In the Genesis Era, year 512.
Far far away from Ruth and Caldan, another wise species made its appearance.
In a land of eternal snow and ice, below a ancient tree kilometres tall, a group of giant rats appeared, only about half a normal human's height.
They took refuge below the tree, for it provided them with rare warmth against the unforgiving tundra. As the years went by, they started changing.
Generations after generations, they started walking on both legs, using their claws to dig caves and collect food. Suddenly, they were wise.
Whether by fate or by coincidence, they managed to create writing even before the fire elementals. They drew what they saw or heard and told their children.
One such tale was of a legendary god that their instinct driven ancestors saw. According to the tale, there was a group of evil insects which wanted to eat the tree, but a giant ball of light suddenly crashed on them and protected the tree, hence they believed that the giant light was god.
They slowly started worshipping the tree as a tree of life, as without it, they would have died.
Yet in the unforgiving tundra, life was harsh, despite many generations of living here, there were only fifty families and barely four hundred ratmen.
They had to dig deep into their caves in order to survive the cold storms or hail, with more people dying due to frostbite than hunger or old age.
However, despite this, they were happy. They could tell their children tales of the past, they could work together to survive the cold, when they were happy, they could dance, and when they were sad, they could also dance, as dancing was something they loved. At such joy of life, why should they be sad?
They were frail, yes, only living to fifty years old, very weak and small, get they possessed something simple. Stupidity, they were not very intelligent, this allowed them to find simple joy and happiness, something that every modern human envies.
Perhaps the world took pity on this poor yet happy race, so during a storm, a thunder stroke very close to them, near a tree, igniting a fire.
The ratmen were scared yet curious at the red thing, so one of the brave ones approached it.
As he got close to it, he felt that it was warm and shouted back to his people, "the God gave us warmth", hearing this they quickly gathered around it, feeling its warmth.
One of them tried to touch it but his hand got burned a bit, telling them that touching it was dangerous.
However, the fire slowly started to go out, making the ratmen panic, for they did not wish to harm the gift of God due to their own stupidity.
However, one of the wise ones saw that it grew bigger by adding wood, so he used wood to create a line towards their caves.
Thankfully, the fire starting burning on the line, going in the caves, where they put a large number of wood to keep it burning.
Honoured by the flame, they names it first fire, determined to never let it go out. For this, they appointed the ratman who discovered this and his friend the Fire Keeper, who had to take turns and make sure that the first flame never went out.
The two fire keepers were quite nervous at everyone's trust, however they swore to never let the God given First Flame go out.
Hence, the year went by, slowly, the ratmen applied fire to cooking, and learned that clay could be turned hard using it. Hence pottery appeared. They also learned that fire would keep the beasts away, allowing them to never fear beasts attacking them again.
Their population slowly grew to six hundred, constrained by limited food foraging and space.
However, no matter what happened, they still stayed the same. Dancing in face joy or sadness, joyful against the cold of tundra. Worshipping the drawn giant ball of light (which they believed was god, and god was a ball) and the mother tree of life that gave them shelter and protection, using their frail bodies to carve the future of their race.
Ultimately, a yet to materialise concept spotted this race and observed their way to life. After much observation, it decided that the race was worthy of bearing it, and capable of allowing it to completely materialise in the world.
That day, all ratmen felt something in their blood had changed, however no matter how much they thought, the couldn't realise what had changedz so that decide to dance thinking that whatever changed must be good for them.
What they didn't know was that the moment their race was chosen, they gained a special trait, one that even Zeroth could never earn.
From this point onwards, they gained the seeds of courage in their hearts, which would burst with power at the moments of great courage.
This also allowed the concept of materialise, the concept present in almost every world, one without which change and revolutions would not be possible. One without which, spirit would surrender in face of overwhelming strength.
This concept went by many names, however it was most primarily known as... The Courage Of The Weak.
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Author's note
I can see that some people are reading the novel which I am thankful for, but please guys if are reading it, respond, or i may truly get paranoia.
I sincerely hope that you can respond for some of my questions, like i still have yet to decide the name of the race of fire elementals. At least think of those poor souls, and don't you guys want your own clan? It would be so good!
Finally, I hope you guys can respond, thank you and byee