Chapter 1: Creation
All worlds have a creation myth, a story that tells of the beginnings of that world and how it was shaped into being. For the Realm of Mythoss, this story began with two lost gods—Helyos and Selyne.
Having abandoned a crumbling existence set on a path of chaos and destruction, this divine pair sought a place where they could start anew. Righting the wrongs that they had seen doom their previous home, they would create a paradise of peace and harmony that would extinguish the memory of the failures that had come before. This was a beginning not only for this new world, but also a fresh start for these wayward gods.
Finding a fertile space in an otherwise forgotten corner of a far-away universe, the Divine Father, Helyos, looked out upon the nothingness where they would make this new world. The land began to form under Helyos’ feet as rolling hills and lush forests grew through the force of his will. Mountains climbed toward the blue skies and vast seas roared into creation. Where moments earlier there was nothing, the Divine Father now beheld what he had made. A rich and diverse landscape stretched before him, ready to be filled with life.
The Great Mother, Selyne, appeared beside her mate. Looking out across the landscape, she imagined this new world populated by all manners of life. From the forests came the sounds of a myriad of small critters and larger beasts alike, while birds and insects buzzed through the air. In the vast seas there now swam creatures great and small, but Selyne’s work had only just begun.
Taking Helyos’ hand, she looked to make use of his strength, for she knew that even her great powers would be stretched by what was to come. Selyne began to shape life in the image of her companion and herself. Beings of powerful light and vast wisdom materialized from Selyne’s thoughts, golden feathered wings springing forth from their backs. These angelic creations would be stalwart watchers of this new world, their home being a celestial city that Helyos now built for them in the clouds above this new land.
Next came bipedal beings who bore many of the features of the lesser beasts that populated the wild places of the world. Minotaurs, satyrs, and centaurs emerged from the forests, while merpeople swam in the waters and avians soared in the skies. Intelligence lived in the eyes of these creations, and Selyne sent them forth as stewards of the wilds. Their intelligence would allow them to watch over and protect those with whom they shared traits, both the beasts of those wild places and the creations which would come from the Great Mother next.
Pushing her powers further, Selyne created other beings that walked on two feet, but on these creations she removed the beastly traits. Fellow protectors of the natural world, this was the birth of the Fae—elves, fairies, pixies, gnomes and more. The powers of Selyne were strong in these creations. In time these powers would be labeled as Fae magic, but in this First Age of the world it was known for what it truly was—the touch of the Great Mother filling her children with life.
Looking to the caverns underneath the surface that Helyos had created, Selyne shaped races suited to those dark environments that were rich with a beauty all their own. Stout and hardy, the dwarvenfolk emerged from the rocks, their eyes sharp and their beards long.
All across this new world Selyne worked her powers. She created intelligent beings and creatures alike, adding her touch to every corner that Helyos had formed. The forests, the skies, the seas, the mountains, and the lands beneath those mountains all teemed with new life—and all was peaceful and good.
Exhausted by all she had made, Selyne began to waver. Helyos moved to steady her, and the Great Mother was happy for this assistance, for she was not done in her task. One more time she called on her powers, and one more time new life sprang forth. In this moment she remembered the world that she and Helyos had left behind, and she brought a small piece of those memories into this new home that they had decided to make for themselves. Upon this new world, which these creator gods had dubbed Mythoss, there now walked beings known as humans. Now extinct in the world where these two gods had come from, Mythoss would be a second chance for them as well.
So began the First Age of the Realm of Mythoss. Helyos and Selyne embraced and smiled at the new world they had created. It was a paradise born from the crumbling remains of a failed experiment, a second chance to create a world of peace and prosperity, where hatred and need would never be known. This was the plan and the great hope of these creator gods, but unfortunately that is not how the universe works.
There must be a balance in all things. There is no light without darkness, no peace without struggle, no good without evil. So, in a world where evil does not yet exist, how does it take root? In the story of Mythoss, darkness began to emerge from the heart of one of the very gods who had shaped this new paradise. Evil came from within, and it would threaten to consume all that had been made.
Chapter 2: The Darkness Within
Failure leaves an indelible mark. No matter how hard one may try to escape from that failure, it remains a part of who they are. For some, memory of this failure is what is needed to remind them never to repeat the mistakes that led down that path. For others, fear of this failure causes them to somehow repeat those same missteps, or to make new ones which lead to the same tragic ends.
While a new day may have dawned and a new world was now laid out before Helyos and Selyne, the memories of the world they left behind lingered. For Selyne, those memories made her ever mindful of her creations. She was determined that she would not see them fall to ruin and succumb to hatred. To combat this fear, she remained an attentive mother, constantly engaged with her creations so she could keep them firmly in the light.
At first, Helyos admired Selyne’s dedication to her children. He watched her each day as she attentively provided caring guidance, and he saw the genuine love that these beings had for the Great Mother. Unfortunately, Helyos’ creations needed no such attention, for rocks and trees and the waters of the great seas did not need tending the same way that Selyne’s children did.
What began as loneliness and longing for the companionship of the one he loved slowly turned into something much darker. Jealousy began to grow in Helyos’ heart. At first it was a simple annoyance. The Divine Father tried to brush it aside, but it did not go away. In time, that jealousy fed upon itself, multiplying until it could no longer be dismissed or ignored. Evil slowly found a way into the Realm of Mythoss, festering inside of one of this new world’s creators.
Helyos had created every inch of this new realm, and he knew it intimately. He knew where the hidden places were, the shadows where no one—not even Selyne—would be able to see him stew in his jealous rage as he hatched a dark plan.
Driven by his growing anger, Helyos tried his own hand at creating life. He hoped that he could find something to fill his heart the way that Selyne’s children filled hers, but nothing good can come from intentions that are filled with jealousy and darkness. For a heart corrupted in this way is broken, and as such the creations that formed from Helyos’ anger were also twisted and broken. They were vile and corrupted, many of them resembling the beings which Selyne had made, yet these were twisted in horrible ways. Terrible beings that would come to be called trolls, ogres, orcs, and goblins crawled from the darkness of Helyos’ hiding place and into the Realm of Mythoss. This family of horrors were the first of Helyos’ creations to emerge, yet he was not finished. Dark, shadow versions of the Fae and the dwarvenfolk took form under his command. He tried to imitate the children of the Great Mother, but these evil beings were nothing like the good denizens of the Realm. Still, as horrible and twisted as these corrupted children of Helyos were, there were other terrors even more despicable and dangerous waiting to creep into Mythoss.
“It is time to begin anew,” Helyos thought to himself as he sat in the darkness. If only he could wipe this new world clean, he and Selyne could start over and he could arrange it so her creations would not demand so much of her time and attention. Helyos could have her back to himself.
Thoughts of the failures of the world they had once abandoned swam in the head of the jealous creator god. That world had fallen to the horrors of war, famine, and disease—ultimately ending in the death of that place. These memories began to take on substance, and from the shadows emerged terrors whose very essences embodied these darkest of traits.
When Helyos finally stepped out from the darkness where he had been hiding, he was undeniably changed—and an army of nightmares followed him into Mythoss.
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Published on 09.02.26