Eperu and Apsu

For the young adult book I'm working on, The City of Doubles.  The people have their own religion, so I felt I needed to write down what that was.  This is just their creation story, probably not finished, not all that honed.  (Line formatting with this thing sucks in some places too.)  But here it is. :)

"Eperu and Apsu"

Long ago, before there was Time,
there was Eperu—the earth—and Apsu—the deep. 
There was nothing but the two of them in the vast blankness of the world,
and they were both asleep. 
Calm, peaceful, innocent, they slept,
longer and deeper than can ever possibly be imagined,
because Time was not there to hurry them along
and Sound was not there to disturb them. 
They slept like infants, worlds unto themselves.

Then, Eperu woke. 
She awakened very slowly, because she had not done it before
and it was new to her.  But while she was waking
she was aware of one thing,
a coolness next to her, just touching her,
a thing separate from herself that she had never dreamt existed. 

When at last her eyes had fully opened
(and they did not look or function like flesh and blood eyes,
so they could see through the deepest dark of this early world),
the first thing she did was look for the cool thing she had felt. 
She beheld Apsu,
blue and smooth and vast,
and she loved him without question, and completely.

But Apsu was still asleep

and she would not wake him.  Eperu waited patiently,
through what Time would have called eons or eternities,
until at last Apsu, too, began to wake.
Eperu watched him, his blue waters rising and falling,
and she thought she had never beheld anything
more beautiful than he was. 
Then Apsu’s eyes were at last fully opened,
and the first thing he saw and felt was Eperu,
brown and rocky and warm.
And he loved her without question, and completely.

Through great yawning lifetimes

Eperu and Apsu remained awake, loving one another. 
They came closer,
they went under and over and around each another,
and their love created a world that had light,
that sprouted green, that glittered under stars. 
It was a spinning world of mountains and oceans and rivers and plains,
and it was indeed beautiful.

But at last, Eperu and Apsu began to long once more

for sleep, for the quiet, blissful dark
that had enveloped them before Time and light had sprung up all around them. 
They were together now; they were one. 
They would slumber together, and only together, forever,
warm and wet and primeval.

But still they were loathe to leave their new world

unattended and uncared for.  It seemed vulnerable,
and worth more than they were willing to stay awake
to give it.  So before they began their long, sinking journey into sleep
(because everything they did was still slow and monumental),
Eperu and Apsu gave to their world three daughters,
whom they would leave behind to care for it. 
The daughters sprung from Eperu,
in the muddy clay just beside the river,
where Apsu washed over them and gave them life. 
Three tall white reeds,
they grew, straight up at first
and then rounding, spiraling outward. 
As Eperu and Apsu watched, three goddesses stepped out from the reeds,
in the shape of women.  They were the Zikia,
or the Triple Goddess,
and they immediately bowed before their parents.

Ummum, Abu, they addressed them,
Mother and Father, we thank you for giving us life. 
We sisters are here to serve you,
as we have been created to do.

You are good daughters, and we are proud of you,

Eperu and Apsu answered.  But to serve us is not necessary. 
To you we are entrusting this world that we have created,
this world that is made of us and yet is separate. 
We have decided to leave it forever so that we may slumber together through eternity,
and now it is yours.  Populate it. 
Create new life. 
And govern it as you feel best.

We will do what you ask of us, oh mighty parents,

said the Sisters. We will do our best, as your creation
and your children.

But Eperu and Apsu were already beginning their slow fall into sleep,

and did not hear them.

Then the Sisters looked around them

and began to mold the first people out of the soft clay
at their feet, the very clay they themselves
had sprouted from.  And in this way they created new life
and populated the world.

Yadonu.  Protect us.

Eperu and Apsu.