Lying across the divan, Aeonleece gazed upon the creation of the cosmos with interest accompanied by her beloved Praneel. He reached out into the darkness and presented Aeonleece with a piece of what had brought her such wonder. The small mass of material was unimpressive though its meaning touched Aeonleece dearly, so much so she called forth their children to leave their marks upon the present. They gathered before Praneel and Aeonleece to look upon the gift with only vague interest until one of them took the ball of material lovingly into his hands.
Leedun carefully etched an image upon the mass. He shared the view of his sibling, that the present was a dull thing to gaze upon, and sought to make something enjoyable for Aeonleece to look at. As he worked, he began to imagine what this creature may be like in life. The drawings were meant to be jaguars though by the time Leedun finished they seemed to be something more and even betrayed intelligence in their eyes. Leedun passed the gift back to his mother for her to see. She smiled studying the work and asked its name. Leedun paused before answering, "They are Fey."
Julia was next to hold the gift. Considering her brother Leedun's actions she decided to follow his lead and draw her own creation upon it. She created lithe and tall creatures with almond shaped eyes. Their long pointed ears peaked out from beneath long flowing hair. They bore serious demeanors and seemed to look down on the creations that came before them. As Julia worked, her competitiveness with Leedun came forth. She tried to create something so perfect that no other creation could ever compare. "And these are the Elves," Julia said happily as she placed the orb into her mother's hand.
Aeonleece treasured the gift and always carried it with her. One afternoon she set the gift down beside her as she napped in the gardens. From the grass a spider crawled over the ball of clay leaving dark marks in her wake. The spider began to burrow into the mound to make a new home for itself as Aeonleece slept deeply. When the spider had completed its work only a small hole hinted at what had come to pass. Aeonleece woke from a strange dream and picked up her gift to turn it over in her fingers. It had become custom for her in times of troubled thoughts and she did not notice the small dark marks or the hole leading to the spider's newly-made lair. The spider became angered as her home was turned over and over flinging her about. She reached out and bit Aeonleece's finger tasting blood and retreating again. The poison from the spider was so strong it overtook Aeonleece and sent her into an ill state. With her dying breath she called to Praneel who in his anger hurled the small mound back into the sky, never wishing to see the cause of his love's demise again… though it would not end there.
The blood from Aeonleece's pricked finger fell onto the lands breathing life into her children's creations and more besides. A section of hardened rock became infused with the life giving blood and the mountain began to shake and move nearly crushing the spider within who only continued to burrow deeper and deeper for safety. The mountain yearned so to move but was unable as it was bound to the spot. In frustration it began to shake more furiously sending chunks of itself down onto the lands. These smaller parts were round and stout though thickly built as Miniature Mountains with legs and arms, head and face, as well as heart. These small creatures kept close to the mountain for some time and learned to work with the precious metals that shook loose in their creation. These people came to call themselves Dwarves for they were dwarfed in comparison to the mountain that gave them birth. They soon either lost the ability to hear the mountain's thoughts or else the mountain slipped into a state of dormancy from sadness, never being able to walk the lands.
Through all this the spider continued to make an intricate web of tunnels and caverns within the rock fearing the surface. The blood of Aeonleece had changed the spider and even as she worked creating her home, her form shifted to mirror Aeonleece from the waist up. When her home was completed, she set to the task she had first intended that day in the garden, one of a mother laying her eggs. Her children would not be unmarked from the creating blood of Aeonleece and took on her features entirely save from their dark hide and white spider silk hair inherited from their mother. The Drow lived to serve their mother and saw her as perfection. While some may consider her grotesque for her spidery limbs, her children saw her ability to create from herself and counted their kind blessed to have been made from her. She expressed a hatred of the outside world, never divulging the details to her children, and they in turn inherited this from her. They were happy to live among their own in the painstakingly made caverns of their mother, Arachnea.
The small world began to flourish. The Elves kept to themselves among the trees continuing in Julia's strive for perfection. The Fey ran wild in their animal bliss not understanding much of the world but not truly caring to. The Dwarves labored in mines building their homes amidst the mountains from whilst they came. In the core of the planet, the Drow worked in the darkness serving their matrons unknowing of the world above that thrived in the light. Drow made slaves of the fallen elves bound to the caves by their curse. Life took root and flourished in every part of the world, a testament to the lost Aeonleece.
Chapter 2
The Final Mark
Praneel wasted away in the darkened home. Julia and Leedun cared for him best they could, though nothing could stave off the profound emptiness from the loss of Aeonleece. Julia was overcome with the sadness that seemed to pour from every room in the house and took to traveling to escape. It was during her journey when she happened upon the barely recognizable orb that had become Equinox. She gazed upon all that had changed and considered hurling the wretched gift back into the cosmos when the lithe and beautiful elves of her own making came into view. Unable to part with them again, she hid the orb in her palm and returned home.
Leedun was greatly saddened from his sister's absence and so she shared her secret with him hoping to gain his forgiveness. They watched together as the creations went about forging their civilizations. Some of the races were unknown to them and some were even unsavory to their eyes, though one race even in all its imperfection reminded them of a loved one lost. They decided that if for no other reason they would share this with their father, hoping the humans that so resembled Aeonleece would ease his suffering.
The unfathomable happened when Praneel gazed upon the orb. He watched the creations of his children with the knowledge it was his love's blood that brought them into existence, while she herself had ceased to be. A part of her was within this world and would always be with them in a way that drove him to jealousy. He had lost her but these mere playthings would have her forever. Seeing the frightening change in their father, Leedun and Julia quickly showed him the humans hoping to quell his rage only to have it reach boiling point. The humans in their likeness of Aeonleece brought a curse to Praneel's lips. Darkness within each human awoke in that instant from the evil that had festered in Praneel's own heart. He too would leave his mark on the world, one of darkness from a love lost.
Praneel dismissed Julia and Leedun from his presence and they reluctantly complied, leaving him alone with what had once been a labor of love. He watched each of the races learning as much as he could of how they came to be. The new races had confused him and he learned each were made of his beloved Aeonleece's blood, save for the humans who ironically were most like her.
He turned his attention to the humans but his anger would not subside until the already brief life of one woman was cut even shorter still. He watched with pity as the life drained from the young woman who had taken ill, remembering the lost love that had died in his arms. He offered to her the gift of a new eternal life, something he had been unable to offer his dear Aeonleece. She accepted the offer from the darkness that was surrounding her as death came but this gift too was tainted.
The bitterness and darkness within Praneel's heart was not spared as he used a drop of his own blood to save the woman. These qualities passed on to her. She was unable to escape death, some say this was because Praneel had also failed to save Aeonleece, though she would exist eternally surpassing the other races as promised. She too would crave the blood of others to sustain herself just as Praneel was jealous of the creations that bore the last blood of his lost Aeonleece. Such love tainted can never again embrace the light and so the first vampire walked the Equinox, a creature of the cursed night.
