The First Breath

This page proposes a creation account for the world, the event of which is commonly known as The First Breath, Bhrenor's First Breath, Bhrenor's Last Breath, or just The Breath.

The tale

Nothing is truly known about the First Breath, when exactly it occurred, who Bhrenor was, how he died or why it happened. However, the basic facts held to be true by most inhabitants of Ard are evident from the commonly recited classic poem Excelsior, attributed to an unnamed saint of the Church of the First Breath:

Legends say when Ard was new

Rivers ran to oceans blue,

But nothing lived.

And nothing cried

Until the day when Bhrenor died.

The stone, the sea, the wind, the flame

They all must know, and speak his name

There is no life, there is no death

Without the gift of Bhrenor's breath

For he awoke the titans four

Aora, Stend, Hehter, Equor

Strong they stood, the mighty few

Calamity was all they knew

Their struggle shook, and shaped the world

With every bolt and stone they hurled

Bringing them untimely death

Spilling all their vital breath

Where it collected, life ensued

Seed and sinew, soil imbued

Little things, like mice and men

Weaker than the Titans then

Living, breathing, flesh and blood

Growing like a rose's bud

Mice are small, but many still

And even ancients can be killed.

Now the age of men's begun

Calamity is done, become

As brother Bhrenor was before

Humanity, Excelsior!

See also

• Pneuma