The World of 'The Inheritance' Universe

The Genesis of Realms

theinheritancebooksaga

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4–5 minutes

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(As recorded by the Silent High Witch, whose name the Veils erased)

In the first hush before memory, the Veils were torn, and through the wound came the Breath of Creation.

Verse I – The Breath Before Sound

  1. In the beginning there was nothing, but the waiting.
  2. The waiting swelled in the dark like a lung unfilled.
  3. And from the blackness came the Breath – neither male nor female, neither god nor ghost – and it whispered its own name into the void.
  4. Thus the Breath became Sound, and Sound became Word, and the Word became Flame.
  5. The Flame rose and split the emptiness into Seven Veils, and upon each veil was written a secret letter of Creation.
  6. From these letters came the First Alphabet of Gods, the roots from which all houses, rivers, and tongues would one day bloom.

Verse II – Of the Serpent-Moon

  1. In the silence that followed the birth of Flame, the Breath turned its gaze inward and beheld its reflection – a coiling river of silver light.
  2. This reflection took form and became the Serpent-Moon, first of all living symbols.
  3. Its eyes were the twin orbs that birthed the concept of day and night; its tongue forked to divide truth from dream.
  4. Where its body curved, time bent. Where it shed its skin, stars were born like scales drifting through eternity.
  5. And the Serpent-Moon spoke: “As I coil, so shall the realms entwine. As I shed, so shall they renew.”
  6. And the Breath answered: “Then by my mirror, O serpent, that I might see what I am not”.

Verse III – The First Flame’s Children

  1. The First Flame burned alone until it could no longer bear its solitude.
  2. It tore seven tongues from itself and set them loose among the Veils.
  3. These became the Seven Primordials, the first sparks of identity – beings would could feel, desire, and destroy.
  4. They drank from the Breath’s mist and grew flesh made of stormlight and memory.
  5. From their sighs came oceans; from their quarrels, the mountains; from their songs, the mortal clay.
  6. The Serpent-Moon wound through their hearts and whispered: “Be many, that you may suffer. Be bound, that you may endure”.

Verse IV – The Shattering of Stillness

  1. When the Primordials spoke, their words echoed beyond the Veils, and Stillness was broken forever.
  2. The echo split into countless fragments, each seeking form and name.
  3. Thus were born the Gods, Deities, Spirits, and Saints, twenty-six in number, each bearing a letter of the divine alphabet.
  4. Their voices filled the sky with patterns of meaning; their steps carved the lands below into valleys and thrones.
  5. The Breath watched, and it its joy it wept rivers of time.
  6. The Serpent-Moon coiled thrice, blessing each god with sigil – the promise of dominion and ruin.

Verse V – The Name of Time

  1. For an age, the gods danced unmeasured, for they knew no end.
  2. But the Breath, weary of endless dawn, drew a circle through the heavens and called it the Hourglass.
  3. Into the upper half it poured light; into the lower, shadow.
  4. And the sands that felt between became the pulse of existence, what mortals would one day call time.
  5. Thus the cycle of death and rebirth was set – not as punishment, but remembrance.
  6. The Serpent-Moon looked upon the flowing sand and said: “Even gods shall one day turn to dust within the circle”.

Verse VI – The First Covenant

  1. Seeing the fragility of their creation, the Gods sought permanence.
  2. They pressed their palms to the clay of the newborn lands and left upon it their blood. From this mingling arose the First Mortals, born of earth yet quickened by divinity.
  3. The Breath blessed them with will, that they might choose.
  4. The Serpent-Moon blessed them with memory, that they might regret.
  5. And the Gods sealed the covenant with the words: “You are our Inheritance, and we are your shadow”.

Verse VII – The Quiet Between Worlds

  1. Thus the realms were set: Above, the Thrones of the Divine Houses; Below, the Grounds of the Mortal Tribes; Between, the shifting Veils of Dream and Death.
  2. For seven thousand heartbeats, all was harmony.
  3. Then pride took root among the divine, and envy crept like ivy across the veils.
  4. One by one, the Houses began to murmur against the Breath, seeking thrones of their own making.
  5. The Serpent-Moon wept smoke upon heavens and whispered: “What was whole shall soon hunger for itself”.
  6. And so began the first motion toward the Fall – though none yet name it so.

Verse III – The Oath of Inheritance

  1. The Breath beheld what had been made, and knew it could not unmake it.
  2. Therefore it withdrew beyond the Seventh Veil, leaving its will in the coil of the Serpent-Moon.
  3. Before its vanishing, it spoke:
I gift you the burden of memory.
From each House, a town.
From each god, a seed.
From each mortal, a flame.
Let the world remember Me not by my
Voice, but by the echo of its own longing.

And the Serpent-Moon sealed these words upon its scales, marking the beginning of The Inheritance Age.

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