Origins of the first Elves

*A translation into common Elvish by Elmar Kulmin*

For as there was once nothing but the harsh, bright flame, so pure that its smoke formed pristine white skies, so flawless that the flame grew jealous and even more enraged, over and over again, day after day.

Nothing other was the Eternal Flame than the Longing of the sleeping Morning Dragon.

Nothing other were the Skies than the Dream of the slumbering Evening Dragon.

The dream birthed the first children, the Wal’Leif, and the Longing provided sanctuary to the Hel’Leif. As these siblings visited each other and wandered out of the flames and clouds, the dragons awakened, and the dragons named the travelers the Walwin and the Helwin, and the Astral Dragon forged the friendship of these siblings into eternity.

Though, the dragons never had planned to spawn these children, and in fact the dragons had not done so themselves but their Longing and Dream had, yet did they not know which home to build for the children within the cosmos. In astonishment they watched the Wal’Leif and the Hel’Leif being just as capable to create something new from their emotions, and they observed the creation of the new world.

The Wal’Leif and the Hel’Leif remained well protected in the Skies and the Eternal Flame, whereas the Walwin and the Helwin entered the new world, looking to belong, driven by the Dream and the Longing.

At first, the new world was young and unforgiving. Storms of ice and sparks formed aisles, regardless of what or whom was in the way. The seas swallowed what could not withstand, the ember burned veins into the bedrock and the rivers violently filled them with life. Those souls that wished to stay had no choice but to adjust, and so they tried all means; They danced with the winds and fires, they dove through the sands and depths, they listened to the drums far, far beneath the mountains, and they learned from both the silence and the chaos all the same.

So diverse, so fairly molded and shaped by change, so ambitious to find themselves were the children, the dragons commemorated them with a new name, and they named them Elves.

At day, the Eternal Flame seared the memory of itself into the souls of the Elves, and so it created the first Sun Elves; the nightly Skies imprinted the temper of others and created the first Night Elves.

Only a few Elves stayed behind in the air, felt so much safer this way and closer to the Skies, yet still within their new home. Their urgent words of caution not to forget the way back, as wise as they were, would soon be nothing more than sharp blades in the thoughts of the other Elves. So they pulled back further into the clouds to remain among their own kin. As the last of the Elves to still carry wings on their backs, they were observed flying away, and so they were named the Angelic Elves. However, as they swore each other to never forget their origins, they would call themselves the Children of Dream and Longing.

Millenia went by and some Angelic Elves thirsted for knowledge and belonging. They ignored all of their siblings’ warnings, reached for everything they could, within the elements and beyond. They knew no restraint and no holding back, and soon their blind zealousness had caught up with them. Not all treasures of the cosmos are to be relished, and hence tainted those who craved too much. These Elves were the first Cursed Elves. In shock and regret the Cursed Elves searched for help and only found condemnation in the eyes of the others. They were banned from the realms of the Angelic Elves and sent to the new world.

During all these events, it would happen time and time again that few Elves realized that, even with all the effort and countless millennia at hand, not every single soul would find a place for their own in the new world. Few individuals would never truly belong here, yet neither Skies nor Eternal Flame would welcome them back. Longing and Dream had grown so substantially within them, it pulled them into far ranges and distances and dared them to grander quests.

The Light Dragon and the Ethereal Dragon, both, felt compassion for the lost Elves and they taught them about the bending of space and time - all was connected in the Astral Planes, and so the first Astral Elves wandered along interwoven paths and entangled crossroads.