The eternal ocean that vanished

Although retraced through sparse documents and even rarer artefacts the ancients’ culture clearly appears as alien to us as the dark world it blossomed in. Concepts of arts and belief have little to no place in the heritage they left. Instead developing the facets of rationality and logical thinking. Yet legends and myths have made their way through the ages that testify of a much more imaginative and credulous distant past.

One such myth fantasizes over the origine of the abyss. Thought translations and ages have eroded the original telling what remains of it today goes as follows:

All started in an eternal ocean, infinite in all of its ways. Pressures in its center grew so large and the conditions so extreme that matter turned to stone. This core kept on expanding and collapsing on itself under more and more load until its intense energy dried the eternal ocean and with it the energy was gone. Within the shell of this monstrosity only small specks of energy were left which germinated into life and fungi. Although in its heart energy still burns, trapped, giving birth to all kinds of extemes.

As the core cools they say will come an age when the eternal ocean will close back on it and submerge everything that has been.

Interestingly, while the concept of the egg world and the eternal cycle are not too dissimilar to human creation myths, the attribution of the creation to physical phenomena such as water pressure and energy are quite unique. They might reveal a surprisingly deep understanding of physics and the mechanics of the world even at early stages of development. Note that it is unclear if the core is a representation of a spherical earth or even if the surface was known to the ancients at that time.