The Tale of the Swords of the Ancients And Other Blades of Power

A Mythology

By

Kit Rae

Of the Ancient Ones

In the beginning of things in ages past there were the Anath, masters of flesh, fire, and steel, who forged the elements of which the land of Ammon was made. It became the world in the First Age, the age of creation. The Anath desired to create beings like unto themselves to dwell upon Ammon, thus they created the Ancient Ones, and this was the Second Age of Ammon, the age of the immortals. They were made in likeness to the Anath, and each was granted a special power of creation so that they may rework Ammon in their own fashion. Being immortal the Ancients Ones would not die or age naturally, though they could be harmed or killed by misfortune or misdeed. Thus their number, which was only but fourteen in the beginning, would ever be thus unless fate would diminish them.

The ancient Ones were joyous and learned to harness the elements. They were experts in all crafts and the arts, but soon became saddened because they were alone in the world. The Anath beheld their sadness and thus resolved to give the Ancient Ones the power to create mortal beings and so charged them to rule over and protect those creations. Thereupon the Ancients filled Ammon with many strange creatures of different form, and this was the Third Age of Ammon, the age of mortals. The firstborn to Ammon were the higher beings, the elves, and later there were Uldurin, followed by men, and finally the lower beasts. The Ancient Ones purposed to have dominion over every creature and for many ages they kept order and balance in Ammon. They built the great Temple of the Anath, hidden in the frozen realm of Ulaine, and from its immense halls they watched over their creations.

Mortals multiplied and explored the lands of Ammon, discovering the many great places of beauty the Ancients had created for them. Though mortals were wise and with much strength, they were also unstable through the weakness of the flesh. Through greed, the lust for power, and jealousy, they were tempted to war amongst each other and there was much bloodshed in the beginning. Thus the Ancient Ones created the first enchanted talismans to temper mortals and restore order and balance. They took the form of steel bladed devices, for blades were among the first tools to be used by mortals in Ammon. Each was bestowed with powers of many forms, but the mortals misused them and were corrupted by the new power, and much blood was spilled with them and by reason of them. The Uldurin waged war upon men. The elves moved underground to escape the chaos above, and they became the Dark Elves of the Underworld, Barkonia. In this chaos the first Ancient One came to be slain by a mortal one of the Uldurin race. This was the first slaying of immortal by mortal and Ammon was forever changed. Thus Ammon entered the Fourth Age, the age of chaos. Thenceforward the talismans became known as the Blades of Chaos, for that is what they had created.

Evruc, one of the Ancients now known only as the Dark One, perceived how easily mortals were corrupted, and how vulnerable his own kind were to them. In his mind he had dark thoughts over how best to rule them, and he opposed the other Ancients, causing much turmoil. He forsook them and left to dwell in the Underworld, and there he became dark and twisted. He took many men as his slaves and many women as his concubines. The elves, who also dwelled in the vast Underworld, eschewed Evruc, and named him the Dark One, but some were corrupted by his power and joined him as subjects. They became the Black Elves. In this time the Orwenoch, mysterious dark beasts, appeared out of the depths of the Underworld, and it was said that they were a creation of the Dark One.

The twelve Ancient Ones, seeing the grave mistake they had made, set forth to create the Umethar, a talisman to restore order to the chaos. It was given the shape of many blades within blades, for it held powers within powers. The hilt was carved from bone of the Ancient One who was slain, known as Thorcan, and the pommel was fashioned in the image of the Anath. The blade was quenched with the blood of every immortal Ancient One, save Evruc, and within it was held their greatest power. The Ancients commanded mortals use the blade to heal the hurts they had caused, lest ere long they destroy themselves by their own hand; and they took the Umethar and by its power they brought life back to the dead mortals who had been slain in wrath over the Blades of Chaos. Order and harmony were restored between mortals, for a time.

The Tale of the Swords of the Ancients and Other Blades of Power and its previous versions, The Swords of the Ancients and its abridged excerpts, and other forms, are ©1997 and ©2005 by Kit Rae. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any other form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, computer networking, or otherwise without prior permission in writing by the copyright holder(s).