Our blood is boiling and our stomachs are hungry. We were naked, covered in abrasions and blisters. We used ashes to rub the shape of a hammer on the chest and draw the ram's horns on the face.

We sang the words old Corick had made up, chanting about the miracles we had seen last night.

We'll finally know who lit the fire, and Winterclaw will finally understand.

"I have never seen this forgotten god. My grandmother told me these stories, but she never met the forsaken god. Even her grandmother, grandmother's grandmother...... Count up even a thousand times, and no one has ever seen it. His legend is only told by a crackling fire and a dinner made of grilled fish. If we go back even further, these legends become true. ”

The children's tired faces were slightly raised. Their cheeks flickered, but their eyes were filled with pain.

"The gods are all around us, in the sky, in the dirt, behind the veil of the stars. We just have to follow their preferences and incorporate their existence into our hearts, words and deeds. For example, at sea, your eyes will be frozen to stone. That's right, it's that cold! But if the sailors rubbed the fat off their faces and thought to themselves about the seal nun, oh, her real name is no longer remembered, then the sailors would not have been frozen by the icy sea breeze. ”

"There are also gods like Volibel, who are unwilling to let their legends easily dissipate, so they still linger in the world. He demanded sacrifices from the people and forced them to obey him, as is the case with the bears......"

They had all heard the stories of the half-bears. The children were so frightened that they huddled together and moved a little closer to the fire.

"Ah, little ones. We'll talk about the bear-clothed stormbringer later, but it's better to say less about him. ”

As Grandmother said, as soon as they get close to the fire, they will obey you.

"And now, the story I'm going to tell is the original birth of the gods......"

I: Earth forming

Orn was the first of his siblings to be born. He roared into the world, eager to move his muscles. But it's not that easy. Trees are no match for him at all, and they break at the slightest touch. The iceberg melts at his touch and rushes into the sea.

He threw his fist on the mountain in frustration, but the mountain did not collapse. Orn was pleased, so he began to use the whole land as a good partner in his fight.

Orn wrestled with the earth, smashing and cresting, and eventually came what we would call Freljord today. He knocked out the mountains with his head from the flat ground and cut deep into the valleys. When he finally felt tired, he paid his respects to the earth for such a glorious contest. As a token of thanks, a fire pit appeared on the earth, revealing its core. Orn was very proud, for he felt that the fire pit was a reflection of himself: a ram as fiery as raging. The earth recognized Orn's abilities and revealed his secret to him, giving him the power of the First Fire. Because fire is the key to all change.

He looked at the scene of a struggle on the ground and nodded. And that's it. After that, Orn began to craft a variety of tools and weapons.

A light snow fell from the sky, and if my ancestors had seen this moment, they would have smiled. Gentle snowflakes fell on the children's fur hats, and they all stuck out their tongues one by one.

"Did you know that Freljord used to not snow?" I asked them. The children looked at me in bewilderment. "That's right. Our continent has always been the coldest place in the world, but in ancient times, there was only a dry and cold wind on the earth, and there was not a trace of dark clouds......"

II: The Origin of Snow

In the cold and cloudless antiquity, Orn built his house out of the finest wood. This grand mansion spans three canyons. Can you imagine it? He named the noble mansion "Corner Hall" and tasted it with great interest.

"Okay." He said. This was at a time when language had not yet existed, so there was no doubt that it was a compliment.

However, his sister Anivia was angry. Orn cut down the branches of the tree she liked to perch on in order to build the corner hall. So she was going to teach him a good lesson.

While Orn was asleep, she flew in through the bedroom window. She tickled Orn's nose with one of her own feathers. Orn let out a big sneeze and a fire erupted from his nose, setting fire to his sheets! The fire burned to the floor, and in an instant the flames raged! Anivia panicked, flapped her wings and flew out of the house. But her wings curled up the dry wind of Freljord, and the fire burned even more. Soon, the entire corner hall was transformed into a large furnace.

The fire burned for many days, and the flying ashes turned the sky cloudy. Of course, Orn had been asleep all the time. On top of a mountain of ashes, he woke up. Orn was in a terrible mood because he had slept restlessly. But he didn't know that it was all a good thing that Anivia had done. To this day, she has not confessed to Orn.

"I praised my own craftsmanship, but I can see what has become of the head." Orn said as he rummaged through the rubble. "I'll never brag about myself again. Let the quality of the work speak for itself. ”

Orn has set a very clear goal for his new home: he wants to build a house that won't catch fire. He gave himself a shovel, a sled, and a fork. With these tools, he can dig ore out of the ground, pry giant stone pillars, and enjoy his favorite delicious cherries.



He piled the ore together, knocked and beat, and piled up a swarthy mountain. Deep in the mountain is a majestic furnace with the first fire burning from the depths of the earth. He was happy with his new home, Furnace Country, but it was so hot that even Orn himself couldn't stay comfortably.

So he dug a canal from the sea and led it straight into the mountains. The Seal Sister let the icy waters flow through the ditch and into the furnace country. Large clouds of steam rose into the sky. It took three full days for the temperature of the mountain to drop to a level that Orn felt comfortable. During this time, sea levels have dropped by several inches.

As a result, the originally always clear blue sky absorbed too much water vapor, and large clouds appeared. Together, these fluffy clouds became cooler, thicker, heavier, and eventually snowed heavily.

Heavy snow has been falling for a hundred years. That's why, to this day, Freljord is full of snow and ice.

One girl frowned and asked me, "If Orn has done so many great things, why is it that only you know his story?" "The girl is still young, but she has seen a lot of weather, so much so that a few strands of silver have been mixed between the braids.

"There's a story that answers your question," I said, "Want to hear it?" ”

The children's faces showed longing.

III: The three sisters have a request for Orn

Once upon a time, three sisters came to beg Orn to save their world. But Orn, as for him, has no intention of being a savior, no matter what world it is. It's all for personal reasons, and he doesn't bother to go into details. But that didn't stop the three sisters from traveling day and night to plead before Orn.

"There are monsters, with powerful and evil magic, that are infesting our tribe." The eldest sister said. Her eyes were full of anger and war. "They want to destroy everything and take the world for themselves!"

"Sounds like a lot of trouble." Orn said without looking up at the furnace.

"Will you join us and use your power to kill all those monsters?"

Orn grunted "no" and left no room for discussion. Everybody understands what it means. If you hear this kind of grunting, you will understand that as long as this eldest sister is smart enough, she will not ask again.

"These guys know everything about us." The second sister spoke. Her voice was full of wisdom and hope. "I would like to ask you to dig the deepest trench in the world with that shovel that digs out the great river. We lure the monster inside, and we'll take care of the rest of the matter ourselves. ”

Orn grunted again. This time it means "I'll dig a hole", and everyone should shut up. Everyone should understand this as well. If you hear this kind of muttering, you will understand that as long as this second sister is smart enough, she will not ask Orn again.

So Orn dug them a ditch deep enough to fit into a continent. He wanted to dig one anyway, and the location they proposed was just right. When Orn finished his work, he left the three sisters without saying a word. He'd said enough to them.

"That's it." The second sister said, "I hope it's deep enough." ”

The wind blew up from beneath the freshly dug abyss, letting out a howl from another world, as if to say that the hole was deep enough. If you hear the cry of the abyss, you will understand that no one who has a bad brain will ever want to climb into it and measure how deep it is.

After a few years, the three sisters returned. They look like they're exhausted by the war.

This time, it was the third sister who spoke. The chill she exhaled reminded Orn of that dry, cold day a long, long time ago. "Orn, the Creator of all things." She said.

"I didn't make everything." Orn whispered. In the same way, he still did not take his eyes off his furnace. "It's only partial."

The third sister continued: "We are here to ask you for a small favor. The abyss you've dug is too deep for us to build bridges over it. Please teach me how to build a bridge that won't collapse, and then I'll do it myself. ”

Orn raised an eyebrow. He looked into the eyes of the third sister. Orn doesn't trust her because there is an aura of magic in her. And magic makes anything solid vulnerable. "There are many craftsmen who are good at building bridges. Go to them. ”

"Other craftsmen can't build bridges out of our stone." The third sister replied, "They said that the stone fell from the sky, and they couldn't use it with all their might." She said as she handed over a piece of star iron.

If you've ever seen Star Iron, you'll know that anyone who is smart enough will realize that only Orn can smelt this ore, because it's as hard and stubborn as he is. Orn agreed, but he was to work alone, and demanded that Star Iron be used as his payment.

The third sister gave him the ore, and Orn used it to forge a tool for building a bridge.

Orn used only this tool to build the bridge. The second sister is upset by the third sister's lies because they don't need a bridge at all. She asks Orn what kind of tool this is.

"I use this tool to hammer things." "That's why I call it the 'hammer,'" Orn said. I'm done. ”

When Orn was gone, the third sister walked on the bridge, chanting strange incantations along the way. The spell turned the bridge into a latch, sealing off the monsters beneath the abyss. However, Orn was right, magic was harmful to his work. If it weren't for the three sisters working on the bridge, the building would have been able to stand forever. However, the spell will gradually erode the stone of the bridge. But it takes many, many, many years, so not many people notice. The three sisters also vowed never to mention Orn's name again.