In the beginning, when the material was without form, there was the primordial essence of the arcane. shapeless, yet not devoid of presence. As the primordial Aether swelled, it began to be aware of its own manifestation. As the first threads began to pull themselves together, the manifestation took shape, the very first shape. Fluid, without beginning or end, the first shape was locked in an infinite cycle of form and formlessness, being and not. When next it came to be, it harnessed the primordial Aether that continued to make and unmake it, and gave it shape. The first shape spoke, and said,
"You will bind the threads of this endless essence and give it a shape only you may unravel."
To this, the new shape responded,
"So, then I shall weave it like a fine tapestry, my very essence through its fine stitching, so that if it is to be undone, it shall be my very end."
And so, the third shape manifested in the formless vastness, a Weave of the endless primordial Aether. The first shape, however, was still fluid, with no beginning and no end. When he asked the second shape why it was that this cycle was not broken, it answered,
"Though I give the primordial a shape, I cannot make its nature immutable. I have made order for chaos, not from it."
And so, the first shape learned that its fate was forever to begin and end, as was the sacrifice for order to be.
"Then I shall take the name Thana'Tomos, for I will forever be born and die and be born again. I shall bear this burden so that you may live. I shall make this cycle my domain, for it is my fate."
The second shaped, moved by the devotion of the one called Thana'tomos, embraced him and answered,
"Then I shall take the name Aes'Thera, from the very aether I was shaped from and give shape to and I shall make it my domain. I bear the burden of holding the threads together, for it is my fate."
The two shapes embraced and the vast formless now began to take shape.
