Book 2: Genesis

Part 1

In the beginning there was neither life nor light, but from the infinitely small there emerged the infinitely large. Slowly it came to pass there was substance, and the substance came together to create light. From the light came life and the worlds upon which the life dwells. The grand design of the cosmos is that there be life abundant, and the life be similar everywhere. Finally there emerged humankind, familiar throughout the universe yet manifold varied. This is the story of one such branch of him.

There came the first generation of stars, then the second, and the world of Acarnia formed from two of the second. It sat, one amongst many, on the very edge of the outermost swirl of a galaxy which was also one amongst many. Only one of these can the unhelped eye see; this is our smaller sister in the heavens, which after aeons by our message will be greeted.

Life on Acarnia was not always human, but began simple in form and spawned from the oceans. Fish begat amphibian, which begat reptile which begat bird and mammal. The reign of reptiles was long, ending in the great fireball which few survived. It then came to pass that mammals reigned supreme, and from these came ape and human. Life for the first humans was hard; many died by wind, fire and disease. These were the days before history, when woman bore more than one child, equal of girl or boy; nature deemed the need, so that humankind could survive.

Part 2

The great ages of ice and fire passed, and in The Early Times greenery came upon the lands. The rivers and lakes were sweet, and the soil fertile. Acarnia became a world of field, farm and village, large in number though separated, bounded by mountain, forest and sea. These were the first tribes, and they dwelt on their land and loved it. They dwelt in the East, tawny of skin and dark of hair and narrow of eye. They dwelt in the West, fair of skin and fair of hair. They dwelt in the North, fairer still, and blonde. They dwelt in the South, brown or black these were. Seldom did the races meet lest for trade, and never did they war; except within, between the sexes.

The suns moved in harmony, their new and safe dance in the skies, so the world thrived. The tribes became the towns became the cities; this was the age of the city-states in the paradise of the suns, and these were beautiful to behold, wanting for nothing inside farmlands which abounded. This was because the numbers were settling, constant as the Northern Star. The time of woman bearing two had well passed, and her body became that she could only bear one; but these were still equal of girl or boy. In this way, numbers stayed the same, a place for everybody under the seasons. Not one wanted of a role, and no role was unattended; yet for men it was a time of yearning.

Part 3

Then there came the great re-setting; the re-setting of the suns.

Their dance in the skies changed, imperceptibly it changed, but the world felt it.