《Death Lives》Prologue - Death Dies
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It was empty. Nothing but barren wasteland all around.
Thousands of miles of barren plain, not a single plant nor bacteria could even be found.
In the sky on one side of the planet there was nothing. No lights from the stars, no reflections from the light hitting anything. On the other side of the planet there was a large gathering of celestial bodies, quickly moving towards a large mass, slowly growing larger and larger.
Trillions of years had gone by and the universe was at its end.
It was finally at its last moments. There were only a few stars and planets remaining along with the small planet as it veered towards the large mass which was becoming increasingly larger. Galaxies which spanned millions of light years across were in this gathering of celestial bodies, billions of them all gathered together in a mass that didn’t seem scientifically possible.
There was nothing living remaining. No sentient civilizations had lived for millennia. Mankind was destroyed even longer ago. All other species and civilizations had been killed by a single event. A rift created by a civilization long dead.
The rift was known as the Void by those who managed to see it and could run from it. Slowly the Void consumed all.
For millions of years the Void continued to grow. It wasn’t sentient, it wasn’t even a creature, it was just a mass which grew as it consumed any and all matter. As the Void continued to devour, it grew in size. First it was only a planet, then a star, then a system, until it devoured entire galaxies.
The void grew larger and larger, slowly devouring anything that came close to it. Once something was consumed by the Void, it never came out. Civilizations so advanced that humans couldn’t dream were eventually swallowed by the Void.
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Finally there was no living thing left, the only thing for the Void to finish consuming was any stray matter remaining. There was only a few planets and stars left. There was nothing past a hundred thousand light years away from the void. Everything was careening toward the Void.
Within the final moments of the universe, there was only one being left in all of creation; Death.
Death was not just the lack of life, Death was the one being in all creation which passed judgement on those who were to die.
Death’s looked towards the mass, seeing it’s inevitable end.
A large dark hole which light and particles fled towards. Out on the fringes matter slowly was being dragged in, leaving a beautiful sight that only a few civilizations which were advanced enough to see a black hole and able to keep away from its massive gravity well. Bright waves of light surrounded it as they slowly veered closer and closer, awaiting their time to be eaten until there was nothing left.
Death could have prevented it. Could have passed judgement on those who were creating the device which caused the destruction of everything. But Death was curious. Death had always been curious about the universe. Death was also naive.
Death’s creation happened merely moments after the universe itself. All death knew was to pass judgement on those whose time it was. Be it animal, plant, bacteria, or person. Death passed judgement on all.
In some civilizations Death was something feared, while in others Death was worshiped.
Death did its job though hated it at times. Death never created but only destroyed. Death understood that it could cause death in order to help life but Death itself could never create, only destroy. Death had watched millions of civilizations rise and fall, all across the universe. Death wasn’t sure if it was a God, but Death knew that any other species would call it one.
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Death was neither good nor evil, Death just was. Death ignored justice or lawlessness. Death only came to those who finally were calling for it, even if they didn’t know that they were. Passing the souls of the dead towards the centre of the universe, to be shot out and recycled again.
The Void was a creation which Death found extremely interesting. A civilization long ago had an idea which intrigued Death. A device which could create life where there was none. Death didn't believe it could work but they managed it. They spent the entire life of their species searching for this power. Death could see their ideas, science, and maths, but knew no matter what it wouldn't work.
Death eventually stopped watching the civilization, knowing that the idea was impossible and that their species would eventually lose interest or die.
Eventually the civilization came to the same conclusion. It was impossible to create life from nothing, even the most powerful being Death couldn’t create life. But surprising Death they decided to change the way of thinking. Instead of creating life from nothing in this universe, they would do it in another way. They would find a way into a different universe and create the rules there.
Death laughed at the thought, thinking it naive. But eventually they had found a way, created a machine so large that it was bigger than a yellow star. The machine would create a rift which would allow them to pass through into an alternate dimension. The math worked out, the science was solid, and they turned it on. Death watched with anticipation only to realize the flaw in their plan.
The other universe was the creation of life itself, it was the goal that they had set for themselves which even Death didn’t believe could happen, but when they turned on the machine, Death saw the flaw for what it was.
In the other universe there were no rules, no guide, nothing. It was just emptiness, and Death knew that the only result from emptiness was hunger.
The machine was on, and the Void was created. The Void swallowed most of the civilization in an instant, and those who remained saw the mistake that they had made, the hunger of creating life, to become a God, caused their death, and the Death of all other civilizations.
They hoped that it wouldn't be the end of them, so they ran in hopes to avoid the hunger of the Void, but it was not to be. They could run for a while, but eventually their galaxy was destroyed, and them with it.
Slowly the Void spread and eventually it was so large it didn’t need to move and spread anymore to stop it’s hunger, it starting to bring everything towards it.
Death watched the Void, was materialized as a solid shadow, sitting on a small planet as it slowly came towards the Void, unable to avoid it. Even Death wasn’t sure what would happen when there was nothing but the Void left.
Death had tried to stop the Void, preventing it from going further, but it wasn’t strong enough. The Void was a universe, an entity which was neither alive nor dead, therefore Death had no domain over it.
Slowly the planet came closer and closer to the Void. All life was spent, all space and matter was being consumed. Soon there would be nothing, and for once in Death’s entire existence, Death knew what it was like for there to be nothing.
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