The Origin of Monsters

Before even the first dawn, the first night, the Founders existed. Each carried the purest forms of power within themselves. And out of gentle generosity, they decided to share this might.

They shaped our world out of Air, Earth, Water, and Fire. But when their work was complete, they felt their lands were still incomplete and bare. Some of the elements had mixed together, but these combinations were volatile and crude. Most of their powers remained wholly separate.

Unsatisfied, the Founders decided to pair up and force their elements together. Lightning crackled from the colliding powers as they created glass, ice, smoke, and steam. But these new elements were volatile, and would return to their fundamental states.

Enraged by their failed attempts, Ixen demanded they try again, with all elements combined. The other Founders agreed, but were unable to match Ixen's ferocity. Chunks of molten metals flew through the skies and crashed into the world.

Ixen continued to push as the other Founders faltered, creating a massive sphere of molten gold and silver. As it took shape it began to descend towards the world. Iskir, realizing it would destroy all that the Founders had created so far, took the sphere and dragged it into the heavens, vowing to hold it until it cooled.

Ixen had pushed herself to exhaustion, so the Founders decided to rest and rethink their approach. Iskir, now bearing the sun, flew around the world, lighting it up as he passed by. The Founders enjoyed this light as they rested, gazing down upon their creation.

After their rest, the Founders attempted one final time. This time they would act slowly and carefully, so they could match each other's every move. The great Founders forced their elements together, all with equal might. Such might did the Founders use that their elemental powers began to crystallize. It crackled and grew as more of their might was forced together. Until finally, all of them were exhausted, and the crystal mass slowly drifted down to the surface of the world.

The crystal mass crackled with power, but seemed to hold. Satisfied, the Founders once again rested, gazing down upon their creation.

But when the Founders returned, they found the crystal mass fractured, and from these fractures had arisen strange creatures.
The creatures moved without purpose, without thought, and their forms were rigid, but brittle. As the Founders attempted to guide these new beings and fill them with purpose, the creatures would burst into clouds of energy. This was not what the Founders had wanted.

The great Founders were exhausted now, so as an act of mercy, and perhaps even shame, they buried the crystal mass and creatures deep below the world. And there it would sit, as the Founders rested.

Deep below the world, the mass would sit, slowly cracking and splitting into different shapes, different creatures. Creatures that could see, creatures that could crawl, creatures that could dig. These new creatures began to crack through the deep stone, crawling upwards towards the surface.

And when the first creature broke through the final layer of soil, they saw a world unlike any other: Lush fields of grass and herbs, vast forests from coast to coast, and beasts of all shapes and sizes, just like them. They had been locked away from this splendor, beauty, and plenty, because they were none of those. So they destroyed all they could find: consuming the splendor and turning it barren; corrupting the beauty and turning it dull; ravaging the plenty and turning it all back into the desolate lands they once were.

But then came the Peoples, who had been given purpose by the Founders, and smote these horrid creatures. The Peoples sent the creatures back into the pits, dubbing them monsters and vowing to destroy them for what they had done.

And while the Peoples were driven, the deep world is vast. The monsters learned to hide and wait, away from the many eyes above.