The Winds Carry Whispers

At the beginning of all things, there was chaos and there was order. Each fought for control and dominance, leaving nothing but a void in the wake of their conflict. In the current measure of time, eons passed with nothing but that roiling conflict until the two forces created themselves into something more. The entities ceased their warring to strategize anew, but found that when there was balance, there was also creation and growth. This ceasefire resulted in the creation of the world.

Every living thing was created from aspects of both order and chaos, but the deities were unable to keep their warring natures at bay nor from seeping into these living beings. Skirmishes were commonplace and from these battles, mountains grew, and valleys sank. The scars on the land sparked new emotions in these deities and the discomfort of these feelings led to the creation of the first people.

Chaos and Order vowed to never again fight each other directly, in order to protect what they had created. The first people were known as the Andhar. They were fierce and mighty giants, carved from the mountains themselves and given life directly from Chaos and Order. The Andhar were few in number and did not stay in one place very long, continuously ranging to the far ends of the world. They tended to lean towards the ideals of order and were natural keepers of nature, ensuring no species overran another.

This devotion to Order, not quite worship but also not indifference, angered Chaos. After all, they had contributed equally to the creation of the Andhar, so why was Order given more reverence? In their anger, Chaos withdrew from the world and began to scheme once more. Their scheming enticed and ensnared Zephryn, the youngest of the Andhar, and in one of the far corners of the world, Zephryn constructed a dark fortress. In this dark fortress, Chaos created new beings by siphoning the essence of Order from Zephryn. These beings were devoted entirely to Chaos and designed for war, for although the pact between Chaos and Order was binding, the Andhar nor any other being held such ties.

Centuries passed and while the Andhar procreated sporadically, the beings of Chaos multiplied until they began to spill forth from that dark fortress. Zephryn had been taught the ways of war and battle by Chaos and with that knowledge, marched from the fortress, armored in darkness and armed with shadows, at the head of thousands.

The first of the Andhar to meet Zephryn on the field were caught woefully unaware. The ways of war were not known to them, and so Order gifted them with the knowledge of strategy. Two of the Andhar, Aurius and Kelias, were chosen to lead their people against Zephryn and the horde of Chaos. Aurius and Kelias were considered by all who knew them as the best of the Andhar, Aurius embodying the ideal masculine energy and Kelias the ideal feminine. The pair had literally traveled around the world multiple times and had been the first parents among the Andhar. Their love was legendary.

As he embodied the best of the masculine, Aurius was given the task of leading the Andhar on the battlefield, while Kelias defended what became the Andhar’s own stronghold and strategized the grand plan for victory. The battles were bloody and never-ending, the beings of Chaos falling like so many heads of barley from the farmer's scythe. Despite the Andhar’s size and ignorance of death, they found that they too could fall like a field swarmed by a plague of locusts.

Finally, upon the hour of defeat, Zephryn stood over the body of Kenius, first born of Aurius and Kelias. The general still wore his armor of darkness and wielded his blade of shadow, still dripping with blood, as he approached the walls of the Andhar’s fortress. Striding to meet him from the gates, Aurius and Kelias gleamed in armor as white as fresh fallen snow and wielded spears of pure, brilliant light. For all his tutelage by Chaos and experience on the battlefield, Zephryn was still no match for the first amongst the Andhar. Aurius and Kelias dispatched the corrupted member of their race and drove the shadows of Chaos out of the world.

Aurius and Kelias knew that Chaos would not stay gone forever, though, and so it was decided that one must keep watch at the dark fortress while the other prepared and kept watch from the Fortress of the Andhar. They had saved the world, but the cost was unimaginable. Their tears filled the valleys and created oceans and lakes and rivers, keeping alive their sorrow, while their mournful song created the winds. And so it is that water holds memories, while the winds carry whispers.