THE GODS AND DEMIGODS OF FISTBUMP THE SKY (PART 3)

The story after the creation, as told in the third encyclopedia chapter

< PART TWO _ PART FOUR >

LESSON THREE: HOW TO LOVE

Before the Great Migration took place, the original creatures could not leave Gods Grounds without the Great Frog’s help. This was no paternal control but the nature of the seeds at play. Just as plants can’t separate from their roots, the original creatures couldn’t wander far from their birth seeds. They could only do so if the seeds were forcibly taken from Fistbump the Sky’s core. Yet not even the Great Frog could unearth the birth seeds without catastrophically affecting the world.

Instead, they had special days when their godly father projected parts of himself into the creatures. This interfered with their connection to their birth seeds and allowed them to leave Gods Grounds. To avoid becoming drained, the Great Frog projected larger parts of himself to those more likely to cause trouble, such as Piesang and Pey. Those with less adventurous spirits, such as Hip Hip, received smaller parts.

On one of those special days, about three hundred years after the creatures got their powers, a sudden pain woke the god from his nap. The Great Frog instinctively thought the Evil Fox had ambushed him and gauged his heart out. Yet, once he saw that his chest was still intact, he immediately sent an avatar to Fistbump the Sky, fearing the worst.

The avatar reached the hardened cake and found the Seed-Born children standing on the beach of the Central Ocean. It expected the usual ruckus to fill its ears, yet heard nothing but ocean waves. Noticing the avatar’s presence, the creatures parted gradually, revealing Hip Hip lying on the ground. Her body had transformed into something animalistic with elongated arms. The most horrifying thing was the face inside her bulbous stomach, with its features visible each time it moved. The blue water around the creature’s corpse told the avatar all it needed to know.

A powerful scream reverberated through the creatures' minds, strong enough to rattle the world. As the scream became an echo, the waves of the Central Ocean abruptly halted their dance.

The waves melted into a single shape of a woman with five spinning masks in place of a face. The creatures watched as Siya, god of the oceans, freed herself from the waves before moving towards the avatar. The demigods say they never heard the words the two gods shared. Yet, they were under the impression that an exchange was underway. They recalled watching Siya’s masks spin wildly until one with a painted smile faced the front.

The deal was complete.

The Great Frog mourned for three years, shedding tears of pain and self-hate. The god blamed himself for not teaching the creatures how to love. If he had, their compassion might have saved Hip Hip.

The waters of the Central Ocean are the most fertile, with thousands of hormones causing the water to turn blue. As we all know, drinking the water will enhance one’s fertility. The same is true for any external body parts that come into contact with the ocean, as even limbs can become pregnant in the blue sea. To save her, the god made a bargain. Hip Hip would revive on the condition that she became the god of fertility and protector of the Birthing Grounds. This also meant severing her connection with the Great Frog and joining the side of the world's gods.

With the pain of losing a child, the celestial frog pulled away from the creatures, not knowing that his absence had changed the world.

None of the demigods wanted to remember the time of absence. However, upon analysing the inner temple walls, it became clear that the original creatures had undergone a transition. Although the temples varied greatly from one another, they all contained similar tiles. This caught our eye because these are the only tiles present. Unlike the other decorative imagery, they lack patterns and writing, showing only colours. Each tile also exhibited attack marks, which the demigods appeared to have made.

Thus far, the only explanation seems to be that the demigods had used these tiles during the Great Frog's absence as a sort of therapy. It is still unclear whether the number of tiles holds any significance.

After three years, the Great Frog returned.

The creatures had missed their father and were relieved to feel their connections stir. Yet, something was different. The affection they had become used to was gone, replaced by the same coldness as when they were born.

Being born from different seeds made it nearly impossible for the creatures to form a connection with one another. They yearned for a familial bond, but the pain of losing a child was too much for the Great Frog. He feared their connection and refused to interact with the creatures. However, not even gods are immune to the effects of loneliness.

The Great Frog was aware of his internal turmoil and decided to give the creatures duties, hoping to distract them to no effect. The creatures went mad. They destroyed everything in sight, hoping to catch the god's attention. But they got no response. They did, however, manage to catch the attention of Fistbump the Sky.

To fill the gaps of this time in Fistbump the Sky's history, we had to collect memories from sources other than the demigods. We thus turned to the oldest living creatures – the trees. The trees say that when the creatures destroyed parts of the world, vibrations spread. All living things underground or with roots felt these vibrations. This included the three Forests of Colour. The tree memories revealed that the Forests of Colour had been pulsing with an unidentified shimmer in the air.

The more recent memories reveal a similar image. Yet, the forest's movements in these memories are much larger, and the shimmer is no longer present. Instead, we saw a single white mushroom that slowly started growing limbs. We soon realised that we had witnessed the birth of Three, the god and guardian of the three Forests of Colour.

The trees also spoke of a call to war that was transmitted through interconnected roots. We found similar memories from nearby humble plants that backed this. It's evident that the world had decided to deal with the original creatures rather than wait for punishment from the Great Frog.

Luckily, the Great Frog found out about the world's plan. It warned them that Fistbump the Sky had made its own creature and intended to send it after them. But the creatures did not care, willing to choose death over isolation.

With the promise of death hanging in the air, the Great Frog commanded the creatures to gather bags of sand and assemble in the centre of the Gods Grounds.

It was time to learn how to create life.

To be continued in
PART FOUR >

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