Colossus By Choice: B1V8 Side Story - A Created Life

[Book 1 Verse 8 – B1V8]
[Side Story]

“A Created Life” – Narrated by Taum Thunder-clan Pyrestar

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I’ve been told by some of my fellow City Scouts a few times that my particular thought process of reflecting on almost entirely unrelated things to my current duties. Personally, I much prefer doing this, as it helps me to keep track of everything I’ve learned up until the present in order to better prepare for the future. Right now is one of these moments.

As we’re being taken to the command centre right next to the eastern gate of Silver Sun City, I find myself reflecting on all the different people I’ve met these past 2 days. It’s kind of mind boggling to think about how many different sapient species there are in the universe, almost all of them being creations of the goddess Mothra.

Well, with the exception of the Gamerans. It was quite interesting to learn about the mythological history of Pianoto’s people, and how their creation fable differed from the rest of us. There are some fringe groups who don’t believe in the primary creation myth, but they’re a very small and distant minority.

From what I recall from the old stories and what they taught us in elementary school, Humanity had laid the foundations in creating the basic building blocks of life. They may have been lesser deities compared to the True Titans with their mortality, but they were no less holy and equally capable of great achievement. In fact, were it not for them, the clay from which Mothra moulded all life that came after them would not exist.

Through a combination of highly sophisticated technology beyond our comprehension and an understanding of the harmonies of the universe granted to them by Godzilla herself, they managed to concoct the alchemical formula that would give rise to all living things. However, they couldn’t bring themselves to make new life. Apparently, they had become fearful of making new beings. Not because of a fear of them growing superior and wiping them out, of course. That’s just ridiculous, since a creator should always be proud to see their creation grow into something beautiful with the potential to surpass them.

No, from what I remember, they actually feared the possibility of their creations not reaching their potential. It was also a fear of loss due to losing loved ones during the first incursion of the Old Gods that tested the warrior empress Godzilla. But then, as the icon of peace and love that she was, Mothra came in and took up their reins. She would be the one to give life to this clay foundation created by Humanity, to nurture it and grow it into many forms. The 3 strongest of the True Titans that held dominion over all others would donate aspects of their own being to this process to make new species with as much potential as possible.

The Queen of Peace, Mothra, infused powder from the scales of her unending wingspan to gift this clay beauty, justice, peace, and love.

The Guardian of the Universe, Gamera, infused exhaust from the flames of his flight to gift this clay balance, wisdom, protection, and determination.

And the Ruler of All Monsters, Godzilla, infused droplets of Dragon Element from her Slayer Crucible to gift this clay strength, speed, knowledge, and choice.

Together, they gave the clay that birthed us all a complete set of traits to create a healthy and vibrant substrate from which all assortment of lifeforms could crawl out from. Once the True Titans gave their essences, Mothra set about tenderizing this clay, hammering it into the various shapes that became the numerous sentient beings that now inhabit the universe today. Once the clay had been fully formed with none remaining, the Titans set out to spread this new life across the cosmos, ensuring that each species would be seeded into a sector of existence that would promote its growth and help it reach its fullest potential.

Out of all the different entities that pulled themselves from that primordial foundation, pretty much all sapient species will agree on who came first:

Elder Dragons.

These legendary beasts, despite being comprised of varying forms that often differed wildly from one species to the next, were all still connected via their blood. Trace amounts of a purified form of Dragon Element was present in the blood of all Elder Dragons, hence why we could all categorize them as such. However, only a few of these creatures actually had traditional dragon forms. But regardless of their shape, they all possessed immense power that eclipsed almost any other aside from a few exceptions.

In fact, it’s believed that the Elder Dragons may have given rise to many other species, thus leading to the creation of Monsters. Most of these Monsters ended up as wyverns or some other categorization, becoming more populous but not being as powerful as the Elder Dragons as a whole. They became the most common creatures to inhabit the universe, while Elder Dragons remain relatively rare and secluded by comparison.

I have heard from certain academics that Elder Dragons may have potentially existed alongside Humanity for awhile before the client gods mysteriously vanished. Perhaps Mothra didn’t immediately create all species at once, instead preferring to let it grow, proliferate, and diversify? I’m not really sure, though given Mothra’s teachings about going about your own way to reach and surpass your potential, I could see this happening. Either way, Elder Dragons and Monsters weren’t the only entities to step out from the clay of creation.

It’s at this point that I’m reminded that all sapient species have their own interpretations of who came first and from where. I have to make sure that I openly admit to my own bias on the matter given that I myself grew up with a particular viewpoint and am not as well-versed on the origin stories of the other sapient species.

We Draconi believe ourselves to be descended from some of the first Elder Dragons, and thus were the first sapient race to come into existence. Most of the other races contest this particular point, though the academics do agree that my people likely did evolve from a branch of the powerful firstborn. My family always told me and Sara tales about how the Draconi started off like any other True Elder Dragon, in particular the Kushala Daora who is our species’ cousin. As the tales go, Kushala Daora were once entirely united, powerful wind-bending Steel Dragons with breaths that could create vortexes and skin that repelled stone like metal.

However, a sect of the ancestral Steel Dragons wasn’t satisfied with merely being a powerful and intelligent Elder Dragon. They believed that they had greater potential by mimicking the usage of tools and bipedalism that the ancient Humans and some of the True Titans. Despite being partially created by Humanity, the ancestral Kushala Daora felt that this radical shift was an affront to what they were. This wouldn’t stand, and the 2 sides almost went to war over this. Before things could escalate into a full blown conflict that could’ve potentially ended the Steel Dragons forever, the great Godzilla stepped in to act as arbiter. She would grant the breakaway sect their wish, but it would not be an addition.

In order to gain the gifts of walking on 2 legs and creating with our own hands, we had to sacrifice much of our power. We lost some of our immense size and power, as well as our metallic skin. In exchange, we could walk bipedally just as the Humans did and make tools, literature, and so many more inventions with our newfound potential. And instead of wind -based mastery, we gained a weaker but broader understanding of the natural forces, developing magical arts that drew from the main elements of the new universe: Fire, Water, Ice, Thunder, and Dragon. These magical disciplines became the basis for the 5 main clans that all Draconi are a part of.

Although we had lost much, we still retained many similarities to our cousin species, Kushala Daora. We may not have metal skin, but our general form still resembles the Steel Dragons we evolved from. We still have crests of small horns lining the tops of our heads and spikes beneath our jaws that can actually grow larger with age proportionately than those of Kushala Daora. We still have large wings that spread out like stars, albeit they’re proportionately smaller and only grow in upon reaching sexual maturity. We still have segmented skin overlaying our bodies, though they’re now composed of fleshy scales of assorted colours that depend on the circumstances of our lives rather than uniform darkened steel. Overall, we’re still quite similar despite how much time has changed and separated us.

The Draconi, having embraced these new changes, settled upon the world of Pyrestar as suggested by Godzilla herself. Here, we would grow and prosper alongside our fellow Monsters and Elder Dragons. Despite the circumstances that led to the division, we hold no grudge against the Steel Dragons and in fact embrace them as family.

It was nice to reflect on the tales I was told about my people, as well as the creation of all life as a whole.

It looks like we’re coming up to the eastern gate to Silver Sun City soon.