Clockwise - The legends of Terra lucida:

I. About the origins of the world

In the beginning was Time. She, the faceless goddess, gave birth to the origin of all existence. As a stage for burgeoning life she chose the shape of a sphere, for the sphere is the symbol of sheer perfection.

So as to put subsistence into its cosmic shape, the Great Goddess had to bring forth the First Aeon, containing the seed of divine diversity. Yet the Nothing ruled over the Big Void, shapeless and bleak, there was no sun enlightening the world, there was no moon enthralling the night. All was complete, and still the entire was nothing.

On the third day of creation it happened, that the Wise Creator scattered the Aeonic Dust, consisting of myriads of golden particles, right into the Big Black Nothingness. Now, to let matter emerge from those countless golden shimmering elementary particles, the creator send out the grand weight, called gravity, into the weightlessness.

And so it came to pass, that the nothing set free the very first matter, and the universe arose from chaos, when the Great Goddess donated the earthy globe and the celestial bodies. So then she snatched the sun from the inscrutable chaos and ordered it to rise and shine onto the earth and warm it with its light.

Yet the great opus wasn’t accomplished. Now, there was earth and water and air and a heaven with all the stars, but still the celestial globe had no real stability, nothing on earth had a steady shape, nothing had a stable form. Yet the earthy globe and its little sister Luna were drifting along inside the vacuum without aim, the stars were dancing around the sun unstable and with no sense at all. So Time, the Great Mistress, ordered the celestial bodies and all matter to follow the laws of the grand weight and to gather around the sun neatly in good order. And thus it happened on the fourth day of creation. Now, before the Great Goddess crowned the new order with her divine breath, she surrounded the newly created solar system with a haze of bright light, the halós.

After all the stars had found their right path within the galactic helices, the earthy globe began to tremble and quake, since it was no dead thing, but a lively, pulsating being. Like a blood corpuscle in the circulation of that great tissue, called the universe, the earth went on a journey, in order to resign to its destiny.

And so, on the fifth day of creation, the earth began to rotate along that divine axis of time, and therefore light was divorced from darkness. The graceful ethereal vault of heaven arose to lay its pale blueness over the globe that was bordered by water. Soon thereafter the ocean removed from the mainland. Gajapana, the mother continent rose from the aeonic waves and broke up into two big hemispheres, called Euradon and Wanado.

And finally, the divine odour of Time, named Atmós, soared above the shores of Euradon and Wanado. The magnificent breath of Time surged and divided itself into the four great windspirits. Over the high north presided Boreas with his icy power, Euros, the ghost of the eastern wind drew back into the Orient, to glide across those Golden Fields enlightened by the morning sun. The tender Notos, the southern ghost, send out rain-carrying clouds and a blanket of fog to cover his land. The Occident at last, with its Imperial Fields, touched by the twilightning sun, was handed to the powers of Cephyros. To honour the four great spirits of wind the wise Goddess created a stony monument to mark the highest place in the world henceforth. High above the snow-covered peaks of the Mahilaya-Mountains, right up, where the earth is closest to heaven, the tower of the winds rose up in the air. And the Great Creator saw, that it was good.

There was hustling and bustling on earth, creatures of all kind were romping around. But the great work was not yet complete. One thing was missing: an upright being, a bright, outshining spirit that should be towering above all the other living creatures on earth. And so the Great Godmother brought forth a creature of her kind, the brightest and most outshining creature according to her heavenly self she gave birth to, and she called it »mankind«. The Wise Creator infatuated the first human beings with her divine breath, and then she rescued her children and set them free from the magical trunks of Gathas.

When it came to pass, that the first human being appeared on earth, the Great Goddess gave him the word. The word engendered the question. The question, as the great creator ordered, was the source of variety, variety delivered a new question: It was the question about meaning.

Now by the end of the sixth day, Time raised her veils and unmasked her face. She revealed to the world the colour of divine light, so that the world had to be enclosed by sincerity. The truth, by the name of Aletheija, was part of the divine prophecy, meant to fulfil itself.

After the first cycle of creation was done, Time donated two magnetic poles to the earth. One northern pole, named Thalamos and one southern pole, called Wanamos. And from now on, all life the Great Goddess had created and sent out into the world, was bound to the alternation of darkness and light. And the Great Goddess said: »Behold! With darkness and light there shall come joy and sorrow to conquer each and every being, and each and every living creature will be condemned to strive for happiness and to avoid sorrow!« And so Time, the Wise Creator, gave birth to sleep, for that life with all its joy and sorrow, that it was filled with, gained relief – and so it happened. Since the Great Godmother beloved all her creatures, she gave them hope. Thereupon she created the brother of sleep, the great redeemer, and she named him: Death.

When it came to pass, that Time had send death into the world, so that he would complete the holy circle, life began to create itself. And the Holy Mother saw, that it was good. She veiled her face, and with her face she concealed the colour of all existence. To preserve the great balance, she donated the Great Creators, by the number of 24 they were sent out into the world to observe and to rule.

There were twelve White Elders, blessed by the eternal light and there were twelve Dark Elders, infatuated with chaos, she send out into the world. Together they were called the Havatherians, the protectors of the great balance. And so it happened on day eight.

The twelve White Creators the Great Goddess named: Athamae, the Godmother, Estra-Rah-Diva, the Enchantress, Hathora, risen from haze, Idyllanora, the Eleusininan, Stellavera, the Starkeeper, Venetir, the Manifold, Chrysostomos, the Imponderable, Diotimos, the Twinfaced Spirit, Spirogard, the Endowed, Quietos, the Peaceful, Theotastros, he who was born from humility, und Zenonnios, the Infatigable.

The twelve Dark Creators she called: Leviathorr, the Godfather, Nihilostromos, the Rejector, Rhamenorr, the Obscurant, Thorrherrsios, the Global, Ynfamos, the Unconscionable, Zagreus, the Outrageous, Bromosthenia, the Overwhelming, Cruelifé, the Vindictress, Eleazara, the Brutish, Feritassandra, the Seductress, Dhaimonea, the Fairy of Foresake, and Ultrizia, the Unescapable. By the end of the last day of creation, the Great Goddess saw, that it was good.

After the great composition was complete, the Mistress went to rest. Until now, she has been sleeping in silence. Invisible and calm she presides over all living and fading away. As the sentinel of life the faceless goddess hides in the shadow of herself.

Die Mythensammlung zum Terra-lucida-Universum (Heldensagen Terra lucidas) wird derzeit ins Englische übertragen von: Carola Hipper.

Stand: Mai 2012

Take a look at the first chapter of the main story:

... or listen to the author reading a scene from chapter 1:

Read more

[Chapter 3: Sir Bonaventura Amatus]:

Towering out there in the forest was a gigantic, red, glowing forked cross. As if poured from lava, it showered sparks into the icy night.

»Do you see? That unearthly flicker?« Emma asked in agitation. »The cross stands in flames, but-«

» - the flames are black as night!« Paddy finished, obviously at a loss. »How on earth is that possible?«

»I do not know. I have absolutely never seen a black flame before!« Emma returned breathlessly.

»Just look, the cross is glowing! In this freezing cold! One can see the flames licking at the glowing cross all around, even though they should not even be visible in the dark of night! It’s simply not possible!« Paddy exclaimed.

»What could it mean?« Emma was rigid with cold and excitement. She had withdrawn back into the protection of the carriage interior. She was feverishly thinking about what had happened when the bewildered Paddy slipped onto her lap and looked up at her expectantly. At that moment, they both realised that the carriage was slowing its speed. Emma began to knock on the tiny window which separated the passenger cabin from the coach-box:

»Sir Amatus, Sir Amatus, listen to me!« the girl cried, her voice trembling.

»Stay calm, Mylady! It is only a brief delay! Remain in the carriage! No harm shall come to you. No cause for concern!« Sir Amatus explained. He had reined in the horses and brought the black carriage to a halt. Emma heard him leap down from the coach-box.

At a distance, a blood-curdling howl, as if from a thousand wolves’ throats, trembled the forest. The horses whinnied and snorted anxiously. When Emma put her head out the window again, it was to see Sir Amatus hurrying towards the glowing forked cross. Emma was about to open the door to stop him, but the strange howling voices had approached rapidly. Appalled, she observed the black-garbed coachman hastening toward the ominous flame. He had stopped at last, at a safe distance.

Emma saw Sir Amatus leaning to the ground and making small, circular motions with his hand. She surmised that he was drawing a sign or word into the snow. At this distance, the girl was unable to see precisely what he did. Unexpectedly, he straightened up, stepped back and waited. In this very instant, Emma realised that she was able to see through the body of Sir Amatus. He stood precisely between her and the sinister black flame. Yet her view of the black fire was not barred. The girl stared into the furiously rearing flames. Indeed, it was true! Emma was looking through the body of the coachman!

All at once, the forked cross and its flames began to recede. Emma was unable to determine with certainty whether the glowing cross shrunk into itself, or whether it only appeared optically smaller because it was moving away from the carriage. Their eyes wide open, Emma and Paddy followed the monstrous spectacle. After short moments which felt like an eternity to the two of them, the flaming cross had vanished. A strange blue fog arose. Sir Amatus wordlessly hurried back to the carriage and quickly jumped up into his seat as the portentous wafting mists approached the carriage. The animal howls had moved terribly close. Emma heard the whip cutting through the air with a bang; the horses leaped forward and broke into a wild run. The two speechless passengers were pressed into their seats, and onwards went the hair-raising journey through the night-black snow landscape.

Paralysed with fear, Paddy had fled into the large pocket of Emma’s coat and buried his sore head deeply in the protective wool lining. Sir Amatus drove the horses ahead with loud cries, and thus the carriage bumped and stumbled up the stony road to the Unhallow Pass. With every step, the ground became steeper and impassable. Sir Amatus demanded the utmost from the horses while out in the forest, the creatures’ howls grew louder and louder. Dark clouds balled in the sky. The closer they came to the summit of the mountain, the more tightly formed the icy swaths of fog, threateningly encircling the black carriage.

Onwards they went, rushing headlong through a tunnel of tightly intertwined branches. The wind whipped mercilessly through the dismal forest – Emma did not envy her black-garbed protector his unsheltered seat on the coach-box. She felt sorry for the horses as well. Emma strained to see through the window. All of a sudden, it seemed to her as if a blood-red pair of eyes shone at some distance amid the blackness of the forest. The girl shrank back in dismay. Intuitively, Emma felt the presence of a mighty being. Those were not the eyes of a hungry wolf looking at her. The bloody red of those silent eyes floated imperiously in the midst of a nebulous silhouette which stopped Emma’s breath cold. A numbing fear trickled through the girl with creeping cold; like a demonic shudder, a vague premonition prickled across Emma’s skin.

Her gaze spellbound, Emma spied into the night. Branches snapped; a gruesome Something moved in the thickets, approaching more and more rapidly. The carriage creaked and groaned as if it were to burst apart at any moment. Sir Amatus banged the whip in the air, and his cries to the horses became shriller. Faster and faster, they mounted the path which wound steadily upwards around the mountain. As the dense fog lightened for a few moments, Emma saw the path running towards a rise where it took a turn. Soon they would have reached the rise. The howling, which increasingly seemed like melodic singing, had shifted dangerously near to them.

Emma searchingly peered into the forest. The eerie pair of eyes had disappeared. At a mad tempo, they reached the turn in the road. Sir Amatus drove the horses harder. Then Emma heard the coachman call out a command in a foreign tongue. The grey blankets which the animals had borne on their backs swirled through the air and flew – one after the other – past the carriage into the night. Emma did not guess what this would mean. She glanced forward, and gasped. They had reached the rise. At this point, the ground remained level at first, then dropped steeply.

Terrified, the girl realised that Sir Amatus was steering the carriage towards a gigantic, unsecured gorge. No bridge was in sight. And there appeared to be no further path. They would inevitably plunge into the gorge if Sir Amatus failed to stop the horses in time!

»Sir Amatus!« Emma screamed, hammering wildly against the little window. »Sir Amatus! Stop! There! But look! The gorge! Sir Amatus!«

He did not answer. Paddy’s spines stood on end. Suddenly there was a sound which was reminiscent of the beating of mighty wings in the air. Emma feverishly wondered whether she might still have time to jump from the carriage. Before she could decide, the inevitable occurred: The carriage, together with Emma, Paddy, Sir Amatus and the six horses, plunged into the abyss. Endless seconds passed while they slipped into bottomless air.

An  der  Übertragung der Haupthandlung (main plot) von  "Clockwise" ins Englische waren beteiligt:

Elgin Elisabeth Marko (Hauptübersetzerin),

Sandy  A. Pirie

und 

Carola Hipper

Clockwise – The Legends of Terra Lucida, Part 1: The Magical Maiden (Copyright © 2001-2012 Carola Hipper) - No parts of this document may be republished in any form without prior permission by the copyrightholder.