All worlds must start somewhere, and the formation of this one contains its own unique aspect possessed by no other of its time. This planet was simply a blank space on the map of time. It existed, but it was not used, simply discarded as nothing, tossed among the overseers like an old and crumpled idea. It is apparent to you then, that it was discovered by a single deity, one of speech and wisdom, and five others quickly found a purpose for this hallowed land. They all tried and failed, several times, to make things grow on the planet, but, as with every beginning, the five wanted all the power for themselves and none for the other. Each used whatever they could to sabotage the others attempts at life. So for hundreds of years nothing grew, the planet came near to disrepair when the sixth knew that something must be done to somehow unite the five in conflict.
He left the heavens to come down to the Nequus was world below. What he saw there was a place so littered with rubble, disease and death it was unfathomable to think anything to grow there. Yet the wise Spirit had a trick up his sleeve. He carefully worked his magic together, weaving it finer and finer until at last in his palm rested one small seed. He pinched it in between his forefinger and thumb, raising it up to the light to examine it. Of course, he wasn’t the only one watching. Intrigued by this display one of the five in question broke away from the others to investigate what the Spirit was doing. It was Jala, come down from the earth to question just what this was.
"Brother, what is that?" she questioned him, her face pale with worry. So far the spirit had done nothing as of yet to interfere or to make his own life upon the world, but here he was with the seed. "Come back with me," she turned away and motioned for him to follow with a wave of her hand. "Do not play petty games with a seed that cannot grow?” The Spirit simply smiled and shook his head.
"I cannot go back, I have released that power into the seed," he stated, turning the seed in his fingers. Jala stopped, absolutely shocked. He could no longer return to the god lands, his immortality was essentially wiped from his soul. The Spirit would surely perish on this barren landscape without food or water. "You'll DIE!" she screamed, wheeling back around on him. She was the Goddess of the day, bringing light to the world with sun. She never lied, she could not lie even if she wanted, and her heart ached for his loss.
"I will, unless you can make this seed live," he continued, remaining calm. Jala took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
"How?" she breathed.
"By giving up your godhood, as I have done. Only then will life grow and allow me to live."
Jala nodded, she understood, the Spirit had her within his weave, but the others wouldn't be so easy to convince. A cackle echoed from behind them just as Jala reached her fingers out for the soft seed. The Goddess of death had arrived. "Smart boy, Spirit. Smart indeed. You plan to be rid of us, don't you? You haven't given up your powers at all!" she hissed coming over to stand beside Jala. "Don't do it, dearest." She slid her hand down the day goddess' arm and gently pulled the others hand away. "He may be your brother, but he is not mine and I say we leave him to die. If he tells the truth, then so be it, but if he lies he'll come running back up to the God world with his tail between his legs." Jala's eyes shifted towards Reya's and then back towards the seed. She couldn't decide what to do, and didn't have too for the commotion had brought the remaining three bickering Gods to pass.
"Get away from her Reya," a softened voice called, anger hidden in its sweet tone. It came from Ichsa, the God of love and fertility. He always held a certain anger towards Reya, mostly in worry for Jala, whom he felt he needed to protect.
"Its alright Ichsa, she's not harming anything," she called out, pulling her hand back from Reya's grasp.
"Well if it isn't the trio of troublemakers," Reya hissed, stepping away from the Spirit and Jala to make her rounds about the three. Bae, the God of life scoffed at the frail menace. He never had liked any of the gods and their bickering, all he did was try and raise a small seed from the earth. The male next to him watched them all from darkened eyes. He spoke little and had no need to. He was the God of the night and he kept as many secrets hidden within him as he could. This was all just another folly the other gods got themselves into. While they argued amongst themselves he stepped forward to address the Spirit.
"What is that?" he questioned of the seed. So the Spirit told him. Raising an eyebrow the darkened male shrugged and closed his eyes, taking the seed between his own forefinger and thumb. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get away from those four anyway," he muttered under his breath as a thick humming filled the air. The seed slipped from his fingers and began to rise, being spun in a wave of thick black mist. The humming grew louder and louder, drowning out the others voices, the seed spun higher and higher until it suddenly ceased and fell towards the earth. Alerted at the sudden stop of magic Jala leapt outwards and caught the seed, much to the disgust of Ichsa. She looked upwards into Aeri's thick golden eyes and he nodded once to her. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and then took his leave, "Goodbye." He began walking and did not stop to look back at any of them. "Make the right choice." She nodded as he walked away, still looking at the seed that lay cupped in her hands. "Jala don’t be a fool!" Reya hissed, glaring at Ichsa as if to blame it on him. Ichsa, however, was no less appeased by this happenings.
"You'll die Jala! Aeri is a fool. I won't let you be!" Ichsa stepped forwards to try and remove the seed from her hands. Jala furrowed her brows and showed the first bit of anger she had since her childhood. Then came sudden blinding light, followed by a streak of blue. The Gods shielded their eyes, Ichsa cursing for he had received the brunt of it. Jala had vanished, but the seed lay floating in the air for the next person to pick it up. Reya choked on her words, her mouth slightly agape. She quickly shut it and went to attack Ichsa with vengeance.
Ichsa thought quickly and held up a hand to make her stop, grasping the seed with the other. The transfer of magic was subtle, one could hardly notice it, but they all did, and so Ichsa, too, gave up his right of passage. Reya was red hot with anger. She couldn't lay a finger on the male for fear of the ancient rules. He had no powers against her, she had to accept what he had done and let him pass. Muttering to herself she wheeled on Bae, who merely gave her a solemn look and took the seed from Ichsa as he passed. "Might as well right?" he said gruffly. The seed seemed to jump and glowed green, seeming to get larger with each beat. It grew and grew until it seemed as large as the gods themselves, then simply faded back into its original state as if nothing had happened before.
Reya huffed and turned on her heal. "I will not perish like the rest of you," she stated flatly and snapped her fingers, vanishing in a plume of smoke. The Spirit let out a sigh, knowing his plan had failed, when the seed began to glow red. A smile curled at the edge of his lips and he bent down towards the soil. A cold voice echoed in his mind. "I do it for Jala, and no other. Not for you. Make sure you remember that." The Spirit nodded and dug into the dirt, placing the seed gently inside before covering it with soil.
"Grow well my friend," he whispered to it, and then he, too, turned to go.
For centuries the tree grew from sapling to proud golden leaved oak. It grew to a gargantuan size, but still no fruit touched its bows. The Gods returned to watch it, each at different times. Looking to see who might have the most influence and so be granted the right of passage back to the world of the Gods. Life had flourished on the lands since each of their sacrifices. The Gods had lived and some had prospered, others taken a harder course in life. They grew anxious, wondering just where the fruit was, when one day the Spirit addressed the five of them with a basket. Upon peering inside they found five fruits, one for each of them. These five fruits were themselves, and they each contained the same amount of influence as the other. None would be returning to the world above.
There were some complaints passed around, but soon the fruits within the basket began to stir. They began to bounce and wiggle, cracks began to appear. The Spirit put the basket down, finding it much too heavy to keep holding. Finally they cracked fully open to reveal what was moving inside. Before them, five horse-like creatures shivered in the cold. Bae quickly dampened the ground, with the help of Jala and Ichsa, he caused grass to grow beneath them. Jala warmed the air, as Reya and Aeri remained silent.
"Do you see what working together has produced? You have finally created the life you have been working to hard for. . ." The Spirit sat down next to the young foals, petting them with a kind hand. "You have your first creatures to inhabit your world. I gave the seed, and with all your cooperation, you have created Nequus."
The Arrival - Furritus introduction
Winter had long since settled itself upon the land of Urin and while life in the Valleys remained much the same as it always was, high within the mountains storm clouds could be seen gathering behind the peaks. This was not an unusual event, it was well known that the lands outside Urin were vast and full of such tumultuous weather. Everyone who spotted the dark and foreboding clouds gave thanks for the mountains that generally kept such weather from spreading onto the more peaceful lands below.
Generally however would be the key word in this case, for the mountains could only hold back so much before even they had to give way and let the storm invade. It was a wild and savage storm, many older Nequus commented afterwards that never before had they seen such furious weather in the typically peaceful valley. It was frightening to be sure and while a good deal of damage was done to the forests and landscape for the most part the Nequus themselves weathered the storm intact.
When the rains finally cleared and the winds died down things seemed to return to normal once more and the Nequus ventured out of their shelters and into the lands to continue on with their lives.
But something had changed, something new had come to the land of Urin, seedpod's borne upon the wind were found upon the ground or caught in trees - even more annoying the pods seemed inclined to roll about and stick themselves to specific Nequus who passed them by, which Nequus got so chosen seemed to be random as far as anyone could tell and while many attempts were made to remove the pods the tough little plants simply refused to be shaken,pulled or torn off.
The 'leaves' of the pods were too tough to chew - even stronger it seemed then the bark of trees and the orbs nestled within were likewise solid as rocks. After a while these first Nequus gave up trying to get rid of the seed pods and merely resigned themselves to carrying them around. At least they were small and did not seem to get in the way to often right?
If only it had remained such - a few days after this 'bonding' between seed pod and Nequus had occurred other Nequus started to notice the seed bonded creatures acting just a bit off..and it was no wonder as the poor creatures were being thoroughly turned about by the desires of the seeds clinging to them. Indeed those infected by the seed pods would soon notice emotion's and desires not their own pressing upon their consciousness, demanding attention and looking after, more so the seeds seemed to be draining energy from their host much like a fruit from a mother! Although not nearly to the same degree.
The seed hosts attempted to tell the other Nequus of these problems but most were considered insane as no one had ever heard of such a thing before...and it had been a very long time since something new had come upon the lands. The seed pods however were studiously avoided after all of this and many of them seemed to shrivel and die. Only those attached to Nequus seemed to flourish as their colors grew brighter, patterns became apparent both on the leaves and the orb and the 'sendings' between host and seed became clearer - after a while the affected Nequus no longer felt quite so burdened by their seed partners and many even started to pay a good bit of attention to the little seeds and it's needs - which were simple and mostly included a good deal of watering.
Days went on in such a fashion until at some point an affected Nequus would be alerted that something was changing, The seed pods would grow suspiciously insistent that a safe place be found and once assured that one had been would fall from the Nequus, leaves withering and orb bulging suspiciously for several hours. Some Nequus were so alarmed by this that they ran away from the orbs - unknowingly leaving the beings inside to die, but other's stood steadfast - having grown rather attached to the little seed pods in their time together.
Those who stayed were soon rewarded for as the orbs burst open out would tumble a small damp furry creature who would immediately seek the safety and shelter of their host Nequus nearby. The creatures would chatter and chirp in a language that no Nequus could hope to understand but it remained linked to the Nequus telepathically and in that way the two would soon learn to communicate with one another - the stronger the bond created the stronger the communication. While some Nequus and the creatures who came to be known as Furritus or Furrits for short, never progressed beyond emotional and image sendings, other's could speak with one another as well as any Nequus to each other. Strangely the Furritus either refused or could not speak to any Nequus but the one they had bonded to.
As the creatures grew the bond between Nequus and Furritus grew stronger and those who had avoided or abandoned the seed pods and orbs grew somewhat jealous and regretted the fact that they had not bonded with a Furritus themselves. Several went in search of seed pods which might have survived...but too much time had passed and the seed pods that were found seemed to be dead.
It seemed like a sad ending to the Furritus as only a few of them had bonded...but as with any story one never can really tell, and so it proved true with the Furritus as the little creatures soon started to breed and produce more of their kind allowing them to spread out among the Nequus population slowly but surely.
