All

In the beginning, there was nothing and everything. Pante. The Singularity.

But Pante was lonely, bored, lacking. It felt empty. It felt an endless cycle of nothingness. A particle would flash in and out of existence. Over and over. Waiting to become something.

Eventually, Pante became tired of the cycle, and of the nothingness. It became sick of itself.

Pante cut itself in two. Nothingness and Cycle. The eternal nothingness and the eternal cycle replaced Pante. Nothingness was happy to remain still. Cycle wanted to move, but whenever Cycle tried, they found they could only remain on the same path, over and over. The same particle, always flashing in and out of existence.

Nothingness wanted Cycle to be happy the way Nothingess had always been and would always be. Nothingness attempted to try and slow the Cycle down, stop that lone particle. Maybe if they were one again, Cycle would be happy again. Maybe Cycle would stop moving entirely, and be like Nothingness.

So Nothingness tried to stop Cycle, and break Cycle off its path.

In a way, Nothingness succeeded. But not as Nothingness expected.

Cycle found bits of itself breaking off. The offshoots would form their own cycles, before returning back to the original Cycle.

But one part of Cycle broke off and never wanted to come back. It called itself Time. Time confused both Cycle and Nothingness. Cycle found a new happiness, chasing Time as it zigged and zagged around Nothingness. As they moved, all sorts of exotic creations began to appear. Particles collided, forces burst and bloomed, objects clumped together and threw themselves apart.

Inside the bodies of Cycle and Nothingness, a universe formed, driven forward by Time.

Inspired by the creations of Time and Cycle’s own offshoots, Cycle began to spend more and more time trying to keep itself whole. Pieces of Cycle kept on throwing themselves out into Nothingness, forming their own minds, forming their own little existences.

Nothingness though grew jealous of Time. Nothingness perceived that Cycle loved Time more than Cycle loved Nothingness. Wanting to also be able to create, Nothingness created its own children, created from its own empty hollow.

As Time pushed ever onwards, the fragments of the Cycle created lives of their own. Billions of lifeforms began popping up, from the smallest viruses to organic beings the size of small moons. Cycle dutifully watched each and every one of them, doing its best to protect them from Nothingness’s jealousy. Cycle could not protect everything. Occasionally a piece of Cycle would stray completely away, or fall into the grip of Nothingness.

Time continued to move. Cycle began to grow tired. It was unable to keep up with Time and its erratic movement any more. Pieces of Cycle would no longer fall from its body, instead, Cycle would keep itself more and more in one piece.

Eventually, Time began to run away on its own. Cycle gave up on its endless chase and began to slow down, too broken by Nothingness’s constant attacks, too exhausted to continue onwards.

Realising what Nothingness had done, Nothingness extended its reach out to Cycle, asking for forgiveness. Time may have left Cycle behind, but Nothingness cared deeply for Cycle. Cycle thought to itself. In an act of confusion and perhaps desperation, Cycle let go of parts of themselves, that would continue Cycle’s chase of Time without it. Nothingness found itself doing the same, its one last act of jealousy.

But Time did not know of Cycle’s fading. Time did not understand. It pushed onwards, watching as those little parts of Cycle and Nothingness formed their own little existences. Time only understood the Cycle, it did not understand Nothingness, and was unaware that it was being chased by new, separate forms.

The rest of the Cycle slowly fell back to its original path, and Nothingness went back to its motionless self.

Out of Cycle, out of Nothingness, Pante formed once more.