Template:Becoming Andvaranaut

Darkness…

Nothingness…

And then…

Life!

What is this? Where am I?

What am I?

I am in pain.

What is touching me.

What is “me”?

What are these strange sensations?

I hurt! What is “I”?

I can’t see. Wait, I never could see?

Where am I?

What am I?

Deep within the eye of a Malevolence, the winds slowly diminished, and shreds of cloud parted to reveal a being that seemed to emerge from the storm itself. In its appearance, it was like nothing that had ever been seen in this world. Covered with a golden skin, it (was he a he?) was tall and thin, as if somebody had taken the essence of a living being and stretched it a little too tightly across the frame of a human, and then covered it in a golden paint. It was featureless, a tabula rasa, a blank slate. Slowly rising from a prone position, the being fought against what remained of the Malevolence that still enveloped him. However, unlike most beings that find themselves in the grip of these terrible storms, this being’s body started to thicken, as if he were gaining strength from the storm itself. Standing in the midst of the storm, the being raised his arms to the sky.

Where am I?

As the storm continued to whirl around him, the being’s features started to fill out.

What am I?

Slowly, the being’s face started to take shape; the storm seemed to carve his features out of the golden material. They began to take on a masculine look, with a strong nose and chin. It was his eyes that truly set him apart from other beings. To begin with, they were the same color as his skin: gold as pure as any found in nature. The kind of purity that only the greatest smiths of the past, or the masters of the Vox in this time, could hope to create, even in the great fires of the world’s most powerful Vox Communion.

Who am I?

The being began to achieve sentience. And with that knowledge, so came the first flow of true emotions. In an instant, his questions started to take on an edge, a troubling form that resembled the storm that birthed him.

What is this that engulfs me?

Now angry, his eyes glowed brightly, and he turned slowly around in the storm, searching for something, anything, to answer his pleas.

And as he turned, the rest of his body turned with him, taking on the shape of a lithe, but well-muscled being. His stance became aggressive, matching his thoughts. He then shifted around some more, his legs anchoring him as the eye of the storm started to move. The winds that had been diminished now picked up their intensity once more.

I SAY AGAIN

WHAT IS THIS?

Unsurprisingly, there was no answer from the storm.

IF YOU WILL NOT ANSWER ME

The being’s body began to glow, with the same golden light that was in his eyes.

THEN I WILL FORCE YOU TO!

The being’s glow left his body and took the shape of the creatures will: a hammer, one that a crafter would use in a forge. The hammer then struck the storm with all of its power, and…

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED!

As mighty as the blow may have been, compared to the power of a Malevolence, it was as useless as striking an Abomination with a feather. The great golden hammer then split apart, spilling golden bits of power on the ground, which infused themselves into the earth. These bits of golden power would sink into the land, and over the decades where they came to rest, the first veins of “Andvari gold” would one day be found.

Weakened by his attempt to battle the storm, the being fell back to the ground, exhausted from his wasted effort. However, unlike the last time, the storm no longer willingly gave its power to him. Was it angered by the being’s attack, or just its audacity? No matter the cause, the storm continued on its path of destruction, and the being simply remained on the ground, exhausted and filled with a new emotion: sorrow.

Days passed, and the being slowly regained his strength. When he finally had the strength to stand up, his body was now fully formed. On left hand he wore a golden ring, but otherwise he was naked. While the anger that filled him days before no longer coursed through his body, he was still no closer to understanding who, or even what, he was. All he knew was that he was standing outside, in what looked like a broken world, full of the detritus left from the storm. Actually, he did know one other thing: that he wasn’t feeling very well. His body shook from a state that he didn’t have the words to describe. As he looked around him, he saw that there was something else. It surrounded him, and covered the ground as well. It had no real color, and was soft to the touch. But when he touched it, though it was pleasing to look at, his body reacted badly, and his shivering increased.

“What is this?”, he thought to himself. He looked at the ground, and still no memory came to him. He must know. Maybe if he thought really hard? After what seemed like an eternity to him, still nothing came to him. Frustrated, his anger started to build within him again, though not as much anger as before, and he sat back on his haunches. This time, as he sat, the ring on his finger began to glow, and as his hands touched the ground…

Snow! It’s called snow! I KNOW THIS!

Joyfully he bounced up, running and dancing through the snow, as a young child might who had just seen snow for the first time. Which was the truth.

I LOVE SNOW!!!

After about an hour of dancing, bounding, and leaping around in the snow, his energy started to fade again, and the being found he was tired, and he needed to take a break from his revels. He once again sat back down on his haunches in the snow to contemplate his next steps.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, another being’s anger matched the joy that the golden being experienced. He cursed the skies and his bad luck. He had the ring almost in his hands, when that damned smith unleashed the magic that brought about a Veilstorm. Now, that in itself wouldn’t have been too bad, for this angry being could handle such storms, but he had been too arrogant, and unleashed his own magic at the smith. Their magic combined to change the simple Veilstorm into a Malevolence of truly epic proportions.

When the storm had swept in, this being had known that he needed to leave the area as quickly as possible, so he had called upon what remained of his power to transform himself into a hawk, and he had flown away as fast as his wings could carry him. And as he flew, he had but two thoughts. The first: how to regain that golden ring. The second, well, he knew that the smith would not be destroyed by the storm; maybe the smith would end up far enough away from him that he himself would have a better chance to regain the ring.

And as the angry being flew away, the newly born being continued to ponder his existence, his origins, and his fate. Still shivering from the snow, he decided that he might as well stand up and walk, for the sun’s rays were beginning to warm him and some of the snow was beginning to melt. Standing up, he had to shield his eyes from the sun, for while he found the sun’s rays made his shivering stop, his golden eyes were bothered by the direct light from it. “But,” he thought to himself, “It’s better to be warm than it is to be cold! So walk I will, though in brightest day my eyes hurt!”

As he walked through the snow, he started to truly notice the world around him for the first time. Where before he had only seen destruction, he began to notice that some of the world was quite pleasing to his eyes. While he was still having trouble with naming those things that filled his senses, seeing those tall things covered with snow made his heart pound. And when he came to the edge of a cliff, he looked around, still shielding his eyes, and was amazed by the beauty of this rugged landscape. He smiled as some new words came into his head.

Mountains!

“Those tall things are mountains!” he said, “I know that!” And his head was soon filled with other words to describe and name each of the mountains. And he was once again filled with joy!

“And below me,” he smiled, “is a fjord! And I know which one. It is….”

PAIN

TERRIBLE PAIN

SORROW

Images filled his mind. Another being who once stood here.

CRYING

“NO!” he screamed, “What is this?”

I AM FALLING

The being once again fell to the ground, his arms hugging his body as he was overcome with the terrible images and emotions that had suddenly dominated his mind. And once again he experienced something new: he cried. And as he cried, golden tears fell from his eyes and were absorbed into the ground. These tears, like the golden shards before, moved through the earth, and were transformed into something else, the substance known as “goldeneye”. (Need a good name).

When he regained control of his body and his mind, he remembered what had happened the last time. He needed an answer! He had tried to summon his power, and he did so, but with more than a little fear. For he knew that he might not like the answers that he got. But he didn’t care that much; he wanted to know the truth, and so, with his eyes and ring glowing in unison, the story unfolded before him.

A long time ago, there was a woman who had reached an age where she was the last of her family to survive. For it seemed that there was a curse on her and her kin. She bore 6 healthy children, but as they reached maturity, their lives took a terrible turn. Each of them died, some tragically, some heroically, and some mysteriously. And her beloved husband’s heart broke when his last child and most favored son died while fishing, and the man just faded away. And when that happened, she was shunned by what remained of her family, for they believed her cursed by the gods. They forced her out of her village, and alone, with only her meager belongings and a ring, which had been given to her by a merchant. She wandered the world for years. She always wondered why the merchant had given her this valuable ring, but all he would say is that he was near death and since he had no family, he would rather her have it then anybody else, for he thought her a kindly woman. She still smiled at the thought of that, even as he leapt off a cliff, which happened to be that same cliff that the golden being was standing on.

As the last memory of that woman left his mind, the being stood again. Once again filled with new words and memories, this time he did not dance with joy. Rather, he walked weakly along a path, which led down the cliff to the village of the woman below. And again he experienced something new: a darkness that surrounded him, lit by two great objects in the sky. The light from the moons of this world didn’t warm him, but though it be a darkest night, he still found his way down the cliff toward the village and torches which its inhabitants lit to help ward off evil spirits.

With the woman’s suicide still in his mind, the being approached the village, naked and cold. As he got closer, villagers looked at his approach with a variety of emotions: some were confused, others angry, and some, both men and women, looked at him with envy and desire. And as he got closer, one man in particular was smiling at the being’s approach. The man’s name was Andvari, and even if he the strange being didn’t know who he was, Andvari knew what was on his hand. For a Dvergr always knows where gold can be found, especially this particular piece of gold. While it might have been on the hand of a strange, golden being, Andvari knew that the ring he created, the ring that was stolen by the Greater Power called Loki, had returned home to him.

And as Andvari grabbed some clothing from one of his taller workers, he said to himself, “…that my most precious ring, that golden item that I created from my own soul, would be mine again. Even if I have to kill the thing that wears it now.”

Andvari walked up to the being, placed the clothing over his body, and smiled at him. And while he looked up into the stranger’s eyes, for the stranger was much taller than Andvari, he said “Welcome to your new home. You are safe here with me.” And as the final words left his lips, Andvari’s eyes moved down from the stranger’s eyes to the ring on his hand, and he smiled, as strongly and as falsely as any being in this world has ever smiled.

And as the Dvergr smiled, the ring on the stranger’s hand began to glow. Unfortunately, the golden being did not see the glow, for he was preoccupied with his new clothing, and the kindly touch and words of the smith. Once again, the smith smiled at the golden being. While comforting him as he would a long-lost relative, he led him back to his shop.