The Unending Battle

 At first, there was only darkness in the world. It covered the face of the entire planet and was unbroken. During this time, the Great Dragon alone inhabited the eternal night.

But eventually, the Dragon grew lonely and decided to create herself a family. First, she gathered mud and leaves and sticks. She molded shapes out of them, imagining different kinds of strange animals, and gave them the spark of life. But the animals alone were not enough to keep her company, and so she thought of creating a special kind of animal, one that would be capable of thought, speech and deliberate action, just as she was. That is how she made her first children. To each of them, she gave a drop of her powerful blood.

For an era, the Great Dragon and her family lived in the darkness, happy and content. No time passed and no death was known in the lands. But the peace was violently broken when something monstrous came down from the skies, something no one there had ever seen before. Light.

It pierced the night and those it caught, burned to ash right where they stood. The Dragon was deservedly furious for this sudden attack. She spread her massive wings and took to the skies to look for the source of this disaster. Up above the planet she met a strange kind of form, as if a man from her own family, a man glowing so brightly she could not look at him. This being introduced himself as Au'Mesh, son of the Sun, the Great Sun at the center of it all. He had come from beyond other stars to liberate the world from the unending darkness, to bring his father's light into every corner of the galaxy.

But the Great Dragon would not sit by and let her family's home be destroyed and her children burned. Because the man seemed to be made of nothing but light, she gathered up an immense, heavy cloud of her own innate darkness and attacked Au'Mesh with it, throwing it directly at him. He was thrown back and his light faded, but only for a moment. Then he stood up again, ready to glow, ready to counter. And now he knew how to attack the Dragon in turn.

An era passed while they fought, nearly equal in strength. The son of the Sun had not come alone, he had brought his followers with him to help him spread his light. These beings were terrifying to the children of blood, as they could wield light as a weapon as well. The Dragon commanded her children to make offspring of their own to join the battle, transformed from animals by the power of her blood, because they could not otherwise multiply. These beings of utter darkness in turn terrified the sons of light.

As they continued their war between light and dark, the Great Dragon was gravely injured and had to retreat back to her lair to heal. While she was gone, Au'Mesh immediately started pushing away the night from the face of the planet and he named it 'day'. Once the Dragon was strong enough again, she crawled out, only to find her home being torn apart by a shining light. She started pushing it back, but the light was just as strong as her darkness. They came to a stalemate when half of the world was in bathed in daylight and the other half was dark. Both fought with all their might and with the aid of their followers, but they could not break the tie.

By that time, their children had already gotten used to the constant battle, hers hiding during the day to escape the evil rays of the Sun, and his resting in deep slumber at nighttime when the Moon was out. And at the same time, the children of both sides had started to become closer to each other and to live together and to make their own children, for the light of the Sun could unite with the night and produce offspring that were able to live in both darkness and light, without burning or falling asleep.

The Great Dragon saw this from on high, where the battle still raged on. Au'Mesh saw it too. For this they finally laid down their arms and decided to split the world in half, for night and day both to rule during their own time. They could not reconcile or co-exist with each other, being made of opposing forces, but their children's children could. And to save them, the two would have to make a truce.

Thus the fighting ceased. A peace came, but it was an uneasy one. For the good of the new humans, both the Great Dragon and the son of the Sun withdrew from the world, taking their followers with them, to lie in wait for a new time to come. A time when they would take up arms again.

To this day, sometimes, people can still see some strange phenomena up in the skies. Some days suddenly turn into night as the Sun disappears behind a black shadow. Those who remember the old legends say that it is the Great Dragon, awoken from her sleep, circling the skies and blocking out the source of light so her children, the children of blood, may roam among the mortals and fight the followers of Au'Mesh, if only for a short time. And some nights are moonless, when the son of the Sun moves his troops across the skies, covering the ethereal glow of the Moon, to continue the endless battle that he still carries in his heart. And he knows that she does too. That is why both must keep building their armies and strengthening their subjects, to always be ready for that which is imminent.

But very few people tell these stories nowadays. Humans rule the planet, mortal beings of both light and dark. There are now only rumors, whispers, quick prayers with unfamiliar words from a bygone era. No one takes them seriously anymore. No one believes in them. No one remembers.

Except for us. The immortal children. We will always remember. For the battle is far from over. And we will take back what was once ours, what belongs to us by our birthright.

All hail the Great Dragon.