The Flood of Vaela

[This story is under construction, but I figured I'd post what I have so far as a preview of sorts.]

In the waning years of Man, the father of all his kind, there lived a certain one of his children named Vaela. Now Vaela was not a son of Man directly but through many generations, for in those days men lived much longer than they do now.

Now Vaela was a blacksmith by trade, but a bard in his heart. He often sang and played his lute at night, musing on songs of warmth and light, even as the world grew cold. Vaela was a man of The One and oft would he seek his face.

All of Soyl was filled with violence in those days. The mischief of Revelle plagued the world, and no end was there in sight. Yet the Rascal worked not alone...

High above in the peaks of the mountains dwelled great spirits of ancient times before the world was prepared for Man. These spirits had assigned to them the task of overseeing the airs as lords and guardians of mid-heaven. Enticed by the Rascal in counsels unseen, save but to The One, some of the spirits forsook their dwelling places and descended into the valleys.

Long lusting after the delicate daughters of men, these mountain spirits forceably fornicated with them in dark pits of perversion. The result was a terrible sin against natural order. Powerful beastly men, if men they could be called, tore their way through their mothers' loins.

Thus the fellers, as they would later be called, were painfully born into the already too cruel world. Their jaws were long like dogs, with teeth as sharp as fangs. Their ears were pointed back, their hearing sharp the same. Tall and fearsome, even with their bent beast posture, they stood higher and wider than all the sons of men.

The nights were filled with fear in those dreadful days. Werewolves and dragons, along with their dwarven slaves, would wage war against unwary men in the gloom of deadly darkness. And evil men, in league with the dark, would use the cloak of night to their own cruel endeavors.

Soon all the world was at its own throat, man against man, and beast against beast, having no natural affection for one another, but rather misled by selfish longings. Malice and cruelty was the rule of the day, and Revelle was its dark ruler.

Meanwhile, the fays remained relatively safe in the eternal forests. In those days, the forests were still in the realm of men, along the western shores of what is now called Kinmonia. While men would not approach these woods, fouler creatures had no such curse of enmity to withold them from their evil endeavors...

Thus it was that the werewolves and the slavodrac started to leave their dark caves and venture into the fey forests. The terrible violence thus touched even the apple of The One's eye and He would tolerate it no longer.

The One thus put a call forth from The One. The celestial choir answered the call and journeyed across the great heavenly road to the temple of all present light. There all the host of heaven came before the throne of The One.

"Why is it I have made Soyl? For look how she pains me so!" The One called out to the choir, and all attention was turned to the face of the world where the shadow grew.

It was then that Revelle came forth from the throng and laughed in delight. "And now what will you do, oh great Lord? Will you end your pain and mine? Will you close the book of time?"

The One then said to Revelle, "Have you considered my friend Vaela? There is no one on Soyl like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears us and shuns the shadow."

"Ha! Does Vaela fear The One for nothing?" Revelle replied. "Have you not blessed the work of his hands and given him peace? Were this man to face real peril, he would quickly come to see the wisdom of my ways. He would no longer seek your face, but spit in it and curse you."

The One gazed toward Revelle, and the shadow shuddered at the light. "Vaela shall face real peril. He shall face the end of the world itself and come safely through. All of his land shall be swallowed by the sea, and none shall survive save he and his own."

The Rascal marveled at The One's words and in his creeping cowardice he quaked. Attempting to hide his fear, Revelle spoke out once more. "Is that all? The sea is my domain, and so I know it well. And yet I know of stronger powers in this wretched world of yours. The calling fire falls quicker than any rain, and it tears through earth swifter than any stream. It stole my beauties away, and I shall see that it steal away your precious man just the same."

"My servant Vaela shall be tested with both fire and water. We have ordained it. He shall descend the depths of your dragging serpents' lair. The most precious of your beasts Vaela shall face. Your dreadful 'beauty' shall fall before Vaela's feet and nip at his heels. In the end my faithful servant shall smite his head."

With that the assembly was dispersed and Revelle left the presence of The One to creep amongst the dark places of the world. Meanwhile The One sent forth his name.

In the middle of the night, while Vaela was fast asleep, The One appeared to Vaela and stood before his bed and called out, "Vaela! Vaela!"

Quickly awakening, Vaela said, "Here I am. Speak, for your servant is listening."

And The One said to Vaela, "Behold, I am about to do something astounding: something terrible and wonderful. I am going to put an end to this wretched world, for the land is filled with shadow and corruption. But I shall make a new world, and you shall be its father."

Vaela was astounded. When he came to his senses, now standing before The One he inquired, "When will these things be? And how will you bring them about?"

"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Old has put in his own power. But you will recieve power when the Light comes upon you. He will lead you where you must go."

When The One had finished speaking with Vaela, he left, and Vaela returned to sleep. The One continued to appear there in the land of Loshyai-hemshiah, and there he revealed himself to Vaela through his name. There for several days the two spoke long and often. If everything there said were written down, no single scroll could hold the words contained therein.

As promised, the Light of The One came when it was time. One day when Vaela was out in the woods collecting kindling for the fires of his kiln, he saw in the distance a ball of light not unlike a will-o'-the-wisp hovering, as it were, over a bog yards away.