Arkadia
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Arkadia
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He didn’t remember a time when he didn’t exist. Unlike most beings, he didn’t remember a father or a mother. All he knew was that he was. And he would be. And he had been. This was all he knew.
The first thing he remembered was Darkness. Humongous, ever-expansive, and whole. There was nothing in the Void, and in the Void was perfect order. Nothing, nobody to mess things up or upset anyone. There was Nothing, and it’s Everything. And the Everything was Nothing.
Try to keep up.
For a while, he walked among the Darkness, formless, wondering if there was anything inside. He didn’t find anything. Only more Void. Only more Darkness. Only more Nothing. It was cold. It was so cold. And it was dark. It was so dark.
Forget this, he said. I want to go somewhere. I want to be something. I want things to change. And I know it’s possible, I just have to…
And that’s exactly how it happened.
Stars.
After the Spark, as He began to call it, all he saw were stars. They were beautiful. Hundreds of them. Thousands. There were things now. There were forces, pulling and pushing and spinning and whirling through the vast expanse of Everything. It was nice, he thought, to have something. Now the Nothing was in spots, and the Everything had Something in it.
He wandered for a while, among the stars, among the rocks and the chunks of things that the world was forming. But there was nothing like him in this world. There was Something, but there was still Nothing. And inside the Everything there was Noone. That was his problem, he thought.
He was lonely.
And when he Cried, desperately, yelling into the Noone, a Someone answered. Another being, another Someone, nebulous like Him, a child like him, seeking a Someone in the Nothing. In the Noone.
And when he went to the Someone, he found Her.
She was staring at a star, eyes wide, basking in the glow of it’s heat. He liked the stars, he thought they shone beautifully, but he never desired to be this close. He preferred to be closer to the nothing, he didn’t like the heat, but She liked to be closer to the Something. She loved the Heat, she loved the Fire, because it was the Fire of Life, and She was Life.
She was a girl, a child, like him, with pearly-white wings that shone and reflected the Life and the Heat and the Fire all around them. When she looked at him, he realized he had wings, too. Onyx wings, wings that reflected the Void. Because that’s where he was from, the Void. The Nothing. The Everything. But the Nothing was now half of the Everything. There was Something.
Hello? She said. Can you hear me?
He could hear her. Yes, he could hear her. And he heard her, when she called back from the darkness. The Half-Nothing. The Everything. But it was He who called first.
Can you hear me? He echoed back.
Yes, she said. I can hear you.
He approached her, hand raised as he adjusted to the Warmth, the Heat, the Life, coming off of the star and off of Her. She shivered, and He guessed that She felt him, too. He brought more of the Nothing into the Something, and She brought more Something into the Nothing.
Are you lonely? He asked Her.
I am, She said. Are you like me?
Yes, He said. I think so.
Then will you be my friend? She asked. Then I won’t be lonely anymore.
And She held out her small hand as her wings extended, radiating heat and life as he took it, his wings spreading as well, he nodded.
I will be your friend.
<p>CHAPTER 3:</p>
<p>As the Everything grew, more somethings appearing, rocks and sphere rocks and wet rocks and rocks with things on them, the Two grew, too, feelings, emotions they had never felt before. Maybe it was because they were together now, wandering hand-in-hand through the rest of the Everything, sometimes strolling through the Nothing, which were His favorite times, when the Somethings were a long way off and they talked, they talked about things of little importance, about nothing in particular. They talked about themselves, they talked about the past. She remembered faces, she remembered people, things, things that could’ve created them, things before them. This was of particular interest to Him, as he had none of those memories. </p>
<p>Her favorite times were when they walked through the Somethings, when they saw the rocks that were forming, when they saw the stars.</p>
<p>It was then that they discovered something – no, not a something. A someone. </p>
<p>There had been things on planets before, things that grew, things that were temporary, some blink of an eye, and then were gone. The Two observed these with fascination, but they both thought it wasn’t really Life. </p>
<p>But then they found themselves on a wet rock, a wet rock with things on it, they found their first someone. </p>
<p>The someone wandered across the rock, and he called the rock ‘earth’, and the things ‘plants’, and the other things ‘animals’. And the someone thought and learned and grew and felt and rationalized, not like the Two felt, or like the Two thought, but still nonetheless. The someone called himself ‘human’, so that was what the Two called him. Human. </p>
<p>The human had many adventures and did many things, he overcame many obstacles and he climbed many mountains. He sought out other humans, just as the Two had sought out each other. He cried out for one of his own to share his Life with, and the Two wanted to give him such a gift, but they could not. </p>
<p>In the pursuit of this, though, the Two began to learn how to affect the world, how to change it, how to touch it and how to bend it, and persuade the Everything to their will.</p>
<p>The human had many adventures; he climbed many mountains and defeated many foes. He searched and found others like him, as all beings do, and found some. Eventually, the human was a leader. He was with others of his kind.</p>
<p>When they came back, they found that the human had found another human, and along the way, the two humans made life. The Two didn’t understand it. They looked and they wondered at the miracle – for it was a miracle – that had unfolded before them. And they used their newfound power, their newfound activity, to give this new Life gifts, to show their kindness upon the humans, and because this child was a child like them, and they felt akin to him.</p>
<p>She gave the human Fire, that which consumes and purifies, passion and Life and Warmth. And He gave the human a strong will, a gift that is coveted and treasured, that which drives beings to discover and to make and to thrive and to conquer; to climb mountains.</p>
<p>And as the Two watched the humans grow, they saw something – another Someone, among the humans. This Someone wasn’t seen by the humans, but mingled among them, watching and discovering, much like them. This Someone looked up at the Two, and the Two recognized who he was. This Someone was Knowledge; and they recognized it as inevitable that Knowledge would come, given the humans’ curiosity, which echoed their own. </p>
<p>Hello, the Two said to Knowledge. Are you lonely?</p>
<p>No, said Knowledge. I am not. Are you lonely?</p>
<p>Once, He said, But no longer.</p>
<p>Would you join us? She said.</p>
<p>Knowledge agreed, and they came to understand that this Knowledge had to exist, for he was neutral in the Somethings and the Nothings, and only devoted himself to the study and discovery of the Everything, and found no bias.</p>