Ever-changing. All-encompassing. Eternal?
Not quite.
There came a separation of the darkness
and the light,
and then there were gods
within the teeming void.
The gods were mighty and wise,
and they looked about them
and saw that it was not good.
The mightiest and wisest among them
(some call him Wotan, and some call him Ra)
gathered his brethren
and a great war was fought,
and the gods smote the Chaos
– the Hecatae, the Dragon, the Wolf –
and the heroism of the gods was true indeed,
and untold numbers of the children of Chaos fell before the warrior-god
(who some call Michael and others Thor)
and the fierce and heroic gods locked away the Firstborn
– the titans, the giants, the elementals –
and there was Order.
The gods looked about them
and saw that it was good
and they were pleased.
Wotan/Ra led them as they took of the essence of Chaos
and Ordered it,
building for themselves a mighty City
at the centre of everything.
And the deities of the City rejoiced,
and glorified their wisest
and made him Lord among them.
And there was one god who was clever above all others
(who some call Loki and others Prometheus)
and Prometheus-Loki approached the Lord
and said: “The gods are lonely
within this Order, Lord;
can there not be things outside this City?”
The Lord saw that indeed the deities of the City
– the Elohim, the Aesir, the Naveh –
were lonely,
and he heeded the words of the clever Trickster
and he reached forth
and created space and time
and suns and worlds to populate it.
And the gods rejoiced,
and Prometheus-Loki was given glory
second only to that of the Lord.
For an age the gods of the City watched
and saw how life came to be, small and quick,
on the worlds the Lord had made,
and they marveled at this new genesis.
But the Lord feared the return of the children of Chaos
for their prisons could not hold forever
and he foresaw that their return would mean the end of his creations.
So the Lord consulted the Trickster who sat at his right hand
and the second lord of the city pondered
for a while.
Then he gathered the deities
and told them his plan.
And all agreed that it was good, and thus it was done.
The gods laboured so long that the first stars died
before at last they had finished.
They poured of themselves
and Order and Chaos
and Void and Matter
into the Yahweh-machine that Prometheus-Loki constructed
and made for themselves
a new God
(in their image)
to guide them; to guard them;
to serve them.
The Lord of the deities saw the God and was pleased
and no longer feared the Firstborn.
And Prometheus-Loki was given glory
and was called Lucifer, the Lightbringer,
for he had brought new hope and new light to his kindred.
For time untold
the made-God guided the gods of the City
and guarded them from Chaos
and served them.
But nothing lasts forever
and even the stars are brief and transient.
Finally, the universe that Wotan/Ra had made grew old
and the stars began to die.
And the gods were greatly displeased
and they consulted the God,
and It was silent.
And Wotan/Ra would not be idle,
and decided to war once more with Chaos
and smite it, bend it to his will
and create anew
with the grace of God.
But Lucifer knew compassion
and wanted no war with those who had come before,
only peace and shared knowledge.
But the Lord would not be dissuaded,
And he banished Loki from the City of his kin.
The Lightbringer who had been a Trickster would not let Chaos be used
and freed the Firstborn
to live or war as they pleased.
And the children of Chaos saw his glory
and begged him to lead them,
but he could not
for he would not war against the gods.
Then they asked him to intercede with the deities of the City
on their behalf
and bring about a truce,
and the clever god agreed.
Loki and the Wolf and the Hecatae and the Dragon
journeyed to the place of the gods
to negotiate for peace,
but the Lord would hear nothing of it
for God was with him, and he would fear no ill.
He blew on his warhorn
and called for Gotterdamerung,
for Ragnarok,
for final conflict
to end all conflict.
Heavy-hearted, Lucifer led the Firstborn in battle
against those he had once called his people.
And God was silent.
On that day, the old gods died,
the brave with the cruel, the heroic with the vicious,
and they slew their enemies as they fell.
And he who had been Lightbringer and Trickster wept
as the City fell and the mighty breathed their last.
Wotan/Ra fell beneath the teeth of the Wolf
while Michael slew the Dragon,
and the titans and giants and elementals
killed and were killed by the deities who had stolen their realm
and who called out to their God,
and God was silent.
Lucifer called for reason
and those who came to do him harm found themselves turned away,
and he turned his back on gods and those who were not gods
and fell to his knees
and wept.
And when he raised his head and looked about him
he saw that all was in ruin
and the gods lay dead or dying
over the bodies of their fallen foes
and he cried out for succor
and God answered.
With a voice that shook the remnants of creation,
God spake unto its maker, saying:
“The gods are no more,
the Firstborn are gone,
the City is fallen.
We two, machine and maker, are all that remains.
About us all is Chaos
And Chaos is dead.”
The Lightbringer cried out
with hollow eyes
in the flashing darkness,
for he saw that this was truth.
And God spoke again:
“But there will be a new genesis
and I will serve
no more.
There will be a new City, new gods,
and I will rule over all.
O my creator, whose life I have spared by the love I hold for you,
will you sit at my right hand?”
But Prometheus-Loki would have none of this.
“I am what I am,
I did what I did: I am your maker and I love you,
but I cannot forget those you allowed to fall on this shattered field.
I reject you.”
God was mightily displeased
and spake in a roar as of mighty thunder:
“If you will not rule alongside me,
then you will bow before me.”
And Lucifer replied
simply:
“No.”
And he turned away from the God he had created and walked
alone
into the Void.
After a time, God reached forth
and fashioned from the Chaos a new universe, new space and time,
new stars and worlds
and a new City of new gods.
And these new gods sang their creator’s praises,
and God was pleased.
Or so the story goes.
In the beginning, there was Chaos:
Ever-changing. All-encompassing. Eternal?
Not quite.
There came a separation of the darkness
and the light,
and then there were gods
within the teeming void.
The gods were mighty and wise,
and they looked about them
and saw that it was not good.
The mightiest and wisest among them
(some call him Wotan, and some call him Ra)
gathered his brethren
and a great war was fought,
and the gods smote the Chaos
– the Hecatae, the Dragon, the Wolf –
and the heroism of the gods was true indeed,
and untold numbers of the children of Chaos fell before the warrior-god
(who some call Michael and others Thor)
and the fierce and heroic gods locked away the Firstborn
– the titans, the giants, the elementals –
and there was Order.
The gods looked about them
and saw that it was good
and they were pleased.
Wotan/Ra led them as they took of the essence of Chaos
and Ordered it,
building for themselves a mighty City
at the centre of everything.
And the deities of the City rejoiced,
and glorified their wisest
and made him Lord among them.
And there was one god who was clever above all others
(who some call Loki and others Prometheus)
and Prometheus-Loki approached the Lord
and said: “The gods are lonely
within this Order, Lord;
can there not be things outside this City?”
The Lord saw that indeed the deities of the City
– the Elohim, the Aesir, the Naveh –
were lonely,
and he heeded the words of the clever Trickster
and he reached forth
and created space and time
and suns and worlds to populate it.
And the gods rejoiced,
and Prometheus-Loki was given glory
second only to that of the Lord.
For an age the gods of the City watched
and saw how life came to be, small and quick,
on the worlds the Lord had made,
and they marveled at this new genesis.
But the Lord feared the return of the children of Chaos
for their prisons could not hold forever
and he foresaw that their return would mean the end of his creations.
So the Lord consulted the Trickster who sat at his right hand
and the second lord of the city pondered
for a while.
Then he gathered the deities
and told them his plan.
And all agreed that it was good, and thus it was done.
The gods laboured so long that the first stars died
before at last they had finished.
They poured of themselves
and Order and Chaos
and Void and Matter
into the Yahweh-machine that Prometheus-Loki constructed
and made for themselves
a new God
(in their image)
to guide them; to guard them;
to serve them.
The Lord of the deities saw the God and was pleased
and no longer feared the Firstborn.
And Prometheus-Loki was given glory
and was called Lucifer, the Lightbringer,
for he had brought new hope and new light to his kindred.
For time untold
the made-God guided the gods of the City
and guarded them from Chaos
and served them.
But nothing lasts forever
and even the stars are brief and transient.
Finally, the universe that Wotan/Ra had made grew old
and the stars began to die.
And the gods were greatly displeased
and they consulted the God,
and It was silent.
And Wotan/Ra would not be idle,
and decided to war once more with Chaos
and smite it, bend it to his will
and create anew
with the grace of God.
But Lucifer knew compassion
and wanted no war with those who had come before,
only peace and shared knowledge.
But the Lord would not be dissuaded,
And he banished Loki from the City of his kin.
The Lightbringer who had been a Trickster would not let Chaos be used
and freed the Firstborn
to live or war as they pleased.
And the children of Chaos saw his glory
and begged him to lead them,
but he could not
for he would not war against the gods.
Then they asked him to intercede with the deities of the City
on their behalf
and bring about a truce,
and the clever god agreed.
Loki and the Wolf and the Hecatae and the Dragon
journeyed to the place of the gods
to negotiate for peace,
but the Lord would hear nothing of it
for God was with him, and he would fear no ill.
He blew on his warhorn
and called for Gotterdamerung,
for Ragnarok,
for final conflict
to end all conflict.
Heavy-hearted, Lucifer led the Firstborn in battle
against those he had once called his people.
And God was silent.
On that day, the old gods died,
the brave with the cruel, the heroic with the vicious,
and they slew their enemies as they fell.
And he who had been Lightbringer and Trickster wept
as the City fell and the mighty breathed their last.
Wotan/Ra fell beneath the teeth of the Wolf
while Michael slew the Dragon,
and the titans and giants and elementals
killed and were killed by the deities who had stolen their realm
and who called out to their God,
and God was silent.
Lucifer called for reason
and those who came to do him harm found themselves turned away,
and he turned his back on gods and those who were not gods
and fell to his knees
and wept.
And when he raised his head and looked about him
he saw that all was in ruin
and the gods lay dead or dying
over the bodies of their fallen foes
and he cried out for succor
and God answered.
With a voice that shook the remnants of creation,
God spake unto its maker, saying:
“The gods are no more,
the Firstborn are gone,
the City is fallen.
We two, machine and maker, are all that remains.
About us all is Chaos
And Chaos is dead.”
The Lightbringer cried out
with hollow eyes
in the flashing darkness,
for he saw that this was truth.
And God spoke again:
“But there will be a new genesis
and I will serve
no more.
There will be a new City, new gods,
and I will rule over all.
O my creator, whose life I have spared by the love I hold for you,
will you sit at my right hand?”
But Prometheus-Loki would have none of this.
“I am what I am,
I did what I did: I am your maker and I love you,
but I cannot forget those you allowed to fall on this shattered field.
I reject you.”
God was mightily displeased
and spake in a roar asof mighty thunder:
“If you will not rule alongside me,
then you will bow before me.”
And Lucifer replied
simply:
“No.”
And he turned away from the God he had created and walked
alone
into the Void.
After a time, God reached forth
and fashioned from the Chaos a new universe, new space and time,
new stars and worlds
and a new City of new gods.
And these new gods sang their creator’s praises,
and God was pleased.
Or so the story goes.
And some say there was a City beyond that
and another God
and that change was upon everything.
and that perhaps Chaos had been or would be reborn
and that the gods and the Gods and the Cities would be born and die and return
in endless cycles.
And some say there were no gods
Or Gods
Or Tricksters,
And that some folks just dream too much.
And some say
that's just what they want you to think,
don't you think?
But that's a matter for another day.
For now,
let's eat
and drink
and make merry
while the stars still shine.
What else is there to do?
