In first eternal morning, there was nothing but the black rock of the firmament and the light which shone endlessly upon it. At last something stirred among the void, and grew aware. It wondered first what it was, and pondered this for some time. I Am, it decided, and made it so. I Am then turned their thoughts outward, and wondered where it was. From the earth it crafted eyes with which to see, hands to touch, and a body to explore the vast expanse.
As I Am walked the expanse of black rock mountains and valleys, the harsh light began to hurt their eyes and they sheltered in a cave. The cave was filled with a cool darkness, and it soothed their tired body and restored their weary eyes. Gathering some of the darkness up in their arms, I Am cast it into the sky so that it would smother the light in cycles it called days and nights. Each day the light would warm and brighten the world, and each night would calm and cool it.
As I Am wandered, it grew discontent with the complete brightness of days and absolute darkness of nights, and resolved to balance them. They wove a long chain of stone links and fashioned a hook with which to catch the light and pull it together into a beautiful orb it named the sun. When the sun had been gathered together, I Am pulled on the chain and set it in motion around the world so that it would rise and fall with the cycles of days and nights.
To balance the beauty of the sun each day, I Am carved out an enormous stone boulder and couched it in the darkness of night, such that it would reflect the sun’s luster. They named it the moon, and it too was good. The next day, I Am pulled off pieces of the sun and threw them into the night sky. A hundred thousand motes of light speckled the benevolent darkness, magnified by the shining moon. Little suns, I Am thought to itself, to guide them on its way.
Always would the moon chase the sun, aching to meet that which gave it light, even as the sun followed at its lover’s heels; neither quite able to reach the other. Sometimes the moon would gain on the daylight and the nights would grow longer in the waiting. Other times, the moon would slow as if in rest and the sun would pull ahead in its own sprint toward the night. I Am watched this cycle, and called the day on which it began anew a year.
I Am continued walking through the stony cliffs and valleys of the world, watching the spiraling dance of the sun and moon in the long shadows they cast across the firmament. After some time, I Am grew bored of the uniformity of the valleys and wished to touch the vast mountains above. Kneeling in the dust, I Am broke loose a sharp sliver of stone and pressed it to their palm. Wherever the rivulets of I Am’s blood touched the ground the rock would bubble and boil and great geysers of water burst from the earth to fill the valleys. The waters rose until only the highest plateaus and mountains stood dry above them. I Am swam to one of these immense islands and stood at the precipice where land meets water, looking over the liquid expanse. Stone spires rose from the glittering surface of the ocean like great monoliths that scraped the sky. Deep water filled the valleys where it once walked, but nothing yet stirred within their depths.
I Am saw the stillness of the waters and the air, and found it stifling. I Am breathed in, then exhaled great swirling winds which set the tides in motion. The air whistled and the oceans danced, and it was good. I Am laid down on the shore then, and rested for the first time in life. As I Am slept, strands of their hair wove deep into the earth and formed vast networks of roots from which all manner of plants sprouted and grew. The plants spread with each light breath, cracking stone with mighty trees and blanketing hard ground with soft brush.
When I Am woke, they saw the vegetation stretching into the distance all around, atop each distant island and growing beneath the sheltering waves, and was made glad. Still, I Am wondered why it was alone. They wandered from island to island exploring burgeoning forests and lush plains, but found no life like their own. It began to grow lonely. To pass the time as they searched, I Am lit fires beneath some mountains, pounded others to dust, and thus made volcanoes and deserts to remind themselves of the world before the plants.
Sometimes, I Am would kneel on the ground and cry for itself. From these mighty tears, great lakes and rivers of fresh water grew, sinking deep into the earth and enriching the soil for growth. Eventually I Am could take their tears no longer and pulled them from their eyes, casting them into the sky where they coalesced into clouds which let fall their own tears when the weight grew too heavy.
When I Am’s loneliness grew too great, they resolved to make new life out of the only material they could. Reaching deep within, I Am pulled themselves apart and scattered the pieces to the farthest reaches of the world. Wherever I Am’s skin touched water, eels, crustaceans and all manner of fish burst forth to fill the teeming oceans with life. Muscles and tendons stretched and shifted and made new life which skittered and swam and lumbered through forests of stony coral and open water.
Where I Am’s bones touched earth many beasts of hoof, claw, and paw, burst forth into the open wilderness. Mighty antlered things nested in the hearts of forests and little shelled creatures housed themselves in crags of rock and sand. From I Am’s final breath, a fluttering mass of birds of all colors and sizes ushered forth and scattered to the four winds. The high music of bird-calls filled the air as I Am looked at last upon the colors of a living world.
When I Am had taken in the beauty and knew that it was best of all, it smiled. It listened to the rhythm of the wild in the chirping of the birds and echoing calls of the beasts, and felt a peace unlike anything it had ever felt, for it knew their work was nearly at an end. I Am reached up to its face. Pulling out their eyes, I Am cast them to opposite corners of the world, so that others might use them and in so doing allow them to see again.
Where each eye landed, a human emerged as if from a chrysalis; each possessing one facet of I Am and driven by a desire to find what they had lost. The two humans crossed the oceans and the lands and named each creature that they found, bestowing them with that which I Am could not, ever searching for themselves among the creatures of the world. At last, the humans met in a copse of trees, and knew that they were not alone. From their union others followed and from these others the humans multiplied until at last I Am’s eyes spread from one corner of the world to all others. I Am touched the world once more through a million different hands.
Few among the humans held within themselves a part of I Am’s mind, as well as their eyes. These oracles recorded I Am’s journey, from the first morning until the day when I Am’s eyes were reopened in a thousand different faces. It is from these primordial humans we descend, and from their stories that we are born. We grew and we spread, and the world becomes ours, and we are never alone. From I Am all things did come.
So it is said.