Bonus Chapter: An excerpt from Freyya’s notebook about the Elder Gods (3/3)
Felkala (grey phoenix):
Location: Unknown [She's secluded on her home world with her husband. I don't want anyone disturbing her, so I'm not telling.]
Gender: Female. [I wonder how you found that out? Ah. I just looked at the past. You reapers have met her before. Well, that makes sense. She did accidentally kill a few people back when she was young and didn't know how to clean up after herself.]
Alternate Titles: Goddess of Silence, Goddess of Stagnation, Goddess of the Death Realm. [Given name – Vaunah]
Powers: Unknown [Eh… I don't feel like talking about it.]
Soul Realm:
'Fella' means 'Stagnation', or 'Silence'. The Goddess of Silence has her Soul Realm in all of the dead and rotten parts of the World Tree. Here, you can find the Death realms.
The reason why dead people lose their ability to change is because they're beings of Felkala's Realm, and Felkala is also the Goddess of Stagnation.
Yes, Freyya and the Death King live in Felkala's Soul Realm.
They do say that the deeper you fall into Felkala's Realm, then the quieter and more still everything becomes. Even the dead stop moving, as they ever so slowly Stagnate.
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Sylkawyn (white Sylkin):
Location: Unknown [Some god has her secretly locked up in a dungeon right now. She doesn't seem to care, though, and she told me to not bother breaking her out.]
Gender: Unknown [Female – golden eyed]
Alternate Titles: Unknown [Goddess of Truth, Goddess of Nature, the Universal Law, given name - Lenna]
Powers: Unknown? [She can see everything, and she knows everything; she's omniscient. She's indestructible, and she can't be touched without her permission. Most people can't see her at all, even if she's standing in front of them.]
Soul Realm:
'Sylwyn' is 'truth', 'objective facts', and 'universal law'. They say that not all Laws exist in the same place. Some dimensions go by separate rules. Some worlds have magic. Some worlds are without magic. There are even some laws which don't have a world to live on – rules that no one gets to live by.
Sylkawyn is the place where all Rules and Laws co-exist. Unfortunately, you can only go there or even see this place if you perfectly abide by all of these Laws. Because no one fits this criteria, no one has ever been to Sylkawyn, except Sylkawyn herself.
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Sylkavar (black Sylkin):
Location: Unknown [in hell… is what I'd like to say. I actually don't know where he is right now.]
Gender: Unknown [Male – silver eyed]
Alternate Titles: Unknown [God of Belief, the Artificial Law]
Powers: Unknown [His powers are whatever he thinks his powers are at the moment]
Soul Realm:
'Sylvar' means 'belief', 'subjective opinions', and 'artificial law'. It's the power of Idealism and Authority – Rules we enforce on the world around us.
Unlike Sylkawyn, which is completely inaccessible, it's quite easy to get to Sylkavar. All you really have to do is know a god-king, then be invited inside.
Basically, god-king's all have the ability to establish their own Domains, which exist by their own Rules. These Domains all coexist in Sylkavar. Since they're in the same plane of existence, they can bump into each other or clash.
However, one can NEVER step outside of a domain. It's as if Domains are little islands of existence.
Since Domains are varying in size and content, no one can say for sure what Sylkavar is supposed to look like.
As for the space outside of the individual Domains… no one knows what it looks like. Those places are blocked off by black barriers, and they can't be seen.
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Sylkala (grey Sylkin):
Location: Unknown [Also in hell – except this time, for real.]
Gender: Unknown [Female – golden eyed]
Alternate Titles: Unknown [Goddess of Pride. Don't ask me for her name. I don't like to think about it.]
Powers: Unknown [La la la! I'm not listening. We're not talking about this jerk!]
Soul Realm:
'Sylla' means 'lawless'. Essentially, this place HAS no rules. As is common for the "La" (Grey) Realms, no one is quite sure what this place looks like. Well, that's not quite true. The people who do know what Sylkala is like have never returned to tell others about it.
The only way to get here (besides through the Realm of Yiirwyn) is to completely abandon all Laws. This is thought to be impossible by many, but it's said by some that this is a hell where truly hopeless souls are cast – souls that even the greatest gods concede should never have existed.
[A note from Yiirkavar to Freyya:]
[When Mora and Lessa created the universe, the first thing Mora did was draw up all Names, and the first thing Lessa did was breathe Existence into them – giving them consciousness at the very least.]
[At this time, Mora (Arkavar) created Sylkawyn (Universal Law). He told all the souls that they were going to have to live by these rules, and that they were to allow these rules to become a part of their souls.]
[After all, it's a Rule that nothing can be added or taken away from your soul without your consent. "Your soul is who you are, and you are who you choose to be," he would always say.]
[Many of these souls, being young, stupid, and not knowing the power difference between themselves and their creator, thought that these rules were restricting. Wanting to be free of all constraints, they rebelled against Mora and attempted to kidnap Lessa and make her breathe the rest of their Existence into them.]
[Lessa, however, is far too powerful for any soul to touch. In her wrath, she cast all of these disobedient souls into the Realm of Sylkala – the one place they could exist without any Laws.]
[Unfortunately for these souls, nothing can really happen or exist without Rules and Laws to define things. So, these souls were forever left in a state of partial creation.]
[The only way for new souls to enter Sylkala is for you to actively seek to destroy Universal Law. Unfortunately for anyone stupid enough to commit this sin, the Truth (Sylkawyn) is indestructible. You're just kicking a steel plate and harming yourself. By rejecting Universal Law in your heart and unbinding it from your soul, you can no longer live in conventional reality, and you're pulled into Sylkala.]
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Arkawyn (white Arkin):
Location: Unknown [She lives in the Realm of Arka - a space she shares with her husband. Though, she'll sometimes visit the conventional Universe for a walk.]
Gender: Female (golden eyed)
Alternate Titles: Given name – Lessa, Goddess of Creation, Goddess of Existence, Goddess of Mana, Lady of White Fire. [I call her Gran gran]
Powers: Can breathe Existence into any idea – making it real. She has an unlimited amount of Mana, so she'll never run out.
Soul Realm:
'Arwyn' means 'existence', 'thing', or 'is'. This is Lessa's Soul Realm. Since she's one of the 2 Gods of creation, she's revered by all other gods.
Arwyn, without Arvar, is shapeless existence, so this realm has no landscape; it's just a sea of White Fire – 'White Fire', being the basest form of Existence.
Nobody can go to this realm in person, since nothing with a shape can Exist here. If you WERE to come here, your Names would be left behind, and your Existence would be able to enter. Basically, you'd be completely Unmade into your basest particles.
This is used as a capital punishment in some cultures, actually. They'll set up the altar, open the portal to Arwyn, then sacrifice you to it. Your body (dra), mind, (may), and spirit (reh) will be completely obliterated. The only thing remaining would be the idea of you (arvar / Names).
Still, there ARE ways of accessing this place, albeit indirectly.
Remember those Time Locked cannons, back in the Threshold and Valor Hall? Remember how the Ants kept on eating the mana stones within them over and over again? The Existence of those stones were already eaten by the Ants, so when the stone appears again, where's the Existence coming from? You can't just create something out of nothing!
Because the "idea of a mana stone in the cannon" was Time locked into the cannon, Existence was pulled out of Arwyn to remake the stones and refill the cannons.
Another way to access Arkawyn is when dragons Age. Remember that they constantly grow bigger and more powerful as they age? Where's this extra power coming from? It's something they passively get just from getting older, after all.
The answer is that the dragons have a connection to Arkawyn. They're constantly accumulating more Existence into themselves – making them larger without having to do anything.
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Arkavar (black Arkin):
Location: Unknown [He lives with Lessa in Arka]
Gender: Male (silver eyed)
Alternate Titles: Given name – Mora, God of Creation, The Namer, God of Souls [Pops]
Powers: Can Create Names. [It's a bit more complicated, but we'll go with that]
Soul Realm:
'Arvar' means 'one', 'individual', 'Name', 'shape', or 'Trait'. All individual Soul Realms are like little stars floating in a black Void. This entire Plane of existence is often called 'the river of souls', or 'Arkavar'.
[That last paragraph is. Completely. Wrong.]
[A soul is a Name given Existence - Arwyn and Arvar together. Nothing can have shape in the Realm of Existence, and nothing can have form in the Realm of Names.]
[The 'River of Souls' you're talking about is Arka - a place where both of their Realms intersect.]
Think about all the things that make you 'YOU'. This is your Arvar. Remember how the Ant Queen was pulled into the Void by the Faceless one, and all of her Traits were taken away – divided up into 10 million fragments? Her Arvar was being taken from her.
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Arkala (grey Arkin, bronze eyed):
Location: Unknown [Anywhere that something is missing, and nowhere at the same time.]
Gender: Irrelevant? [It has no gender, since it doesn't exist. When it DOES appear, it has bronze eyes.]
Alternate Titles: Unknown [The Void, Shadow, the Faceless One]
Powers: Unknown [Can steal Traits and Substance – Arwyn and Arvar. Can Unmake things.]
Soul Realm:
'Arla' means 'no one'. By nature, this thing doesn't exist, and it has no Soul Realm. There is no universe attached to this thing. Because it has no soul, it has no Traits, or Features. That's why it appeared to be Featureless to young Fina.
[Shh! Stop thinking about it. It may be watching.]