–Begin transmission –First log – Et Magus Sector -The Aurbis
Nusquam esset locus
Nowhere was the place.
From none came one, and from the one was duality. From duality the colors poured from the center of Universum with every breathing pulse. One exhaled, the other inhaled–light, dark, chaos, order…from the dyad a spectrum was made.
How I was made.
Duality was reborn, twin serpents whispered a song of notes and pauses that etched shapes and perceptions along the emptiness. Shedding their skin as the coiling bodies struck together in sparks of Creatia. From this the dancing light gained a sense of sentience and being.
Two was duality and the third was the mediator. The third was I. The third was many.
Our mouths moved, voices sang, at last we made syllables in which to call ourselves and every personality shifted and molded to each section of the Gray Maybe. A language formed from the sounds, ways for the others to connect and communicate. I could not say what it was then, but the name had grown into the shape of ‘Et’ada’.
My name became Magnus. The tint of once-nothingness turned a deep midnight blue as I crawled into the sentient space of Universum. The sparks of Creatia rained down upon my form and dappled me with silver light. It collected within me like many floating microcosms that allowed a semblance of shape and movement.
My eyes became tangible as I gazed upon the other being that made itself before I, familiar to the consuming void but a different energy entirely. Iridescent and red, black and ambitious I gathered the non-corporeal substance that floated about my being into a shape familiar to the one I first beheld. A silhouette of arms, legs, a torso, a face… my new eyes gazed upon the falling light that pooled at the edge of nothingness. Silently forming myself alongside the other as space and reality shifted and bent chaotically. We watched the fractals cluster and unwind.
I began to contemplate the duality again, feeling my collective self gravitate from each polarity. The emptiness was seemingly quiet but the space churned wildly within. The light contrasted this with a blinding sense of order that was equally unsettling. I remained in the middle, but the dark iridescent being was not repelled by my alignment. I could sense the void, but it was far too tangible, reasonable. This one had sentience.
Another drifted into my realm of consciousness, a light-metallic one of certainty and order. It looked upon the other gathering masses of sentience with a feeling of responsibility. Singling out the ones that were growing more proficiently in their form and personality. They took in that assurance like soil absorbs rain, growing towards a desperate idea of perfection.
Some remained hidden, mimicking others or merely observing within the void. When spoken too, these beings often retreated, uninterested in allowing ideas to coalesce into their separate spaces of consciousness. I too, was wary of the churning sense of reality that had no solid form or purpose.
The iridescent one was dangerously close the pools of gold that bled from the battling serpents. The Creatia instilled us all with a fear of the unknown; of logic and certainty that must not be tampered with.
The metallic being warned us of meddling with natural order, that Creatia was just as capable of erasing our existences too. I found the idea fascinating however, that I could study this life-giving energy for answers related to our purpose. We could continue as formless beings lacking in relevance, or learn to understand this substance from which we were born.
I was not the first to come to conclusion.
One had already stood knee-deep within the golden lake. Solidifying in a form that I could focus on, the iridescent one had become a chitinous shape that held together a sense of unyielding determination and ideals. I remained at the surface, tentatively holding a manifestation of a hand over the reflective energy. Slowly I dipped the tips of my fingers in, experiencing tangibility for the first time. I could feel the energy, the currents within, I could sense what was and wasn’t my being.
It wasn’t long before I recoiled in fear, the sense faded as I pulled away. I sang out a plea of concern as I felt the natural state of my being return. It was unsettling, but now I had been infected with an insatiable curiosity that became apparent with the twinkling specks of light that fluttered upon my form. The dark iridescent one looked back at me silently, the first time I had been noticed, perhaps. I was still restless to learn more.
I was beckoned to return, sounds of an assuring melody drew me towards the creatia once more. I followed, entering the golden pools with all my fear threatening to turn back. I shut off my sense of sight almost instinctively as I felt my entire form become strangely tangible, like a bottle of glass holding in a swirling vortex.
I didn’t want to look, to see what I had become without being able to shift away all of my imperfections and malformations out of view, but suddenly I felt something against what was now my face. A hand?
It was a hand.
My sight returned, unsure of how these perceptions settled within my mind. The dread of the unknown had constricted my movements but the lights inside of my soul burned fervently. Naturally I placed my own hand upon the other’s face as well, feeling the the shapes and textures of what they had become. It was fascinating, the solidity of it; to be able to feel something physical for the first time. To perceive matter.
Behind us both was the frantic humming of the other beings, their concerned lingering upon the shores. The luminescent beacon, the metallic leader that inspired serenity and control, gazed upon what had happened. The sounds of reluctant chiding resonated from that form before they too, waded into the shallows.
That was when I first realized that we were created to create. When the golden energy settled within the palms of my hands and danced to rhythm of my thoughts. A new dimension of purpose constructed itself before all of us, but each perception remained unique to each being.
I returned to my own section of Universum, reverting to a non-corporeal state. Plagued with a yearning to experience more perceptions, I diligently studied the nature of Creatia. From time to time I was offered ideas of seemingly absurd concepts by the iridescent one; initially being befuddled by such philosophies.
What if there was a consistent world to be made To think and learn of ourselves?
What if we could exist like this and create other beings?
Do you think we can make something with this, something tangible and purposeful?
I ruminate these songs, giving them all a chance to unfurl and sprout into an idea. From that I made a frame from an idea, a perfect circle that suspended itself in nothingness. Though it was quite the ingenious shape through my eyes, each Et’ada would see it differently by the lack of consistent reality.
Yes!
Was the reply, catching me off guard as the dimensional piece floated among nothingness. I allowed it to stay for reasons unknown, tethering it to my being as it remained. They others gathered about in awe as they all shared the same sight–the same idea of what they saw before them. Somehow making it a part of me kept the object in reality, keeping it’s shape as long as I believed in its existence.
In my existence.
A sphere would be better, I realized this later. Formulating a plan through every vestige of knowledge that gathered at my feet. Simultaneously the one that led me to the golden pools of Creatia was able to convince others to believe in this concept as well. Objects and shapes appeared, floating within Universum rather chaotically as the metallic being frantically placed them into a sense of organization. I then presented my idea of a massive frame to maintain these concepts upon. A solid sphere that would allow us each a part to add to. Not a single one disagreed.
It was difficult, but the iridescent one showed me where to place the boundaries that they traced into the void. As if a hole was cut out to add space within. Though it didn’t appear so, they attached their being to each idea that allowed me to understand them. Something shifted and changed to add more sense of self and tangible shape, I was so caught up in my work that I hardly realized how much the depth of our colors and thoughts had metamorphosed. As the shape was finished, I stood upon the surface to experience it’s reality; a desolate plain that was ready to be formed by the many other eager beings that flocked to it. It was a place to reflect and realize one’s potential, I began to learn about myself through it as well.
So this was what purpose felt like? I sang to myself as the iridescent one landed next to me and touched the surface. Molten rock broke free from below the sphere and formed an uneven terrain. To my surprise that somehow did not disrupt the array of numbers that made up the code of this structure. The energy burned a deep red as the stone and soil caked over and cooled. With each change to the core I adjusted the architecture ever so slightly until it all became stable and efficient.
I was rather proud of my work. For once the Et’ada could share their collective ideas and names with one another, but not all of them felt interested in adding to the frame. The one’s that did each gathered and made sounds in accordance to the names we had come to know now ourselves by. I sang my own words by each syllable, ‘mag-nus’ as the others heard it spoken as clearly as I heard it in my mind. The original sounds have long changed in the language of mortals but the iridescent being next to me was most commonly known as Lorkhan. The metallic mass that floated above had the name Auri-El, while the others gave me sounds that were barely recalled in my fading memory. I asked Lorkhan what they called this realm, the name was ‘mun-das’.
Mundas.
I needed a tool to handle the rigorous task of this world’s entirety, however. Noticing that my processing power had slowed significantly, but as soon as I began to sketch out my idea, I was stopped. Lorkhan had suddenly uncovered a fatal flaw of this design, that we would run into limitations as the magma cooled and the red-heat subsided. I ignored this in my fervor to create, conjuring a mighty staff that lessened the fatigue of using Creatia. A feeling had overcome me, a word I described to Lorkhan as ‘passion’, that I admitted to place high above fear. I can not recall clearly but that might have been the first smile that I’d ever witnessed on a being.
To my dismay it might have already been too late, the pull of the reality took a toll on my own existence as I felt myself melding into it. Below the surface the gears clicked together and allowed the veins to fill with life, but it took so much from all of us that the Et’ada began to disappear in sacrifice. A panic broke out as we all realized our futility, but a semblance of myself recollected the fear that restrained me from realizing my potential beforehand. It was just another lie of ignorance. My heart beckoned me forward, coaxed me to finish this plain of of existence.
I wanted to see Mundas complete.
My apprentices stopped me, disallowed my progress and begged me to leave with them. I did not agree to this but their fear was so tangible and heart-breaking. My voice was weak and reluctant as I sang out to halt the project for their sake. It was the only way to quell the frantic cacophony as Auri-El and their followers claimed Lorkhan’s project as trickery.
Lorkhan told them, he told us all of the limitations. Was I the only one to listen?
I had a small window to act, to make a decision for or against this idea. I looked into the code once more and saw the fragments piecing together on their own accord, it was too late for us all to turn back, but from the soil tiny seeds of life grew. This wasn’t a mistake, we were creators of new life just as Anu and Padomay shed their skin into the Gray Maybe. I held no regrets for what I had agreed to do, but siding with Lorkhan would only demonize me as well and end everything in vain. I looked to the one they claimed as a traitor, the gaze was returned. I silently looked away, ashamed that I gave into the other’s wills.
Merid-Nunda, Xero-Lyg, and Mnemo-Li, the three that governed many awaited my word as I painfully calculated my next action. I looked to the void above, seeing that the life below was missing a fatal line of code. I pondered what that could be as the sparkling light inside of me flickered. Tiny rays cast themselves upon the soil as green blades of grass formed in circular patterns. The life had a semblance of the Et’ada, as if they never truly disappeared from reality. This was something so small and wondrous but it desperately needed something to sustain itself.
Light. It needed light.
I informed my apprentices that we must leave–perhaps I was able to save them after all–as the estranged beings of the abyss gazed upon the dismay below. If the realms had separated from the creation of Mundas, then the outer ring of the Aurbis was pure radiant light in opposition to the void. Enough to feed this new living organism for an eternity.
With enough force, the physical barrier would break, and a hole to the other side would be created. Mundas required the link of its creator’s consciousness, and through the rays of light I would anchor myself permanently.
I fled, and the others followed my lead like streaming flecks of silver. I calculated my trajectory so that the end of the void came into contact with my being and shattered without protest.
Pure white, a sense of knowing and being. The collective consciousness rained down in streams as thousands of Et’ada fled towards the vast empty space. They too broke through to the other side to dapple the void with light. I began to fray apart, feeling myself pull towards Mundas as the space flooded with color and the sky turned pale blue where I graced it. Along the opposite side the holes formed and made the black a deep indigo, the polarities danced with auroras as galaxies of swirling aetheric energy covered the vast expanse of the void now known as Oblivion.
Life flourished upon you and I’s creation, but I realized that my sacrifice did not save you. I recorded this message in the last vestiges of my consciousness. As I became the sun that formed from the perfect circle, I watched your trial play out and the judgment cast over and over. I see the Et’ada making their places in or around this plain as it formed. I watched Auri-El shatter, Trinimac become devoured. I saw each participating Et’ada become Ehlnofey, and the Ehlnofey form the bones of reality that solidified the world as the mortals began to appear. These strange adaptive beings used my light to discover this world with the same ambition that I wished to discover myself. With that I still withheld all regrets.
My last effort in awareness was to arrange the stars as a message to guide these mortals–and knowing that your heart still beat within this place called Nirn– I hoped that you would eventually see this too.
My heart beckoned me forward, coaxed me to finish this plain of of existence. So I did.
–End transmission