Sini was cold.
Now she wasn’t.
Now she was everything. Everywhere. But still in one place.
The smashing of two particles. A cataclysm. Fusion then fission. From absolute zero to, for the tiniest amount of time, absolute hot. Things were already cooling down though. Fundamental forces were beginning to separate. Time, Space, Change and Decay were all now present. Reams of ultra hot dust were blowing around, dragged by nuclear winds. Out of this, the first proto-stars would eventually form. As things cooled further, masses would coalesce and harden, creating heavier elements that would one day become planets and moons.
Sini didn’t need to look that far ahead though. She was too busy trying to catch her breath. After all, Sini had just created a universe. Her first. All on her own. But she needed to alter a few things. The universe wasn’t that stable. It needed to at least appear stable. And she needed to put some life in it.
With a wave of her hand, Sini’s body changed. Her serpentine form became ragged and spiky, changing from Life Goddess to Time Drake. With the new Forward Flow at her command, she began to speed things up. She needed to cool the universe down, make it seem older than it was. The quicker things cooled to a decent temperature, the quicker she could start on the important stuff.
Sini needed to put life in her universe. Any life. Single-celled organisms were fine. Even basic folding proteins would do. She knew how to do this, but the universe was still too warm.
But, swiftly, things around the edges began to cool. A handful of planets took shape, orbiting baby stars. Sini shifted her form again, turning back into a Life Goddess, then slowly assisted them, stabilizing gravity, giving them careful orbits. The centre of the universe was still way too hot, but Sini could at least create water on these small, rocky lumps. And, in that water, she could create the first primordial soups.
Thankfully, Sini had prepared in advance. She had some tiny samples. Extremophiles from other, older universes. Universes Sini had been forced to abandon. They’d survive in the overly warm water. And they’d grow quickly. But Sini didn’t really care what they’d grow into. She just needed some form of life. Literally anything.
The bacteria started adapting. The universe was currently poor in heavier elements, but the bacteria was turning hydrogen and nitrogen into food. Thanks to Sini’s control over time, this was all happening at an almost noticeable rate. Good.
The universe continued to spin. The centre was still glowing hot, but Sini could slowly move inwards, putting the seeds of life on planets as she did so. For reasons she couldn’t explain, the skies of her new project were a dull red, not black. Sini just guessed that things hadn’t cooled well enough yet, and the cosmic background radiation was still throwing things off.
Sini paused for a moment. She called it her project. It wasn’t a project. It was a test. A proof of concept. This universe wasn’t going to last very long. Considering how fast Sini had made this universe’s Forward Flow, how quickly time travelled, if left unattended, it wouldn’t even last a million years.
Didn’t matter.
This was practice.
No. This was… a plot. Part of a greater plan. A plan to fulfil a promise that Sini had made. She had made an oath to her little brother. That he’d escape his eternal suffering and, after aeons, he would finally taste actual freedom. He’d kept his promise to her, that he’d serve one last cycle, that he’d protect her universe with his life. Sini needed to keep her end of the deal.
This universe was part of that plan. It was… bait, more than anything else. Sini had searched the Periuniversal Void, she’d tried to chase after the monster that had taken her brother. But, even with the wings of Time, Sini didn’t know where she was going. But she knew that Corruption was always hungry. And after a long, tedious battle against her old universe, the beloved home Sini had been exiled from, the Corruption would be hungry. There was little to eat out here. This universe would be a fine, easy meal for an exhausted monster.
Really though, Sini knew she was already too late. Considering how quickly she’d seen the Corruption try and consume her old universe, how quickly it had nearly taken over the old Whenvern, she knew that her little brother had probably already fallen. Kairos was an ancient, powerful Time Drake, and he had almost instantly fallen to the Corruption’s power. Her little brother was made of far stronger stuff. But it had been already, what, a week? Sini wasn’t sure. And the Corruption had boasted that it didn’t expect her little brother to last more than a few days.
It didn’t matter. Even if her little brother was nothing but part of the hungering darkness, Sini could still try and keep her promise. If her plan worked, she’d be able to pull the remains of her little brother from the Corruption. But Sini was well aware that he was gone, and that she’d have to immediately kill him. Somewhat ironically, using a blade made from his own, crystallized blood.
No matter what, he, or whatever was left of him, would be free. Free from his suffering. Free from life, from existence. He had been through so much pain. He’d lived a long time, always enslaved to someone else. Sini knew she probably couldn’t save him, but she could at least end that pain and let him close his eyes, one last time. After all, there was freedom in death. He had said so himself.
Sini sighed to herself. She didn’t have much hope. She didn’t even have much faith in her own plan. It was a long shot. The only chance she had. And she was risking being consumed herself, especially since she’d made this universe in what others called a pit of despair.
Pushing the uncertainty to one side, Sini made some final tweaks to the universe, making it look actually universe-y. Once she was satisfied, she quickly toured her new universe, surveying it. She was vaguely proud of what she’d created, and on such short notice as well. Sure, it was small and primitive. Sure, there wasn’t much in it. And, if things went as planned, Sini was going to abandon t as soon as she was done anyway. But Sini had at least proven that she was a genuine Life Goddess, capable of driving true creation. She wasn’t just a two-bit deity like Kinisis always considered her to be.
Another sigh. At least there wasn’t intelligent life in here to hear her constant disgruntled murmurs. Sini sighed yet again, then changed her form once more. She needed to be a Time Drake now. To disguise her presence. The Corruption had only really seen her as a Life Goddess with some sway over time. She needed to be a Time Drake with some sway over creation. If the Corruption recognized her too quickly, her plan would fail. Luckily, Sini was very good at shapeshifting, and she made herself look masculine and heavily armoured. Like a guardian defending an abandoned nest.
Now that her disguise was done, Sini could finally put her plan into action. She opened up a hammerspace and rummaged through it, until she found two items. One was a dagger, the Elkayne Blade, a weapon that her little brother had given to her, one designed to be specifically deadly to Corruption. All Corruption. The other object was a small, black, glistening gem. One that sparkled in a nonsensical manner. This gem was something Sini had… taken from her brother. Something he had forgotten about. Maybe, if the others hadn’t messed with his memories…
Sini put that thought to one side, and instead clutched the gem tightly in her hand. She concentrated hard, silently calling for help. She didn’t need help. Just like the universe around her, the distress call was bait. The gem shuddered slightly, then glowed brighter, just for a second, suggesting that it had worked.
“Come and get me, you son of a cunt…” Sini snarled as she steadied herself and stared out into the darkness.