Chapter One: Story for a Sleepy Child

Behind the clouds, at the end of the sky, is a large round room of doors. Each door is unique, coming in different shapes and colors and with different symbol door-markers. The ceiling is high, and in the middle of the floor is a dark glass circle called The Eye.

The room was empty.

In the perfect silence, came the quiet sound of a door swinging open. The door was lavender colored, and very heavy, yet had somehow been impossibly opened by the small person standing in the doorway. It was a little girl no more than four years old. She had wispy wavy curls down to her shoulders, and her cheeks were full. She was wearing a soft white dress and a shiny purple-blue stone on a necklace that was much too long to her. On her back was a small, as of yet unusable pair of feathery black wings. Furthermore, her eyes were full of mischief.

She strolled confidently into the imposing room, and followed the wall of doors. The lavender door swung shut behind her. She came to a red door, and pushed at it, without effect. A smaller door with a golden sun emblazoned upon it refused to open as well, and she left the doors alone. She went to the center of the room, and noticed the dark glass. Her eyes lit up; she'd seen windows on walls and even on ceilings before, but never on the floor. The little girl wanted to know what she would see through such a window, but unfortunately the glass was much too dark.

She plopped down on the floor, took her shiny round stone off from around her neck and began to pound with it on the glass. Nothing happened, but she continued with determination, unaware of the fact that both her necklace and the glass window were virtually indestructible. The necklace was a casting stone, the magical device of her people. It had a neutrality spell on it, one that would be removed when she was old enough not to mistakenly blow everything up. She'd discovered it's usefulness in smashing things, however, and patiently went on pounding.

Slowly, she came to realize that another door had opened, and that she was being watched. She stopped trying to break the glass and looked up curiously. It was a tall man in a dark cloak, leaning against the side of an open doorway with his arms folded. Strangely enough, his eyes were completely black, even where the whites of his eyes should have been. He gazed at her calmly.

"What are you looking at?" the girl asked innocently. There was no attitude in the question, just curiosity.

He regarded her silently for a moment, before replying, "A girl-child with black wings and hair and Mind-Ruin's eyes, trying to break an unbreakable god-object."

The little girl ignored this nonsense.

"You're one of the twins," he stated. "Lyla, is it? Where is your mother?"

"With Lia and Grandma," Lyla said. "Lia cries a lot, and they don't always know when I go," she added with satisfaction.

"Well Lyla," said the dark-eyed man. "Would you like to come inside with me?" She nodded. "Put your pretty necklace back around your neck and come along."

She obediently put the chain back over her head; the stone hung down as far as her waist. She got to her feet and followed the tall man through his dark blue door. Inside was an entry room with three doors, and several pictures on the wall. Lyla took a second look when she recognized her grandmother Aeyris in one of the pictures. She wanted to ask him if he knew her grandmother, but he was already through the first door, and by the time she had followed him inside the next room she had forgotten.

The room had many glass walls, through which Lyla could see the stars. She ran straight to the windows, peering through them quickly to see everything her eyes could soak up. The stars were above, and below they were reflected in what looked like dark water. In the distance Lyla could see a glowing white boat drifting gently on the waters surface. She was startled to notice that the closer stars looked like they had faces; they were looking at her. She turned back to the dark-eyed man. A strange blue-colored fire had sprung up in the center of the room, and he had settled in a proportionately large armchair.

"Who are you?" she asked.

His face remained stoic, but his eyes smiled at her. "You may call me Grandfather," he decided.

Lyla was delighted. She had more grandmothers than she needed, really, but this was her first grandfather. She had Grandma, who lived in the lavender room, and Aeyris, who preferred to be called by her real name but who was her mother's mother. She also had Grandmother Liviana, who was really Grandma's mother.

"Grandpa," Lyla decided, and approaching him, climbed right onto his lap. He stiffened for a moment, looking down on her in surprise, but then she melted against him comfortably and he relaxed. Again, his lips twitched into an almost smile.

"Tell me a story!" the little girl pleaded immediately.

"What kind of story?" Grandfather asked amiably.

She deliberated carefully. "A good story!" she finally decided.

He chuckled, warming up to her. "Well then, a story it will be." He began, "A long time ago, before anything existed at all, there was a terrible place called the Void. It was a cold and empty place, but it contained the pure essence of chaos. Over time, the winds of the Void stirred this essence, and it began to separate. Small portions of it began to solidify, filled with ideas and contrasts."

It was apparent to the dark-eyed man from the wide blue-purple eyes staring up at him blankly that she didn't understand much of what he said, but Lyla listened with rapt attention.

"Slowly, these ideas began to gain a sort of consciousness. Darkness and Nature formed first, being a natural part of the Void. In response, Light and Destruction appeared. Order came next, since it took a while for that idea to form out of pure chaos. Lastly formed was Mystery, and she never completed her separation from the Void, and still contains elements of raw, unfinished chaos. These newly awakened powerful beings became the gods as we know them today: Dark Eyes, the Green Lady, MindRuin, Wrath, the Hermit God, and Intuition. They immediately began to change their environment around them, creating their own sacred places inside the Void. The Green Lady made a Void Garden and the Hermit God made the Eternal Library. For time without description they lived so. And then one day, they wanted more; all except Intuition, who was already within her perfect element. They met in the very center of the Void, the place they call Hell."

Lyla nodded, leaning into the crook of his arm.

"They tried to come up with new ideas. They deliberated for hours, until they were bored and drifted aimlessly, falling into a sort of sleep state. In this sleep state, they shared a dream. A dream of a planet. When they awoke, it was there in front of them; raw and empty, but formed. They immediately created a bubble to protect their new creation from the Void, and set about changing the planet to their own desires. Then they created the first people; Dark Eyes made the winged Cylants, like you. The Green Lady made the Vineadryads, and gave them four arms and vines on top of their heads. Wrath's people, the Bloodbeasts, were very fierce, with sharp teeth and claws. The Hermit God's people, the Centaurs, had four legs and a long tail. Intuition watched, and created no one. All of the gods created many animals and landscapes on their new planet, and when it was done they set it adrift, putting it in orbit around the center of the Void. The first planet is called Origin, because that's where the idea of a planet began."

"Why didn't Intuition make peoples?" Lyla asked sleepily.

Grandfather shrugged. "I doubt anyone will ever truly know. In my own opinion, I think she didn't like the idea of creating people from the very beginning. Of course, she created planets and creatures eventually, but only for her own use rather than for the sake of creation. Anyway, after everyone had created planets, it occurred to the gods that they needed a way to connect the planets. The Void was fatal to mortals, it was too cold, extreme and without oxygen. So Dark Eyes changed several of his Cylants; a number of the men he made stronger, made their wings larger, and gave them the ability to go without breathing for long periods of time. Wrath put an ever-burning flame within them to keep them warm inside the Void. Dark Eyes marked them with black wings. However, things didn't go as planned, and these new Cylants were prone to madness because of Wrath's flame. So MindRuin and the Green Lady gave several of the women Cylants healing abilities, to counteract the violence of the others, who we today call Portal Guides, because they have the power to open portals through the Void. The Portal Guides were misunderstood, and called Cursed."

"Not Cursed!" Lyla protested, rousing a little. "Mommy says I'm special!"

Grandfather smiled gently. "Of course you are. There's never been a female Portal Guide before, you're very special."

"I know what happens next!" Lyla said excitedly.

"You tell the story," Grandfather offered.

"Father comes from Earth, and he saves the Portal Guides!"

"Very true," Grandfather agreed. "The Portal Guides were treated very badly by the other Cylants, and the other races, because they were feared. So a new god was born, Dark Eyes' grandson, the one they call Hell Eyes. And he and your father freed the Portal Guides and brought them to Fraizha, their own planet."

"Father killed all the Ice Lizards, too," Lyla added knowledgably, eyelids half open.

"Maybe not all of them," Grandfather corrected. "But he fought in the Ice Lizard War, yes. At the same time that the Portal Guides were freed, Intuition made Ice Lizards to attack Origin. She was in pain, and she wanted to end it. But the Ice Lizard War is over, and the other gods are helping Intuition now."

He checked on the little girl, whose eyes had drifted shut. He waited a moment, but she seemed to be asleep. Gently, he kissed her on the top of the head and looked up at the man watching them from the doorway. The young man, who himself had a pair of large black wings, had been watching for several minutes.

"I think I like this one," Grandfather said.

The young man crossed the room and the sleeping child was transferred into his arms.

"Enna says she didn't think Lyla could get out of Mother's rooms," the young man said. "The door must have opened for her."

"You know what that means don't you?" Grandfather asked, and the young man nodded. "She's got enough power to open doors at Sky's End, at least."

"She's got hard times ahead of her," the young man said. "Enna loves her dearly but I worry about Aeyris still… I don't know if she entirely accepts that Lyla is a grandchild of hers."

"Aeyris never really changes," Grandfather agreed. "Why don't you take Lyla to Fraizha?"

"I've been meaning to," said the young man, "Someday soon."

He turned to leave the room, and the door reopened for them without him touching it. Lyla and her father disappeared through it, leaving the dark-eyed man to relax by his strange, blue-flamed fire.

(Author's note: a Prologue of sorts. Other chapters will feature a teenage Lyla, Harry and other characters. Thanks for finding Cursed Beauty!)