Origin

by
Lewis Dowling
Origin
Look, as a strange site bestows your eyes.
A robed figure appears to your right, and watches with you as the world
unfolds.
Ignore the figure, it is not yet important.
Watch the world.
Yes, a new world unfolding itself.
Mere moments pass and soon there are rocks, plunging into each other;
ozone fills up the atmosphere; and then a sphere is born.
A simple sphere.
Around this sphere darkness appears, complete blackness. All that can be
seen is the newborn planet, resting and hovering in suspense.
As it floats in the universe, newly built just for it, other planets and
phenomena appear.
None are as important or significant as the first.
A star explodes nearby and casts light down onto the sphere.
Move forward. The planet zooms towards you at incredible speeds.
The blinding light from the newborn son pierces your eyelids, despite their
closure.
As you enter the atmosphere, notice the little changes.
Huge explosions create vast amounts of water, and it cascades down the
land into lakes. These lakes grow and become seas and oceans.
Before your very eyes, see the volcanoes shift the land masses, spewing
hot lava in their wake.
When you land, all is calm.
Time is beginning to slow down, and lightning strikes all around. The sky is
violent and unsettled.
You are here to watch.
The robed figure to your right throws something into the world, awakening
something lost.
Consciousness is created.
It is only a few molecules, but amongst the emptiness of the universe it
becomes as visible as the aurora borealis of your own.
It shines, and quickly multiplies.
Look to your right.
Two things walk out from within the figure to your right; one white robed,
cloak refracting light into a magnificent rainbow; the other more than dark, the
robe that of a black hole, sucking in light, allowing no reflection at all.
They walk away, slowly and methodically.
Soon two other, smaller, figures walk out of the figure to your right.
One is purple; a sword over shoulder.
The purple being, almost instantly, vanishes as the Second slices a heavy
sword through the air.
The Second is wearing black unreflective armour, and soon it vanishes too.
Feel.
Feel as a new sense develops on your body.
Now you can feel something new flowing through the air. Something that
feels like the world has been engulfed in a layer of glass.
 As you move your hand through the air, the touch is as though you are
rubbing an invisible substance; frictionless, but there.
Notice time. It has quickly moved past.
The conscious beings are moving, multiplying constantly.
They dive into the water. Shortly after, reptilian creatures begin to
emerge.
Far out to the distance water squirts into the air, through pressurised
blowholes.
Some develop wings, and fly high above.
Some develop legs, and stalk the earth.
Some develop tentacles, and hide in the ocean.
Now feel again. You can sense it.
The glassy substance, all around, begins to vibrate.
It hardens.
Your new sense feels it constrict, condense.
Now you notice a familiar shape, which you’ve never seen before.
A large reptilian creature with wings, and smoke billowing from its nostrils,
flies away.
Shortly, another vibration in the air ripples through your new sense.
A figure ahead solidifies and trots away, a horn clearly visible upon the
head.
Now look again, as time passes ever quicker.
You see all, you see evolution, you see as natural selection favours the
caution of the newer creatures.
They develop and grow.
Some primates appear in jungles, which have sprouted through the earth
and rock like vines.
There, you see. Feel.
This is important.
The glassy substance begins to solidify once more and another figure
begins to appear.
This one is different.
All other activity stops; the growing of the trees; the heavy beings firing
water into the air; the meteors igniting in the uppermost atmosphere.
Everything watches as something else begins to form.
It is a creature, resembling a mammal.
It begins to harden.
Torso and limbs become apparent.
This one is different.
The being stands on two legs. It looks at hands, and controls an
independent thumb
Its glassy exterior tints pinkish, from the continuous beating of the sun.
Listen carefully.
The glassy substance makes a slight pop, and the transformation is
complete.
All look at it.
Notice, as one of the smarter primates begins to imitate the being,
standing on two legs and straightening its spine.
Look back.
The being blinks glass eyes open. The body slowly becomes one with
nature and physics.
Now there is a semi-flesh monster standing before the world.
It is slightly transparent, yet still somewhat real.
 It reaches forwards and grasps some more of the glassy substance in the
air.
Listen, it whispers.
It utters meaningless words, and another, almost identical, being appears.
Notice, as the primates watch with curious interest.
Look back.
The being is looking to the other.
Time starts again.
Stand and watch as the two embrace, and the world evolves around them,
oblivious to their presence.
Notice, as the primates discover fire; and soon axes and spears.
Now time appears to skip, as though on the record of existence, because
suddenly the primates have developed language and are speaking freely.
Notice, as they learn, and take over the planet.
Look back.
The two figures continue to embrace; ignoring the primates around them.
Eventually they part.
Time stops again.
As the figures part, the belly of one swells, and marble creatures drop
from between legs.
Soon the marbles grow, and follow suit.
From two, become four, become eight, become sixteen.
Soon there are hundreds of glass creatures amongst you.
State and wonder of their purpose.
It is important.
They wait, and time starts again.
Quickly the primates begin naming things, becoming more than just
creatures.
See, as they develop self-recognition. They name themselves.
Now the primates rage war with each other.
See, as they fight. They develop more and more deadly weapons.
Cities erupt on the surface of the planet, and tall towers breach the skies.
Then time stops once again, and the glass beings become less
transparent.
Soon they are but another thing, another organism, another monster.
Glass beings look at one another, and nod.
They walk into the cities, the forests, and the skies.
Suddenly they are part of the race of primates.
Look, the Glass beings walk amongst the imitators, believed themselves to
be the imposters.
They chant and wave their hands.
Things change. Some primates disappear.
Fire ignites on the tips of their fingers, and strange words travel the lands.
Do you understand?
Fear strikes the Humans, as the Wizards arrive, and the energy of magic is
released.
The glassy feeling expands, engulfs the planet.
Do you realise what it was?
Are you too, fearful, as magic travels the lands, and the beasts awaken?
Look up high into the sky, for the first time, and notice that throughout
this ordeal, a heaven has grown above you.
With fearful dread, look down, and notice Hell.
See through the dimension of this reality, and see the truth beyond.
Something is trembling. Something is wrong. There is another war.
 Things are climbing, and the once-glass creatures gather nearby.
When the beasts from below reach the dimension they fight, against the
beasts from above.
They are pushed back, just.
The Wizards plea for help, turn and face you.
But no, they do not face you.
They face the figure standing to your right.
It shrugs.
Now look at the figure.
As time progressed, a scythe has appeared on its shoulder, and the robe
appears darker than the shadows themselves.
It notices the Heavens, it notices the Hells.
It snaps its fingers, and you can see an orb appear.
The orb begins to relay the past to the grovelling Wizards, like a television
recording.
Watch too, and notice yourself observing the world unfold.
Below, is the black robed creature again. It walks out of the dimension,
and builds Hell.
Above, the white creature does the same, creating Heaven.
Both amass armies.
The Wizards plead still.
They do not wish their home to become a battleground.
You cannot understand their dialect, but they plead for their way of life.
The robed figure shrugs, and raises seven fingers.
The Wizards nod, and turn around.
They walk back to their homes, and wait, content in the knowledge of the
seven.
The Seven.
They will be great.
The robed figure turns to you.
Notice that no face appears beneath the hood.
Instead, a skull grins at you from the depths, and a whispery chorus
travels through all octaves to speak directly into yours.
“It has begun” It says.
It has begun.