Udenepisa
A Maldisian creation myth
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Universes / Forumworld / Midland Sea / Udenepisa

The Maldisian story of creation is actually a composite of two sources which retell the same story. The first source, termed the "religious" source, is more focused on the moral and theological implications of the story, while the second, or "mythic" source, is more concerned with explaining the world and establishing Umam's place in it, even before the city was founded. Text believed to be from the "religious" source is presented in italic, with the mythic source in bold:
In the beginning, all things were in heaven, and all that was on Earth was the water and the things that swim. For one that is in heaven may fall to the Earth and say that they have touched both, but one who is on Earth cannot reach heaven until they die.In the early days of the world, when all who lived resided in heaven with the stars, the goddess Kildusa, daughter of Kankamu, daughter of Esa, creator of the Universe, became pregnant by a mote of dust. And she bore twins, and named them Mal and Udene. And the gods all saw that they were both male and female. They each walked with four legs, held things with four hands, and saw with four eyes mounted on two heads. And so they were alike.In heaven grew the twins, Udene and Mal, children of Kildusa, alike in greatness. Kildusa was alone in motherhood, and could not keep both of her children from excess.But Udene engaged in gluttony, and grew many miles in height and weighed as much as a thousand mountains, while Mal never grew more than seven feet.And so Udene became a giant, while Mal became the first human. One day, Udene became hungry, and went out to dig for tubers.When Udene was hungry, she went to dig for tubers to satiate herself.Alam, one of the wisest of the gods, warned Udene not to dig on that day, saying "If you dig today, you will die." But Udene did not heed this warning, and went on to dig for tubers anyway.And when Udene dug, she dug too far, and fell through the sky into the water.And because Udene did not heed Alam's waning, she plummeted through the whole she dug, into the water below. And she could not return to heaven, because one who is on Earth cannot return to heaven until they are dead. She was missing for several weeks.For several weeks, no one saw her. And Mal began to worry. And Mal said "Who knows where Udene is?" But no-one knew. And Alam said to Mal "Your sibling, Udene, went out to look for tubers. And that was the last time I saw her." And so Mal went to search for Udene. And Mal looked in the place where Udene would dig for tubers.And Mal came upon the massive whole that Udene had dug.And Mal fell into the whole that Udene had dug, the one that  broke the sky. And Mal, in her clumsiness, fell through the sky. And her fall was broken by Udene's foot, and when she fell, she broke into many pieces, half of them falling on the left side of Udene's foot, and half of them falling on the right. and the fish that swam in the sea put both halves back together, but they were incomplete, each having only two hands, and two legs and two eyes upon one head. This is why humans, unlike all the other animals, walk on two legs. And one was male, and was called Malhun, and one was female and was called Malki. And they were the first people. And Malhun* said to Udene "Aren't you glad you have someone to keep you company now?" But Udene said "I ruled this world alone before you arrived. Now, I fear I should have to share it." And, in her jealousy, Udene tried to fall upon Malhun and kill him.Udene, jealous of her brother, tried to kill him, and managed to cleave both of his breasts off. This is why men do not now have breasts as women do. But before Udene could destroy him, Malki climbed onto her back and stabbed her with a sharp stone, killing her.And Malhun prayed for Udene to be turned to stone. And the gods took pity upon him, and did so.And soil washed up onto the body of Udene, and with it, the seeds that would become the trees and the grass. And all the things that would come to live on the land crawled up out of the sea, and came to dwell on the land.And Malhun prayed that never again would someone grow so big. And his prayer was granted. And no human from that day forth grew to be taller than seven feet. And he prayed that no one would have to raise a child alone. And his prayer was granted. And Mal was a man and a woman, and all humans afterward were men and women.
*scholars believe that in, in the religious version, Mal was still one being at this point, and that editors later changed this for the sake of consistency.