The First Era - Raw and Alive

In the beginning, all languished without definitive form or purpose; the raging cosmos was only impact and impetus, intense heat and bitter cold, blinding light and crushing blackness. Far-flung stars ranged farther still; planets collided and crumbled on their heels, and the reaches of space flowed with rivers of infantile creation. All was as new, for there was yet no old, and nothing might have retained shape and become long-standing within the clash and tumble of existence.

Yet that which seethes must calm, and it became so. Moons fell into stride with the behemoths nearest them, and woven constellations affixed themselves glittering upon the void between. Gases and vapors blossomed, chain-linked smears of fog upon glass against darkness and distance without end. Storms of light to blind fledgling suns seared and branded the deep, only to collapse upon themselves and welcome the shadow once more.

From within this primordial alignment arose Time, groggy and curious. Long had he been present in the workings of the universe, yet he had been as an unformed thought. Now he had become formed; awareness struck him, jarring and bright, stirring him to inquiry.

This he understood—he was a force, a necessary action belonging to a broader function, his role pivotal to the continuance of all. That which began and ended passed through him, and so his domain spanned the potential of the infinite. He was not merely what had happened and what would happen; he was also what could happen and may yet be.

Realizing this, Time wondered what more he might become.

At great length he spent himself toward this end, basking in reflection and outward observation. He was, and he knew, and this mattered. He studied the universe around him, working his will upon that which was his to claim. His passage inspired change. Within him the heat of smashed planets ebbed, rock wore to dust, and constellations surrendered themselves to shadowed tapestry. Within him fresh stars flared into being, planets embraced to form arrangement and spin onward, and the opportunity for something new was granted.

Then, something new.

Another being beyond Time developed awareness, sharply and suddenly: she who was Nature, earth and water, land and ocean across the length of his domain. Her presence beside him proved warm and gentle, a guiding light by which to grow. Together they moved, and the universe flourished with creativity and grace.

With wind and weight did she who was Nature lend shape to many worlds. She sculpted high mountains and low valleys, carved and threaded with rivers and streams, teeming with sweet-water lakes and salted oceans. With glad will she brought forth forests and meadows, grasses and flowers, fruits and vegetables and grain, to each of these places they passed.

Life bloomed in their wake, simple and small: fish and birds, spiders and insects, snakes and mice, wolves and deer, lions and gazelle, hunters and hunted sharing many plains scattered between the stars. Together the pair of forces reveled in their work, bringing greater change than Time ever might have alone. This shared experience, this inclusion of so much belonging to lowly examination, led him to ponder change greater yet.

Time began to imagine a state beneath, and beyond, the all-encompassing. Something lesser in scope, limited in bearing yet tangible enough to know his domain from a fresh perspective. Long he dwelled on this, and slowly did he move to venture beyond the conceptual; with patience and care, Time created a physical form—an embodiment of himself, will made flesh.

His form championed practicality, borrowing traits and features from the life Nature had sponsored. He had eyes to see and ears to hear, arms to climb and legs to run. He was made to experience all which might be felt beneath his domain, and meant to endure it. He had been built in an image, and even Time himself did not fully understand his inspiration.

She who was Nature observed his labors and fashioned her own form, serving as much through contrast as complement. She knew the way of Time—the long-faced cold of space, the raging black-heat cores of cracked planets, the grim certainty to snuff stars from the heavens. She would not be as he was.

Together, they moved into a new way of being—eternal concepts rendered man and woman. These first steps marked seismic change. As soon as they had taken them, the universe gave them a resounding reply.

More concepts reared to awareness, as they had so long ago. There was Day, he who was the light. There was Night, she who was the dark. There was Hunger, he who was of the beast and its need. There was Life, she who remained the barreling force within Time’s domain.

Time. Nature. Day. Night. Hunger. Life.

At the direction of the first, these newly-woken concepts gave eventual shape to physical embodiments of themselves. Time gathered them together, bringing them to the planet he found most pleasing amongst the nearby stars. This gathering he thought of as family, and this place he thought of as home.