Chapter 8

The planet Adam is one of billions, and, while it holds a great importance to many Forms, it is far from the totality of all that matters. Far from Adam, in a section of space tens of thousands of light years away there could be seen two girls running for their lives. But, as you might imagine, the two girls were certainly far from ordinary, one burned with a white fire at a temperature beyond human comprehension and the other had skin darker than the vacuum of space.

The girl brimming with energy had golden hair that hovered around her head, lifted by the energy emanating off her skin, her eyes scorched all they fell upon with the brightest white which only four people in all reality have ever looked upon and lived, she wore no clothes but the brightness of the energy wrapped around her like a great toga of some forgotten deity. She carried herself like a volcano, an eruption always expected, with the islands born from those eruptions forgotten by most everyone but her, her emotions now a contradiction of pride, direction, and shame, suspicion. The other woman, her sister, had short dark hair that wrapped around her head like a crown, and her eyes were the deepest black of all, the deepness of her eyes enticed all who gazed upon them to look further, to look closer and closer until they had lost themselves entirely. She looked upon her sister like a child amongst fireworks, keenly aware that she’ll outlast them, yet the fireworks offer something she never could, right up until the moment they fade. The women, while appearing young in age, were ancient, impossibly ancient, you could say that they were the first born of Time himself. The highest Forms knew these two as the matriarchs of all reality; Energy and Matter.

But, despite the grandiose nature of their titles, they found themselves retreating from a power both familiar and foreign, a power that had once belonged to someone they loved. If it weren’t for the vast nature of the cosmos these two titans of reality would have perished long ago, but they’d managed to evade the approach of this nightmare long enough to find refuge in place they thought to be long forgotten, their birthplace. They entered a temple, built on Corinthian columns and decorated with images of Time and Destiny, a familiar sight to any from Jennifer’s city. Unlike the base of Jennifer’s favorite tower this Temple dwarfed solar systems. Nostalgia flooded their hearts as they gazed longingly upon the room within, great thrones encircled the center of the room, and behind the seats were ancient images of planets, stars, supernovas, black holes, galaxies, oceans, volcanoes all stitched together in a tapestry of time, which meant that each image moved and shifted, stars exploded only for them to collapse back together and burn again, galaxies formed only to collapse, dying before drifting into nothing, but soon to be reborn. The oceans raged, the volcanoes erupted and the stars danced and all of it was captured in this one great tapestry. The seats lining the center had been handcrafted, carved from the hearts of dwarf stars that Matter had designed for her family; her father, uncle, children and sister, a sister who seemed to be having similar thoughts. Great orbs larger than the grandest suns orbited the room casting light over the seats, the orbs changing color every few minutes and shooting out stars that flew from one orb to the other, occasionally exploding in between and dousing the room in stardust. Energy admired her creation for a moment only to be ripped back into the present, clenching her fists in rage. The Orbs responded to this anger flaring up and turning a deep red. Matter approached her seat and looked upward to the seat beside her, a seat once held by Time, a seat once covered in stars, comets, and images of people that Time had seen during his many journeys across the universe. She missed Time dearly, he had been a kind Father, endlessly patient, unbreakably encouraging and he loved everything she created, placing one of every kind on his chair, like a child’s picture on a fridge. Energy had similar memories, Time’s chair used to glow with every color in the spectrum, occasionally erupting in flames as he’d throw out a mock villain’s laugh which threw Energy into a giggling fit trying to imagine her Father as a villain. When Time had been struck down, when he’d told them he’d no longer be able to see them… They’d gone after the man responsible to rip out his heart, the same way he’d broken theirs and it might’ve worked, that is, if he’d had a heart to rip out…

Next to Time’s chair sat a slightly higher chair, a chair that held no decorations, a chair that, despite being made of the same substance as the other chairs, somehow appeared more dense and more rigid. There had always been a respect associated with that chair, while Time had been a wonderful Father it was Destiny who guided them in fulfilling their purpose. Energy, better than anyone, remembered when Destiny had called them together to discuss the conversion issue, she had not waited long to follow in her Father’s footsteps and make the conversion herself, she’d found a lovely girl that she desperately wished to hold the form of; not long after she talked her sister into doing the same. Destiny had not been pleased with this and, now able to do as they pleased without Destiny’s direct command, they weren’t sure where their relationship with him stood. But, despite their defiance, he had been kind to them, explaining that the cosmos could not go on unordered and he needed their help to reign in this new world. They’d witnessed with utter shock his begrudging acceptance of their choice and the conversion process in general, knowing that his rejection of their choice could mean him closing the Book forever and thus bringing all things to a close. They’d readily agreed to help their uncle and got to work reigning in their children and receiving praise from Destiny in the process, something they’d never thought possible.

He’d been an imposing figure, his voice constantly booming as he sat upon his chair reading out the Book, bringing new life to the universe and reordering that which had been unbalanced. Destiny knew the answer to every question and could tell you the number of bumps on a ladybug's leg. Though Destiny never liked an audience when he read, he’d allow Matter and Energy to sit by his feet and listen and watch, moments they held dear to this day.

But Destiny’s chair held no Destiny, he had left long ago, when Time created the Deaths. They’d waited outside as Destiny berated his brother, reality shaking with each shout and time rippling back and forth with each retort. They’d been afraid, for the first time in their lives that argument had sent real fear down their spines. They both knew Time’s side of the argument, how much he hated being the ender of human life, how much he suffered each time he returned a soul back to the Book. They knew he spoke to them, that he comforted them as he took them away and, while it brought comfort to some of them, it brought nothing but pain to Time. So, he gave life to the Deaths; war, famine, pestilence and plague to do the job he couldn’t bear. Destiny couldn’t fathom his brother’s selfishness, his abandonment of his job, his post, and the rejection of Destiny’s authority as maestro of reality. Time did not apologize for what he’d done and so Destiny left taking the Book with him. The days of sitting at Destiny’s feet and listening to him read were over and they felt lost without their uncle’s guidance. Time acted much the same after Destiny’s disappearance, but they would catch him sometimes, looking off into the cosmos, as if he might one day catch a glimpse of his brother and he could go to him, but Destiny never returned, never showed his face again.

They needed him now, they needed his help, Time’s mistake had birthed the greatest monster the universe had ever seen and they were powerless to stop him.

“You know they never invited me here”? Came a mockingly melodic voice from the entrance. The two Forms spun around to see… him. Energy let out a roar that filled the room with the brightest light, she raised her arms high and crossed them, bringing them down like a swordsman cutting through flesh. Following the movements the orbs hanging in the room came crashing down toward the figure at the door, colliding with the ground and creating a force that made a supernova look like a child’s sneeze. Her breathing grew heavier as she stared with frustration at the crater where the figure had stood just moments earlier.

“Always the explosions with you,” The figure shrugged, now sitting on Destiny’s chair with legs crossed and his arms leaning atop the arm rests. Matter, the calmer of the two, analyzed the figure’s movements to see if he’d left them any opening; he hadn’t. Energy refused to look at him that long because his appearance had to be the worst part about him; he looked exactly like Time. “Pops could’ve invited me up here every once in a while, ya know, let me meet the family and what not, but I suppose he figured we wouldn’t exactly get along, he was right on that one.” He chuckled, Matter and Energy were less than amused. “Oh come on you two! Crack a smile will ya? If I’d wanted to kill you I’d have done ya in ages ago, so will you relax?” They did not relax. “Fine,” The figure exclaimed throwing his arms into the air, “If y’all don’t want to talk that’s okay, I find that I’m usually better conversation anyway.” He grinned at them, giving them flashbacks of Time, and boiling the blood in their veins.

“You stole everything from us… How can you look us in the eye after everything you’ve done”? Matter spat, the figure’s cavalier attitude hitting her most sensitive nerves.

“Stole? No, no, no! I never stole anything! I just did my job, which is more than I can say for you two, have you seen the state of the Universe lately? Eeeesh, talk about dropping the ball.” Energy’d had enough, in the span of a planck length she had reached the spot where the figure was sitting, her fist raised and boiling over with Energy, and, before she could land the blow she gasped, the man had vanished. “You really know how to hold a conversation don’t ya?” The man laughed, now standing at the center of the room shouting upwards. Energy knew her attacks were pointless, that nothing she threw at him would work, but she couldn’t just sit there and let him mock them. She chased the figure around the room, each time coming within a trillionth of a millimeter before realizing that he’d disappeared to some other part of the room.

“What do you want from us!” Matter demanded causing her sister to stop her pointless pursuit. The man considered this for a moment,

“Well I wanted y’all to lead me here, which y’all did so… thanks for that I suppose,” He grinned at them again and Matter returned it with contempt, “but here I’ve checked this whole Temple thingy and I haven’t found a trace of that gosh darn Destiny! Now I gotta wonder if the stories of Destiny leaving weren’t just stories!” His surprise was clearly not genuine and Matter and Energy knew they were just being toyed with, but they had no way to stop it. They hoped though that he really had no idea where Destiny had gone…

“Destiny’s not here asshole, so beat it!” Energy barked, tired of his games and hoping he’d either leave or kill them and get it over with, at this point she didn’t really care which.

“Ya see, I figured he wouldn’t be, but I had to be sure, you know how it is with rumors, one person says something then another person says it and then another person says it and so on and so on and so on,” He waived his arms up and down as he spoke, not even looking at the two ancient Forms primed to slaughter him the moment they got the chance, “until, eventually, you hear it and then who knows if it’s true! So I tend to check on things myself and, since ole Destiny’s not here, I suppose I’ll ask you ladies politely where I might find him.” He turned to look at them, their faces said it all, “Well that’s unfortunate…” he sighed.

“Guess you’re out of luck, even if we did know where he was we’d never tell ya!” Energy shouted, pleased to finally feel like they’d won one.

“Well you are right,” He began, his arms crossed and his hand stroking his chin, “I haven’t found him, but luckily I’ve got my best person on Adam working the case, which leaves me plenty of time,” he laughed at the word, “to play with y’all, so, that being said, “He rubbed his hands together excitedly, “I’ll give y’all a Planck length head start and this time, if I catch ya, I’m gonna kill ya.” Death told them, a smile shining brightly across his face.