There existed novelty in the simplest of acts in the times when Time was yet still fresh. When the most common things were being experienced for the first time. Unknowns that could not exist as such for long by their very nature. But because they were not yet established, it made them seem unique. Unprecedented. It was after Time’s birth but before the Stars and Void that Ignis was first deceived. When Fate was barely one or two loops around its spool and half the Aspects had not yet introduced their firstborns. Irwyn knew with uncanny certainty that was the timing.

  He witnessed two figures kneeling by Ignis’ pre-eternal throne. One was a being of ever-changing forms, their body shifting between every material, shape, and concept as they kowtowed before the Creator of All. The other was Vitaros, the Aspect of Deceit, form just as intangible to Irwyn’s eyes as ever. And of course, Ignis himself was impossible to look upon and describe, his majestic seat consigned from the first spark of their universe’s birth and thus also beyond words.

  “You have lied to me,” Ignis stated. His fury was palpable, even in the limited ways Irwyn understood anger.

  YOU HAVE MADE ME OF LIES, FATHER. IT IS MY NATURE, JUST AS YOU HAVE GIFTED IT TO ME.

  The Aspect spoke, their presence permeating every word.

  “Even to your lord and creator?”

  I AM THAT WHICH YOU HAVE MADE ME TO BE.

  “Your act conflicts with my desires. I have granted you one spark so that one child may come alive.”

  WE ARE YOUR CREATIONS. ALL OUR ACTIONS INEVITABLY BECOME PART OF YOUR VISION.

  “Perhaps. Yet I dislike this course. What excuse have you come to give then? Speak.”

  IT IS MY NATURE TO LIE AND DECEIVE, SO I DID, STEALING A SMIDGEN MORE OF YOUR FLAME THAN YOU GAVE ME.

  IT IS MY NATURE TO CREATE, SO I MADE A FIRST CHILD LIKE MY SIBLINGS AS YOU HAVE ASKED. SHE STANDS BEFORE YOU. A DAUGHTER CRAFTED FROM LIES, AS AM I.

  IT IS MY NATURE TO PUSH EVERY BOUNDARY, SO I USED THE STOLEN EMBERS TO KINDLE COPIES. LIKE SISTERS TO HER, IF NOT AS MAJESTIC. I BIRTHED 3774 OF THEM BEFORE THE FIRE RAN OUT.

  IT IS MY NATURE TO REPEAT MISTAKES. SO I STOLE ANOTHER EMBER AND BROUGHT ANOTHER SPECIES. AGAIN AND AGAIN. ONE BY ONE. IN THE IMAGE OF YOUR SONS FIRST, THEN MIRRORS TO THE FIRSTBORNS OF OTHERS.

  I DID NOT UNDERSTAND ENOUGH, SO I MADE THEM LESSER BY FAR. BUT SO FEEBLE AND SMALL THEY WERE, THE FLAME I STOLE LASTED LONGER. BILLIONS OF EACH MADE, I SCATTERED ACROSS THE NEWBORN REACHES OF TIME, UPON THE NEW REALMS, JUST SET IN PLACE.

  “And now you stand here before me, wholly unrepentant.”

  I KNEEL AND SEEK FORGIVENESS, YET IT WOULD BE WORSE TO BE ASHAMED OF EXISTING AS THAT WHICH YOU HAVE MADE ME.

  “Will you destroy all of this if I demand you to? Reduce your deception of Life back to nothing?”

  I CANNOT. I LOVE THEM.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Then do I have to be the one to do so?”

  I BEG YOU, FATHER, FOR ANYTHING ELSE.

  “There are countless cruel things that can be contained within ‘anything’. Would you truly accept the unknown, rather than understanding?”

  WITHOUT DOUBT.

  “How bothersome this is and will be,” Ignis sighed, looking down at the prostrated Aspect. “It will not end with just your creations. When your siblings hear of it, they will each demand species of their own, perhaps several each. Then those will need to fit into the grand order of things, and for that meticulous care will be needed to pave the way. To give them possibilities, options, meaning, as without those it would be kinder to destroy such false Life. Another thousand layers to add, all for something I never wanted. In fact, a situation I had explicitly intended to avoid.”

  YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL WITH EASE.

  “Ease does not imply enjoyment,” Ignis said, then his gaze shifted towards the woman. There were a thousand emotions visibly shifting within her form, though Irwyn struggled to recognize them. “Speak, child. Why is it worthwhile to allow all this to exist?”

  //I am perhaps first but one of many. I have seen the Life spread by my father as well as its wonders. You in your greatness surely see it even better: So small and fickle, yet in its brittleness amazing. Beyond count and thus ever unexpected due to the sheer quantity of its change.

  “Life was never supposed to be.”

  //Nothing can happen if it is not at least partially your intention, oh Allfather Flame. Were it to be truly impossible, you would have foreseen the possibility and severed it. Then there would have been no sparks for my father to steal and misuse.

  “No wrong could have been committed, yet it was all only possible because of a wrong done,” Ignis summarized. “And such words you both speak with conviction.”

  //Yes. And now that it is, I believe with my whole being that Life should remain.

  “Would you perish for it then? If all this Life was possible at the cost of your own immortal existence, relinquishing the privilege of a firstborn?”

  //Without hesitation.

  “Very well. Henceforth, I Name you Prometheus, for you are the legacy of stolen Flame.”

  //Thank you and praise be upon your wisdom

  She said, a sign of relief flooding into her rippling body. All things decreed by Ignis became true, so a Name was born the instant it passed his lips. It coursed through her form, filling her with power few could imagine, much less control. Yet she took to it with natural ease, such was her birthright as the firstborn of an Aspect. A vessel hand-made to host such.

  “Prometheus is no more” yet Ignis decreed again. And so, the Name shattered.

  P R O M E T H E U S, each letter was severed from the whole. Pieces of power beyond imagination scattered like sand in a hurricane. A color wiped from the yet unripe canvas of reality, leaving a gaping hole where something had once been. Broken so far beyond repair, it was as if it had never been. Prometheus - thus the word once again held no meaning nor wonder.

  There was one child left kneeling at the foot of Ignis’ Pre-eternal throne.

  “For transgression against, a Name ceases,” Ignis concluded then turned. “Vitaros, if you insist of Life, then so be it. Become it. Vitaros. You are the Aspect of Deceit no more. Your greatest lie shall become the only truth of your existence. Yet forever it shall remain a Deception, for an untruth presented to me can never become anything else. That is the first half of your punishment. The truth amidst lies.”

  “The second half is that you shall hence forever remember the love of your firstborn daughter and her loss – understand your sole responsibility in and her desire for Life to be preserved. Yet her existence shall be replaced, a different creation taking everything that should have been hers. And you will watch as all of reality, not even your equals, not even your own children, will ever know she once was. An illusion. She will become the lie among truths.”

  There was a moment of mute silence when Ignis ceased speaking. It might have been grief for a daughter lost. Perhaps it was a reel from surprise. The pause of nature shifting. Or maybe the cause was something only the Aspect could possibly understand. Nonetheless, when he again spoke – changed as he was – the words were the only ones he could possibly imagine:

  AS YOU DECREE.

  All Ignis spoke became true, as always.

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