The sun rose on the gods’ round table, surrounded by a sea of nothingness. Some of the gods sat lazily in their respective chairs, some were milling about lost in thought, and one had his head in arms as he bawled and others tried to comfort him, but all were frustrated. They wanted to do something, see something; however, the heavenly walls of their station did not allow for that. For around them was nothing and one cannot do anything with nothing, nor could one see anything in nothing except the white blankness that made up it.

The crying god whipped up his head and slammed his palms down on to the table, wailing, “We need to do something!”

Another god shifted in his chair, an unusually impatient gesture, “We already came that conclusion, Rekar. Which is why I will again suggest we start by forming bedrock, not water. Don’t use your eternal tears for dramatic effect.”

Rekar rubbed the tears off his cheeks, though they promptly rewetted. Sulky he replied, “I wasn’t.”

Blair the goddess of results and motives joined the conversation then, “Han, we all know that you just want to gain more influence by having your element, rock, be the beginning of our creation.”

Han drew a hand down his face, “Didn’t we all agree you can’t join in on this conversation, Blair? You’re too close to the Ultimate. Besides, all I’m trying to achieve is a conclusion to this discussion so we can actually begin.”

Blair gave flippant shrug but subsided.

Cronas paused in his pacing as he held out a finger, “So say if we do use Han’s suggestion of bedrock to begin, would water be next? And if so, what would come after that?”

Han wanted to rub the aching pain in his temples. They had already gone over this but Cronas as the god of curiosity and inquisitiveness could only speak in questions and riddles.

Letting out a breath to calm himself, Han answered, “Yes, water would come next, and after that would be soil, and after that vegetation and finally animals…as we have already discussed and concluded.”

Rekar waved his hands furiously, “But its missing something! Something important.”

Cronas stroked his white beard, pondering, “But what…? But what…?” And then he snapped his fingers as an idea formed, “Who is to say this is what we need?” Clearing his thought he began the riddle, “Locked up inside, for all to see, but not which is personality. The windows are eyes; the mouth the door. But always undefined, trying to soar.”

Han’s head throbbed. Just what he needed: on of Cronas’s riddles.

Silence ensued around the table as the gods’ tried to figure out the meaning. One by one they gave up, unable to figure it out. Though the riddle continued to chew at his mind Han suggested, “Why don’t we just make our creation? We discussed it around in circles long enough.”

Cronas and Blair refused to give their assent but the rest agreed. Wanting to get the creation done and over with so he could finally be calm again, Han rushed ahead and began anyways.

Thus the gods completed their first creation: the misshapen world of Aal. As soon as it was completed they felt the vibrations on their soul selves that meant the Ultimate was present.

What have you done?

Suddenly embarrassed and frightened the gods quailed at the Ultimate’s question. Stepping forward Blair replied, “They have created a world, Ultimate.”

Why?

As this was her specialty Blair replied again, “They were restless, Ultimate, unable to take the nothingness that surrounded them day by day and the feelings of isolation and loneliness brought by it.” After a pause she added, “Was it not the same for you, Ultimate? Was that not the reason you created Time and placed a piece of yourself inside everything?”

They waited with tortuous impatience as the Ultimate mused.

You have not given enough to take as you have. The nothingness that you destroyed to create your broken world has not been balance out. It is missing something. Do you not see how the plants and animals die? Do you not see the disastrous storms that ravage its surface?

Rekar wailed, “But then what do we do, Ultimate? What needs to be done?”

Balance is needed. Remember the riddle.

And then they all felt the vibrations again, the Ultimate had left for them to figure it out themselves. Silence ensued around the table once again as the gods tried to figure out the riddle. One by one they once again gave up, unable to figure it out.

It was then Han thought of an idea, “Cronas, you know the answer don’t you?”

The wrinkles on the Cronas’s face crinkled as he smiled, “What would I not know?”

Han nodded, “Can you try to tell us what it is in another way then?”

Cronas began his pacing but it wasn’t long before he stopped, holding out a finger, “What is inside all? What has the Ultimate given us all?”

Silence ensued around the table. One by one, they gave up, unable to answer, except for Han. He sat mumbling to himself long after the others had cried out in frustration or stopped trying. The answer was playing on the edges of his thoughts, to elusive for him to figure it out. Breathing out and then in and then out again, Han lulled himself back into his normal calm state. Ah, so that was it.

Blinking his eyes open, Han opened his mouth to answer only to be confronted by a mass of wailing gods. Blair looked over the mass at him with a small smile and Cronas caught his eyes with a sad smile of his own.

“Quiet.”

The gods calmed, even Rekar, at the tranquility and sadness in Han’s voice. Now that he had their attention he continued, “We must finish what we started. Our world of Aal is unbalanced. To give it balance we must give more of ourselves: we must give Aal and everything in it a soul. The creation must balance out the destruction.”
Understanding his sadness now, the gods picked themselves up, finally ready to lose a part of themselves to help with their creation. They knew what a gift a soul was. Taking each other hand in hand, they stood in a circle around their round table. Each giving a little, each receiving a little in return. Slowly, the table began to glow with a greenish white light. It got brighter and brighter as more and more was poured in, yearning to be free. Finally the table could hold no more and green light shot off, like a million stars, and into the world of Aal. It was then that everything in it, including the world its self, gained a soul.
Exhausted, the gods collapsed into their chairs. Now they knew they would never be able step in the world of Aal, never regain the lost parts of themselves, but already they could see and hear and feel what happened down below, already they were connected. Already they could feel the balance restored and flowing through it all.