All was silent in the beginning.
Life was born to a world without miracles.
As organic matter formed in thunderstorms caused by volcanic eruptions, the earliest life appeared near the hot springs of deep oceans and spread with the eruption of submarine volcanoes.
With time that flowed like a river, countless bizarre yet simple carbon-based lifeforms naturally appeared and died: unicellular, multicellular, algae, shelled critters, echinoderms, and vertebrates debuted, and then evolved or went extinct.
Neither extraordinary powers nor miracles were involved in that process, and that journey continued for an indeterminate period. That was until one day, when a primitive marine creature with jointed appendages evolved, arriving upon the surface alongside mosses and ferns.
