Quill of Thieves

Interlude: The Tale of Earth's Deceit

The Tale of Earth's Deceit
Excerpt from the book Elements of Fables
Archived by: Hollace Lambert

In the beginning, there had been breath, and in the breath, there had lived words, and the words spoke of the beginning, the middle, and the after. Together, they created, and the words breathed Goddess Elayn, mother of Earth, into existence. The first of the elements, Earth was given dominion over the power of all words and thus ruled the kingdoms that sprung up from her ground.

Now, Earth had been given five siblings. They were creations spoken into existence during the middle, for Earth had come to learn loneliness despite all that lived on her. As the siblings grew, and Earth continued to breathe words into life, all of them grew jealous over their eldest sister, for everything in the world came from her.

"If we each take a part of her," one said to the other four, "our power would be equal, and she would not be able to reign without us."

So, the one snuck into Earth's room that night and stole the heat from her hearth. He took the name Fire.

—

"So, fire is a man, is it?" Sebastian scoffed, lowering the book to his lap.

Abel ignored him, teeth chattering so severely, Sebastian half-wondered if they would shatter. "We need a bigger fire," she said, shivering against the winds battering against their tent. The storm was wilder than anything they had ever experienced in their comparatively mild Eilibir climate. He supposed they were bound to go through at least one on their trek up Halum Mountain.

Worried now, he rubbed his own damp hands along his pants. "Really? I'm sweating."

Abel burrowed deeper into the blanket Sebastian had wrapped around her. "Just continue reading, Bash."

—

Encouraged by her brother's success, another journeyed to Earth's quiet springs that lay at her core. With a cup made of mud and thistles, the deceitful sister drank from the pool of Earth's life and poured the source into herself. She took the name Water, an element that could keep her brasher brother in check, and thus another element was stolen from the eldest.

Feeling confident, Air struck next, stealing dominion over Earth's breaths, but Air was everywhere and difficult to tally the weight of its source.

So, Earth, at first, did not know the deceit of her siblings.

The twins planned their move, but they fought in the skies over the possessions of their eldest sister. Before this struggle, the possession of the skies had lived as one over Earth, but the twin's spite split the heavens in two. One took the sun and became Light; the other grasped the moon and became Darkness.

—

Sebastian shut the book. Night had fallen, and Abel hadn't yet demanded to take the first watch. "Abel?" he said to her, touching her on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Her skin was hot in sleep.

He took up position just outside the tent and stared up at the moon. Imagine the moon being held by a twin! Sebastian scoffed and opened the medical journal he'd brought outside with him. He needed to read about lowering body temperatures and controlling fevers—

"Bash," Abel croaked from inside the tent.

Sebastian's chest clenched. She didn't sound good. He refused to lose her, too. To comfort her, he put aside the scientific journal and reached for the storybook, continuing the tale from the mouth of the tent.

—

With the loss of the moon's and sun's significant power, Earth grew suspicious of her siblings and called them forth to confront them.

Fire, Water, Air, Light, and Darkness stood before her, the guilt evident in their seedy expressions. The Earth wept for her fallen siblings. "Would I not have given it to you should you have asked for it?" she cried. "Know this and hear me well. Now that you have so deceived me, your use of such power shall be cursed. Whoever thus uses his power for personal gain, his life shall be forfeit. And if he who stole denies the power of that which he took, another's soul shall take the place of his."

To lead by example, for the Earth was righteous and upstanding in her character, she called forth her own soul and breathed it into her last remaining sibling. The pure and youngest sister who had not so deceived her. "A gift for you, Innocent One," she said. "You shall be named Spirit."

And so there became six elements of power: Fire, Water, Air, Light, Darkness, and Spirit, who remained the purest of all her siblings because she had not done wrong. As for Earth, she became merely that which her name suggests, creating a home among the weeds, plants, and dirt. She held dominion along the grounds, and became the seventh.

Thus started the splintering of magic across the kingdoms.

—

Sebastian shut the book for the final time and stared at it. There had been a time, not long ago, when he had thought he could find all the answers he would ever need in a book.

That was before Abel had fallen ill on their journey to Halorium.

Abel lay unconscious by the time Sebastian had finished the Tale of Earth's Deceit. Looking at her flushed skin and the thin layer of her eyelids that twitched in her dreams, Sebastian couldn't help but think about Spirit, the purest of them all.

"You're Spirit," he whispered to her, and he set about crafting a hasty sled to pull Abel the rest of the way up this bleeding mountain as soon as morning arose.

He would not lose her soul to the elements.