The quickness and speed of the Lycans took them by surprise, and all the horse-men perished within a year.
Next to taste Lycanos’ fury were the tough and hardened people of Mandra. After a long and exhausting battle, the Lycans discovered how to break through their shells with rocks. Without their protective gear, the insect-people were as defenseless as newborns, and the Lycans slaughtered them without mercy until none of them was left alive.
No pity was taken on the people of Sirenias either. The Lycans used their claws to dig gullies deep enough to drain the water from the lakes, but narrow enough to prevent the fish-men from escaping. They drained each of them dry and condemned the merpeople to wither away in the muddy silt of their native lakes.
They reached Horus’s kingdom where the bird-men mocked them high in the air. Unable to fly or jump high enough to catch them, the Lycans decided to be patient. After several years in the sky, the bird-men grew tired and began to drop ever-lower. As soon as they touched the ground, however, the Lycans chased them back into the air again, and without rest, the bird-men eventually exhausted themselves. One after the other, they fell from the sky, and the Lycans merely needed to pluck them from the ground to snap their necks.
It took the Lycans less than half a century to decimate the work of Adorh, and with each creature’s passing, Adorh’ legacy faded into nothingness, forgotten by all.
But for Gaelira, time was slipping away. It took her five years to find the first half. It has transformed into a smaller version of Feldris, though its fur was deep black instead of silver. He was curled up in the hollow of a tree trunk, unmoving, too distraught with being separated from itself. With much encouragement, Galeira convinced him to search the world with her, to locate its other half. The sole hope to be one again got the wolf going, and they went on their journey, with faith within the heart of Galeira, and doubts filling the wolf mind.
For twenty years, the pair roamed the Earth Realm, searching under each stone, exploring caves and diving into lakes. Melancholy encroached the wolf as time passed, making him weak and depressed. Galeira had to carry him in her arms, because she knew that without her, he would hide in the shadows of the trees to die, drowning in his own despair.
But one foggy morning, as they reached a small clairing, they heard voices echoing around them. As they tried to locate the sounds, a dozen humans emerged from behind the trees, startling Gaelira. Real humans, not those half-breed abominations her father had created. She didn’t think any of them had survived after her father’s first Empire had collapsed.
The leader, a tall broad man with dark drawings on his chest, stepped forward. “Who are you?”
“I’m Gaelira,” she answered with caution. “My wolf and I seek no harm. We are looking for the other half of his soul, another wolf. Have you seen it?”
A woman with pale skin and white markings on her arms spoke. “We rescued a white wolf many years ago, but she’s dying and there’s nothing we can do.”
The black wolf in Gaelira’arms flicked his tail in erratic movements, whimpering softly as he locked his tired eyes with the woman. They had found her.
The humans guided Gaelira and his wolf to a small village hidden in the depth of the woods. The black wolf grew more agitated as they drew closer, and in a surge of energy long gone, he leaped from Gaelira’s arms and weakly trotted to a little stone house on the edge of the village. They found the white half lying on a bed of straw, unmoving. She was gaunt, her fur lay flat and brittle, clinging limply to her frail frame, as if drained of life.
The black wolf gently curled around the small white half in a protective shield and his whole body sighed with relief. His touch awakened the pale wolf, and she weakly nuzzled her nose into the black wolf neck. They nestled close, their tails gently wagging with satisfaction, finally finding comfort in each other’s half presence.
Galeira had expected the halves to reconnect together as Feldris, but as time passed, they stayed separated. They lived many years, thriving under the care of the humans. Despite their bond, they never fully reunited as one, remaining separate but always linked one way or the other. The wolves protected the village, hunting and guarding, while the villagers cared for their well-being in return.
As time passed, the wolves grew older, and on a quiet morning, they passed away, minutes apart, curled together in the hollow of a tree. Their divine souls danced around in the forest in one final run before merging into one unique soul again and ascending back toward the heavens.
The villagers mourned and grieved the halved souls, and they swore to honor their story and keep their legacy alive through the next generations.
Gaelira, who had stayed by her wolves’ side, knew her journey was not yet over. Before returning to the Golden Realm to be with Feldris again, she had to go back to Lycanos to fulfill the promise she had sworn to uphold.
The Lycans were returning from their battles, fewer but free at last. Galeira thanked them, and prepared the ritual to change the Lycans back as a silver wolf as promised. But some refused it. They liked the power of a standing wolf-man, and they feared losing their strength if they shifted to a wolf. Others stated that they would like more human features. They saw how fine fingers could provide new skills, allowing them to craft and shape the world in ways they never would achieve in a wolf form.
Wishing to please them all after their exhausting quest, Gaelira granted each one their wishes. They could either be Lycan or a wolf, a human, or both. Half of them choose to be a wolf and the other half choose to stay as Lycan, but both groups choose the ability to shift to a human form.
She made them tall and strong, and gave them the freedom to shift between forms at will. They thanked Gaelira for keeping her promise, and each party went their separate ways, embracing the peaceful lives they had fought so hard to achieve.
Back in the Golden Realm, Gaelira reunited with Feldris in his giant silver wolf form. They secretly settled far away from Gaelira’s family, out of reach from Adorh’s bad temper and unpredictable reactions.
But Feldris grew depressed, and Gaelira didn’t understand why. She had thought he would be thriving being finally reunited as one, but Feldris missed having someone by his side. He had grown fond of the intrinsic bond with another being and was grieving the companionship that had once been there when he was cleaved in two.
Gaelira, seeing his sorrow, tried everything she could think of to ease his heart. She stayed by his side, offering him comfort and love, but it was clear that something was missing.
She loved her soul so much, she suggested splitting him in half again if it was to make him happy once more. Feldris agreed and Gaelira parted Feldris in two halves, one black and one white, one the Sun, one the Moon, one the Protector and one the Nurturer.
Since then, every time Gaelira wants to create a new wolf, she lays in the hollow of her hand a strand of each wolf’s coat and she blows them gently into the wind, so they could seek and find their halved soul, just as Feldris had done at the dawn of time.
