Another God Learner text for your enjoyment! The following is a folk tale in one form or another among the peoples of the whole continent of Genertela. Its widespread distribution is indicative of the truth which it contains. Brithini wizards claim to have found proof of the veracity of the tale in fragments of the Blue Book of Zzabur.
“There was once an old old man, so old he couldn’t remember his name or even where he came from or where he was. He lived atop a great dome called EGGSHELL which floated in the sea, and his name was EMPTY-HEAD.
One day Empty-head was approached by two people, generally called Stoneface and Warmbody. These two politely asked permission from Empty-head to dig beneath the Eggshell to make themselves a home. Empty-head, who’d never considered such a thing necessary, gave permission.
Stoneface and Warmbody dug for a long time, until the dirt was piled as high as they were tall and the hole was as deep as they were tall. Then they lay down together to rest, and when they emerged from the hole they brought with them a young daughter. She was called Ebon by the pair who found her in the pit.
The next day it was Ebon who dug, while her parents kept watch at the lip of the hole. Warmbody covered the walls of the hole with claratha to prevent landslides, while Stoneface crossed the hole with a long pole, and then hung a long rope called Serpent-power down to his daughter. And after the hole was deeper by the depth of Ebon’s height, she emerged carrying her young son.
So it went on for generations, until at last the hole was so deep that it was a hollow egg. The surface was quite crowded then, and eventually the unruly newcomers bugged the old man away, into the sea, and they made the place into their own castle. This castle is called the Hill of Four plus Another.
Here is now that the castle got its name, for it was originally called the Hill of Four. It was divided equally into four portions, each ruled over by one of the Quarterlords, wherein there also lived their servants, families, etc. They all lived together, eating only claratha, and revering in their glory. At this time, it is known many of the servants and such were joining in unspecified behaviour with the peoples of the other quarters. Yet with claratha this is to be expected. What was a surprise is when two of the Quarterlords overindulged on claratha one night and begat a young creature all as powerful as they.
This in itself was not bad. There were already the Grey Ones, who lived in the castle called the Spike, and these Grey Ones were certainly as powerful as the Quarterlords. Yet this new one, who everyone quickly called TROUBLE, was not a Grey One. His place was upon the Eggshell, and he demanded a place atop it as his right. When he was refused, he gathered some friends, stormed parts of his mother’s and father’s quarters, and there made himself Lord. Shortly afterwards he was crushed by the spearmen of his father and the axemen of his mother, and his followers fled. Trouble was tossed into the sea, left to swim around in the shoreless ocean forever.
Yet Trouble returned, and far more powerful than before. Amid the vast oceans Trouble had met Empty-head, and although the old man did not even know it, he carried a weapon against the Quarterlords. He did not understand it, but Trouble did. The weapon was the sword, and it was made by a Grey One or else was a son of Trouble. Newly armed, Trouble crawled back on the Eggshell. What followed was the Gods War, a terrible Darkness Age, whose consequences are still felt today.”
And like the previous text, there is a LOT in there. The text likely dates to the early Second Age, and the tale had already been subsumed and clarified by the Theyalan missionaries who gave us the names we know best. But in one form or another that tale was known from Kralorela to Seshnela.