Ch'Watikk tells the story of Yootikkwavoolchikk

I am Ch'Watikk, a Phanaton from the Witchwood. This is a story of my people, a story that men have forgotten or never knew. It is a true story; I have seen it, tasted it, and climbed it, branch and root.

And this is how it starts.

Long ago, before gods were, before any thinking creatures walked or crawled or flew, the world was different. The land had different shapes. Mountains spread and rivers flowed in different places and along different pathways.

In all the world, life was everywhere. But the animals and plants were different too. Strange creatures roamed the forests and stalked the plains, that none see today. But I have seen their teeth and scales. Curious plants thrived, and nowhere can their like now be found, but I have tasted their scent on the air.

And all life was connected. The soul of Yootikkwavoolchikk, Great Spirit of the World Wood, touched all living things. For countless years it slumbered, and dreamed, content within the cycles of the world, its slow thoughts alone in the wild.

In time, the gods came. They knew nothing of the World Wood, and did not see it, could not tell it apart from the living things that it touched. And the World Wood was as yet undisturbed, and slow to notice the newcomers. The minds of gods did not disturb it, for they were not part of the world.

But the gods created thinking races: men, elves, orcs, even Phanatons. From the stuff of the world they were made; the energies of their thoughts were akin to those of the Great Spirit. As their numbers increased, their thoughts and dreams were like biting gnats, and began to disturb the long slumber of the World Wood. It began to know that it was no longer alone, and it became angry.

Men tamed animals and cut the soil with iron plows. The World Wood maddened their livestock and sent wild beasts to scatter the villagers. Men cleared forests, and the World Wood poured forth its energies into new life. Woods and swamps spread rapidly, overwhelming settlements. Even the earth came alive. In all the world, no walls were left standing; their foundations shifted and they toppled, and creepers cracked their stones.

Men did not know their enemy, and could not fight it. They prayed to the gods for help. The gods came to help their creations, and there was a great war. Almost, the gods lost. Some were killed. I have seen a god destroyed, pierced with thorns and rent, bleeding fire and bright magic.

But at the last they believed they found a way to defeat the World Wood: they would destroy the life that it was connected to, and the coherence and connections of its body. They made deserts, and icy wastes, and brought forth fire from the depths. They raised mountains, and sunk seas, and split the world into parts. At last, it seemed, the World Wood was destroyed. Relieved at their victory, the gods rested.

All of the first civilization and most of the gods' children were dead. So the gods populated the world again, and did not tell their new children of their near defeat.

Much life was destroyed, but not all - there are lichens in the bitterest of icy wastes, and scorpions in the harshest deserts. And some places were unharmed even in the catastrophe. From seeds on the wind forests regrew.

Yootikkwavoolchikk too survived. It was broken, shattered. But parts of Yootikkwavoolchikk remained in hidden places. They too are seeds, soul-seeds. Some are still isolated. Others have sent out roots, and are interconnected once more. Yootikkwavoolchikk is not whole, and sleeps, but it lives, and dreams still. And some can see glimpses of its dreams, and tell this story.

That's all.