An empty void. Look again. It's dotted with countless, distant lights. The farther you leave the gravity of your home, the more you realise how small and insignificant your world truly is. A tiny rock ball, dyed in numerous shades of colours. Half in the light, other in the shadow. Half colourful, the rest shining like the unfamiliar black expanses. Reaching unimaginable speeds, the lights flash by in a blur. Faster, we need to go even faster. Hurry, please. We are running out of time. Behind the artifical comet, so lonley and sad, the little home slowly started to be infested with ugly, red scars. Why are you leaving? Won't you stay with me? I'm scared. No, don't turn back! Run! Please go. The little thing, floating in an unknown place in space, started to quietly shake. The wounds which caused unease continued expanding. And at last, with a blinding flash of light, the round and helpless thing violently exploded. The blazing red blast expanded in all possible directions, swallowing the escaping comet. There wasn't a sound to be heard. Only silence. Nothing but fleeting light, which had gone away to travel far, is left to tell the tale.

Outside of what the miracles of probability could see, perhaps comprehended to an extent but too vague, an eternal observers eyes gazed at the tragic scene. Hot rocks and a crumbling molten core. It will soon become one of the numerous asteroids. Wander for seemingly an eternity, collide with others and form a new body. Become trapped in one of the countless lights grasp and, with any luck, pass on what the deceased treasured the most. All of this, all joy and happines, sadness and sorrow, all to be repeated once more. The incomprehensible entity moved its gaze away, drifting away through the vast nothingness. Colourful clouds sparkling the little ones imagination and ambitions, stars burning away their life force silently. Or perhaps not? Are you actually giving it to them, to the fragile ones? You mad awe inspiring giant. Your compassion knows no end, does it? Ah, but that is laughable to me. When your time comes you will take them away with you. You don't want to? Such delusions. Your life will end in glory, just as you have lived. Like that adorable rock, you too will go out in flames. You will restrain yourself? How amusing. The final breath of yours, no matter how restrained, will still incinerate the little miracles. The anomaly took form of one of many impossible existences, gently wrapping its newly gained ten fingers around the radiant caretaker. Simple eyes could not notice any changes. I have seen it all before. Again, again and again. It all goes round and round without end. You are but a mere passing flash of brilliance. You will either be abandoned or disappear together. So cheer up and do your duty. That is all you can do.

The darkness left the isolated group to their own devices. Boring. Recently it has become like this. It as all the same, eventful and noisy. The nebulas stayed in place, decorating their own little part of the universe. Ah, it seems no longer. Yet another flash of energy blew it all away. It doesn't matter. Those who look at them from afar will be able to witness their glory for a long time. Sometimes it's nice; being unable to see everything in the moment it happened. The mass of black stood in place, lazily looking around. This piece of nothingness was crowded with dense glows. Purple dust swayed left and right as it drifted without gravity, only weak attraction keeping the particles into one group. It has been far too long since I had last played a game. Should I do it once more? The ancient one pondered without much emotion. It is childish. And yet, perhaps because of a sudden loss for future actions, in the end decided affirmatively. Shape resembling the long lost humans, purple eyes similar to the nearby dust cloud, body covered in decoration which mimcked the appearance of the abyss as viewed from the planet surface. As I have thought, it is meaningless. Not even a moment of entertainment. How come it used to make me laugh? It's stupid. Frustration and anger. The shape furiously scolded itself for acting immature. Yet, it wasn't motivated enough to undo its action. Frustrated, the observer moved on.

So pretty. The dense dust clusters are gorgeous. Little particles, floating without worry. The unknown held them in its palm, head drawn close to them. Observing. Body patterned with distant beauty. Glows and lonely clouds moving according to the existences position. As if it had mearly camouflaged with the silent expanses. Eyes unable to be seen, stories accurate yet so far. It watches mutely. Lightest of elements in their purest forms. All that is tangible starts from you. But where do you hail from? I've been here for so long and yet I don't know. Thou, why am I even bothering to think about it? It is a question without an answer. Curiosity will only cause headaches and disappointment. The old one bitterly started moving away from the dust of colliding particles. Wait. Colliding? The worn out soul widened its eyes in shock as it turned its gaze back at the unassuming cloud.

At the very centre of the gathering, as if suddenly pulled into quicksand, countless elements gathered together. The mass at the core grew, large amounts of energy being released in the process. Atomic fusion. Acquiring enough mass to posses strong attraction and gravity. A birth of a young star. The wanderer gazed at this scene intensely, not daring to miss a moment. So pretty. Explosions without noise. After thousands of such unimportant accurances, the youth has finally been born. How unusual. It wasn't alone. Around the mid sized - soon to be Sun - orbited a small star. Their gravitational pulls were as such that they shan't collide together unless an unforseen event occurs. You have a sibling? How nice. It's pleasant; not being alone. Look. You can spend so much time together. Others had to suffer misfortunes, but you two have incredible luck. Could it be? Are you two another miracle of probabilities? We will have to wait and see. There are many more event to come. Ah, it has been so long, so long since I have seen a birth of a star. It used to happen all the time when I was young. The shapeless in a shape of a human recalled its old memories. Curiosity, which has been dead for so long, once again rekindled. For reasons unknown even to itself, the existance chose to remain in this remote place.

Speed of accurances has always been impossibly slow. Do not assume that nature is in a hurry. True thunderous movements could only be found in places where the short lived gathered. The vagrant leaned its ear close to the two sibling stars, listening to their soothing singing. It has been far too long since it laid like this in peace. Why did it so hekticly wander around? It was searching for something. What was it? It didn't know. All that mattered was the fact that, at this moment, it felt calm. In the span which took it to awaken from its trance, the long awaited asteroids finally came. The desired planets, existances which the sibling will look after, have formed long ago. What the three were waiting for was the arrival of water. Only that simple, yet incredibly mysterious, compound could allow the molten planets to experience change. It didn't even have to be water. Life, one of the most unlikely things to happen among countless others, could form under hundreds of different influences. The shape was mearly reminded of the long gone Earth. A tenacious little thing. Meteors rained down onto the trembling bodies. Some asteroids were caught by the planets, others directly broke off a piece of the round children. Such a dense rain of rocks. Another unexpected event. How many more will fallow? The incomprehensible existance tilted its head in wonder, its eyes not failing to catch the sight of hidden treasures landing. It simply wasn't possible for it not to see. The entity gazed away from the scene of carnage, trying to hear any nearby noises. Aside from the singing of the celestial bodies, there were no other sounds. No sentient life in proximity. The shape hit its head in embarrassment. It posses the ability to see and hear everything. Why did even try to do things the hard way? Coming to terms with its childish stupidity, it once again searched around, this time using its all seeing eyes. The black void was a lot more silent than usual. Many stars have died, planets selfdestructed. It seems that the runaways have gathered in a specific spot. A safe haven? Doesn't matter. There are only fixed ends to those who escape annihilations grasp. It was far more interesting observing something which hasn't been seen in a long time. The stationary wanderer returned its gaze to its rightful place, but, before doing so, its attention was first caught by a certain anomaly. Strange. The lights seem a lot farther away than usual. No, it really is far away. No matter. The expansion naturally continued without stopping. Things and places, reaching a distance at which their radiance could no longer be seen, was normal.

Many have lamented at being alone, without any signs of having neighbours. The existance had always thought that it was preferable to be the only intelligent life form in a certain radious. Remembering all of the events of the past, this was the conclusion which it reached. Only one, small round thing, was able to birth a sentient species. No, there were others. They failed to keep them. Such fragile things indeed. A blue - purple planet slowly orbited around the dual suns. A moon covered in metal mountains. Slender plants grew atop the planetary crust. The dominating race had yet to start creating large settlements. They could live on land as well as in water, not having trouble breathing in either of these habitats. By being burried under a special compound their bodies would transform into a mass of energy allowing them to fly freely. Such an unique biology must have come from the treasures which landed many years ago. The existance connected the strange mineral with one of the fallen civilizations. It was good that someone inherited their legacy. The observer felt joy in place of people long gone. Its face was almost glued to the planet, watching attentively from above, unaware that its actions progressively became childish as days passed. The civilization soon formed itself. A slow start, religion abound, strife. And finally, after the initial slow growth passed, a sudden explosion in progress. With the blessings of three treasures and a legacy of another world, the little people soon grew into an advanced group. Type one civilization? So soon? Before the shape became aware, the little inheritors had gained the control of each and every power source on their home planet. They had even went so far as to reach the nearby planets and mine them for resources. What the shape shifting lot hadn't noticed, however, was that they have succesfuly developed technology which will easily be able to protect them from the common dangers. Their existance was simply that peaceful. Do not let your guard down. The moment you become a pacifist is the moment you lose the game of life. The audience warned and cheered on the fragile things.

When someone, something, is old enough to witness the endless circle, it becomes easy to predict certain events. However, perhaps due to full hearted investment, the observer felt nervous at what could be considered inevitable. The dark had long ago lost most of its brilliance. Only an occasional, shimmering light could be seen. The once shining body had almost returned to its old state. From afar they came. An unavoidable accurance when those who run away continue to flee. The ones who abandoned their dying family, the ones who killed their parents. A seemingly endless fleet of space ships surrounded the star system. Warships and transportation constructs. Refugees and soldiers. A transmission, greeting and a request. Silence. Those who own all of the planets have, like others before them, observed the sky. Their records held some of the past events which transpired. The stars have burned out. The refugees require a new place to live. Making place for them would mean forfeiting resources. Strife is sure to fallow. And, most importantly, accepting the travellers would inevitably decrease chances of their own survival. Thus, the answer was clear. Instead of accepting the drifters and giving everyone equal, but small, chances it was a much better option to simply give everything to only one. And which species would it be? The small shape shifters didn't even bother to answer the greeting before they launched a full on attack. The nomads may have travelled far and wide, but they were no match for the technology made by the subconsciously paranoid people. Using their home advantage, the natives separated their visitors. The first to fall were the ships carrying the civilians. It was a one sided genocide. No noise was to be heard in space. The watcher happily gave an applause to the victorious. Unfortunately, it wasn't a flawless victory. The shape looked at the sibling stars with grief. The opposing side possessed the means to disrupt the delicate balance of orbiting bodies. Cry as much as you want, but spend the remaining time together fulfillingly. Blame the invaders for daring to pass off as your protege.

The void had truly become empty. No light in sight. The little sun had long ago collided with the bigger one. The ones under their watch were able to survive such an event. Now, even the older sibling had long passed its prime. Half of its mass remain, a corpse of a star, nothing but a white dwarf. Life, which has been born in this specific place, remained here. Their home world has been lost when the star died with a magnificent nebula. They now live in a space station constructed around what remained of their life giver. It's so dark. The only light remaining comes from the white dwarf. The eternal observer imbraced the construct together with the last light, remaining silent. Its body had become compleatly black. Little ones, you must be scared. I'm sorry. I cannot reproduce the light you all know only from the video recordings. I'll stay with you until the very end. Billions of billion years in eternal darkness. The last light in the universe gradually flickered away. A black dwarf. The coldest place to be found. With the warmth gone, the last living things died quietly. There are no sounds to be heard. Heat death. The invisible shape slowly closed its purple eyes. The last place of non - derkness was swallowed by true waves of demise. There was no difference.

Cold, dark, a sudden spark. A sudden change in the compleatly even temperature began. With a single spark, the entire universe ignited. Dust clouds, constant birth of new clouds. Explosions without sound. Curious eyes watched as this chaos unfolded. What is this? Interesting! The little shapeless speedily drifted between the chaos. Noticing that its body was entirely black, it tried to mimick the colourful scenery before it. And truly, the cloud which was its body became the same as the surroundings. The newborn merrily played with its new camouflage, running around the chaotic scene without worry. I'll call that dust, that thing over there a rock. It started to attach names to certain objects which it passed by. Who am I? I don't know. I'll name myself Seiru. Yes! That's my name. The little thing decided as thus. At some point a star has been born. It's so pretty.

SSSC

Story written by VannVann, you can find more of their work here.