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SPOILER WARNING!
This article contains HEAVY SPOILERS for the Shadow Slave webnovel. Please read at your own risk. |
The ancient temple in Fallen Grace had murals depicting the myth of creation.[1]
Murals
The first mural had an image depicting a vast black field that looked strangely terrifying. In the middle of it, a mass of golden flame was burning, illuminating the darkness with its radiance.[1]
| “ | In the beginning, there was only the boundless void of chaos... The void was everlasting and everchanging. Terrible beings dwelled within the void, as well. But then came desire, and with it came direction. | ” |
― Cassie's Narration, | ||
- Desire was the first unchanging thing born from the everchanging void, so it was in contradiction to the void. A desire also can't exist by itself. It needs a subject, something to strive for or dream of something. So, a desire has to be directed somewhere. Hence, with it came direction.[1]
The myth suggests that the direction it speaks about is a result of desire, born within the void, and their constant existence opposes the ever-changing abyss, bringing order to chaos where chaos once existed.[1]
The next mural depicted six radiant figures standing around the mass of golden flames, which had become much smaller. The surrounding darkness was swarmed by vague, terrifying shapes.[2]
| “ | The gods were born from desire. Then, they waged a terrible war on the old ones, the creatures of the void. | ” |
― Cassie's Narration, | ||
The next few murals depicted the battles between the six radiant figures and the vague shapes hiding in the darkness of the abyssal void.[2]
- The war between the gods and the unknown was waged with weapons like death, time, and space.[2]
Both the unknown and the gods had been born from the void. Therefore, the gods were unknown themselves — primordial beings from before humans existed. They were a special kind of ancient abomination that was inherently opposed to the abyss that spawned them and everything it represented.[2]
Eventually, the void creatures seemed to have been defeated, albeit not destroyed. Beaten and diminished, they crouched in a dark corner of the abyss, surrounded by the six radiant figures.[2]
The second to last mural depicted the six radiant figures that seemed to be holding a net made from what was left of the golden flame, surrounded by a whirlwind of sparks. They threw the net on the crouching creatures of the void, engulfing them in radiance.[2]
The depiction in the last mural — the black abyss was gone, replaced by forests, plains, rivers, and a vast blue sky.[2]
| “ | In the end, when the old ones were defeated, the gods took direction and used their weapons to wrap it around the void. That was how the void was sealed. And... that was also how the world was created. | ” |
― Cassie's Narration, | ||
Interpretation
Sunny's interpretation of the strange creation myth is it was a conflict between chaos and order — the void creatures represented chaos, while the gods represented order. It was aided by the analogy of the word "directionless" could also mean "disorderly" in the runic language. Therefore, the word "direction" could also mean "order", which is not entirely correct, but it helped to understand.[1]
The gods created the universe by sealing the void in a cage of universal laws, like time and space that the gods had created to use as weapons. The world is what binds it, not the waking world or the Dream Realm, but existence itself. The outer shell of a prison built to contain the abyssal beings of the void.[2]
Hidden Truth
On the mural of the drowned temple of Fallen Grace, the mural depicts six radiant figures surrounding a reduced mass of flames, with vague shapes of the Void Creatures hidden in the darkness. In the dark lake inside the Estuary, seven gods are fighting against the Void Beings depicted more artistically and mysteriously, but the final scene is different was very different from how it had been drawn on the mural in the drowning temple. There, the Void Beings had been shown beaten and diminished, surrounded by the six proud and victorious gods.[3]
- In the Estuary, the scene was entirely not the same. The Void Beings were just as giant and terrifying as ever, and the seven gods were depicted in a desperate fight against them, both sides seemingly on the verge of being destroyed.[3]
The next scene shows the gods enveloping the Void and the harrowing creatures dwelling in it, in a net made from the remnants of the golden flame. The scene was largely the same, with one important distinction. One of the seven radiant figures was hopelessly caught among the terrifying shapes of the Void Creatures, unable to retreat. Nevertheless, the net of flames still enveloped the void, creating a cage around it. And sealing the radiant figure in that cage with the beings of the Void.[3]
The seventh God tore seven pieces of itself before the net closed, sending the radiant sparks flying away. The final image shows the world with humans wandering the landscape as tiny dots. However, there are seven vague, but more prominent figures standing under the blue sky, confused and lost.[3]
- The story drawn in the depths of the mystical lake is about the birth of the daemons. The gods sealed the Void, abandoning one of their own, and the seventh god tore seven pieces of his soul to let a part escape the cage. The daemons were mysterious creatures with a power similar to that of the gods.[3]
Trivia
References
Sources & history
Myth of Creation · Shadow Slave Wiki
Source revision 44020
Adapted from Fandom. CC-BY-SA
Retrieved 2026-11-04 · Article version 1