CHAPTER ONE
Creationism.
The small room was lit with nothing but a small fire lit in the hearth, but the lone
figure didn't seem to mind the chillyness of the area in the slightest as he pored over his
books and notes, checking one last time that he had everything perfect. With a satisfied nod,
he closed his books and shuffled to a large chamberpot in the middle of the crowded room. He
looked into the pot and the water inside, staring at his distorted reflection with
satisfaction.
He moved quickly to the fire, and picked up a burning twig with a long pair of metal
tongs. Careful not to burn either the sleeves of his robes or his long, greying aubern hair,
he brought it over to the chamberpot and dropped it into the water. Then he lit a small pot
of incense and inhaled the smoke, then blew it onto the surface of the water in the pot,
stirring the water with a wooden stick.
The pot now contained the cardinal elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The man took
a finger, hooked and with large-knuckled from arthritis, and traced arcane simbols on the
surface of the water, mumbling in languages long forgotten as he did so. The water softly
hissedand bubbled when he finished the last rune and he smiled. His task was almost done.
Taking from his belt a dagger made of pure iron, he cut his palm twice and held it over
the pot. Bits of flesh and blood fell from his hand into the pot and the water started to roil
and bubble.
Finally, he shuffled quickly to a shuttered window and opened it, and the bright noontime
sun fell onto the pot, making the water turn golden-white.
The man rested his hands against either side of the pot and tried to look inside, but the
furious action of the water and the suns reflection made that inpossible. Then, quite suddenly,
the water started frothing in a different way.
That was the sign the man was looking for. Without bothering to roll up his sleeves or
the spashing water, he thrust his hands deep into the pot and was joyed to encounter something
firm and solid in the water. Wrapping his arms around the object, he brought the wiggling thing
to the surface. What broke the water was what appeared to be a boy, perhaps of twelve years
old. The boy gasped for air with wide-open mouth and his eyes stared blankly ahead.
The boy's hair was long and pale blonde, which matched his very pale, almost white skin. The
boy wasn't fully human however, which was apparent with the boy's light frame and ears that
came into a sharp backwards point. His eyes were also very large and emerald green.
The boy, once he had gotten familiar with the pattern of breathing for the first time, started
shivering with cold, wrapping his thin arms around his body.
The man was prepared for this however, and set the boy down on an overstuffed chair and wrapped
him in a thick blanket. As the water dried off the boy's skin, the man stoked the boy's damp
hair with fatherly affection, looking down at the elfin creature he created.
"My first born," The man said, his low voice choked with emotion. The boy looked up at the
sound of the man's voice and looked incomprehendingly at the man's face as he continued. "My
firstborn son, my own creation. I am called Darius, your father. And you, you are my Adam.
But as you are not human, and that is a human name, you will be known as Ademu." He patted the
boys head and repeated, "Ademu. Yes, that is your name."
*************
"Father, what are you doing?" Ademu asked Darius, as Darius prepared a small fire in his study,
another chamberpot was filled with water in the center of the room.
Darius looked at Ademu with a strange twinkle in his eye. He had to teach his firstborn 'son'
everything, from talking, to walking, even eating had to be taught to the boy. But he'd noticed
that the boy, as loyal to Darius as he was and how much he loved Darius, seemed to be lacking
companionship all alone in the manor. Darius doted on his child as much as he could the first
few weeks of Ademu's life, but studies and other duties which had been neglected called his
attention, and he couldn't be as close with the boy as he previously was.
So, Darius decided to make Ademu a sibling.
Everything was exactly the same as it was before with Ademu's creation; with the exception of
the young elfen boy sitting on a stool by the door, and the dark of night outside the shuttered
windows.
Darius figured that since Ademu's life-force was sparked by the sun and the sun was
traditionally a masculine simbol, that the moon --which had always represented women-- might
bring about a female companion to Ademu, and Eve.
"You need to have a sister," Darius said, opening his spellbook to the correct page. "You were
created by this very same process, only during the day. It will be good for my oldest to bear
witness to the creation of my second child."
"I don't want a sister!" Ademu exclaimed, dismayed at the thought that with another child to
share Darius's affections, he might be neglected in favor for the newcomer.
"You may not want one now," Darius said distractedly, looking down the page with his reading-
glasses perched on his nose. "But later, when I'm not quite so free of time as I am now, you
will appreciate someone to talk to. Aha! Here it is..." and he fell silent as he went over his
notes one last time.
Ademu didn't say anything more, but he crossed his arms across his cheast and pouted like a
spoiled child. After Darius said that Ademu 'would do' something, Ademu wouldn't think about
going against his wishes and complain about his upcoming sibling any longer.
He watched with growing interest though as Darius added the four elements to the pot, and his
pointed ears pricked as he tried to hear the words Darius muttered. He shifted in his chair
uncomfortingly as Darius stepped to the shuttered window. He knew what the next step must be,
but the darkness of night never appealed to Ademu, and he tried as often as possible to keep
the windows shuttered against the smothering blackness.
As silvery moonlight fell onto the liquid surface of the bubbling water,
Ademu felt a feeling of Deja-vous. He remembered suddenly 'being', of
instinctively trying ot draw in breath but only inhaling warm liquid.
Instinct was telling him that he had to escape, and he panicked,
thrashing in the water, trying to escape the invisible, nameless force
that refused to let his breathe and the hard, slighlty-curved walls of
his prison. He got pulled from his earliest memory when Darius suddenly
retrieved his new sibling.
The being that Darius brought to surface was not the promised sister;
this one, like Ademu, was male. And he was also markedly different
from the elfen boy.
This one looked older than Ademu, possibly in his late teens. And unlike
Ademu's fair skin, this beings skin was as black as pitch, and his hair
was a silvery white that caught and reflected the firelight in a shoulder-
length cascade of dripping tendrils.
The new boys ears were sharp and pointed like Ademu's, but his features
were also different. His arms and legs were almost femenine in their
delecacy, but his nose and eyes were sharp.
This boy was able to breathe much easier once out of the water than Ademu,
which Darius was glad of, and Darius managed to wrap a blanket around the
dark boy's body and set him in the same chair that Ademu first sat at.
As the boy shivered and dried, Darius took to studying the boys strange
skin and hair coloring. He knew of a people who had dark skin, but their
skin wasn't black like this boy's, and no one he'd ever heard of had
hair the color of moonlight.
Moonlight... that was his answer. The light givin off by the sun was
pale and golden, hence Ademu's features. But the moons light was icy
and silvery, and the night air itself was dark. Which could explain
this boy's appearance.
"Father," Ademu's voice inturrupted his thoughts still sitting
across the room. "What's wrong with him? I thought you said I'd get a sister?
What went wrong?"
"Nothing went wrong," Darius explained smoothly. "There was a slight...
miscaculation on my part. But still, this is your little brother."
"He looks bigger than me..." Ademu hedged.
Darius laughed. At the sound the dark boy's eyes snapped open, and he
looked at Darius with eyes that shone with a dim red light.
"That's true." Darius continued, resting a hand on the boy's hunched
shoulder. "That is probably because he was created closer to the
end of night than you were in the day. Because I was sure that you'd have
a sister, I hadn't even thought up a name for your little brother. So,
do you have any ideas?"
Ademu's eyes shone at the honor. "You are asking me to name him?" He asked.
Darius nodded. "That is right. What name do you think he deserves?"
Ademu thought for a moment, then announced his decision. "How about Drow?"
Creationism.
The small room was lit with nothing but a small fire lit in the hearth, but the lone
figure didn't seem to mind the chillyness of the area in the slightest as he pored over his
books and notes, checking one last time that he had everything perfect. With a satisfied nod,
he closed his books and shuffled to a large chamberpot in the middle of the crowded room. He
looked into the pot and the water inside, staring at his distorted reflection with
satisfaction.
He moved quickly to the fire, and picked up a burning twig with a long pair of metal
tongs. Careful not to burn either the sleeves of his robes or his long, greying aubern hair,
he brought it over to the chamberpot and dropped it into the water. Then he lit a small pot
of incense and inhaled the smoke, then blew it onto the surface of the water in the pot,
stirring the water with a wooden stick.
The pot now contained the cardinal elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The man took
a finger, hooked and with large-knuckled from arthritis, and traced arcane simbols on the
surface of the water, mumbling in languages long forgotten as he did so. The water softly
hissedand bubbled when he finished the last rune and he smiled. His task was almost done.
Taking from his belt a dagger made of pure iron, he cut his palm twice and held it over
the pot. Bits of flesh and blood fell from his hand into the pot and the water started to roil
and bubble.
Finally, he shuffled quickly to a shuttered window and opened it, and the bright noontime
sun fell onto the pot, making the water turn golden-white.
The man rested his hands against either side of the pot and tried to look inside, but the
furious action of the water and the suns reflection made that inpossible. Then, quite suddenly,
the water started frothing in a different way.
That was the sign the man was looking for. Without bothering to roll up his sleeves or
the spashing water, he thrust his hands deep into the pot and was joyed to encounter something
firm and solid in the water. Wrapping his arms around the object, he brought the wiggling thing
to the surface. What broke the water was what appeared to be a boy, perhaps of twelve years
old. The boy gasped for air with wide-open mouth and his eyes stared blankly ahead.
The boy's hair was long and pale blonde, which matched his very pale, almost white skin. The
boy wasn't fully human however, which was apparent with the boy's light frame and ears that
came into a sharp backwards point. His eyes were also very large and emerald green.
The boy, once he had gotten familiar with the pattern of breathing for the first time, started
shivering with cold, wrapping his thin arms around his body.
The man was prepared for this however, and set the boy down on an overstuffed chair and wrapped
him in a thick blanket. As the water dried off the boy's skin, the man stoked the boy's damp
hair with fatherly affection, looking down at the elfin creature he created.
"My first born," The man said, his low voice choked with emotion. The boy looked up at the
sound of the man's voice and looked incomprehendingly at the man's face as he continued. "My
firstborn son, my own creation. I am called Darius, your father. And you, you are my Adam.
But as you are not human, and that is a human name, you will be known as Ademu." He patted the
boys head and repeated, "Ademu. Yes, that is your name."
*************
"Father, what are you doing?" Ademu asked Darius, as Darius prepared a small fire in his study,
another chamberpot was filled with water in the center of the room.
Darius looked at Ademu with a strange twinkle in his eye. He had to teach his firstborn 'son'
everything, from talking, to walking, even eating had to be taught to the boy. But he'd noticed
that the boy, as loyal to Darius as he was and how much he loved Darius, seemed to be lacking
companionship all alone in the manor. Darius doted on his child as much as he could the first
few weeks of Ademu's life, but studies and other duties which had been neglected called his
attention, and he couldn't be as close with the boy as he previously was.
So, Darius decided to make Ademu a sibling.
Everything was exactly the same as it was before with Ademu's creation; with the exception of
the young elfen boy sitting on a stool by the door, and the dark of night outside the shuttered
windows.
Darius figured that since Ademu's life-force was sparked by the sun and the sun was
traditionally a masculine simbol, that the moon --which had always represented women-- might
bring about a female companion to Ademu, and Eve.
"You need to have a sister," Darius said, opening his spellbook to the correct page. "You were
created by this very same process, only during the day. It will be good for my oldest to bear
witness to the creation of my second child."
"I don't want a sister!" Ademu exclaimed, dismayed at the thought that with another child to
share Darius's affections, he might be neglected in favor for the newcomer.
"You may not want one now," Darius said distractedly, looking down the page with his reading-
glasses perched on his nose. "But later, when I'm not quite so free of time as I am now, you
will appreciate someone to talk to. Aha! Here it is..." and he fell silent as he went over his
notes one last time.
Ademu didn't say anything more, but he crossed his arms across his cheast and pouted like a
spoiled child. After Darius said that Ademu 'would do' something, Ademu wouldn't think about
going against his wishes and complain about his upcoming sibling any longer.
He watched with growing interest though as Darius added the four elements to the pot, and his
pointed ears pricked as he tried to hear the words Darius muttered. He shifted in his chair
uncomfortingly as Darius stepped to the shuttered window. He knew what the next step must be,
but the darkness of night never appealed to Ademu, and he tried as often as possible to keep
the windows shuttered against the smothering blackness.
As silvery moonlight fell onto the liquid surface of the bubbling water,
Ademu felt a feeling of Deja-vous. He remembered suddenly 'being', of
instinctively trying ot draw in breath but only inhaling warm liquid.
Instinct was telling him that he had to escape, and he panicked,
thrashing in the water, trying to escape the invisible, nameless force
that refused to let his breathe and the hard, slighlty-curved walls of
his prison. He got pulled from his earliest memory when Darius suddenly
retrieved his new sibling.
The being that Darius brought to surface was not the promised sister;
this one, like Ademu, was male. And he was also markedly different
from the elfen boy.
This one looked older than Ademu, possibly in his late teens. And unlike
Ademu's fair skin, this beings skin was as black as pitch, and his hair
was a silvery white that caught and reflected the firelight in a shoulder-
length cascade of dripping tendrils.
The new boys ears were sharp and pointed like Ademu's, but his features
were also different. His arms and legs were almost femenine in their
delecacy, but his nose and eyes were sharp.
This boy was able to breathe much easier once out of the water than Ademu,
which Darius was glad of, and Darius managed to wrap a blanket around the
dark boy's body and set him in the same chair that Ademu first sat at.
As the boy shivered and dried, Darius took to studying the boys strange
skin and hair coloring. He knew of a people who had dark skin, but their
skin wasn't black like this boy's, and no one he'd ever heard of had
hair the color of moonlight.
Moonlight... that was his answer. The light givin off by the sun was
pale and golden, hence Ademu's features. But the moons light was icy
and silvery, and the night air itself was dark. Which could explain
this boy's appearance.
"Father," Ademu's voice inturrupted his thoughts still sitting
across the room. "What's wrong with him? I thought you said I'd get a sister?
What went wrong?"
"Nothing went wrong," Darius explained smoothly. "There was a slight...
miscaculation on my part. But still, this is your little brother."
"He looks bigger than me..." Ademu hedged.
Darius laughed. At the sound the dark boy's eyes snapped open, and he
looked at Darius with eyes that shone with a dim red light.
"That's true." Darius continued, resting a hand on the boy's hunched
shoulder. "That is probably because he was created closer to the
end of night than you were in the day. Because I was sure that you'd have
a sister, I hadn't even thought up a name for your little brother. So,
do you have any ideas?"
Ademu's eyes shone at the honor. "You are asking me to name him?" He asked.
Darius nodded. "That is right. What name do you think he deserves?"
Ademu thought for a moment, then announced his decision. "How about Drow?"