Uutak Genesis: Lecture From Talk-Fabulist Ykut To His Apprentice

''Why do you bother me with such foolish questions instead of rewriting your chime mechanisms? What? You wish for me to tell you about how we came to exist within this Macrocosm? Fine, I will tell you as we work on this sheet design but I want you to be working! Grr, Juveniles these days. Next time listen to your Instructor at the Institution instead of asking me, or I will report you to the Law.''

We do not know when we were created or why we were created, but we do know that our kind has dwelled beneath the surface of our isles in total darkness since before the final echoes of time stopped shaking the milieu. It was in this darkness that we first began using the weakest form of reflected sound, which allowed us to see in only two tones we came to call ‘black’ and ‘white’.

And then one day the Begetters came and entered our tunnels and caverns with great instruments of noise. Remember, back then our people were very small and so we were frightened by the Begetters and their contrivances. The Begetters themselves seemed fascinated by us, and especially liked our use of reflected sound. Their Leader, whose name is lost to us but we do not forget its significance, told his people to study us while they built their new home. We were subjected to different things, all dealing with our use of reflected sound and our ability to hear certain tones that they used.

But right now you are probably wondering how we were able to understand their speech, for we had never communicated with other creatures before. Our Talkmasters believe that is because our ears are able to hear and discern levels of sounds that other creatures can’t. I believe that too. But as the Begetters began to build into our dark home, our ancient elders decided that we would learn from them. The Begetters were still studying us and so they let our people fly amongst them as they created new contraptions. Soon, some of our people were able to learn and speak their language, which surprised the Begetters. After that, things changed. We became the Begetters servants and workers, bringing them such objects as metal and ore to help them in their research and in return they taught us how to read and write and how to perform calculations.

But most importantly, they taught us about sounds.

Small sounds. Big sounds. Loud and quiet sounds. Sounds that went dead when struck and sounds that reverberated throughout the air. We liked the sounds, not only because they helped us see but also because they helped us learn more. We liked the sounds.

Our masters also talked about greater beings, who they scorned for reasons that piqued our interest. When we felt we could get away with it, we would read their notes about them and wonder why they held such hatred for these beings, but we never learned the answer. To this very day we have still yet to learn the answer.

And then everything changed for us again, because one day we awoke to melt the ore and start on our calculations when we noticed something.

The Begetters were gone.

We continued working on the tasks they left for us, of course. They did not like it when we slacked in our work and we had thought they were discussing more ideas in the Atrium, for that was one of several areas we were not allowed to enter during those times. But then the following day rose to meet us and they still had not returned. And the next. And the next.

Months.

Years.

Soon our people grew lost. We did not know what to do anymore. But then our ancient elders spoke to us that we should forget the Begetters and claim their cities and contraptions as our own. They told us that our masters had left to continue research that they did not need us for, and at those words our people became saddened because we were once again the useless creatures we were before the Begetters came. But then they said that now we could research our own things now; we could read the notes that our masters did not want us to read, and improve on them. Essentially, we would become the masters. And so we did.

We first melted down all of the Begetters constructs and remade them into other images we preferred. Then we began rebuilding all of the cities on our isles, making them more like the caverns and open spaces for flight. We destroyed most of the Begetters light sources for we did not need them due to our use of reflected sound. We made excursions to the surface to get more ore and materials and created our own written and spoken language.

We noticed that our work had changed us, both physically and mentally. No longer were we the small, flying, furry creatures we were born as. We were something…different…now. We started to wear clothing like our Begetters did. We created caste systems, replacing our ancient elders with our Talkmasters. Sound had become the very essence of our being, but it was no longer similar to the sound of the old masters.

And then one day the Others came.

There were a multitude of them. Tall ones. Ones with pointy ears only dwarfed by our own and with a lot of different tones. Ones covered in a lot of fur or a little fur and ones covered in smooth ridges. They scared us. Our Talkmasters ordered our people to stay underground the instant their foreign vessels landed on our islands and sent out emissaries to meet with them, and they were all surprised to discover that our island was indeed inhabited. Their leader asked us what was the name of this place, and we responded with Yneslea, which meant Our Union in the old speak. And then one of the Ones with the pointy ears asked us if we were mer because of our own ears, which reminded us of our old masters who had mer in their names and which meant ‘Folk’. But our people had never had a name for ourselves before and so the emissaries excused themselves and returned to our prime city.

There our people wondered what we should call ourselves. And it was then that the Talkmasters proclaimed that are people was to be known forever as the Echmer, or the Echo Folk because it was the echoes of our old masters that made us rise so far. And our emissaries returned to the Others and gave them our name. The Leader was delighted and surprised, and gave the names of the strange creatures he had brought with him but we do not remember them now. And the Others stayed on Yneslea for many months, but we interacted with them little and stayed underground unless called to speak to their Leader. But suddenly the Others began fighting themselves, and the more Others came to break it up.

And then one day we came out of our cities and the Others were gone without a trace, and we were alone again. No one came to our shores at all. And are people realized we had something we hadn’t had in a long time again.

Peace.

''What was that? Are you trying to tell me, your superior, that I shouldn’t stop the story yet. That it is uncompleted? Apprentice Inati, one more outburst from you and you are going directly to the Law. That is the history of our people in the ancient times. Now get back to work or go back to the Institution and learn the rest of your own history you ungrateful brat.''