Chapter Text
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A long time ago, a time before the ancient creatures of the land, or the sea, or even the great creatures themselves, there had existed nothing. For miles around, all that there was to see was a sea of vast emptiness, of blank, stark light, and nothing else.
In this space of nihility, there existed a thing, and with the thing, his space. This thing could not be described as anything at all. He took an abstract form, one beyond comprehension, one which even the greatest writers, poets, and storytellers, could not even begin to describe. He was not a person, or a creature, or a tangible item. He was a concept. And yet, he was the one sole concept existing in this void.
So, he began to create. He formed the world, and gave it shape. Of course, this world was still blank, so he gave it life. Landscapes, trees, rivers, all things created at his whim through sheer boredom. Soon enough, this lone, beautiful world was not enough for him. So, alas, he gave it more life. This time he created fauna to accompany the flora, creatures, beings.
He formed the first one; a large fish-like creature, and gifted it the sentience he himself possessed. After a great deal of time had passed, he thought it appropriate to entrust the first creature with a portion of his creation. He gifted it the seas, and the coasts, and the bays. The first was very grateful to own these lands and took great care and pride in them. Moved by this display of loyalty, its creator decided to produce more beings to entrust the rest of his land with. So, he formed the wise one, and the favourite one, and divided the rest of the land between them. Once this was done, however, he found himself growing tired of creating, and thought it appropriate to fall into slumber, and take a well-deserved millennium of rest for his hard work, trusting his creation would be safe in the hands of his three great creatures. More life began to evolve, and grow, and form on the lands in his absence. These lifeforms learned from and admired the great creatures which ruled them, who in turn told them of their creator. The creatures of the land opted to refer to their creator as The Dreamer, and so, that was his name.
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Some great time had passed since The Dreamer had awoken. He stared listlessly at what he had made, and as centuries passed him by, he grew curious of his land, and adventurous. He thought it unfair he could create such magnificent things, but not be allowed to participate in them. So, The Dreamer temporarily repressed himself into a comprehensive being, and descended from his White Space to his creation.
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When The Dreamer arrived, he was in awe of his work. The being so used to nothing, to an absence of sense or concept, was suddenly met by an overwhelming presence of things. The breeze hit his face for the first time, the moist grass tickled his feet, his eyes were at last treated to the grand sights of forests and bodies of water that he had formed but never experienced for himself.
But, alas, not all would be well for The Dreamer. For only a few hours after his stay, a band of simple-minded creatures happened upon him, who, not recognising him, began to attack. The Dreamer was not prepared for such a scenario and struggled to withstand the blows. He eventually found himself on the verge of succumbing to the strikes. Preparing for the worst, he cowered in fear, but before the coup de grace could be administered to the poor creator, a girl came upon him, and, noticing his trouble, instantly swooped in to save him.
She fended off the violent beings, then, once she was assured they were gone, she turned her attention to The Dreamer. She was, of course, unaware that the being before her had been the one to form her entire universe, but she didn’t care. She immediately tended to the injured creator. She offered him temporary shelter, food, and reassuring words. The Dreamer was touched, for he had never experienced such an interaction before, as the divine creator of this world. He immediately began to form a strong bond with the girl, viewing her as a protector, and a sister, not a creation. Now enlightened by this warm feeling, he felt inclined to remain on the planet, and learn about his creation alongside his young saviour.
During this time, The Dreamer happened upon another human, a mild, gentle boy who lived among the florae. The Dreamer was pleased that somebody was so enamoured and grateful of his beautiful planet as much as he. It was thus inevitable that he and the boy befriended one another as well.
The Dreamer resided on this planet for a few years more, blinded by perfect bliss. The girl always remained by his side, providing for him, teaching and protecting him through the trials and tribulations of his own world, and in return, he stayed with her too, and did his best to return the favour with multiple small creations in her name. He invented multiple instruments of sound to satisfy her fascination with the natural music of the world. And every day, as she continued to make him feel loved, he vowed to do the same for her. As for the boy, The Dreamer became very beloved to him, and he to The Dreamer. The Dreamer listened to the boy’s struggles, received his thoughts and feelings, and bonded with him over the nature of his world.
All was perfect and peaceful for The Dreamer, until one day, tragedy struck. The Dreamer and the girl found themselves entangled in a trivial matter. Typically, The Dreamer would have no care for silly human arguments, but in his time upon the world, he found himself becoming more and more alike to one by the second. Numbness turned to joy, and joy turned to care, and care turned to sadness, and sadness turned to rage. And in this rage, The Dreamer lashed out at his dear sister with all his repressed might, finally feeling the sheer weight of his power. She passed away under the strength.
Death, to The Dreamer, was a part of life. A part of life every creature he made would experience at one point or another. It was simply the manner of things. But since his bonding with the girl, death seemed very far away, until it jumped at him from below, snatching him and pulling him deep into a world of despondent mourning.
And it was his fault. The girl, his saviour, his sister, her life was now forever lost, because of his newfound humanity.
And what was worse, his other dear human, the boy, had witnessed the killing with his own eyes. He was thrown into a deep dread at seeing his dearest friend commit such an atrocious act, and so, he denied it. He deluded himself with theories of a greater, eviler force, and chose to neglect the reality of sin before him.
Horrified at what he had done, The Dreamer desperately sought out a way to reverse the passing of his dearest. In the end, through his guilt and grief, The Dreamer cursed the girl, rendering her soul undying, and immortal. Unknowingly, he did the same to the boy in the process.
Throughout the eons, the girl was born again, and The Dreamer watched her live, desperately trying everything in his power to prevent her early passing. However, his curse came with a catch. The girl’s soul yearned for liberation, and so, as a consequence of what he had done, each life she lived seemed to always end abruptly. The Dreamer interfered as much as he could, attempting to delay the inevitable, confining the girl and continuously placing her in safer environments. But her soul, and the universe as it seemed, would always find a way to leave this safety, and happen upon death once more, until she was born anew for the cycle to repeat again.
The boy, on the other hand, was always nearby. His soul was the only other that knew of The Dreamer’s great sin, even if his mind did not. In order to extinguish all threats to his sister’s peaceful existences, he found himself reluctantly ending the boy’s life before he could awaken the girl’s soul to the true horror of what had happened to her all those centuries ago.
Eventually, The Dreamer could not bear this. He resented his new state of mind, but alas, it could not be cast out of him. Once he experienced humanity, he could not rid himself of it. So, out of guilt, love, rage and fear, The Dreamer cast himself into a new vessel, the body of a human, and erased all his previous memories of who he was. He was birthed alongside the girl as a brother, and he hoped, with his tangible closeness to her, and his obliviousness to what would happen, he could finally, ultimately pay back the favour of saving him all those years ago.
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