Essences of the Universe

It was once postulated that you could boil down anything into its component parts, much in the same way you are left with salt after boiling seawater. In the culture of the Hiz people, they describe the creation of the world as such:
There was once nothing. Well, to say nothing is a bit misleading. There was always something. A spark, a light left on in the dark street of reality. The Great Divine took pity on this slowing dying spark. He was a merciful Divine. Within himself, he had everything. Joy, anger, time, space, destruction, creation. He used these things to create the universe. He first gave up Time. He reached within himself and fractured his Essence. He sent this out into the universe, allowing it to progress. From here, everything moved, storms came and pass, wind blew, and tides rose and fell. Next, he used creation to the point of its shattering. He created trees, bushes, algae, and everything in between. Next, he created dogs and horses, great wolves that populate the land. Finally, using the last piece of creation, he created humanity. A race that would be his last creation. The afterthought of the universe so to speak. To him, even after their creation, they seemed incomplete to him. He was unsure what it could be. He let time flow for eras and millennia deciding what to do with his creation. Eventually, he grew discontent. Despite his immense power, no one could listen to his thoughts, no one could even see him, as that was the nature of the Divines. After contemplating what to do for a great long time, he decided to give the gift of his Essences onto the people below. He would live on through his final creation. And, as he broke himself into tiny little pieces bit by bit, he knew that this was the right thing to do. He could see the emotions running through them as the Essences passed into them. The joy of love, the hate of difference, the sadness of death. What he would call the "spark of humanity". He spoke to them in his dying moments, laying down guidelines of what to do with what he had given them. How to live with a soul.

Manifestation

Of course, creation stories are always romanticized a little bit, as they have to be to capture the imagination. Reality is much more coarse.
The Essences were fractured into smaller pieces of themselves, holding only a fraction of the power that the total holds. By themselves, they are called Shards. A Shard of Anger, or a Shard of Time. These generally sort of "float around" until they have an opportunity to manifest themselves. There are two ways that this could happen. 1) Manifesting into a Demon. Demons are a complicated species that warrant an article all of their own. However, I will refrain from that temporarily due to spoilers. The bottom line is that Demons manifest powers from birth. They have a biological phenomenon known as Demon's Blood. Naturally, it resides within their blood. It provides a connection directly to the Shards, and allows them to manifest their powers. 2) A human ingesting Demon's Blood. When a human ingests Demon's Blood, it gives them an immediate connection to the shards, just as Demons do when they are born. Allowing a shard to manifest within them, gaining its power when they ingest Demon's Blood.
What types of Essences are there? To start with, Essences are generally divided into three categories: Concept, Emotion, and Material.
WIP List of Essences:
Concept:

Time

Destruction

Fracture

Creation

Bonding

Luck/Fate

Emotion:

Joy

Anger

Sadness

Fear

Surprise

Material:

Water

Fire

Wind

Localization

Some areas are postulated as being directly connected to certain Essences, this has yet to be confirmed.

Type

Metaphysical, Supernatural