A forest of a single tree, surrounded by the nothingness that was not yet the world. A vacant wind, and a land with no shape. The world was a single forest, the forest a single tree, alone for all time, and no time at all. In that single, eternal moment, an emotion blossomed within the tree, a feeling so powerful it smothered all parts of its existence, loneliness. It was the loneliness felt by the only shred of anything in a world that was nothing.
The first emotion became the first thought, and the first thought became the first desire – the desire to know more than oneself, to know another that would share their small existence. Driven by this, the tree that was the forest, grew a single seed. This seed rooted itself in the nothingness, and grew into a second tree to match the first. The forest was now two.
The loneliness abated, but as time wore on and the new became the norm and the world became stagnant. The loneliness returned, and with it returned the desire, and with the desire the forest, grew two more seeds, and the forest was now four. The cycle of growth continued, and the hollow emptiness that was the first tree’s loneliness remained distant, as long as the forest continued to change,
And thus the world grew from the emptiness. A forest of one that was now all, and a single tree that was lost among the endless. With a world in which to grow, new emotions emerged, happiness, joy, amusement, these feeling caressed the leaves of the forest, carried on winds of gentle intent. Grief, anger, sadness, these feeling crawled along the ground through brush and root, stirring a rumble of bitterness, that could never be truly ignored. As the world grew, these feeling shaped it, giving forms to trees that made the world. There was light, then dark; sky, then sea; life, then death. Everything that was formed had its opposite, one shaped by the gentle winds, and the other by the bitter rumbles. None were greater than another, and everything carried with them a piece of the first intent, and the first feeling.
As the world took shape, so too did the feelings. Each feeling shaped itself into a new being, a being of thought, decision, and intent… a god. Each one was the embodiment of the emotion that created them, and each one had its own intent to shape the world. They built the landscape, the hills and the valleys; the seas and the rivers. From the ground they rose beasts and birds, and from the oceans came creatures of scales and fins. Their final creation was fire, the intensity of each emotion fueled these first flames, and from these flames came new beings. These were the first people. From the fire they were filled with burning passion, love, and hate, and from the smoke they grew somber, sad, and bitter. They were small, short-lived, and powerless when compared to the gods, yet with them grew the combined will of all the emotions that built them, and from this will came the determination to shape the world as their creators did. They cut the trees, dug the earth, and hunted the beasts of the forest. They built homes to live in, tools to craft with, and weapons to defend themselves from creatures and each other. They shaped the world to their own desire and beyond what even the gods could do.
The gods sent disaster to protect the world they had crafted. Winds that tore trees from the grounds, quakes that shattered mountains, and fires that erupted from the ground to burn everything the people had built. But the people’s determination overcame that of the gods, and despite being smaller and weaker, they were always able to rebuild, always able to persevere.
While the gods were wise and long lived, the people were brief and lacked an understanding of the world. So when neither side could defeat the other, the gods being too powerful to submit and the people too willful to succumb, an agreement was made. The people would rule most the world, to bend it to their desire. The gods would provide guidance and wisdom, but the deepest part of the forest, where the first tree that was once all lay, would remain theirs alone. With this agreement the people spread across the world, and the gods built a great fortress of stone and shadow around their piece, and then left the world, to give their guidance from afar. And so the chapter of the first forest and the gods ended, and began the tale of people.
