In the Beginning...

A long long time ago, before the beginning of all recorded history, the earth gave birth to the great goddess Gaea.

After the Earth had pushed this goddess out into the vast cosmos, she was visited all the gods and goddesses within the Solar System. The Great father, the God of the Sun, hugged his daughter to his huge body, and then showed her the secret of the sphere he had brought as a gift.

"Look well, my daughter. This is truly a magickal globe, for someone may live in here, and hang lanterns in the inner corridors. When this is done. your globe will shine with a beautiful soft light." He gave it to her, and then he straightened himself and said, "Of course it will never match me in brightness, for these walls," And he tapped the globe. "They are much too fragile for that intense heat."

"But oh, Father of the Sun, where am I to find someone small enough to tend the lanterns?" The new goddess asked wistfully.

The God of the Sun brushed back her hair, and gave his youngest daughter a kiss upon her brow, and spoke softly to her. "My beloved daughter, I cannot tell you how to make smaller beings. That is a secret that once you know, you must never share. I trust that you will find it out, though. I believe that you have it in you."

And the sun god left.

As Gaea, that goddess of the earth sat playing with the sphere given to her by her father, she was visited by her sister, the goddess of Saturn. She came, her cheeks puffed as though she were holding in a vast quantity of air. As she touched the earth, she breathed upon it, and the planet was engulfed in the aura of Saturn's breath.

"Now the creatures that you make will be able to survive. They will have air to breathe." She remarked, though slightly winded.

"But Sister, how am I to make those creatures?" asked Gaea plaintively.

"I am not skilled in those things," Saturn admitted. "Perhaps one of our siblings knows more about those things than I do." She turned with a great swirling of her banded skirts. "But, I have bestowed my gift, and now I must return home." She hugged Gaea close, and whispered, "Best of Luck, my lovely sister."

Next came her brother, the God of Mars, who brought with him great buckets. In them was a vast amount of water, which he poured onto the surface of the planet. The water ran off the higher areas of land and settled into the lower areas. Then he spoke to her, quietly rumbling the words out of his chest. "Dear Sister, take precious care of this water that I have given you, for this is all that there will ever be. It will rise invisibly to the sky, and fall back down again, but what you see now is all that there will ever be. He then softly added, "The creatures you will create will need the water to survive."

"But what creatures??? I don't even know how to create them!" Gaea shrieked in frustration.

"Shh, quiet beautiful one," her brother said to her, taking her hand. "That is something that you must find out for yourself. But I believe that you will be able to discover the secret."

Mars kissed her hand in farewell, and returned to his own planet.

Gaea sat running her hand through the water. She breathed the air that her sister Saturn had given her, and was faintly able to see the globe that her father had given to her. Quiet and lonely, she pondered how to make other beings.

Suddenly her hair began to move on its own accord. The water began to ripple, and then to crash against the shore. Thinking it was an evil magick, sprang to her feet and began to shout for help.

"Sister, sister, calm thyself." came a great booming voice. Gaea spun to a large muscular god, with one gleaming red eye in the middle of his forehead.

"Jupiter, what have you done? Everything is wild now! Now I never will be able to create beings here!"

"Sister, sister, soft now. The winds so uncontrollable, shall be at your beck and call, should you learn to control them."

"Then show me!" Gaea demanded impetuously.

Jupiter spent the next while showing his sister how to control the winds that blew across the earth. Finally Gaea was able to control the winds almost as well as he did.

Gaea looked to her older brother. "Jupiter, how do I make the smaller beings?"

"Oh, I never bothered with that. I have enough to take care of with the winds on my own planet, without bothering with anything else." Jupiter said with an arrogant lift of his head. "Goodbye sister, and good luck!" And Jupiter too was gone, and Gaea still did not know how to make the smaller creatures.

"Don't work yourself up too much sister," came a soft voice from behind. A goddess, similar in appearance to herself was standing on a small knoll behind her. Her hands were thrust deep in the pockets of her gauzy cerulean robe. "Watch, Gaea." she said. She pulled one hand slowly and carefully out of her pocket, and in her palm was a small pile of golden dust that matched the colour of her hair. She raised her arm into the air, and Gaea watched as the wind took the dust, and spread it over the land.

"Venus, what does that do?" asked Gaea.

"It will spread green throughout the land, dear. Green plants smaller that your fingernail, and plants that will grow far above your head. Plants with gorgeous flowers, tasty fruits, and hard stems that your people can make things out of.

"No, sister," she said as Gaea was about to interrupt. "No, I don't know how to make the beings you want. Perhaps Uranus or Neptune will be able to help you. They are on their way now., so I shall take my leave of you, dear one. Goodbye." And with a kiss on the nose, Venus was gone.

As Gaea sat and waited for her brother and sister to show, she took note of the changes that had come over her planet. Already a light fuzz of green was visible from the seeds that Venus had scattered. Her father shone from a distance onto the water that lapped at the shores. And the winds were a light breeze that gently waved her hair back and forth.

In the distance, she saw two figures approaching. Quickly she stood, in order to receive her visitors properly. They touched the ground gently before her and quickly Gaea greeted them.

"Welcome brother and sister, Excuse me, but if I can be so bold, could you tell me how to create creatures?"

"Why, yes," her sister Neptune replied. "But would you mind waiting? It was to be ours and Pluto's gift to you."

"No need to wait long," said Uranus, with a nod of his head in the direction of a spot on the horizon. "I see him even now."

Within a few minutes, the spot had materialized into the smallest god of all... Pluto.

"Congratulations, dear sister," said the god, "On such a beautiful planet."

"Oh, it hasn't always been this impressive," demurred Gaea. "it has only been through the help of our brothers and sisters that it as beautiful as it is now."

"Ahh, but now, Sister of the Earth, you may have creatures roaming your world." Said Uranus, as he pulled a small vial from the folds of his robe. "In here is a magickal solution, that is even older than our father, the sun." Gaea's eyes widened appreciatively as she thought of how old the fluid must be. "One drop on any form made of dirt shall instantly cause that form to become alive. Allow me to show you." Uranus bent down and shaped a mound of dirt into a long linear form. He dropped a drop onto the head of this form, and it became alive in a second, and slithered away into the grass.

"Ooh! I have so many ideas," squealed Gaea, kneeling down. "Could you help me?"

Neptune smiled charismatically.

Uranus seemed to beam. "Why dear sister, of course! After all, we must also contribute to your planet."

They worked, the four of them, for hours, not stopping until their father was low in the sky.

Neptune created all manner of things that could fly through the air, some of which cold sing with melodious voices.

Uranus created things that could live and breathe in the waters.

Pluto and Gaea created all things, great and small that roamed the surface of the earth.

As they were finishing, they heard footsteps behind them. Uranus looked over his shoulder and remarked:

"It's only Mercury."

"Only Mercury," imitated Mercury in a facetious fashion. "Who were you expecting? It is only I that had not yet come to see the new sister! And we well know that there is nothing else around, save the beasts you have designed."

Mercury walked to Gaea, and slung a small, tough, wiry arm around her. "Has it not yet occurred to you Sister Earth, that perhaps the potion in this vial could be what you are looking for to make the smaller beings?"

Gaea's face lit with an inner delight. "But of course! How could I have been so blind?" She gave Mercury a fierce hug, and set about making her being. When she was quite done, she took the vial from Uranus, and dropped the last drop on the dirt figure.

Unfortunately, she was so overcome by her excitement that she let the reins of control of her planet slip. As the drop fell, a strong gust of wind caught it and carried it into the distance.

Gaea stood numb. Then Uranus had his arms around her, along with Neptune and Pluto. They murmured their condolences, and made excuses to be back home.

As Gaea still stood in shock, Mercury came to her and took her hand. Without moving her body, Gaea swung her eyes in Mercury's direction. "I don't know what to tell you sister." she said, as she allowed her rock-brown eyes to warm up a little. "I'm sorry." Mercury deposited a brief hug on her sister's shoulders. Then, eyes cast down, she went back to her own planet.

Time went by- days on days on months on years on decades on scores on centuries on millenniums. And during this time Gaea was alone... occasional visits by her siblings, but for the most part, she was left alone, alone with only the creatures she had created, and the dirt figure she had made. But now, instead of the rich dark brown colour he had been- the colour of the dirt he had been made of, her father had bleached him to a deep golden brown colour.

The animals were fine, each in their own way. But what Gaea truly yearned for, what the bottom of her soul was creeling for was the company of an intellectual nature. So she began to talk to her dirt man. She told him her secrets, and lavished upon his muddy form the love that she had kept inside for so long.

She slept beside him each night, and in the morning she would wake, cold and dirty from his side. But, he was the only companion that she had, and she never minded the morning chill or the smell of wet earth. Instead, it reminded her of her companion.

One night, as she began to fall asleep, her heart seemed so full of love that it felt it was fit to burst. The night seemed to warm, although she never noticed. By then she was asleep.

She woke the next morning cold. Cold, but not dirty. Eyes still clouded with sleep, she sat up and looked around... and found herself alone. She got to her feet and looked around frantically. Then, on the crest of a nearby hill she saw a form that she had never seen before. She started towards it, not hurrying at first, but her pace quickening as the form became more distinct. There, there on the hill was the man, the man she had formed out of dirt so long ago, now sitting by himself... now alive.

He turned his head as she approached, and as the morning light of her father appeared over the horizon, the man was engulfed in a golden glow. He then smiled at her, and she felt her chest expand in a heaving breath as she saw love there, there in his eyes. And she returned his smile.