The Births of Time

In the beginning, Dohmis emerged. And he decreed that time must flow. Thus, Time was born.

The world was created, and people were born, and all the while, Time simply existed. Time did nothing. Time was nothing. Just a physical embodiment of a necessary truth. The world kept turning, people kept growing, people kept dying, and Time kept flowing. Time never questioned it. Time never did anything else. Time simply watched and waited.

But one day, Time did something it had never done before. It noticed something. Something caught Time's attention, and Time investigated. Time looked down into the world to see what it saw. And what it saw was a woman. A human woman. A mortal woman. A beautiful woman, sitting in a beautiful meadow. Time looked closer, and saw that the woman was not alone. The woman was holding something. Something large. Something person-sized. Time looked even closer, and saw that she was indeed holding a person. A dying person.

"Isn't this place lovely?" The woman spoke softly to the dying person. She held them in her arms. Time was perplexed, so it did what it did best. It watched, and it waited. "Such a peaceful sight, isn't it?" The woman was smiling warmly as she spoke, "Would you like to hold my hand?" She offered her hand to the dying person. The person weakly took her hand. "Rest your eyes. You've had a long journey. It's time to sleep..." The dying person smiled, and Time was again perplexed.

The person died, and Time did something else it had never done before. It asked questions. What is this woman doing? Why is she doing it? Who is this woman? Who am I? As Time asked itself these questions, the woman spoke again, seemingly to nobody. "Who will send me on my way, I wonder?" The woman coughed into her hand as she said this. She looked at her hand, and Time looked as well. Blood. The woman began to look sad, and Time became sad with her. It asked more questions. Why am I sad? What am I doing here? Who am I?

Time continued to watch. For a long time, it watched. It watched the woman going about her life. It watched her doing the same thing over and over again, with different people each time. One day, there was no dying person. Time wondered where today's person was. The woman started coughing, and Time realized that she was the dying person. The woman started to fall, and in that infinite moment, Time asked itself many, many questions. Why is she dying? Why am I still here? Who is she? Who am I? Who do I want to be? As it asked the questions, and the woman continued to fall, Time did one more thing it had never done before. It answered. I want to be her.

Time reached out and caught the woman as she fell. She coughed, and looked up at Time. "Who are you?" She asked.

Time repeated her question. "Who are you?"

The woman coughed again, and Time offered its hand. "Would you like to hold my hand?"

The woman took his hand and answered his question, "I am Tetra."

Time held her hand with both of its own. As it did, its body began to shift. It began to break apart, flowing into the woman through her hand. Before Time had broken apart completely, it answered her question.

"We are Tetra."

Time passes. Another person dies, and they open their eyes. They're in a beautiful meadow, and standing in front of them is a beautiful woman.

"Isn't this place lovely?" The woman speaks softly.

"Who are you?" The dead person asks.

The woman turns to them, and smiles warmly at them. "I am Tetra."

Summary

This is a popular origin story of Tetra, Overseer of Time. According to the myth, Time was a completely blank entity when it was born, nothing more than the physical embodiment of a necessary truth, that time must flow. As time passed, the entity known as Time simply watched reality pass by, not questioning anything, not doing anything, simply existing. But one day, long, long ago during the Godless Age, Time saw a woman. This woman was comforting a dying person, and sending them off to eternity. Time watched her do this again and again, and began to question its own existence, asking who it was and who it wanted to be.

One day, the woman was dying herself from some sort of sickness. She began to fall, and as she fell, Time caught her. Time decided it wanted to be this woman, and asked her who she was. The woman told Time that her name was Tetra, and thus, Time declared that they, collectively, were Tetra. Upon this declaration, the two merged together, and the goddess we know today was born.

Historical Basis

People have claimed to find ancient records that mention a woman named Tetra, but none have been deemed as definitively true, and the actually true claims can be hand-waved as simply talking about encounters with the goddess. Yet, at the same time, there is no evidence to disprove this theory either. Thus, it is simply known as legend.

Spread

Basically anyone who knows much of anything regarding the gods knows of this myth. It is an incredibly ubiquitous tale, and the most widely accepted interpretation of the goddess's origins, but nobody seems to be able to point to a definite origin point for the myth. Believers will point to this as irrefutable evidence of the tale's truth, but anyone even remotely skeptical of the theory will realize that this is far from conclusive evidence.

Variations & Mutation

Some storytellers like to claim that the woman simply died, and Time took on her identity in tribute rather than through a merging of their souls. Others, who fancy a more convoluted story, claim that the woman was the goddess herself in a mortal form, come from impossibly far in the future to ensure her own birth, in a sort of stable time loop. The latter variation is far less accepted, as most people either cannot comprehend it or laugh at it.

Date of First Recording

Unknown

Date of Setting

Circa ~15000 BG

Related People

• Tetra