The Beginning.

Long ago, before even animals walked the earth, there were basic plants and bacteria on land. Maybe a few flimsy strands of rudimentary lichen here and there, but nothing big. Eventually, one day, travelers from a faraway star landed. Noticing the life just beginning to appear, they grew fearful of disrupting it with their home bacterias, for it hadn't had much time to develop immunities or constitution.

However, before they left, they planted a single, already evolved seed from their home. From it grew a large treelike plant, however its leaves were white and bioluminescent. They planted this treelike thing to protect the little life on land at the time, knowing that it would need protection. This is the Tree of Light. As years passed, and life continued to evolve, some species began to evolve around the Tree. They began to evolve as if they had the Tree in mind, certain root fungi to help it grow, certain bark moss to aid with oxygenation.

Eventually, however, as the plants grew more complex, a single bacteria cell made it into the Tree. It ate a plant cell and kept its DNA, combining it with its own. The cell then left, and went to the edges of the Tree's root system. There, it became another seed. It grew into another large tree, this time with leaves black as night. It grew quickly, and was in no time just as tall as the Tree of Light. However, this Tree of Dark, as it were, was not like the Light. It took energy instead of giving it, in some ways the first Weed. However, it never took enough to kill. This is what separated it from its counterpart. Eventually the Tree of Light and the Tree of Dark grew nerve-like structures in their root systems, allowing them to communicate.

"Hello, sibling!" Said the Tree of Light.

"Hello, parent." Said the Tree of Dark.

"But sibling, are we not equal? Do you not stand just as tall as I do?" The Tree of Light said.

"You may be just as tall as I, parent, but your root system is larger and your time in this place is longer. After all, did I not originate from stolen life, much like a parent plant to their seed?" asked Dark, jealousy coiled like vines in their heartwood.

"Oh sibling, forget those silly things and let us rejoice! The life on this planet is growing quickly, and animals are beginning to form!" Light said, feeling rudimentary fish swim between their roots in a lake far away.

And so Dark did for a time, the jealous vines receding away. Until the travelers returned to see the progress life had made in the past millennia. The travelers saw that the Tree of Light had grown tall and strong, and a beautiful garden has sprouted around it, much like it was supposed to. It had grown so tall that it had created a new place in the heavens for birds to flock and live in, and for a place of sanctuary to very small animals. However, they eventually noticed the Tree of Dark on the horizon, taking energy and pushing life away. They began to grow worried, talking amongst themselves.

"Say that this tree takes all the energy and collapses the ecosystem!"

"Nonsense, it's clearly been here nearly as long as the other. That should've happened already."

"Yes, this is merely evolution seeing what works and adapting."

"But look! Nothing within its root system is well! The soil is not arable, the water is polluted, and fungi grow rampantly. We must chop it down."

At this the Tree of Dark cried out to its sibling. "They speak of chopping me down, sibling!"

"Why would they ever do that? Do they not see that you take energy so that I can give? Do they not see the cycle that has been born here?" The Tree of Light said, worried for its sibling.

The travelers argued for some time, before eventually deciding to chop the Tree of Dark. As they chopped, the Tree of Dark's heartwood began to grow gnarled and clotted.

They won't chop my sibling because they have a beautiful garden about them, while I have fungi and scavengers. They won't chop my sibling because they are a miniscule distance taller, while my roots go deeper. They won't chop my parent because they have pristine leaves, while mine are dark and dingy!

And then the Tree of Dark snapped, whipping their branches at the travelers and taking their energy. "Go away!" The tree spoke. "Or I shall take your energy and feed it to my parent!"

The travelers yelped and fled, leaving the Tree of Dark half chopped and severely wounded. "Sibling! Sibling, are you okay?" Worried Light.

"No parent, I have nearly been chopped due to your good fortune! Now if a storm arises, I shall surely fall!"

"But sibling, this is not my fault, it is the traveler's!"

"No, parent! If I had a beautiful garden like you, if I had a branch reaching higher than you, if my leaves were as pristine as yours, surely I would not have been chopped! But I do know one thing. You cannot do this!"

And the Tree of Dark, having stolen enough energy from the travelers, began to create two living creatures. It had long arms and legs, six fingers and six toes, a nose, a mouth, a patch of fur atop its head, and as a last addition, Dark added two horns, which may be hidden from view by the creature.

The creatures looked around so wonderingly, amazed at their surroundings.

At this, Light was shocked and surprised. This was the first Light had seen of such a creation, consciousness having not yet evolved in any other creatures than the trees. "Simply amazing, sibling! I cannot do that!"

"Yes, you cannot, sibling." Dark said, a dark and jealous joy spreading through their branches.

"How did you do it?" Light wondered, curiously.

"I took the energy from the travelers and changed it into something to my liking." Dark stated.

"But sibling, did you... kill the travelers?" Light worried.

"Four will recover. The fifth will be gravely ill, and shall eventually perish, if not for some miracle. But no matter. They shall have learned not to chop." Dark said, a vengeful twist to their roots.

"Sibling, don't you see! With one dying, they will surely deem you dangerous and will chop you immediately!"

"Nonsense. They will see I merely protected myself, and that they shouldn't have chopped me anyway."

It seemed as though Dark was correct. The travelers never returned. The Trees grew quietly, watching evolution take place as time went on. But Dark never forgot about their jealousy, nursing the seed deep within.

The two creatures created by Dark eventually learned how to live and reproduce, and fighting broke out between groups of them, over trivial matters and minor miscommunications. This was due to the lack of a soul these creatures had, and they could not form empathy or many other emotions other than anger.

Noticing this, Dark's jealousy only grew.

As the creatures developed, they began to build huts for themselves, but the fighting continued, resulting in tribes and divisions. Eventually, Light began to play with their own energy gifting powers, and eventually created souls for the creatures to feel emotion from, and to divine meaning with. The creatures were immensely grateful, and this in turn created Faith and Gratitude.

Now with souls, the creatures began to tell fantastical and inventive stories to entertain one another. The Trees greatly enjoyed this, especially when the creatures dreamed up different Trees. Eventually, one of the parent creatures came to Dark for advice.

"My son keeps running off into the forest alone! What should I do to make my little boy stop, for I worry he will be eaten by wolves!"

Dark quickly came up with an idea. "Tell him a story of a wolfman eating a person in graphic detail. This will make him stop."

And so the parent did, and the son did indeed stop exploring the forest. However, this gave rise to Fear. One day, the Fear was so much in the little boy's heart, and the threat so real in the little boy's mind that the wolfman simply leapt from his mind into reality, and ate him right up. Dark was appalled at what had happened, and was ashamed. They then told the group to never tell such frightening stories again, just in case another event like that ever happened. The parent was in deep grief, and came to Light for support.

"I miss him so much! I wish I never went to that tree for advice!"

Dark's jealously only grew.

One day another one of the creatures came up to Dark.

"Can you give me more knowledge? I wish to help our family live comfortably."

But Dark could not, for they can only give what they have absorbed, and the knowledge absorbed from the travelers faded long ago. "I'm sorry, but I cannot. I can only give what I have taken. Go to Light."

And Light gifted the knowledge of what is now called Ko. Now the creatures could use the Ko deep within their souls to bend the elements to their will. The creatures eventually began to refer to themselves as Ko'd, for they are people of Ko.

Yet again, Dark's jealousy grew.

One of the creatures eventually went to Dark.

"Are you a boy, or a girl?"

"Young child, boy and girl are simply faint markers in the great stretch of gender. If you start to think in things of two, you will quickly find yourself trapped within walls of your own making."

The child then went to Light for something it could actually understand.

"Young child, boy and girl aren't the only choices. I am a Tree, and you are my creation. I see no other distinctions."

The child then went to the town the creatures had fashioned and declared itself to have a new gender. It called itself "creation" and preferred it/itself pronouns. Light was happy it could help, but Dark notices Light's usage of “my” creation. The jealousy began to gnarl its heartwood.

Eventually, a child was born to the creatures that was different. It seemed to gain energy around Dark and lose it around Light! Dark loved this child, calling them "the Offspring". This child's name was Kanto. Their soul was dark, and they could not control the elements like the other creatures could. The child could seemingly do nothing.

One day, the child cried to Dark. "I have no Ko like my family! I have been exiled to you for worthlessness, haven't I?" "You have Ko, Kanto, you just must find out what to use it on."

And so Kanto experimented. They eventually found that they could control light itself! They could make things glow, make things darker than even Dark's leaves, they could even make things invisible. Dark' gnarled wood began to loosen, love softening it.

"But what use will this be? I cannot hunt, I cannot heal!"

"Yes you can, Kanto, you just must find different ways." Dark stated reassuringly, the jealousy in their heartwood fading even more.

Kanto found out they could blind prey with light, heat things with light, and heal things with a sunshine-like warmth. They could also hide themselves with dark, blind prey with dark, and freeze things with a winter night-like freeze. As they grew up, they eventually wanted to make a tribe of their own, separate from the other tribe. When Kanto married, they had many children, all with the same powers as them.

All Kanto's children seemed, at first, gaunt and skinny, most clothes hanging limply by them. However, what they lacked in physical prowess they made up for in magic. At first, it seemed as if all the children simply had the same powers Kanto did, but soon it was realized that certain groups of children were far better at certain forms of light manipulation.

They eventually began to break off into sections... Here, the fire makers, there, the prey-blinders, and so on.

Kanto's offspring lived near the Dark, while the original creatures lived near the Light.

And so Equinox was kept.

PART 2: THE ERA OF FAITH

As time went on, Equinox was kept, but its balance began to grow fragile. Why?

The Domination of Power.

Power had begun to rapidly gain faith, as the people began to believe they were above the other animals, Dark's jealousy living on in its creation. They separated themselves, living almost entirely in their cities and towns, almost never coming in contact with the true wild. Because of this, they began to create and assign hierarchies, seeing power everywhere in varying quantities. Their belief in power, their faith in it began to coalesce, combining and mixing with many ideas, many other concepts, and eventually this glob of ideas caught fire, and from the flames and smoke came Eric, the Paragon of Power. After being created, he immediately fell fast asleep. He simply lay there, wreathed in smoke and ash and a long red scarf, sleeping.

As he slept, the Dark and Light trees fell into obscurity, their roots burning with his presence.

"Goodbye, sibling." Said the Light Tree, as its trunk began to burn.

"Goodbye, sibling…" said the Dark Tree, as its branches began to wither. The people who still knew of their existence wept deeply for hundreds of years.

In their final moments, both tree's burning roots twined together and turned to stone, and this is still visible in a small corner of Akatennaji. They still glow with the red embers of their fire, still warm from the flames of creation.

With this event, Equinox was broken.

However, Eric's existence made it much easier for other globs of ideas and faith to ignite, his presence the lighter to a tub of gasoline.

As the ideas and faith ignited, the world became hotter, and the weight of having so many deities on its surface began to weigh the world down, slowing it and making it sink slowly below the surface. Eventually, the Deities and the A'd came to live underground, and the Surface was left alone.

Eventually, as the A'd came and went, the Mays took their place in the underground, which they called Yukanji. The Mays had no idea of the surface world, where as they began to build societies and study the soul, battles raged on between similar species of ape, and the Homo sapiens were soon to win. Their diet of fish and other seafoods, and mild semi aquatic abilities led to their bigger brains and long noses, long legs and arms, giving them an almost identical look to the Mays and the A'd. However, they did not have six fingers. They had five.

One thing was most strikingly different between the Mays and the Humans. The Humans, when they believed something, the faith created was staggering. It was more than enough to create many deities, from Tiamat to Ares, from Vishnu to Yehoba.

However, they could not create a deity that rules over everything, for that spot was taken by Eric, who was still asleep.

Eventually, some say, the Mays fell due to their discovery of Faith Based Magic, which led to many different types of magic suddenly appearing at once. Some people became far, far more powerful than others, which naturally led to wars, until what humans would call a Treaty was agreed upon. The remaining peoples would create a fair and just power system, and stick to it and it alone.

This was how Ko was re-discovered, though this story is not commonly told, so as to avoid bringing back that Forsaken Age.

Nowadays, what we consider Faith Based magic isn't a system at all, but rather a simple action made possible by Faith.