Once upon a time the universe was filled with good. This was long ago, before you or even your ancestors walked the world. This was a time of monarchs and mystery, of fae and of magic. But this all ended with the fall of the gods. Very few remember it, but I do. My name is silvanus. I am- i was a god.
I was terra’s lieutenant. The leader of her army of angels, and her best friend. Side by side we defended the universe from those who sought to destroy it. Together we were unstoppable. Well, unstoppable until it came. A darkness in the light, a monster from another realm. A new enemy.
At that moment I saw the future. The fall of the gods, the end of magic. I told Terra, of course I did, but it was no use. We could not fight such an evil without the power of the creator, which had not been seen since the beginning.
Terra’s face grew hard and she gripped my shoulders.
“Run” she told me, but I did not run. Maybe things would have been different if i had, but instead i stood by her side as she rose to face that nameless terror, that darkness striving to take hold.
As you can see, we lost.
I could see it in her eyes, the fear. I tried to talk to her, ”it’s okay” i would have said “please” i would have said, but even if i had she wouldn’t have listened. She looked at me one last time before grabbing the nameless terror and sacrificing herself.
I made my decision to stay by her side, to not betray my oaths, but if it hadn’t been for me she would still be here today. I was a fool. I challenged something I knew I could not beat and to save me Terra was lost. It should have been me. Oh merciful creator it should have been me.
They fell, and we fell with them. While us other gods, us lesser gods did not fall completely, we stayed in this realm, our power gone.
Without terra to mind and cultivate it, the magic of our worlds slowly darkened. Others tried to take it into their own hands, other gods. Some tried to restore us to our former glory, while yet others just wanted power for themselves.
Without the power of magic to bind them together, mortals turned on one other. Wars started and entire planets were erased from existence. The others watched with glee, pushing the mortals farther and farther into chaos. I turned away until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I tried to stop it.
Now I don’t know why, now I know that what I did next was hopeless. Maybe I just wanted to make terra proud. I did it, I stopped the wars, the chaos. I separated the planets from each other, the mortals forgave and eventually forgot that there was something larger than their own kingdoms. The mighty beings we had once been erased from their history. The very memory of gods and angels, gone.
But the others did not agree with what I had done. To end the war I had stolen a priceless relic, dooming any chance of power the others might have gleaned from it. And in doing this I made an enemy of them. The other gods wanted to feel powerful again and terra’s flute was the only thing that could have given them that. Instead it bonded to me, a forgotten god from the margins. A broken man from a broken land.
They banished me and stole my memory. I fell to the mortal realm with only my ability to tell stories and the dark nightmares of a time I could not remember. Now i walk among you, going by more names than i can remember and wearing more faces than man could ever know. My trials have since been spun into the stories of old, to be told around fires on cold nights.
I never wished for the life I was given. I never wished to become a god. I never wished to fall in love with the life that existed in the universe. I never wished to become silvanus, god of paths. God of fate. God of a fallen people. A god in exile.
My name is Silvanus, and I am a god, against my most desperate attempts to kill that part of myself. I am a god. And I have failed.