"The Speaker´s Son" by Kelsey M. Graham

There once was a world made of words. Not the sort that I am writing here, exactly, all letters and lines and dots. No, these were real words, living words, spoken before sound, felt more than heard, in a time Before.
In this world of words, there were creatures of every shape and size imaginable, swimming, flying, walking, scaled and furry.- all of words!
And there were folk too, made of breath and life. They were special, made in the Speaker’s own image. Theirs was the task of naming beast and bird, creature and plant. They were free and joyful, in the dawn of the word world. Naught could harm them there, there were no words for ‘Pain’ of ‘Sorrow’.
But freedom also means the ability to choose- for without option, tis but a cage. The Speaker knew this, so he allowed them to choose, for he loved them so.
It is the nature of mortals to desire what is not theirs, harming themselves and others in their foolish wishes. And so words like ‘Death’, ‘Hunger’, and ‘Cruelty’ came to be, and they knew only darkness, and the Speaker was hidden from them.
But the Speaker had not forgotten his children, though they rejected him time and time again. He sent his only child, blood of his blood, word of his word, together yet apart, to be born as one of the word folk.
The Speaker’s son spoke to them, making miracles with his words, but few listened. They had grown cruel and proud, telling themselves that they liked their darkness, and that the Speaker was a myth. They seized the Speaker’s son and executed him in the most terrible way they knew- they gave him to the shadow-words, which ate into his flesh, gnawing at his bones with icy teeth of Hate, killing Joy, Love and Peace with Malice, Pain, and Loss. But he did not struggle, he let all the evil come where before there had only been light, and with his dying breath he blessed his murderers.
But no amount of darkness can defeat Hope, and it shone like a frail candle in the abyss. According to the laws of the words, the dead may not rise. But there are older laws, from before the Beginning, more powerful than time and death.
The Speaker’s son returned from that place beyond words, and gave the people that most precious gift- Hope, that they need not fear the darkness. Though the shadows surround them, they know that the abyss is not the end. None can mend that which was broken, but some can make it into something new.