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In the beginning the Universe was a point without past and future. In this primordial place existed two beings. Then a third joined them, a human crone with greyed blond hair and an object blessed by these two beings. She came to tell them of grand concepts, of depth and length and of time marching inexorably from the past towards the future.
The primordials were awed by her tale and wished to know what boon they could give the woman to show their gratitude. The crone smiled and asked only that the two beings would create an object blessed by both of them that would allow travel through their domains and deposited it in a specific place at a specific time for a young woman to find.
Soon after the crone had taken their oaths to do as she had asked, she left the two to act on the inspiration they were given. The primordials each claimed one of the concepts their visitor had told them of and went to work.
In nearly perfect synchronicity time and space came into being under their power. Their plan would have created a cosmos like a perfect clockwork, yet they were only nearly perfect and that was enough.
The dissonance in the first moment of creation birthed something new. Claiming the very concept of change itself, it imposed an element of unpredictability into this young cosmos. Time and space regarded this new concept carefully, finding its nature much like themselves and named it chaos.
So was it that the first counsel, a tribunal, came to be, yet this would change again.
On an unremarkable rock, barely 800 Million years old, a new force was born. Where young oceans and the very lifeblood of the planet mixed, something new came to be. Fragile, unremarkable and confined to one planet among uncountable others, its existence went ignored at first.
Yet the powers that were would soon take notice as it grew in power and started to appear elsewhere in the cosmos. They studied the newcomer and found her much like themselves. She was named Nature and given a seat at the table.
Soon after Nature's appearance, a new thing came into being. At first the counsel thought that this one would prove to be much like themselves and they named it Death. To their surprise it wasn't. Instead of being an independent cosmic force, it proved to be the consequence of Nature and Time interacting.
So both Nature and Time wanted to claim it for themselves and a bitter feud was on the horizon when Space, seeking to mediate, suggested letting this new force decide who would claim it and the one who wasn't chosen would surrender its power over it. Both agreed, for they were both sure that they would be victorious and confidentially swore oaths to give up their claim on death shouldn't they be chosen.
And so it was that Death pondered his predicament when chaos approached him with a question. “Say, why should either be allowed to claim you? Are you not born from both of them, neither fully of one or the other?” she asked and Death readily agreed, but feared that neither would willingly share. Luckily, Chaos had an idea how Death could escape his predicament. So it was that Chaos spoke and Death listened.
The following day, Death approached the Time and asked to be released, for it hadn't chosen her. Time was furious but bound by oath, so she surrendered her claim on Death who thanked her and moved on. Soon he found Nature and made it known that he hadn't chosen her, Nature was saddened to have lost but gave up her claim regardless.
Not long after these events transpired, Time and Nature came face to face when the Space called the counsel to meet, intending to discuss something unrelated, both expecting the other to be triumphant but neither were.
Death's trick became known to the counsel then and they were livid yet powerless, with one notable exception that hid her glee behind false shock. In light of Death's trickery, all vowed that in the future where their powers were to intersect they would share. And so it was that Death became the sole power beyond the counsel’s grasp.
Time continued its march, Space expanded, Nature grew, Chaos brought change and Death reaped. That was the world into which the newest power was born into. At first, she was believed to be another compound force like Death, but then the counsel studied her and found her much like themselves. So she was named Civilization and her domain were all those who could overcome their instincts through intellect.
Nature loved her, cradling her and sustaining Civilization in her embrace. Yet Nature wasn't alone in her admiration.
One fateful day, Time felt the familiar sensation of her power overlapping with another’s, so she investigated. What she found puzzled her at first, drawings of the stars and celestial bodies painted upon a cave wall. It took only a moment for her to understand why this called out to her, instead of Space, the subject of this art being not the planets and stars that were depicted but which their passage implied. Time found her likeness lovingly transplanted onto the earthen stone and was overcome with love for Civilization.
Yet as she observed the youngest power, worries grew inside her heart. Civilization was completely at the mercy of Nature and she had witnessed how fickle Nature was, lovingly tending to her children in one moment only to mercilessly crush them in the next. Time shuddered, remembering the day on which Space and Nature collaborated to wipe out the dinosaurs.
So was it that Chaos approached her. “Time my friend, I see you are as worried as I am, aren't you? Nature loves civilization and cares for her now, but for how long will that last? She is so fragile and it will take a great deal of strength to assure her future.”
Time agreed readily with Chaos's assessment and asked if she knew what could be done, Chaos did.
Together they travelled to an island rich in natural resources and visited the sharks that called the surrounding waters home. There Time would peer into their futures and select one where they would evolve into intelligent human-like beings, then she and her co-conspirator would connect this future with the present. The result of their labour was a population of sharks free to shift between their animal and human form.
With phase one of their plan complete they waited and watched how their fellow council members would react to their creation. The fist to take notice was Civilization, overjoyed to have spread the youngest of the powers quickly came to sing and dance with her new people. On her heels was Nature, she eyed these new beings critically yet found no reason to worry. And why should she? The creation of such fantastical creatures wasn't without precedent: Nature and Time had made the first Phoenixes to spite death like he had them, so there wasn't much to worry about Chaos and Time linking what could be with what is, especially seeing how happy this made her little darling.
Soon after Nature turned away from their little project, Time and Chaos continued with phase two. Time would teach the island civilization the laws that governed the mundane universe while Chaos introduced them to things beyond the mundane that were willing to exchange boons for prayer. The people of the newly named Atlantis learned eagerly under their patroness and through them the Guardian of Civilization itself grew by leaps and bounds.
Yet this drew the eyes of Nature once more towards that Island and its people. What she found horrified her. Berry bushes mutated for maximum harvest output and forced to grow in neat rows under glass roofs, whole mountains turned over for the metals within and entire landscapes overtaken by city's spewing smoke out of countless furnaces.
But worst of all was the Guardian herself, gone was the small girl that peacefully collected berries and slept in her forests and plains. A dread queen of greed and industry had replaced her, caught in a feeding frenzy like a shark as cried out for her people to slake that terrible thirst of hers. Civilizations voice having become like a hammer hitting the anvil and her eyes burned red like the embers of the forge.
Then Civilization turned her formerly brown eyes on Nature and in that moment, where hungry red eyes meet horrified green ones, Civilization unveiled rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. In that moment things fell into place for Nature, hardening her heart she resolved to wipe Atlantis from the face of the planet and through this restore her friend.
With a voice like thunder, Nature called upon her champions and they answered. The Sky, the Ocean and even the very earth itself headed the call to war from their matron. Yet civilization wasn't without defenders, masters of science and priests empowered by those beyond stood shoulder to shoulder, determined to hold the line against Nature's wrath.
So it was that for three whole days and nights, Nature's might was tested against Civilization's mastery of science and magic. And for three days and three nights Nature was found wanting.
Then, on the eve of the fourth day, fortunes turned. The very bedrock of Atlantis was broken apart and hymns of triumph over nature turned to cries of terror as the island itself sank into the raging sea. Yet many could have fled in their sharkform had it not been for the great pods of orcas that followed their mothers call. Grim was the day on which Death and his apprentices reaped every soul of Atlantis, every soul bar one.
While the Guardian of Civilization fled eastwards, towards the infant civilizations that birthed her, a mature Amelia Watson saved an unconscious princess from a grisly end. Hours later, Gura, last of the Gawr dynasty, awoke on an foreign shore and began to weep. She cried for her home that sank beneath the waves and all her people who's legacy would die with her.
And her grief was shared by Mumei, for the guardian of civilization wept too for the people who had granted her a second name and their unending devotion.
During all of this, Chaos and Time, now known as Baelz and Kronii, watched as the third phase of their plan ended. They stood by, watching the duel of gods and the death of a nation they had orchestrated. The only time they were about to interfere was to insure one survivor that would preserve the myth of Atlantis for the future, yet even that was done for them. Only a single thing was left to do before Civilization's survival was ensured.
Baelz approached Fauna once her wrath burned out and Nature became a gentle mother once more. “You achieved a great Victory here today, my friend, yet it is not complete. The princess has survived.” Baelz informed Fauna and led her towards the shore where a young girl cried, for she had become the last of her people.
Expecting to see compassion in Nature's eyes, Chaos was surprised when only cruel satisfaction was found, yet this would serve her plan just as well and she spoke again. “If you kill her, your victory will be complete but that wouldn't be the best outcome.”
Clearly confused, Fauna demanded Baelz explain herself, and explain she did. “Wouldn't it serve you better if this princess wandered the earth and spread this day's lesson so none might forget it?”
Nature agreed eagerly, seeing the wisdom in her friend's words. Even better, she improved upon the plan, decreeing that no animal or sickness may kill the last child of Atlantis and convincing Kronii to halt the girl's ageing, making her nearly immortal. The only things left to end her were violence from others or herself. So, cursed with endless youth and vigour, Gura would walk the earth, spreading the tale of Atlantis wherever she went.
The success of Chaos and Time’s conspiracy was undeniable, Civilization had forgotten much yet enough remained. Tales of Atlantis’s former glory inspired the people of the east to not only survive but thrive.
Human kings raised great cities and empires, hoping only to equal a small fraction of the former glory ofAtlantis. Meanwhile, Scholars studied the sciences relentlessly, hoping that one day all that was forgotten might be relearned, and Priests cried out to things beyond them, to those that once traded boons for prayers with the people of Atlantis, their reward being the Necronomicon and a prophecy that one day a girl worthy of true priesthood would be born.
Yet there was also a bitter lesson within the legend of Atlantis, but not the one Nature hoped to impart. Civilization learned that Nature had a heart like shifting sand and to rely on her generosity was a fool's gambit. So the people began to preserve food in case of famines, build dams in preparation of floods and spread out so no single disaster might lay them low as it did the people of Atlantis.
So time marched on, Space expanded, Chaos brought change, Nature grew, Death reaped and Civilization spread, even to this day. And what days these are, the oath made before it all began was honoured in full when a young Amelia Watson found her watch, the Necronomicon found it's priestess, but perhaps most extraordinary of all was the dream of an ordinary mortal man that brought millions together in a time when they were doomed to solitude.