144 Origins

Ed appeared in a black void. However, this void was unlike his own consciousness he often appeared in when meditating. Instead, it felt as if his soul had been sucked into someone else's consciousness.

The void was silent and still, with seemingly nothing existing at all. The only thing that was present was an odd chaotic energy. If this wasn't just a vision, then Ed believed the energy would tear him apart in an instant. When he looked at it, an instinctive fear took over. It was by far the most violent thing he had ever felt, with not even Mr. Sai's powers coming close to it.

Suddenly, the chaotic energy compressed together, as if drawn by gravity. It formed a black egg, and the original chaotic energy vanished. Nothing seemed particularly special about the egg, and things grew silent for a time. Eventually, something started to form within the egg. It was a muscular man with two horns on his head. Before long, the man stepped right out from the egg, as if it was only an illusion. When examining the man, Ed found him to be extremely similar to the statue he had seen at the peak of the sect.

Suddenly, an ancient voice sounded throughout the void. [The World Egg was born from the primordial chaos. Pangu was born from the World Egg, and he split the egg into heaven and earth.]

Just as the voice spoke, the man's actions followed. He lifted a great axe high in the air and cleaved it straight down. A brilliant flash of light appeared, and in the next instant, sky and earth appeared. In the process, Pangu's body vanished, its remnants falling to the earth.

'What a weird myth.' Ed thought as he watched. There were no planets nor stars, just a large land mass in the endless void.

[Pangu created the world, and his remains gave birth to the elder gods.] The voice continued.

The various body parts of Pangu started to form into different shapes, forming the so-called elder gods. However, most were not human. One such god simply became the sun and another the moon. They seemed to hold intelligence, but they entered eternal sleeps to never be awoken again. One became cloud, one rain, and yet another mist. Forest, rivers, minerals, animals, and all sorts of other phenomenon appeared. Of the various gods, only eight appeared to be human.

[The Three Patrons and Five Deities. They went by many names.] The voice echoed.

A woman appeared from the group of eight. Her beauty was without equal, as if she had been perfectly sculpted by every genius throughout history in a perfect collaboration. She appeared kind, and her aura gave a faint sense of relief. Even Ed felt unusually calm and relaxed when watching her. She reached towards the earth and formed several clay golems.

[Nuwa, the patron of Earth. She created humankind.]

Time seemed to flash by, and the golems became human. They lived and worked together, while having little contact with the elder gods. Time soon slowed down, and a man appeared from amongst the eight human-like elder gods. The man was neatly dressed, wielding a pen in one hand and a fishing pole in another. Surprisingly, the elder god embraced the humans.

[Fuxi, the patron of heaven, taught humans writing, fishing, hunting, and more.]

Having seen his brother help the humans, another human-like elder god stepped forward. Unlike his brother, this elder god was sloppily dressed and had odd ox-like horns. He looked like a man living in the wilderness, going so far as to wear clothes made of grass. He showed the humans how to work with plants in various ways.

[Shennong, the patron of humanity, taught the humans farming, medicine, and even business.]

Time flashed by again, and the humans rapidly grew in number. They tamed the land, spreading far and wide.

The five remaining human-like elder gods suddenly transformed into Chinese dragons of ancient legends. Each was a different color.

[The Yellow Emperor, Huangdi, fused with the element of earth.] The yellow dragon sunk into the earth and disappeared.

[The Green Deity, Cangdi, fused with the element of wood.] The green dragon fused with various trees and plants before vanishing.

[The Black Deity, Heidi, fused with the element of water. The Red Deity, Yandi, fused with the element of fire. The White Deity, Baidi, fused with the element of metal.] The other three dragons fused with their respective elements one after another and disappeared. [Together, they controlled and balanced the five elements that make up the world and everything built atop it.]

'Five elements?' Ed stared on in confusion. 'There are seven elements though? Does this myth take place in another world? Or maybe it was before mana was ever discovered?' Still not really understanding why he was being shown all this, he leisurely watched, treating it as little more than a fun story.

The humans continued to expand. However, they soon grew discontent. On the endless continent, they had to face monstrous beasts that were far too strong against their weak bodies. They worked hard to build cities and advance civilization, expanding into the wilderness. But many continued to die, and the survivors mourned their lost ones.

After many generations, a human named Yu approached the deities. He begged. "Mother Nuwa. We can't continue on like this. Each day is a struggle for survival and no one is safe. Please! Give us power to face the monstrous beasts!"

Nuwa sighed while shaking her head. "That power is not something the humans can handle, and though I love each of my creations, the monstrous beasts have their own rights to live."

"Hehehe." A voice laughed as a yellow dragon appeared from the soil. "What's the harm?" He smiled. "It's just a measly bit of our power. The humans should be able to handle it."

"Don't think I don't know about you intermingling with them, Huangdi." Nuwa frowned. "Yu is what, your seventh great-grandson?"

"Eighth actually." He replied.

Yu's eyes widened in shock when learning he was related to one of the deities, however, he maintained his silence.

"Let's just give them a bit of control over the elements." Huangdi suggested. "We can even keep it fair by giving the beasts the same? No harm done, right?"

Nuwa hesitated a moment before agreeing. "Fine." She sighed. "I just hope they can handle the new power despite their weak forms." She waved her hand, and the other dragons appeared. Each of their bodies glowed a respective color, and the glow quickly spread as beams of lights to all the humans. A beautiful aurora appeared over the entire human empire as they awoke to their new powers.

Time flashed by again. The human empire expanded far more rapidly than ever before. The humans grew strong, wielding fire, water, metal, earth, and wood. The beasts had their own elemental powers to counter back, but they couldn't keep up with the humans astonishing progress. Humankind's natural comprehensive abilities were without equal when compared to the beasts, and they soon became nothing more but mounts, food, and training regiments for the humans.

"Don't you think this is going a bit far?" Fuxi questioned Nuwa. "They're growing far more powerful than I ever expected."

"Indeed, they are." Nuwa agreed. "Each day, I can feel my power growing weaker. The humans take more and more of the world's mana for themselves, and they breed without limits."

"Should we eliminate them?" Fuxi hesitantly questioned.

A pained expression appeared on Nuwa's face before she shook her head. "No. It is not their fault, and this responsibility rests on our shoulders. It's too late to take back the elemental power, for they would resist us with all their might. Fortunately, there is another solution. Call for Yu."

Yu, the human that had asked for power, appeared before the deities again. By now, he was known as Yu the Great. He was a legendary ruler, famous for his control over the element of water. Rumors circulated amongst the humans that he was even nearing the deities in power. "Mother Nuwa." He respectfully said as he knelt before her.

"The humans have expanded too far." She said. "Balance in the world has been lost, and it can't keep supporting so many powerful beings. If things continue as they are, then I fear the world will soon be destroyed."

"Instruct me." He earnestly replied. "I will do my best to solve the problem."

"Humans are both violent and foolish." She sighed. "I created you in Pangu's image, but this was the result. Perhaps I gave you too much potential on accident." She pointed towards the human empire. "The only way to solve the problem without us getting involved is war."

"War?" Yu looked up in confusion. "What is war?" He questioned.

"War is a large-scale battle between two sides of the same species. You are to cause a split amongst the humans, making it so that one side wishes for independence from the other. Infighting will take place naturally soon after, and the casualties will make the world more manageable once again. Go."

Yu looked hesitant and conflicted, but he agreed nonetheless. Returning to the human empire, he purposefully raised militant forces that would conflict with his own armies. He was the emperor, and he had to create his own civil war by order of the deities. In his heart, he felt angry at the elder gods. How could they treat humans, their children, like this? What would Confucius, his former teacher, have to say about it?

Ed's interest increasingly grew greater as he watched. He could feel the various characters conflicting emotions, as if he was each one of them at the same time. He couldn't help but wish for some popcorn and soda to go along with the show. However, questions were also continuously bothering him. Was this story completely mythical? Were there hints of truth in it like Sect Leader Fang had suggested?

The humans split into factions and wars appeared. Countless humans died, and much to the relief of the elder gods, the human population rapidly decreased.

Suddenly, the aged voice spoke again. [With this, Nuwa thought the problem had been solved. But little did the elder gods know, they had only hastened the end. War is a time of innovation and evolution. Only the strong survived, and the hard times created hard men.]

The humans continued growing stronger during their continuous battles. More nations appeared, and the struggles grew even fiercer. Even Yu the Great started facing powers equal to his own. Along with their great power, great faith began to form. The humans of each faction worshiped their leaders like gods, and golden faith energy encased their bodies. With the addition of such energy, the humans grew even stronger, and they even absorbed the souls of the fallen as their own.

As things escalated, the world started to fall apart. The battles between the humans could only be described as catastrophes of the highest order. The strongest humans even took to calling themselves deities, declaring they were no weaker than the original elder gods of old.

One day, a fight between two self-proclaimed deities destroyed an entire province. A red-haired man controlled water, and he fought fiercely against his opponent. The other man had long black hair and controlled the earth. It was like a tsunami versus an earthquake as the two battled, hurling water and earth in amounts larger than mountains at each other.

Soon, their attacks clashed high in the skies, and something shocking occurred. A hole appeared in the sky, and chaotic energy tore through the earth. Fire went out of control, spreading to extreme heights over large swaths of land. Flooding drowned many farms and cities, taking many human lives.

The two men were completely shocked by what had happened and tremendous guilt took over. They both vanished, returning to the mortal world in regret.

"This isn't good." Nuwa worriedly looked at the hole in the sky. "Things will really end if it continues at this rate."

"We have no choice." Fuxi sighed. "We'll have to patch the hole and take power back from the humans. We were afraid of them being unable to control it, but it went opposite of our expectations. They are far too good at controlling it!"

"Right." She sighed in agreement. With the help of the five elemental deities, she forged a five-elemental stone. She sealed the hole in the sky, and things finally returned to normal. However, a massive amount of mana had been used in the process, and the atmosphere now felt empty. It was as if all oxygen had disappeared from the world, except the oxygen was really mana.

The elder gods' eyes turned fierce as they turned on the humans. Wide-scale slaughter took over as any that held any significant amount of mana were culled. Soon, the human empire reformed, with Yu the Great uniting humankind against the original elder gods. He and the other strong deities faced off against the true elder gods, and chaos enveloped the world.

Time continued to pass, and even Ed was shocked by the terrifying war he watched. Ordinary humans and beasts stood no chance as they became collateral damage to the fallout. Not only that, but some of the original deities were actually slain! The Green Deity, Cangdi, and the White Deity, Baidi both fell to the humans. The elements of wood and metal fell into chaos and anything made of it grew without control throughout the world.

The Yellow Emperor, Huangdi, managed to seize partial control over the fallen elements of metal and wood. He fused aspects of it with earth, combing the three into one. His earth now included control over most metals and plants. However, he did not gain complete control over these elements.

Shockingly, one human had taken majority control over wood and reformed it into a new element he called wind. Humankind gained complete control over wind, and so, they grew even stronger. Another human took majority control over the remnants of metal and created the new element of lightning. The shockingly destructive power advanced humankind much farther in the battle against the gods.

Ed became more and more invested as he watched. He didn't know what really did and didn't happen, but he had never seen something that felt so real despite being a vision. It was far more interesting than wars he himself had participated in.

Suddenly, the images stopped. The black void returned, and a voice rang out. [The War of Gods. Many rose and fell, and many things changed. We, the humans, won after many tribulations. However, humankind's greed knows no limit. We spread further throughout the Earth, expanding our population without limits. Other great civilizations formed and gave birth to their own worshiped deities. Just like the elder gods of old, we became the targets of these new deities. Chaos enveloped the world many times as the new deities fought for dominance. Eventually, we lost the decisive battle. The gods of those that call themselves Greek continue to grow stronger, and I fear the end may come soon. I wonder, how will these new gods change the world? Whomever sees this vision I've left behind, do not forget the original struggles of humankind. These are the sincere words left behind by your ancestor, Yu the Great.]