I was in the cabin with Argoss, and while the moon was shining brightly through the window, he told me this story.

Let me tell you why birds fly, fishes swim, wolves hunt, and trees flower. This one is called The Four titans and the beginning of life.

Story

A long, long time ago, two twin sisters were dancing in tandem around the sun. Terra and Luna. There were huge balls of flames from the molten rock, dust, metals, and precious stones.

But one day, there was a great threat. A massive comet, speeding from a faraway galaxy, heading straight for Terra.

There was almost no time to think. Her twin sister, Luna, saw it coming first and she, in a great act of love, sacrificed herself to protect her sister. The collision shattered Luna - one part of it merging with her sister Terra, and the remaining forming the Moon.

The combined Terra and Luna are what we call Earth. The moon is a reminder of Luna's sacrifice, and the threats from far away that are and always will be omnipresent. But it's also a reminder to be grateful to be alive, for its beauty and for the opportunities that we have.

The moon, the remains of Luna protects us still as shield, as well a quietly pulling on the Earth, pulling on its oceans and steadying our world.

Grieving her sister, Earth slowed her dance and promised herself to create something beautiful in her twin sister Luna's memory.

So Earth got to work, she had to find balance, as it is the rule of the universe.

You see, Earth, at that time was very different from today. There was no life, no land, no oceans, no sky. There was only fire. Ruled by the fire Titan, Ignar. Ignar was hot tempered. He could bring warmth, but also destruction. He is a Titan of transformation and renewal as he doesn't like things to remain the same for too long.

So Earth had to create another Titan to balance Ignar. So, she created Terranox, the Titan of Earth. He is the rocks, the mountain and the soil. He is patient, enduring and possess a tremendous memory. They worked together, balancing each other out to cool down the Earth to create the land.

But although things were more balanced, volcanoes still roared, a testament that the two titans were struggling. So Earth decided to create another titan, Zephira, the Titan of air. She is the sky, free, playful and restless. She is a titan of freedom and connection.

Right away, Ignar fell in love with Zephira. Her playfulness balancing his hot temper, and her free-spirit constantly keeping him feeling renewed. As Ignar and Zephira met in the sky, it created large and never ending clouds. A storm was brewing. It rained and rained for years and years, cooling down the Earth even further.

The water filled the basins to create the oceans, the lakes and the rivers. They had made another baby titan, Thalassia, the titan of water. She is the oceans, fluid, emotional and deep, the most adaptable of the four titans. Terranox fell in love with Thalassia for she balanced his stiff slowness with her fluid movement.

The titans were better off as couples, for they could balance each other out. But it left them vulnerable in a way, because when one would hurt, the other would to. When the Zephira is sick, Ignar shows his short-temper and power for destruction with wildfires. Terranox is patient and slow, so he is not quick to react when Thalassia is sick, but when he does, his power is tremendous and unmatched with Earthquakes.

But also, when one is healthy, then the other is healthy. When the sky of Zephira are clean and free of black smoke, Ignar is happy to stay cool. When the oceans of Thalassia are clean and free of pollution, Terranox is happy to be giving.

The four titans, and the four elements were reunited. Earth was now ready for the next step.

"What would Luna want?" the Titans wondered.
"She would want you to survive — to thrive." replied the Earth.
"But how to do that?" asked the titans. "We are trying our best, but our balance is still fragile."

But Earth had an idea, a crazy and wild idea. She would create life, small beings that could help the titans stay balanced. Ignar didn't want to have anything to do with this idea and convinced Zephira not to either. Terranox was too slow to be of any help and so Earth asked Thalassia, the titan of water, to host and develop life and she accepted.

She took the task as an experiment, so she started very small with tiny beings who fed off sunlight to grow. It was a success as Zephira was pleased for these tiny beings released pure and clean air into the sky.

So the experiment continued.

With some of those beings, she let them grow to create algae and sea plants, while to some other she gave fins, turning them into fish who could eat those plants. Like this, she tried, so that they both balance each other out. If there are too many plants, there would be more fishes to eat them. But there was a problem, for at some point, there were too many fish, and they would eat all the plants and die, for they were not very smart. So she created bigger fish to eat the smaller ones and they would be responsible to keep the small fish under control. It worked, and even more pure and clean air went into the sky.

Thalassia had succeeded and was proud of her accomplishment, so she convinced her partner Terranox that she would help him to do the same.

Together, they repeated what had worked for her. They started small and with plants. Mosses and ferns covered the land. They soon realized that it would be much more challenging to do this work on land than in water for the land was exposed, unprotected.
The sun would scorched the plants in his summer's gaze, and the wind would blow them away in the winter's craze. So they had to come up with another solution. They had to come up with a master plant, one that could resist the sun and the wind while providing protection to other plants. They decided the create the great guardians - tall, strong beings with thick bark - trees.

But all was not perfect for unlike water, wind does not diffuse. So the plants had trouble getting its pollen to the right places. Also, unlike within the water, it is hard for plants to grow on rocks. So Thalassia and Terranox decided to create tiny helpers that could help with both, they created insects and fungi. They would pollinated plants, cleaned fallen leaves, and decomposed dead trees, keeping the land clean and creating rich soil.

They also created creatures that could help keep the insects in check, they created birds and small mammals. They made sure there were not too many insects, and would also help spread seeds across mountains and rivers by eating the berries and fruits from the plants and trees.

With all this good work done, the forest grew, and plants thrived and for a while all was well. But then, a massive forest fire burned down, almost all of the forests. The solution was simple, it was the same as Thalassia had done in the ocean. They created life that would eat the plants to keep them in check, they created herbivores.

And as the plants grew, the herbivores too. It was the time of the dinosaurs. The Diplodocus, with its long neck to reach the tallest leaves, and the Triceratops, with its frills and horns to munch plants. Their job was to keep the forests healthy, opening spaces for new growth and preventing deadly wildfires.

And this time, the couple knew better than to leave this as it was, so with the herbivores, they created animals that would keep the herbivores in check, they created carnivores. The fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex and the swift Velociraptor, to keep herbivores moving, to take away the sick and the weak, and to protect the plants’ recovery.

The two Titans had achieved balance and felt proud. Went they went to Earth to show it what they had done, Earth smiled with appreciation. It was true that they done great work, but they had forgotten something, something very important.

Luna, her sister knew. The real threat comes from above. And as everything is bound to happen, one day, a great ball of fire — a giant meteorite — crashed into Earth, covering the sky in ash and setting forests ablaze.

The dinosaurs were gone.
The forests were burnt.
But a few other animals remained.

The titans and Earth grieved for the great lost they had seen. But the titans are persistent and the remembered the promise that Earth had done to the moon. So they took a deep breath and started over again.

They recreated the forests. Herbivores became the deer, the moose, and the bison. Carnivores became wolves and cougars.

Balance returned.

But this time, Earth had an another idea, so asked the 4 titans to meet, and to create one species that would be able to care for all the others. And when they met, in a whirlwind of water, earth and fire, they couldn't agree on what the creature would look and be like. During that time, one curious creature was looking, and may have gotten too close.

Finally, Argoss asked,

Now, do you understand why birds fly, fishes swim, wolves hunt, and trees flower?

I said,

It's just how it is. It's all about balance.

Right, but also Earth wanted it that way. It's the mother of our creators, the four elements. Look around you now. Every tree, every bird, every ant. Everything is part of a grand, living dance of balance. Every object that is man made ultimately comes from Earth. Let me ask you a question before you wake up: What is your role in keeping balance?

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