Mama and Papa told you many stories of the Silver Bear clan and the spirits that live in Aestia Valley. Papa’s stories are always short and direct. They usually have lots of short, sharp fights described in great detail. Mama’s stories teach most of the same lessons, but hers are longer and use more words you don’t understand. Mama’s stories often feature elements of cleverness or negotiation. This is Papa’s retelling of how the world came to be:

In the beginning, there was nothing. Only an endless void. There was no land. There was no water; no rivers, no lakes, no ponds. There was neither day nor night. There were no spirit beasts.

Only the great spirits existed, and they hardly knew it. They forged their way through the void by pure will but did not know each other. The great spirits did not even know themselves. In the void, all was one, and the other could not be distinguished from the self.

The great spirits existed in this way for a very long time. No one knows exactly how long, but it was for even longer than humans have lived in Aestia Valley.

Then the great spirits discovered a bright light in the void. The light poured forth endlessly and pressed against the great spirits like a tidal wave. The light streamed out from its origin and on into the void in a river of power. It carried anything in its path along with it.

The great spirits were pushed back by the light until they could barely see the origin. Mustering up their will, they forced their way back to the light, for it showed them a great treasure.

With the light, the great spirits could see themselves and each other. There was much rejoicing; for each had thought themselves alone; but now, they had each other.

Celebrating the discovery of each other, the great spirits came together and agreed on a common language so they could talk to each other. Afterward, the great spirits created smaller versions of themselves to carry messages to each other using their new language. They called these smaller versions of themselves children. These first children were born with wills far weaker than those the great spirits had cultivated in the journey through the void. Lacking the will to resist the light, the children were swiftly swept into the void. Many of the great spirits sought to catch up to their children. If any did, none returned to tell the tale. Most of the first children and the great spirits who pursued them wander lost in the void still, unable to find the light once more. Sometimes they return, twisted and terrible by their long isolation and the great spirits must join together to drive them away before they destroy all that is.

The great spirits who stayed learned from the loss of their children and the disappearance of the great spirits who left the light to find them. Joining their wills together they surrounded the light with an eggshell.

The great spirits celebrated the success of their creation with a party that lasted for seven summers and seven winters. In their celebration, they danced and sang and played. As they did, the inner surface of the World Shell they had created was crushed in some places. Water gathered there and became seas. In other places their vigorous celebration pinched the land between their toes, raising it up into mountains. Afterward, the great spirits again created smaller versions of themselves. These second children the great spirits placed lovingly within the shell. Along with their children, the great spirits also placed within the eggshell everything their children would need to grow strong and then withdrew. They saw that their celebrations had deformed the land and created the seas, and all agreed to touch the world and the children inside the World Shell only lightly, lest they crack it open and lose their children once more.