The stark cerulean of the girl's eyes against her nearly translucent skin startled Haerland.
"I am," Haerland answered.
"She tells me my name is Arbina," the girl said. "Arbina Promregis Amaris. I believe you asked for me."
Years later, the Sun's second gift, the mossy green seed, also reached the dawn of its adolescence.
Haerland discovered its growth on the dawn of an early spring morning. Just as the child 'Arbina' had accompanied the tree atop the hill, this tree was also accompanied by a young child.
The adolescent girl was sitting at the base of the tree, between the uplifted roots with her knees pulled up to her chest. A pair of scared and severe white-blue eyes met Haerland in a stare beneath the girl's strangled tendrils of mousy brown hair. This child introduced herself as Somniarb Crelib.
Both Arbina and Somniarb, as well as their trees, had matured into full adulthood by the time the Sun's third grew into its own.
It was towards the end of the First Age that he was found. On the fourteenth night of the last dead moons cycle, Haerland found herself trapped in the middle of the Forest of Darkness during one of the worst thunderstorms she had ever seen. She took shelter beneath the engrossed canopy of trees to wait out the storm. Just as she began to nod off, the figure of a fully grown man appeared in a flash of lightning directly before her.
She backed herself closer to the trunk of the tree, but the man continued to approach her.
"Haerland?" he called out into the darkness.
"Yes?"
The man came forward and proceeded to kneel down in front of her. "The Noctuans tell me you are the one to which I owe my life."
"Who are you?"
In the cracks of lightning, she was able to put together his appearance. His buff and vigorous body was scarred to the point of mutilation; however, his once handsome and strong face was not lost beneath the red scars.
"They tell me my name is Duarb," he answered. "And I want to thank you, Haerland."
She suddenly felt remorse for this man and knew he was of the Sun's third gift, the black seed. She gave him the smallest of smiles and said, "You are welcome, Duarb."
With the maturing of the Sun's three, Haerland knew the First Age was drawing to a close. She decided upon giving the Architect's five a collective name. Only one name fit them, and it was the way in which the Sun had told her to treat these gifts. Haerland would call them, the Lesser Ones.
As the Second Age dawned, the Sun's three, along with Lovi Piathos and Mons Magnus, all aided Haerland in making her lands better than before. But with five strong voices came quarrel and division, something Haerland was not accustomed to.
She made a proposition to the Lesser Ones. She asked each one to give a child, a child possessing any and every quality they thought most important to the survival of a living race.
Seven children, each with distinguishing characteristics and abilities, came from this proposal.
Duarb's 'Venari' child, or 'Hunter,' was the first born. The child was created in the very bowels of the earth beneath Duarb's roots. Pulling his powers from not only the sun, but also from the wind and the moons, Duarb created a child worthy of living in the Forest of Darkness. The child's most distinguishing ability, and most vital to his survival, was that he could hear sounds carrying on the winds.
The 'Dreamer' child was the second. With its pointed ears and flawless appearance, Somniarb Crelib's child reflected the free spirit she thought necessary for life.
Not to be outdone by the Sun's second and third, Arbina Promregis Amaris was quick to present Haerland with not only one, but two children. She gave twins, a brother and a sister.
Lovi Piathos called his child 'a child of the Honest.' Along with the gift of eternal life, Lovi's child was born with slits on each side of his neck. They were gills, given so that he would be able to breathe upon his birth in the deepest parts of the reef in the southern sea.
In the mountains, Mons Magnus presented Haerland with a child known as the 'Blackhand.' This child was gifted in that he could tell how far away or how close his enemies were by the vibrations deep within the dirt beneath his feet.
Haerland also produced a child. Born deep within the northern realm caves of the Forest of Darkness, Haerland gave her daughter's race the name of 'Martyr,' for they were the only ones she knew could save her if needed.
Towards the end of the Second Age, the Lesser Ones existed alongside their children. Tensions rose between the Sun's three. Haerland grew furious with Duarb's immature ways. She cursed he and the Noctuan creatures. A new race rose from Duarb's roots. A cursed and unwanted race. The race of the Infi.
The Third Age began when the Lesser Ones took a step back and let their children take over. Over time, the races quarreled over the land, became allies, betrayed one another, and sometimes existed in complete harmony. By the end of that age, Arbina's son and daughter were no longer simply beings of Haerland. They had become a king and queen. The Dreamers called them the beings of Promise, praising them for their compassion and loyalty where the other races fell short.
In the caves beneath the rocky cliffs of the Dysis Highlands came a new race: 'the Belwark.' Haerland gifted this new race to Arbina specifically to protect the new King and Queen. The Belwarks, from that day on, guarded the walls of Magnice and became the throne's closest ally.
But the Chronicles are not always truth.
