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Birth
At first, there was nothing.
There were no planets, no stars, and no galaxies. There were no gases, no liquids, and no solids; there was no matter or antimatter. Energy did not exist. The emptiness was absolute. Not even a vacuum existed to fill in the emptiness, for a vacuum requires three-dimensional space, and there were no dimensions to hold it. Length, width, and height were nonexistent, as was time. Reality was defined as a complete lack of everything.
But reality's definition changed.
Into the emptiness came two minds. They did not come from anywhere, for there was nowhere from which they could come. Neither did they come into the emptiness in any physical sense, for there was nowhere that anything physical could exist. But the two minds were not physical; they were collections of thought. These two minds formed the entirety of reality.
Neither mind had ever thought before. Thoughts must be about something, and previously there had been nothing, so thought had been impossible. But now there was something: the two minds. Thus each mind's first thought was to recognize its own existence, to understand the fact that they were thinking and thus must be real.
Both minds then felt that there was nothing else, and each mind thought that it was alone. But the minds were not identical. One of the minds felt the great emptiness and was content, for the emptiness was without form or order. Above all else, the mind prized total freedom. Any structure, any boundary, was a hindrance to pure thought. It loved the void for what it was.
The other mind also felt that it was alone, but it was not satisfied. It saw the emptiness as a starting place, a sort of blank canvas. It longed for shapes and formations and vast networks of structures long before it could conceive of such things in a physical sense. The emptiness beckoned to it, and it longed to answer.
This mind would later be called many names: Builder, Designer, Beginner, Founder, and Creator. It would also be called Good, but that was not really true. As yet, it knew no name for itself, for it needed no name; it was the only entity that it knew. But it would eventually come to call itself Alpha.
The other mind would also be called many names: Ravager, Attacker, Desolator, Invader, and Destroyer. It would also be called Evil, but that was not really true. As yet, it knew no name for itself, for it needed no name; it was the only entity that it knew. But it would eventually come to call itself Omega.
Omega contemplated the void in awed silence, but Alpha was restless. It thought and thought, for thus far thinking was the only thing it had ever done. But at last it perceived that thought could be turned to action, and it realized its power. It could work with the emptiness, change it. So at last it acted, and Alpha's first act was creation.
It reached out and poured its will into the void and changed it, so that it was no longer a void. Whereas before there had been no dimensions, now there was one: the first dimension. Alpha had created Length. This was a wholly new creation, and Alpha marveled at its beauty. It was flawless, a perfect line, extending to infinity in both directions. And Alpha entered into the line it had created, taking one-dimensional form, traveling up and down its private universe in ecstasy.
But Omega felt the change to the void, and for the first time in its existence it felt displeasure. Whereas before there had been perfection in emptiness, now there was a flaw, an unwanted intrusion into its private utopia. So Omega shrank away from this new thing in fear, distrusting it.
When Alpha had finished inspecting its handiwork, it began to contemplate its next move. One dimension was good, it decided, but more was needed. So it again channeled its living mind into its environment and brought about a second dimension: Width. Width joined with Length to create a structure infinitely more marvelous than before. And again, Alpha reveled in its creation, feeling every aspect of it in delight.
Omega shrank away even more, nervousness gradually changing to horror as the structure increased in scope. This two-dimensional universe, this forced creation, was a sick perversion of the beautiful void that had preceded it. But even as its fear grew, so also came understanding, and Omega realized its own power. Its fear turned to anger, and it lashed out with instinctive rage, shattering the structure. Both dimensions ceased to exist, and the emptiness returned. Omega settled into the void once more, pleased with its newfound strength to preserve its sanctuary.
Alpha was devastated by the sudden carnage, and at first it simply contemplated the event in shock. But the shock passed, and it began to consider its next move.
Both minds now began to suspect the presence of something other than themselves, though neither yet conceived of another mind on the same level as they were. Alpha saw that its creation had been destroyed and knew that it had not happened on its own; something must have caused it. Omega saw the creation of the two dimensions and realized that this could not have simply happened; something must be responsible. This concept of another presence, some sort of foreign entity, began to affect their thoughts - subconsciously at first, but ever growing.
Now Alpha saw that it would not be sufficient to simply create; it would also be necessary to defend. So it tried again, drawing strength from its mind to craft a dimension from thought. As the line formed, Alpha strengthened it, holding it steady and straight against the void. With a mental effort, the first dimension was forged anew, a one-dimensional fortress, and Alpha rejoiced anew in its refined creation.
Omega struck the first dimension again, but this time it withstood the blow, and Omega fell back in amazement. Now its fear grew again, for it saw that it might not be able to stop the invasion. It withdrew into its mind and thought.
But Alpha rejoiced at its success and recreated Width just as it had done with Length, forming its beloved plane for the second time. And it expanded yet again, creating Height, the third dimension. Each of the three dimensions gave support to the other two, and the structure was more stable than the plane or the line had been. In sheer joy, Alpha entered wholly into the three-dimensional universe and took physical form there, shielding itself entirely from the emptiness of the void, which it had come to fear.
And Alpha, seeing the beauty of three dimensions, did not stop there. It added a fourth dimension, and a fifth, and a sixth, and a seventh, one after the other. Each new dimension expanded physical space even further, each one strengthened the superstructure, and each one heightened Alpha's glee. It kept creating dimensions until they numbered into the hundreds, then the thousands, and then the millions. The network of superstructures seemed never-ending.
Omega threw its might at the network over and over, but to no avail; the structures resisted attack. So Omega stopped and began to consider a new line of attack, and eventually it formed a plan.
Though the very thought sickened it, Omega decided that the only way to destroy the superstructure was by actually going inside of it. So, just as Alpha had done earlier, Omega flowed into the network.
Once inside, it could feel Alpha's creation more acutely than before, and the horror was even worse than it had imagined. All contact with the precious void was lost; the universe was a vast monument to oppression. It was stifling. Omega longed to destroy it.
Manifesting itself physically, Omega felt the dimensions and saw that they were indeed open to attack from the inside. There was only one thing to do. It poured out rage like an inferno, sending waves of destruction across the framework of reality. Dimensions instantly began to crumble, and hundreds shattered from the first blow. Every dimension helped to support the others, and every time a dimension broke, another went with it. The effect cascaded in a chain reaction that swept across the primal cosmos. The dimensions were crumbling by the thousands.
Alpha watched in horror, knowing that it did not have the power to stop the torrent of desolation. But even as despair began to set in, hope returned. For Alpha saw that the cracks spreading through the universe had a kind of beauty of their own - chaotic, perhaps, but that could be altered. With a mental effort, Alpha organized the pattern of destruction into something more orderly and more perfect than anything it could have achieved merely on its own. It watched in delight as its masterpiece fell apart, for Alpha now saw its very act of falling apart as a masterpiece in itself.
But its delight did not last forever, as Alpha soon perceived that the joy would be fleeting, and before long it would have nothing at all. Thus it poured its thought into strengthening what few dimensions were left. At last the cracks came to a halt, and of the millions of dimensions that had previously existed, only six now survived.
Omega was well pleased with its success, but the six that remained still galled it, and it tried to find some weak point in them. Yet now it began to perceive more clearly that some active force was guarding the structures, which meant that it was not alone.
It reached out its thought...
...And recoiled in shock as it touched a mind wholly different from its own.
Alpha was no less surprised; but it, too, had suspected there might be something else in the nothingness, and now its suspicions were confirmed. It sent out tendrils of thought to establish contact again.
This time the contact was held, and each mind examined the other in wonder. Alpha did not try to restrain its awe at a creature that actually liked the void, and Omega showed similar disbelief that any being would willingly try to desecrate the emptiness; yet they maintained the link.
But when the link was broken at last, both minds saw that the other was entirely different, and each began to see that conflict was inevitable. Both withdrew and began to think thoughts of war.
Omega made the first move by attacking the six-dimensional universe with all its power. Alpha defended its universe again, though, and Omega succeeded only in destroying the three weakest dimensions, leaving Length, Width, and Height - the Original Three - untouched.
But Alpha knew that these three, despite being the strongest, were not invincible. Something more was needed. So even as Omega made plans to obliterate the dimensionary triad, Alpha pondered a way to make them stronger. And at last it found the answer.
It began work on a new fourth dimension - not a dimension of space, as the others had been, but something completely original. It crafted a dimension to flow over and into the other three, not expanding them, but enriching them, strengthening them, and adding beauty in a level of structure that it had never even imagined before. So the fourth dimension was added to the universe, and Alpha gave it a name: Time.
When the inevitable attack came, Omega was dismayed, for the swift and brilliant motions of Time gave it nowhere solid from which to launch an assault. Any aggressions were simply tossed aside as Time moved on. The endeavor was a failure for Omega, and once it realized this, there was but one possibility.
Omega attacked Time itself.
It summoned all its power and resources and prepared for total war on the fourth dimension - and when at last it felt ready, Omega launched its assault. The initial blast rocked all four dimensions, and massive shock waves rattled the foundations of existence. But the universe held, and Omega attacked again. And again, and again, and again, until the very fragments of power that tore at space-time gained an existence of their own, powerful, violent, and omnipresent.
But Alpha had foreseen the attack, and it was already sending out countersignals, waves of security to stabilize its creation. And even as whole regions of the fourth dimension collapsed, other areas were strengthened and channeled in to take their place.
The battle continued. Omega sent tendrils of its consciousness darting in and out of physical reality, dodging the shockwaves, striking quickly, and flying out again to return to their master. And at last, when the cosmic superstructure came in danger of final collapse, Alpha sent every shred of its own extradimensional mind and physical body into the center of Time - and so too came Omega, plunging into its enemy's fortress for a second time to fight for the void. And the two minds, these dual forces of nature with equal power and diametrically opposite views, did battle there in the heart of the universe against each other - directly, as they had never done before.
It is impossible to say how long the battle lasted, for time itself was the battleground, rendering the very concept meaningless - but it did end at last, finally, as Alpha fled before the onslaught of horror that came from the depths of the void itself. And, back in the regions of unadorned space once more, Alpha could only watch with detached fascination as Omega ripped apart the fabric of Time and left its scattered remnants to drift in the abyss.
The battles went on much as they had before, with always more fighting and never any more hope of reaching an end to the war. Alpha rebuilt Time once more, stronger than before, Omega attacked yet again, Time survived, and the war went on. Alpha built two more dimensions in Time to complement the three spatial dimensions, Omega destroyed them, and the war went on. Alpha created, Omega destroyed, Alpha created, Omega destroyed, and the war went on - and at last a sort of compromise was reached. Not through mutual agreement, but through a balance of force. Alpha saw that it could not expand beyond the four dimensions it had made without weakening the foundations of the universe to the point that they could be attacked by Omega, and Omega saw that it did not have the strength to attack the four-dimensional universe while it was defended by Alpha. So Omega retreated into its sanctuary, and Alpha retreated into its sanctuary, and for a while there was something that resembled peace.
Within its empty sanctuary, Omega had some measure of serenity, but Alpha forever looked for some new work to create, some new task to begin. And at last it decided that the four dimensions it had created were too empty; they reminded it too much of the void. So Alpha created rules to govern the movements and interactions of matter and energy within the universe, and eventually - eager to test them out - it created a particle.
It was only a single particle, what would later be called an electron, but to Alpha it did not matter. The universe extended forever in all directions, and size - being a purely relative measurement - had no meaning. It was a particle of matter, and it was stable, and Alpha was happy.
Omega reached out at once to wipe the particle out of existence, but Alpha had been expecting that and was not really surprised anymore. The second time it created a particle, it was held together by force of will, and Omega's attack was not at once successful. The two great forces of the universe each set their power at the core of the electron, and its existence wavered and flickered; more and more matter was continually fed into the little sphere, to give it strength, while more and more energy was also added, to break it apart - and all the while, its size never changed, for a change in size was not possible without a finite frame of reference, and there was none.
At last the pressure became too great, and the tension broke, and the particle exploded.
The remnants of the explosion were a universe in themselves, contained entirely within the four dimensions, and the new universe took shape even as the latest battle raged. The cooling gases formed galaxies, which spawned stars, which acquired planets, and matter found a shape for itself amidst the chaos. This new landscape was a battleground, too, just as everything else had been. Omega found delight in clawing apart galactic clusters, while Alpha silently brought together their remnants into structures more beautiful than the ones before them had been. Each attack had a defense, each strategy a counterstrategy - and the universe grew.
So, too, did the complexity, with particles forming atoms and atoms forming molecules until the first basic living creature emerged as an entity to grow and multiply of its own accord. Though a mere collection of electrons and protons and neutrons, life quickly drew the attention of both the primal forces. Alpha found life fascinating, for it was the most complex structure Alpha had ever seen, and it created new and more complex structures of its own accord, without intervention; but it was also an instrument of destruction which Alpha could not easily control. The notion of destroying life in order to prevent its destructive tendencies was a concept that never occurred to it. Omega, too, was spellbound by life, for it was - out of all the things it had seen - the most resistant to structure and order. The idea of destroying life, the sole creation among all of Alpha's works that Alpha could not control, was a concept that never occurred to it. So it was that while torrents of destruction tore warpaths through galaxies, life survived and prospered at the feet of giants.
And the networks of molecules that came in time to call themselves alive were not merely a part of the universe, but eventually turned into a separate entity unto itself. And life learned of Alpha and Omega and spoke to them, and they spoke back. And so they lived, the three of them: the only real child of the only real parents that ever existed.
And there was peace.
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