Dyania

A Short Story from Mythnium by C. Borden

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The crashing of the great trident on the abalone throne’s platform caused the mass of mer gathered in the great room to f…

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Borteo

A Short Story from Mythnium by C. Borden

Substack Subscriber Edition

Borteo pulled his heavy apron tight around his waist. There was a lot to do to get ready for the festival. He cinched up the l…

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Before the dawn of Mythnium, before the glorious birthing of the gods of our universe, there were simply the Creators. Beings existing outside the bonds of time, they called themselves Siki and Cria. They were joined together, of the same mind, and yet distinctly different and able to move apart of each other. Siki and Cria wandered among the vast expanse of the universai finding most were inhabited by other entities like themselves. Being of more peaceful natures, they moved on quickly to find one that was but a blank canvas, where no other god had ventured, where none had left their mark.

Finally they found a universe, small in comparison to many of the others, but also far removed, nearly to the edge of the known plane of existence. As they lingered in the center of that small universe, they began to think of the others they had visited, and they decided on the parts they liked and began to will those things into their own universe.

Once their universe was full of glittering lights, a million galaxies spinning around the center of the universe, they focused on what they wanted to be the gem of their creation.

Drifting together and becoming one, they thought of the planet that was to be their gem, their prize. In a flash that shook their universe, the planet appeared floating in space with the far of lights of other galaxies lighting its entrance.

Siki and Cria then separated, and each began to focus on details to make their little planet unique.

Siki noted how the stars of the distant galaxies cast little light on the surface of the planet, so he blinked and first a red sun appeared, and then a moon opposite of the red sun. He watched the light cast over the planet and agreed with Cria that the cast was not right. He began to blink the sun out of existence when Cria stopped him, herself blinking into existence a blue sun that moved in opposition to the red sun.

The gods stared at the way the suns moved and complemented each other. They felt great satisfaction that they had created something that broke the rules gods in other universai had laid down. It felt strange and beautiful to create rules of their own.

With the lights in the heavens above their little planet, Cria looked more closely at the planet itself. She noted that the planet was waiting to be given shape. She breathed onto the planet and watched as dirt and mud shifted and moved creating low places so low the seemed to stretch into the center of the planet while creating other places jagged and high so that the tops of the peaks touched the edges of the atmosphere.

She smiled at the changes she had made while a tear of joy slid down her nose and landed on the planet, filling all the holes and recesses creating oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. Unexpected though it was, she saw the fruit of her tear. She called Siki over to see what she had done.

Siki moved to Cria’s side, taking a break from adding stars and lesser planets scattered more closely about their gem in the middle. He looked at the changes she made and praised her creativity.

An idea occurred to him. He leaned toward the planet, and ever so gently, he touched the level areas of land and watched as the planet heaved on itself as though it were breathing. He and Cria sighed in wonder as the planet began to cycle on its own, moving in a slow circle under the lights of the suns.

Cria, suddenly tired, turned to Siki, and drew him close to her womb. In her joy, and in her exhaustion, she found solace and companionship in her partner. As they drew close to each other, they felt a stirring within them that had never occurred before. As they leaned further into the other, the stirring multiplied outward from one to two, then from two to four, and again until Cria pulled herself away from Siki and stared in wonder at the entities that sprouted out from them both until they broke away and then gained their own consciousness and their own identities.

Cria’s joy flashed outward through their universe causing the stars to shine, blink, and wink in response. As the younger gods instinctively reacted to their mother’s joy, Siki, also proud of their unexpected creations, looked back toward the gem in the center of their universe and laughed in delight. Cria and the other gods gathered around the new planet and joined in his laughter as they saw that Cria’s joy had also affected the planet.

It had suddenly sprouted life of its own. From the deep oceans, to the plains, to the rivers, to the mountains, plant-life began to grow, and small creatures began to develop.

Looking from the planet now brimming with life as precious as the existence of her children, Cria enlisted her children to help keep the planet spinning in order to protect the life that was there at present as well as the life that would grow as time suddenly took on meaning for her and Siki both.

Next month, I will share another creation story of Mythnium.

What do you enjoy most in the world building of a fantasy world?

Let me know in the comments, so I can begin building a post around that topic. Thank you!

When I began writing Mythnium tales, I began shaping my story around a half-elf and the birth of her child during a solar eclipse. As that (trashed) story took shape, so did the world building.

Religions, cultures, geography, astronomy, and so much more began to build in my mind. After a while, I found that my scattered notes were becoming a massive pile that I had to constantly sort through in a (sometimes failing) effort to keep facts straight. Ultimately, I created a huge three-ring binder tracking characters, species, races, locations, timelines, and everything else concocted for Mythnium.

After I decided to start fresh, culminating in my first published novel, Echoes of Dragons, I realized how heavily I relied on the theology to shape the patterns of the world. Considering how heavily I rely on my faith to navigate the real world, I suppose this isn’t surprising.

At any rate, I created gods for Mythnium. A great many of them. Cuz, why not?

(Disclaimer - for anyone who thinks my Mythnium books are Christian fantasy: they most definitely are not. My faith seeps into the books, without a doubt, but these are not, and were not intended to be, Christian/Evangelical/etc in nature.)

Over the next few dedicated Mythnium posts, I want to share some of the world building as it relates to these gods.

Allow me to introduce them to you:

• Cria- Mother Creator (creator of the humans)

• Siki- Father Creator

• Asuna- Goddess of Fertility

• Sayki– Goddess of Death

• Peran– God of War

• Dali- Goddess of the Hunt

• Igma– Goddess of Wisdom

• Skeru– God of the Harvest

Then the creators and the patron gods of the sentient species:

• Hux– God of the Dwarves (both Deep and Silver Dwarves)

• Kudhe– God of the Elves (all the surface elves)

• Zeni– Goddess of the Dragons

• Naga– God of the Heridon

• Ose– God of Fairies

• Mura– Goddess of the Drow

• Cracia– Goddess of the Mer and the Rana

• Muli–Goddess of the Mulig

• Tsufa– Goddess of the Giants

• Grix– God of the Orcs

• Hmor– God of the Trolls

• Plueg– God of the Goblins

Next month, I will share one of the creation stories of Mythnium.

What do you enjoy most in the world building of a fantasy world?

Let me know in the comments, so I can begin building a post around that topic. Thank you!