In retrospect, it was both the best and the worst time of my life; for the first time, I wasn’t someone to fear, but a reliable member of a community.

We were all in agreement that food would be our downfall, but the Giants and Beastmen had plenty… Well, When I say plenty, I mean this was enough to last our small village decades, for a country though, it was next to nothing. Then again, it was only because I figured some tricks to store our provision in the great void around the world that there wasn’t any problem preservation.

All seemed well, we were happy… I was happy; it was hard on the others, but with me, the twins and the two champions, it was the safest and best-stocked place in the world. Yes, apart from the occasional Fae and dragon, the place was an island of security in an insane world.

And then Fulgor and Fragor vanished; absorbed into the elemental lord. The cenotaph I made for them soon became a tomb, and in a matter of days, I was alone, watching over tombs. Nothing mattered anymore; I lived in the tomb, waiting for my time to join the others.

It broke. It sounds stupid to get enraged over something so trivial; they had already stolen my family, burned to the ground my world and killed my friends and my people. How strange, that after taking all that I cherished from me, I’d be sent over the edge by that.

The first to go was the lord of fire. It took me years of study and constant harassment to find out their weaknesses and a way to exploit it but I did it, I brought it in the great void where it had no power, destroyed it and absorbed its power for myself.

Next were the lord of water and air; using my torc and the power of the fire lord, I burned them until there were neither liquid nor gas left on the planet.

Even with the power of the other three, the Earth lord was still beyond me; its power was the world itself, too massive to burn, and already floating into the void. It’s a battle I never won; time did, it lasted for so long that its heart cooled down and solidified.

I had my vengeance, but also a new goal; restore life to the world I killed, and bring back the two who had become part of me.

Let me tell you, it’s easier to destroy than restore. I cannot tell you how long it took, but I did it by borrowing heat from the sun, water from the sky and by stealing or recovering the air from the void and surrounding worlds.

Finally, after eons, the world was alive again, oceans, volcanos, sky and above all, thunder and lightning; all I needed to bring them back. I extracted their essences, gave them shapes, bestowed them their old names, but the one who saluted me as their creator, were different from the friend I lost.

There were similarities, obviously, but they only served to highlight the differences even more. It was harsh but not unexpected, and I had eons to prepare myself; even if I couldn’t bring back my friends, I could create a new world for them, one of immortals only, one without death and tragedies.

Foolish, I know, but after what I went through, can you condemn me for trying? Well, as you already know it didn’t work, but I knew very little about mortals so I had to bring some help…

Sylva smiles and cuts the story short, “Your parents are back, hurry and go welcome them.”

A serpent of lightning smaller than her arm complains, "Granma, you can’t stop your story in the middle like that!”

“Yeah, it’s mom and dad’s story, and they never tell us anything!” says a long-eared child.

“Tell me, children, how would you like if your parents didn’t come to see you after work?”

A concerto of “Sorry.” answers her question.

“I’m not the one you should say sorry to. Go see your parents, and if they agree, I’ll tell you the rest of the story.”

The little lightning elementals rocket in the sky to join their parent while the little humanoids run to join toward the two elf-life figures.

“Mom, Dad, Grandma was telling all about the world before our time; can we listen to the rest of the story? Please?”

The woman goes pale, “Granma?! O Goddess of creation, I’m sorry for my progeny’s disrespectful words.”

“Tell me Linnea, who’s being disrespectful? Your children you call me Grandma as I ask them to, or my daughter who keeps on calling me weird names?”

The male speaks, “That’s how she is, mother.”

Sylva stares at him silently, as though looking for a fault then ask, “Is Lars treating you well, Linea? No sign of rabbit girls?”

The two answers at the same time, “I’m not the same person as my predecessor, Linnea is the only woman for me.” “He’s good to me, O… Mother! What’s a rabbit?”

“She’s the only woman around, Lars; your words aren’t as meaningful as you think they are. As for rabbits, it’s good if he doesn't know, this way he won’t get weird ideas.”

“Mom!” “Mother!”

The end