“

"“Repeat it again, from the beginning,” the old Baraka said, not unkindly. And the boy replied:

Before all else were Arun and Shara,

Male and female,

Titans astride a void.

The Titans grew weary,

And slept.

Their sleeping bodies became the land of Tera,

Their tears the seas,

And then they began to dream.

Shara dreamed of Sikander the phoenix, first of the Sikandari

And Gorno, dark master of the Gulas and Vampirs

She dreamed Ur, god of the Wendigos, and Isren, Queen of the Faeries

And finally Saleron, lord of Prions, and Dagon, father of the serpentine Nagas.

Arun dreamed Karas, god of the Elves, and Zuras, first of the Devas

He dreamed Gidd, who made, then cursed the Humans,

And Amarun, creator of the Amani

Then Tithus, god to the Giants, and Elinu, mother to the Poporis.

Thus were the gods dreamed into being, six and six

And from the gods, the mortals began to spread across Tera…

“Did I get the order right?” the boy asked.

“Yes. And your enunciation is…improved, Konei.” The Baraka tilted his head, and the gravel in his voice faded a bit. “You have questions, though. I can see them in your eyes.”

Konei brushed his hair back. “If the titans—Arun and Shara—are the continents we live on, then what about the Island of Dawn between them? Is it a third titan? Or some other creation of Arun and Shara's?”

When the Baraka spoke again, his voice was rough with the sound of crunching gravel.

“Hmm, a potent…even provocative question, young one. Suffice it to say that you are not the only one to wonder this. It is…something to be discussed quietly. When you’re older.”

Konei’s eyebrows darted upward briefly, but he pressed on with his questions. “If we’re all just some titan’s dream, what happens when Arun and Shara wake up?”

“Ah…articulating the most fundamental question of philosophy. Sadly, after centuries of mortal history, we’re no closer to an answer than when Tithus made my ancestors and Gidd made yours.”

The Baraka turned around. “I hear the limping footsteps of your geometry instructor. One last question, Konei.”

“If our continents are really the Titans who created the universe, then the Argons…?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” The Baraka stood up and leaned over the table. “The Argons are not merely some threat from the Underworld seeking to conquer. My people have known run-of-the-mill conquerors for thousands of years—as have yours.”

The Baraka’s voice got lower, louder, more insistent.

“The Argons want to terraform northern Shara. Their aim is fundamentally simple and fundamentally wrong. They’re trying to obliterate the dreaming titans themselves…thereby ending the dream for all of us.

“Meditate upon that. Class dismissed.”"