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It is a dark and stormy night, perfect for a happenstance encounter. The clouds above have split open, pouring down rain while lightning streaks across the sky and thunder rumbles deep in your bones. Wind blows through the streets, sending the rain sideways. You're rooting around in the garbage as usual, when you hear something over the pelting of rain against the cobblestones. A whimpering noise. You root around until you find it on the other side of the garbage pile, sheltering under the remnants of a broken crate.
A little halfling girl, with wet blond curls sticking to her reddened cheeks.
She looks up at you, blue eyes wide and fearful, as you let down your cloak to get a better look at her.
???: What... what are you?
Knack: Am Knack. Knack is kobold. RED kobold, best of all kinds.
???: Oh... okay.
Knack: What are you?
???: I'm a little girl. ...my name is Casey.
Knack: Where's parents?
Casey: I... I lost them... now I don't know what to do.
Something in your chest squeezes, unlike anything you've ever felt before, and the sudden need to do something about this is overwhelming. With a bit of coaxing, she follows you out of the alley, and you lead her to the nearby inn and tavern. As you enter, you shake the water off your scales, and start to bring her to the fireplace, when the innkeeper stops you.
Innkeeper: You there! Abhorrent creature! You let that little girl go this instant!
Knack: Knack helping! Knack helping!
Casey comes to your rescue, clinging to your arm, seemingly no longer scared of you.
Casey: It's true! He's helping me!
The innkeeper looks at you with a wary eye, then starts asking Casey gentle questions about where her parents are. The innkeeper says she'll send someone to fetch her parents, and she can sit down and warm up by the fireplace while she waits. When the innkeeper says nothing else to you either way, you follow along and sit on the floor. Much more comfortable than squishy couches. You're brought two bowls of soup and two mugs of cocoa shortly after, with the innkeeper giving you another look of warning. You try to look as innocent as you can.
As you eat, the little girl pauses and looks up.
Casey: Can you tell me a story?
You perk up immediately. Ever since you were a whelp, you dreamed of having an audience. But kobolds can't be bards, everyone told you. That never stopped you from trying. Difficult as it was, you collected story after story, committing them to memory as best you could. Now you'll have a chance to tell those stories to someone else... and not just yourself.
Knack: You are talking to best kobold for stories indeed! What does Casey know about where gods came from?
Casey: Umm… nothing?
So, you tell her: the creation of this world and the birth of the gods.
In the beginning…
Because that's how it's supposed to start, isn't it? And yet, before it all began, she existed. Ask any scholar or any priest, consult any religious text, and they will all say the same thing: the universe started with light and sound.
But that's not true.
Before the world as we know it existed, there was nothing. Not emptiness or stillness. Not a blank page or clean canvas. Simply nothing. She was the Void and she was the Mother of All. But it was a lonely existence, so it was from her that our world manifested, simply by her willing it.
Then came the light and noise. Fire crackling, throwing its light across the earth. The earth, steadfast and solid, providing a foundation for the water. Water, with its deep oceans and winding rivers, to quench the fire when it grew too bold. From them, the rest came: the wind and sky, nature, thunder and lightning, the sun, moon, and stars. Life. And with it, death.
Humans were something of an accident, the consequence of all these forces growing and congealing. They came from the earth, nurtured by the water, and warmed by the fire, and as humans became more populous, they began to beseech the elements. In response, the elements started to take form, coalescing into the divine forms we know today. Lady Space, the Wild One, the Breeze— all the Primordial energies that we know began to take shape.
And humans began to worship them.
Humans organized their lives, forged their own paths, built societies and concepts and beliefs. Belief is a powerful thing, and these beliefs gathered, slow at first, and then rapidly. Some of the Primordial forces found these beliefs, lingering in human societies, and found that they resonated. They adopted these beliefs into their personage, and were reborn in the process.
A powerful enough belief is still only as strong as its mortal progenitors, though, and cannot become a deity in and of itself. Concepts that were strong enough but had no claimants found their way to mortals of divine ancestry, choosing a worthy vessel from among them, a mortal that so deeply encompasses their belief that it rings clear to the heavens themselves. Thus, the Mortalborn came, the human mind given human form. You know these, too: the Dying Ember, the Philosopher, Lady Luck, and many more.
This is why we must live as our best selves, so that the beliefs that resonate with us may choose us. We may not have the spark of divinity, but we all carry with us the heart of the Void, Mother of All. And to her, we shall one day return.
By the time your story finishes, three other patrons have gathered around to listen, and each tosses you a coin, which you greedily grab, before remembering to say thank you. You must be a good role model for the children! Or rather, the child, sitting rapt in front of you.
Casey: Wow… I never heard that before. I know the Breeze and Lady Space… but who is the Dying Ember? And Lady Luck? And the Phila- Philly- the other one?
Knack: Ahah! Casey wish to hear more tales! Knack will tell, until parents arrive!
The innkeeper brings more warm drinks for you and Casey, as well as a pillow and blanket for the little girl, who settles in to listen to your next tale: The Dying Ember, how he loved the Breeze, and how he came to his godhood.