In the beginning, there was only Chaos.
Not the screaming disorder mortals would come to fear, but something far more profound.
Chaos was the void before existence, the infinite emptiness that held all potential within its depths. It was neither good nor evil, neither light nor dark.
It simply was, and from its eternal stillness, all things would emerge.
The first children of Chaos were not born as mortals understand birth. They came into being as concepts made manifest, as truths that reality itself required to function. Nine of them, each one a pillar upon which the world would rest.
Gaia rose from the void, and with her came solidity. Where before there had been nothing, now there was ground. Foundation. The earth itself, firm and unyielding, a place where things could stand and grow and build.
She was the beginning of permanence in a universe that had known only infinite emptiness.
