Chapter Text
Mama? Tell me a story.
Alright, but only if you promise to actually listen for once.
I promise!
Okay then. Once upon a time, there was a world where people could fly through the sky on the wings of metal birds, and where the whispers of a person on one side of the world could be heard by another through a small magic box. The buildings were far taller than trees, and they would ride metal horses upon smooth black lines they painted on the ground as their roads - going far faster than any animal could run. This world was beautiful and unbelievable in its own way, but it was never meant to last, and those people were living on borrowed time.
What happened to them?
All their beautiful metal creatures were poison to the world around them, and among all these wonders the hearts of the people were still greedy for more. As the world became harder and harder to live in, the people turned on each other, fighting tooth and nail for what was left, hoping that they would be the ones to stand at the top of everything. In the end, those cities were destroyed, and none of the metal creatures or tools would work anymore, because the things they ran on were all used up. And all the people were nearly left behind in that world that was no more.
What did they do?
The few who remained banded together, forming their own small societies in an effort to survive better together than apart. They gained their strength again until there was no longer the threat of dying off. However, nearly everything that the Before people knew, all that they had discovered, had been lost, and the new peoples had to start all over in relearning what they could. Thousands of years of history and discoveries were lost in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only those who just did their best to survive.
I don’t understand. If they already knew how to survive, what did they have to relearn?
So much was lost that we’ll never remember even a fraction of it, my love. But we’ll be alright here in the land of Eon, anyway, thanks to the Six Brothers.
The Six Brothers? Who are they?
Ah, your mother has been neglectful, love, in not telling you of them sooner, I’m sorry. They are the ones responsible for much of the wonderful things we know of and have here. They are masters of crafts, of animals, of the sky, the rain, the flames. They watch over us when we die, and entertain us while we are alive. Nobody knows if they came from Before - either as people or something a bit more than that - or if they came into being when we called them to. But no matter where they came from, they chose to help us anyway. They are the reason our land is called Eon, as nobody remembers what it was called Before.
How did they know to call it that?
Because most people agree that they were told themselves. Do you remember when I told you about the Sacred Seven? The Six Brothers belong to the Seven. The seventh … well, some people say that this land is called Eon because that’s how long the Seven have watched over it. But most people think differently. See, we made the Six Brothers into what they are. Whether they started out as people first or we called them into being, they exist because we believed they did. The seventh, well, he came into being all on his own, regardless of us. He belongs to the land itself - and some say he is the land itself. Those people believe that Eon is more than a reminder of time passed - that it is a part of his now-forgotten name.