A/N: This was an assignment for my mythology course. It's not based on any culture or mythology. We had to create some ideals of a culture, then write a creation myth including the elements we studied (primal duality, spark to creation, void, water, etc.).

There once was an existence before existence. There was no time or end, no light or dark. All there was was a Great Beast. It did not know how It got there, nor did It know why It was there. In fact, It did not know anything, for there was not yet any thought. The one thing It did have was a sense–a sense that something was not right. But It could not think of what it was, nor could It move to discover it, for there was no movement or discovery. All It could do was twist and contort its own body.

When Its middle begin to give away, the Great Beast split in two. Its blood poured out to create a great ocean. Now, there was existence. However, the Great Beast never truly existed. Oh sure, It had existed, but at the very moment Its blood spilled and existence was born, It ceased exist.

As the two motionless remains sank deep into the ocean, the waters gave new life to the flesh. Two new heads sprouted and two new beasts came to be. Now that there was truly existence, they could have a name: serpents. The first serpent, a male, sprouted from the Great Beast’s head, became known as Hvael, and the female, sprouted from the other half, was Irksa.

The two serpents had been born so far away from each other that for a great time they never met. But after eons of swimming, the two found each other and created an egg as male and female will. This egg held the joint existence of the two serpents, the life that had originally been split to create them: the Great Beast. Irksa knew that It must be in the egg for a reason, and thus nurtured it and protected it until It was ready to be released. Hvael, however, had no such sense, and he was curious.

Once, when Irksa was turned away, Hvael swam forth and bit the egg. All at once, a great light exploded, and the entirety of the egg shattered and flew out.

The time that followed was great chaos–blinding light tore through all of existence, and pieces of the egg flew about everywhere. Terrified by the scene, Hvael fled and hid himself in the water’s dark depths.

Irksa, however, knew there must be a way to tame the chaos. She first found every bit of the egg’s white and shaped it together into ground and mountains, as well as trees to cover it. She then took the yolk and, bit by bit, shaped animals. Always she made them in pairs of two–male and female–so the pieces the Great Beast could always be rejoined. Though she knew It could never truly exist Its original form, she knew Its spirit would be passed on through every living thing.

Once the animals were shaped, there was just a bit of yolk left. She took half of it and made two serpents in her own image. She hid the other half away in a cave, feeling she may have a need for it later.

Finding herself tired, she took the first sleep existence has known to rejuvenate her body. In this time, Hvael came out of hiding and slithered around the new world to examine Irksa’s work. What he found at first bored him, but at last he found the two serpents and reared them as his own. Yes, the two serpents were interesting, but what other purpose could they serve?

It was at that moment he heard a small mouse scampering by. It was an offspring of the two Irksa had created and had no sense yet of the world. With a malicious grin spreading across his face, Hvael ordered the two serpents to strike the mouse. They did as told, and filled with pleasure as the young mouse’s life disappeared. Taking a life was a strain on their bodies, they found, so they ate the flesh of the mouse to restore themselves.

Hearing the cry of the mouse, Irksa jolted awake. She raced to the spot to find Hvael and his trained snakes. In a fit of rage, she herself struck the great serpent. Careful not to take his life, she merely injured him and left him motionless. She then scoured the world for the egg’s shell. When at last she found all the pieces, she put them back together to create a wall around Hvael. It was there that he and his followers–all who followed the temptations of evil–would spend their eternities.

Just as she finished the prison, the two smaller serpents escaped. She knew she could not allow them to exist and kill the rest of her animals, but what could she do to stop them? It was then that she remembered the yolk she had stored away. Finding the cave it was in, she molded what was left into a new creature: humans. What she had to work with was too little, though, so they were not as agile or strong as the animals. To make up for this, she granted the humans with a greater intelligence.

“Now humans,” she told her newest creations, “your purpose in this world is to protect the animals. I have filled this world with many plants for you to eat, so you need not kill for food. The serpents may convert other animals to their ways, but it is you who must not eat flesh who will have a good eternity. All others will meet the same fate as Hvael.”

Her instructions thus delivered, she felt that her time on the land was nearing an end. As a final act to perfect her world, she drank the light that was filling the skies. She took in as much as she could, and what was left scattered to become the stars and the moon. Finally, she left earth, her body aglow, and curled up in the sky and became the sun. It was then that she fell asleep, bringing about the first night. When she woke again, there was the first day, and thus the cycle of days was created.