A New Mythology--Oramon--Nomra and the Living Dark

   In the internal depths of Oramon, Nomra’s kingdom grew. Among her crystal forests and sculptured blocks of stone she grew new, strange plants for the dark spaces. Some of her new flowers gave light and some were made of living gemstones. She created also, great underground seas of water, molten gold, and milk.

   Before Denu and the wolves, and before she created her Night Light, she used Phiron’s fire to animate her first stone companion, Syn, who was cold and dead in aspect, but able to carve exquisite murals, statues, and hallways for Nomra’s expanding world. Phiron also helped her to make birds of sapphire and ruby that filled the halls with eerie music. She made, too, a steed of steel to carry her about her domain. It was named Sylo, and was like Phiron in form.

   Once, as Nomra rode Sylo to the edge of her demesne, she sought to form a new aviary for her birds. Phiron accompanied her, giving his light to reveal the dark that Nomra might form it as she pleased. But there was already someone there, asleep, as Neron and Nomra had slept in the shadow before light awoke them.

   Nomra drew back, startled and the dark swallowed the being up again before it could wake.

“What untold ancient one is this?” she wondered. “I have never seen the like.” Cautiously, she stepped forward again to reveal the being entirely.

   In her fear of new things, she subconsciously formed the dark as she revealed the new one, and in so doing, unintentionally disfigured the being.

   He opened his eyes and beheld Nomra.

   She was frightened by the terrifying aspect of the monster and turned her steed to flee.

   “Seem I strange unto thee?” he asked. “All is strange unto me. If I frighten you, let me veil myself.” And he took the darkness behind him and without Light, formed a covering for his many eyes and fluid limbs.

   “You create without Light,” Nomra marveled.

   “I have dreamed long and dreams are dark, their substance is real to me,” said the being. “The Dark is an insubstantial world, one of unending, unformed possibilities. The chaos of Night is not solid and can form and reform as it pleases.”

   “There is no need for such uncertainty,” Nomra said. “Let me show you the world of reality, of light and form and concrete beauty.”

   “I find true beauty in the abstract, yet you arouse my curiosity: show me these strange things you speak of,” the being said hungrily. 

   “What shall I call you, Strange One?" Nomra asked.

   "What wilt thou call me?”

   “Onys,” she said. “Of the Dark.”

    Onys nodded and approached Nomra. She led him into her kingdom and showed him the marvels thereof. Behind his veil of night, Onys’s eyes sparkled in delight.

   “These are indeed marvels,” said Onys. “I wonder what more marvelous things we could create in this half-light world of yours.”

   “Will you teach me how to create without Light?” Nomra asked.

   “It is not so much creation as suggestion,” Onys said. “To make things with Light is to bind the Dark. To weave Darkness is to teach it movement.”

   So together, Nomra and Onys made Urr, a great eye of living stone that could see far forward and far backward in time. They made also the Je, four winged maidens with long tongues like snakes.

Onys built a breathing throne of chaos in Nomra’s favorite crystal garden and from this blasphemous throne he perverted her creations.

   Onys unformed her jewel birds halfway, so that they were eternally changing shape, from one kind of bird to another and bats and other winged things that had no names. The breathing throne of chaos expanded to fill the crystal chamber and Onys let loose tendrils into other chambers. Eyes budded on the tendrils and soon he watched all that transpired in Nomra’s domain.

   At first Nomra did not mind the aberrant intrusion and expansion that filled her chambers with dreaded Darkness and seething malice. She was thrilled by the ever-changing, though horrifying madness of these new things. She did not mind that the unblinking tendril eyes of Onys watched her wherever she went and wept tears of blood when she bathed in the sea of milk.

   She did not even care that great hideous membranes grew between her stalactites and rained creeping things upon the stones.

   Phiron whispered to her, warning that Onys was a vile creature, that she should not let him conquer her domain. She did not listen. At first.

   She sought to form Darkness on her own, and shaped for herself the first true bats, but she could not bring them to life without the help of Onys. Frustrated, she sat beside the sea of molten gold, poisoned with the shifting chaos and sparkling eyes of Onys.

   “Nomra…” whispered Onys’s voice from a thousand hidden mouths. “Nomra…”

   Nomra stood and followed the hissing voices to where Onys waited on his throne of chaos.

   “Come to me, Nomra,” he said. “I desire you. Step into my throne and let me embrace you and enfold you in my murk.”

   Nomra held back as the Darkness seemed to tug at her. “I do not wish to,” Nomra said.

   “Do I not excite you?” enquired Onys. “Have you not thrilled at my intangible and ever inescapable pandemonium? Give yourself over to me, Nomra, let us be one in anarchy. Let the Dark change you as I have been changed, as you changed me, dear Nomra. Let me kiss you!”

   His tendrils of slime and membranes sought to pull her into his throne.

   Nomra screamed and pulled away as the churning mucus lapped at her feet and the sticky webs entangled her arms.

   “Phiron!” she cried. “Save me!”

   Phiron tried to reach her, but the Je intercepted him and herded him towards the edges of Light, where Darkness was supreme.

   “Do not touch me,” Nomra warned Onys, but he only laughed.

   “You cannot escape me,” said Onys.

   Nomra seized his webs of Dark that he sought to enwrap her in and used her new skill to reform them. They broke away from her and she fled from the throne into her chamber of sparkling flames. Onys sought to extinguish them with his eye-covered tentacles, but Nomra reformed the tendrils into solid things and with the faint flame-light, managed to freeze them into stone.

   Phiron had singed the Je and escaped from them. He rushed to aid Nomra and they solidified all of the Dark tendrils, tentacles, and creeping feelers and roots that extended from the throne. Then Nomra sealed up the throne in a cocoon of diamond. She left Phiron to blaze bight and keep the Darkness from emerging while she went to the surface to collect sunlight and fallen stars.

   When she returned to the sealed throne of chaos, she formed a cage of silver to contain her new Light. The first lamp, a dazzling Light, which she called Mihr, she hung outside the cocoon to ensure it remained sealed and kept Onys from emerging and bringing pandemonium to her demesne.

Then she and Phiron went through all the chambers and all the caverns and halls and froze the tendrils and closed the eyes and scrubbed the place clean of unformed Darkness. Syn chiseled away the solidified remains of Onys’s expansions and carted them off to a new pit, called Obis, that Nomra made for the purpose. She left Urr alone in its chamber, but sent Sylo to hunt down the Je, which she trapped in silver cages and hung above the gloom of Obis.

   With her new Underworld Light, Mihr, Nomra was at last able to give life to her shadow creatures. She brought her bats to life and sent them to slay all of her old birds that had been commandeered by Onys and then she formed new birds of diamonds and opals.

   She also made the wolves out of shadow and gave them life with the Light of Mihr.

   So Nomra won dominion over Shadow.

A New Mythology--Oramon--The First Murder

   Neron no longer lingered on Amalteron where Nomra made her abode. All of his days were spent with Onera in the forests. In jealousy, Nomra reached out and cursed the shadows of the forest and thorns grew. Brambles and thistles, stinging nettles and poisonous plants of various natures were thus created.

   “What is this new plant?” Onera asked, reaching into the briar to touch the strange growth. The thorns ensnared her hand and lacerated her skin. Drops of her blood fell among the thorns roots. With care, Neron extracted Onera’s hand using a sharp rock and took her to Nemrus who knew where the balm grew. Nemrus treated her wounds and Neron led him back to the briar to curse it, but when they returned to the briar they saw that it was too beautiful to destroy. For Onera’s blood had made the briar bloom with lush roses. Thus bedecked, they could not bear to curse it and so it grew wild and thick throughout the forest near to Amalteron.

   Nomra’s jealousy grew. She rarely left her aviary upon the mountain, Triona, Phiron, and Ariaj were afraid of her and did not visit. Neron and Onera seemed to have forgotten her. Only Nemrus would come, and rarely, to ask the secrets of the plants.

   At last, Neron formed a brilliantly colored bird and sent it with a message to Nomra.

   “Sweet One, Creator and Mistress of Earth, join us today upon the shore. Your daughter would see you.”

   “She is not my daughter,” said Nomra. “Neron has made her on his own. She is his creation and he loves her more than me.”

   Nevertheless she went to the shore, for she still loved Neron and could not help but be charmed by the sweetness of Onera. It was no wonder that Neron should prefer her company to the brooding of Nomra and her birds.

   Nomra saw only that Onera was better than her, she saw not that Neron still loved Nomra above all. She returned to Amalteron bitter. She knew Onera could not resist any new thing.

   The mountain next to Amalteron was called Aleris and it was second only unto Amalteron in height and glory. Nomra planted an orchard upon the peak of Aleris, an orchard unlike any before it. The fruit of the trees was translucent and sparkled in the light, varying in hue from blue to purple. The trees grew long and twisted boughs of great delicacy. Their leaves were bright and sweet of scent, but the trees’ roots were weak.

   Nomra called to Ariaj and told her, “Go unto Neron and my daughter. Tell them I wish them to join me for a banquet here on Amalteron.” Ariaj sped away and Nomra smiled. Neron and Onera would pass over Aleris on their ascent. And if they did not, they would no doubt see the orchard as they left her banquet. As she prepared cakes for the meal, her being shivered at her hidden intentions and her shadow broke from her and fled down the mountain.

   Neron and Onera were delighted by the invitation and turned immediately towards Amalteron. They went up beside Aleris and when Onera spied the orchard she wished to go and see it.

   “It will not take long,” Onera said. “I have not seen these trees before. Mother must have planted them but recently.” So Neron and Onera came to the brow of Aleris.

   “What fruit is this?” Neron asked in awe, plucking a ripe blue orb. He tasted it. “Tis good!”

   “We should gather some to bring to Nomra’s banquet,” Onera said, taking a violet orb from a beautiful tree. Neron agreed, and began to gather the sweetest he could find. Onera wandered off through the orchard. The trees and fruit grew fairer the further she went and she took the loveliest fruits and cradled them in her skirts. At last she came to the edge of Aleris, where a cliff plunged down to the sea. She dropped her collected fruit, gasping in wonder, for here was the fairest of all the trees, with the most splendid fruit in all creation. It grew from the cliff and curved out in a fantastic swoop over the cliff, sparkling in the open air, its bark iridescent, its fruit marvelous reflective orbs of silver.

   Meanwhile, Nomra’s shadow hastened to the orchard, wailing in the tones of Darkness. It found Neron picking fruit in the midst of the orchard and startled him with its strange affectation.

   “What art thou?” he asked, hiding behind a tree. “I have never seen anything like you. A shadow alone.”

   “I am Nomra’s shadow,” said the shadow. “She has wicked designs in her heart. We must find Onera and leave this orchard at once!”

   “Why?” said Neron. “Nomra?”

   “She would harm your daughter!”

   “Harm?” Neron said, scarce able to understand.

   “Hurry!” begged the shadow, tugging on his arm. At last, Neron followed it through the orchard, confused and afraid.

   Onera walked out on the strong trunk of the tree, like a sturdy path, and reached for the silver fruit. She picked one and threw it back to the earth and stepped further out. She came to where the tree curved up and caught a low branch to pull herself up into the lush canopy.

   Onera found clusters of budding fruit and touched them. They ripened and grew for her, gleaming brighter than all the others. But the roots were weak.

   Neron and the shadow burst out of the trees, which seemed to cling to them and try to hold the back from the edge.

   “Onera!” cried Neron. “Come down!”

   “These fruit are sublime!” replied Onera.

   The tree shuddered and dipped. Onera screamed and Neron cried out. Roots snapped and tore from the cliff.

   “Onera! Come back!” Neron wailed as the tree dipped lower. Onera tried to climb down, but the tree shuddered harder and she slipped.

   “Ahhh!” she screamed as she fell. She caught a passing branch and jerked to a stop, dangling over the void. But the jerk dislodged the last roots.

The tree fell away.

   “Noooooo!” screamed Neron, throwing himself at the edge. The shadow caught him and he screamed over the precipice, calling for his falling daughter. “Ariaj!” he cried. But she had returned to Amalteron to tell Nomra that Neron and Onera were on their way and Nomra had detained her with a sleepy drink. “Triona!” he cried. Triona hurried to Aleris but too late.

   There were rocks at the base of Aleris. Onera struck the rocks and the tree struck her and Triona’s cushioning wave was too late. It washed over the rocks and cleansed them of the blood. It swept away the fatal tree and the cursed fruit. It lifted Onera’s body and gently bore it away on a bier of foam.

   Neron turned on the shadow and cursed it. “You vile spirit! This is your doing.” And he ran to Amalteron, to the arms of Nomra.

   But he found her arms cold and when he looked, he saw that she had no shadow.

   “Your warmth and your love have fled,” he said. “You have done this dire thing and our daughter is dead. You have killed her and with her, our love.”

   At that moment, her shadow clave unto her again and she was wrapped in remorse. But Neron left her and went to Onerae, where Triona had borne the body. Nomra realized the horror of her deed wept. Amalteron rumbled and erupted with grief and all living things avoided that place. All save for Ariaj, who though she had been used and tricked into aiding the horrid deception, still had pity upon Nomra and tried to comfort her.

   All of creation gathered at Onerae to mourn the death of Onera. Triona and the fishes of the sea, Phiron, and the reptiles, Nemrus and the furry creatures, Ariaj and the birds of the air.

Their wails ascended to Amalteron and Nomra vowed to right her wrong.

A New Mythology--Oramon--Birth of Nemrus

   “Shall we not make someone to appreciate the wonders you have made, father?” Onera asked Neron.

   “I have made you,” Neron said.

   “And I am alone,” said Onera. “Who shall play in the fields and swim in the sea with me?”

   “I will,” said Neron.

   Nomra watched.

   Nomra watched from the peak of Amalteron and Onera was always with Neron and Nomra was alone with the birds. Onera still desired Neron to make another being.

   “Make one for each of the elements,” she begged him. “Make one for earth, for fire, for sea, and for air that wherever I go there will be a companion for me.”

   This idea pleased Neron and at last he bowed to her wishes. First he made of water, Triona, half woman, half fish. Second he made of fire, Phiron, the salamander. Third he made of air, Ariaj, the swift, who was a shapeshifter and very beautiful. But he could not give life to the earth, which was Nomra’s.

   Neron approached her on her throne surrounded by birds. “Nomra, together we shall make this, our second child,” he said.

   “These beings are strange and terrifying,” Nomra said. “I do not wish to make another.”

   “Love you not Onera, your very likeness?” Neron asked.

   “Yes,” Nomra said. “She is sublime and sufficient. Triona is fickle, Phiron is brash, Ariaj is uncanny. Why create more?”

   Neron could not prevail upon her to help create a being from the earth. When he told Onera that he was unable to complete her request she was insistent. The four beings must be accomplished.

   “But I cannot give life to earth without Nomra, and she refuses to aid me,” Neron said.

   “I will speak to her,” Onera said. But Nomra hid from Onera and would not let her daughter see her.

   “She will prevail upon me,” Nomra said to herself. “For I cannot resist her.”

   “We will trick her then,” said Onera. “Form the creature as one of your animals that she loves.”

So Neron formed a hart of earth and brought it to Nomra.

   “This noble hart is dying,” Neron said, showing her the lifeless form. “Quicken him.”

Nomra was filled with pity for the beautiful creature, one of the first that Neron had formed for her from the Dark. “My power is in the earth and the growing things,’ she said. “You are the one to quicken this dying creature. Yours is the power of the living, moving things.”

   “It will not respond to me alone, perhaps together we can save it,” Neron said. They lay their hands upon the hart and it sprang up, its false hart-skin falling away to reveal the man shape with the hart’s head.

   “What is this?” Nomra demanded. But she knew what had happened and that she had been tricked. Amalteron rumbled and cracked with her anger. Onera whisked the new creature away to the Island Onerae and waited while Amalteron erupted. Onera named the earth creature, her brother, Nemrus, the first son.

   Thus was Nomra’s ire kindled against her daughter.

   Nemrus was not like his three sibling elementals. They were wild, tempestuous. Nemrus was quiet, solid, and temperate. But when his wrath was stirred, his anger burned and convulsed with all the power of his mother, and all the strength of the earth. He made his abode in the mountains and watched over the animals, a king and a judge.