"Tanya Huff - Crystal 1 - Child of the Grove" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

Genesis
In the Beginning there was Darkness and out of the Darkness came the Mother.
From her flesh She formed the Earth. With her tears She filled the seas and
lakes and rivers. She walked upon her creation and where She passed grew
grasses, trees, and flowers. Her breath became the winds. With her right hand
She created all animals that run and swim and fly. With her left hand She
created all animals that slither and sting. Her laughter became the song of
birds.
When She had walked all the Earth, She sat to rest in a circle of silver
birch. As She was lonely, She gave form to the spirit of one of the trees that
it might keep her company. And the form was that of a beautiful woman. Her
name was Milthra and she was the Eldest of the Elder Races.
When the Mother left the Grove, She gave form also to the other birches that
Milthra would never be lonely as She had been. It is said there is form in all
trees if the Power is there to call the spirit out.
And as the Mother walked the Earth, She bled four times. From her blood came
the other Elder Races, the Centaurs, the Giants, the Dwarves, and the Merfolk.
And so She could see what She created, each time She bled She hung a silver
light in the night sky.
Then another came out of the Darkness. His name was Chaos and He lay with the
Mother and She bore him a son. And the name of the Mother's son was Death. He
was very terrible and very beautiful.
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As the Elder races were of the Mother's body and blood, they could see Death's
beauty but not his terror. Though they could be killed, they did not die; and
so they had no fear of him.
Death went to the Mother and begged her to create a people he could rule.
Because She loved him, She did.
But because She loved her newest creations as well, She gave them a gift so
they could keep Death in his place. She gave them the power to create. And She
gave them a promise that once Death had come to them, they would return to her
once more. She called them Humans, but Death called them Mortals which means
"to die. "
Humans used the Mother's gift to create Gods. They worshiped and made
sacrifices in the hope that their Gods could keep Death away. But the powers
of the Gods, being Human given, were of no use against the Mother's true son.
Soon Humankind abandoned the Gods and learned to face Death. Some even came to
see his beauty.
But a God once created cannot be uncreated and so, no longer worshiped, the
Gods grew bored. Those given the aspect of men by their creators took to
walking the Earth in human form. Eventually, they all lay with mortal women
and from those unions the race of Wizards was born.
The Wizards used the powers of the Gods to pervert the Mother's gift and their
first act was to turn on their fathers and destroy them. There would be no new
Wizards. They formed a great council and for many centuries ruled the
creatures of the Earth. Even the Elder Races feared them, for it appeared the
Wizards had conquered Death.
Over the years, as their powers grew, so did their corruption. By forcing the