The Never Ending Tails

Beyond reality and the physical world where all time stem from and all time come back to lays the realm of the six gods: the embodiment of the fundamental elements of all that is.

The existence of the gods predated the universe as they were born from the clash of contradictory fundamental forces: Light and Void, Order and Chaos, Time and Silence.

The actions of the gods started affecting their respective elements, shaping the multiverse. As the gods became aware of their powers, they worked together to create a balanced reality where sentient life grew and flourished.

However, the gods abused their powers and their greatest creation came to jeopardize the fate of everything that is. Sentient beings learned how to use the sacred elements and derailed the cosmic balance in their futile conflicts.

The gods fearing the end of all things left the multiverse locking themselves where their power wouldn’t affect the rest of existence. In this realm beyond all realms, the gods are powerless, watching over the multiverse growing on its own.

The barrier between the realm of the gods and the rest of reality was maintained for eons, and the worlds grew very differently than they did the previous time.

Even without the intervention of the gods, sentient being appeared in this new multiverse, and slowly started evolving. Many of those beings were doomed to very short existences due to the harsh fairness of this new existence, and many of them vanished without spreading much.

The goddess of Light was sadden by those massive deaths and pleaded that a multiverse without life was an unbalanced multiverse. The other gods refused to act directly once again, but in the end, a compromise was found. The gods wouldn’t leave their realm, but would instead act through the mediation of individuals from those sentient beings, enable life to spread while still maintaining the cosmic balance.

The chosen of the gods started appearing all over the multiverse, most live their lives knowing nothing of the crucial importance of their existence; while some are forced to gaze into the harsh truth.

Very rarely do two chosen meet, even more so if they are representing opposing elements; however, as rare as that might seems to be, it did happen in one branch of the multiverse on Earth.

Ethan Stone was a regular boy; he lived a relatively trouble free life until the age of 18. After that point, he started taking questionable life decisions.

Ethan was never satisfied with the plain and arbitrary life he felt he had. It seemed to him that he was put on invisible rails that made any greatness impossible. Ethan sought the limits of reality and started experimenting with everything he could put his hands on, from dangerous narcotics to obscure occult practices.

Each time Ethan lost parts of himself, but each time he felt that truth was close and kept on going forward. At the age of 22, he ultimately gapped beyond the barriers of the physical world and what he saw almost took his sanity.

He saw the world behind the world and gapped into the Void that maintained the universe together. His spirit was then chosen by the god of Void to act as his herald.

It took him a year to recover from his transcending experience and readapt to reality, a long year where he was consumed by the Void within. It was only when he accepted what he has become that his pain diminished enough to enable him to retain his sanity.

Being the Herald of the Void came with consequences, everything Ethan was trying to accomplish and everyone he knew started fading into the darkness, disappearing into nothingness, leaving him alone at the center of the Void that consumed him. Ethan started avoiding the outside world, only leaving the darkness of his apartment late at night when no one roamed the streets anymore.

Ethan was engaging in one of his nocturnal trips when everything changed. He was sitting by a pond, lost in his thought when he heard something. As he raised his head to look around, he saw her.

She was standing by the water under the full moon. From where he was sitting, it almost seemed like she was standing on the reflection of the moon. She had long silky black hair contrasted with a shiny skin that glowed under the light of the moon.

*

Ethan was mesmerized, he never saw anybody like that. He stood up and walked toward the mysterious lady, she seemed to have notice him as she started moving towards him as well. As Ethan was facing her, his sight crossed her intense gold and emerald gaze. He felt something strong irradiating from her, something that overwhelmed him so much it made the void within seem insignificant.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“My name is Mary,” the girl said “and who might you be?”

“I am Ethan,” He responded. “This might seem weird, but there is something about you Mary that I can’t comprehend… and yet, it feels like you are the only one that can make me feel complete again… I know, you don’t even know me, how can I say all that, but would you believe me if I told you that I was marked as a herald of Void?”

Mary looked at him for a moment then responded:

“I believe you Ethan, just like you I have been chosen to carry the Light. If I can make you complete that I don’t know. It is a lot to ask from someone you just met; even the elements we represent are opposite…”

“You are right,” Ethan said, “I got a bit carried away, but I still believe that Light and Void complete each other, neither can exist without the other after all. I am sorry I wasted your time,” he said turning away and leaving Mary.

“Wait!” She said. “You don’t have to fade in the Void alone… We can still see each other again sometimes, I don’t mind sharing my light.” she added with a smile.

Ethan turned back, at that moment he knew his heart no longer belonged to the Void; it belonged to Mary, the only person that could make his Void shine.