Between Dreams and Reality.

Chapter 1: When the Primordials Tremble

Consciousness emerged like a flash in the midst of the absolute vacuum. It had no shape, no name, it just existed. It was a paradoxical fusion of everything and nothing, an essence that defied any attempt at definition. The first thing it noticed was the sound. A strange sound, like a discordant and disordered melody, pulsing within itself. It didn't know what it was, but it made it exist.

"What am I?" it thought, or something close to that. There were no words yet, just an attempt to understand its own existence. But it knew it was there, somewhere, or everywhere.

Simply by existing, its presence was an unbearable weight for the universe around it. Entire galaxies crumbled, stars collapsed, and the fabric of reality unraveled like burnt paper. Everything that came close was consumed, destroyed, or molded without its intention. It didn't do this out of will; it just happened. Its mere existence was like an inevitable hurricane, beyond any control.

Echoes of its consciousness spread through the infinite vacuum, and with them came the gazes. Primordial entities, the pillars that supported the very universe, felt the distortion its presence caused. They were forms that represented the very beginning and the end: Time, Space, Life, Death, Chaos, and so on. They existed before the concept of existence, but even they were shaken by its presence.

The first to appear was the Entity of Time. An indescribable form, composed of countless gears spinning in all directions, intertwined with golden threads that faded into infinity. Its voice was both grave and acute, reverberating like millions of echoes.

[What are you, that is born in the center of Nothing and consumes Everything?]

It did not respond. Not because it didn't want to, but because it didn't know. Its mind was empty of everything except the attempt to understand itself.

Soon after, Space emerged. A deep void, as if the universe had been folded into a single point. Its words were soft but carried a crushing weight.

[Your existence consumes mine. If you continue, there will be nothing left.] Space said with a tired voice and a somber look.

[In the name of the 'Creator', what in the 'original' chaos is this?] it added, with evident perplexity.

The others appeared next: Life, pulsing like a luminous heart; Death, a cloak of impenetrable darkness; and Chaos, an undefined form that constantly changed, impossible to describe.

Looking at... that in front of it, Chaos spoke with a commanding voice:

[It doesn't matter. We just have to eliminate it, just as we did with everything that breaks our laws.]

They agreed that it was a threat. They couldn't let it exist, even if it was still a raw consciousness, an innocent and unintending newborn. Each passing moment, its presence corroded and devoured more and more of the universe. So, they decided to act.

Time was the first to attack. The gears spun at a frenetic pace, releasing invisible chains that tried to imprison it. But it couldn't be contained. The chains simply dissolved at its touch, as if they had never existed.

Space tried to fold it, compressing it into a point so small that it could no longer exist. But it was the very concept of infinity. Nothing could contain it.

[It's no use! Our laws have no effect on this thing!] Space said in panic, never having found itself in such a situation.

Life and Death combined their forces, creating a spiral of creation and destruction that should erase its existence completely. But it just observed. And, while observing, it learned. In an instant, it understood how those powers worked, as if they were part of itself. And then, effortlessly, it undid the attack.

[Damn! It understood that?! That attack was with the Law of Reincarnation!] Life exclaimed, its light flickering.

Chaos was the last to try. Its form exploded into millions of fragments, each a primordial force of pure destruction. But it did not move. The fragments hit it, and nothing happened. It was like trying to destroy an ocean by throwing stones.

Looking at Chaos in panic, Time shouted:

[Where are the others? We need everyone to kill this thing!]

Reassembling, Chaos looked at its "brother" with neutral eyes. [Where do you think? Preventing this damn universe from collapsing.] Chaos replied irritably, this being was as old as, well... time, and still panicked when facing the unknown.

'This reminds me of what that human worm said once, what was it again... The oldest and strongest emotion is fear, and the oldest and strongest of all fears is the fear of the unknown... something like that.' Chaos pondered while looking at that abomination that made its stomach turn, even without having one.

Even in the face of all their attacks, it remained intact. Not by choice, but because its nature was unreachable. It couldn't be touched, let alone destroyed.

However, the entities did not give up. Although they had experienced initial failure, they knew they needed to try another method, for letting that entity exist meant signing the collapse of the universe and themselves. So they decided to unite their forces in a collective effort never attempted before.

Each of them had to sacrifice a part of themselves, an essential fragment of their own existence. Time disposed of entire eras, erasing lines of history to weaken it. This cost it memories and parts that could never be recreated. Space collapsed entire dimensions, creating a zone of absolute vacuum to isolate it, at the price of distortions that unbalanced the very fabric of reality.

Life and Death, in an unprecedented union, intertwined their essences to create a weapon containing both the beginning and the end of everything, but the creation of the weapon left them dangerously vulnerable.

Finally, Chaos burned its own essence, sacrificing a part of its primordial existence to create an absolute attack with everything that existed in creation.

'Damn this thing, I'm sacrificing too much for this crap,' Chaos grumbled internally.

Throughout this process, coordination was a constant challenge. Each entity had to adjust its actions in perfect synchrony, while the weight of their own sacrifices pushed them to the limit. Their collaboration, as improbable as it was desperate, made the entire universe tremble.

Stars exploded, reality shattered into fragments, but they didn't care. If they were sacrificing so much of themselves, why couldn't the other beings in the universe do the same?

Finally, with a unified effort and the cost of a significant part of their own existences, the entities managed to "kill" it. Its light faded, and its body—or something resembling it—disintegrated in a final flash of energy.

On some planet in the universe, a naked young man could be seen lying in the midst of a spring grove.

He opened his eyes for the first time. One silver eye, gleaming like the moonlight, and the other gold, burning like the sun. His pupils had the shape of intertwined spirals, slowly spinning as if they carried the secrets of the universe.

Looking around, he saw a blue sky, mountains in the distance, and a bright sun. He felt the wind on his skin, something he had never experienced before. He didn't know where he was. His mind was void of memories, filled only with questions.

"Who am I? What am I doing here?"

He didn't know the answers, but he knew he needed to understand. There was something inside him, a curiosity that drove him. For the first time, he felt the need to act. Not out of emotion, but out of pure instinct. To survive, he needed to learn.