BACK BEFORE THE STARS BOILED EGGS FOR DINNER, OR WHENEVER A LONG TIME AGO IS, AN ANCIENT TIME, THERE WAS NOTHING. THERE WERE NO STORIES OR TALES TO TELL OF, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO LOVE, AND BEFORE THE NOTHING, THERE WERE MONSTERS.
HORRIBLE TERRORS RULED THE EMPTY SPACES, TERRORS THAT ERODED AT OTHER BEASTS' BONES AND ATE AT THEIR ORGANS! THERE WERE NEPHILIM AND BEHEMOTHS AND LEVIATHANS. IT WAS A CYCLE OF BIRTH AND EATING AND EATING OTHERS AND BIRTHING OTHERS AND THEN BEING EATEN. IT WAS THE CYCLE OF LIFE. AMONG THESE BEASTS WERE ONES WHO WERE GHASTLY TOO, BUT BEAUTIFULLY INQUISITIVE. THEY DID MORE THAN JUST MINDLESSLY CONSUME. THESE GREAT BEASTS DID MORE THAN JUST SURVIVE, FOR THEY PONDERED AND SPOKE ALONGSIDE OTHER GREAT BEASTS. AND AMONG THESE MONSTERS WERE SIX: BALROSAT, BENEVOLENCE, KAOL, RANCOR, MULVAHAN, AND SUFRAKET. THE HANDS OF THE WORLD.
THOUGH THERE WERE OTHERS, THE SIX FORMED BONDS TOGETHER AND CREATED NEW CONCEPTS VITAL FOR LIFE IN THIS UNIVERSE. THEY MADE LOVE AND BALANCE, FRIENDSHIP AND OPPOSITES, KNOWLEDGE AND CURIOSITY. ALL WAS RIGHT, FOR THEY SOUGHT OUT PURE IDEAS TO CREATE WITH ONE ANOTHER. THEY CREATED THINGS SUCH AS MUSIC, STRUCTURES MADE FROM SCRAPS, AND A TABLE JUST FOR THEM TO CONVERSE. THEY WERE CLOSE AS CLOSE AS COULD BE IN THE TIME BEFORE THE STARS BOILED EGGS. SOON THE LESSER BEASTS GREW MORE SENTIENCE LIKE THOSE OF THE GREATER, BUT SOUGHT OUT FOR VICES. THEY BREWED LIES AND SINS AND HATE IN THE NOTHINGNESS. TERRIFIED OF THE HORRORS THE OTHERS HAD CREATED, THE SIX VOWED TO NEVER LEARN THEIR WAYS.
THAT IS, BESIDES KAOL. HE LOOKED UPON THE LESSER ONES WITH CURIOSITY INSTEAD OF FEAR FOR THEIR PRACTICES. THE NOTHINGNESS ABOVE HIM GLIMMERED WITH THE BONES OF MONSTERS, NO SWIRLS OF STARDUST OR SPARKLES OF SUNS. SIMPLY EMPTY STARS. PITCH BLACK VOID LAID BELOW HIM. KAOL VENTURED OUT INTO THE NOTHINGNESS AND HEARD NEWS OF A "KING", ONE WHO SLAUGHTERED AND CHANTED VILE WORDS WITH GLEE.
"I must see him! There are many questions that presume his presence!" KAOL CRIED AS HE RETURNED TO THE OTHERS.
"My friend, their roots are malice! What purpose does it serve them to kill without reason? They could harm you!" SHOUTED SUFRAKET, “I do not feel it to be safe."
"There could be a reason! That’s why I can see. Please let me go, Sufraket!.”
MULVAHAN'S EYES CIRCLED AROUND IN SEARCH OF AN ANSWER, HIS ROCKY TENDRILS CURLED IN QUESTION. “It would be best to leave with another."
BALROSAT EXTENDED A SLIPPERY ARM OUT! "I’ll go with you, Kaol. I would follow you to the past if I could!" HE EXCLAIMED.
AND SO, THEY LEFT TO SEEK THE KING, SEEING PILES OF BONES WITH MONSTERS FEASTING ON THE REMAINS. THE SKULLS AND MARROW REEKED OF DEATH, OF BETRAYAL, AND IT TWISTED BALROSAT'S HEART. NONETHELESS, THEY WENT ON TILL THEY TURNED TO A BEAST OF UGLY SCALES WITH TATTERED EARS AND SHARP HORNS. HE SAT UPON A THRONE OF CARCASSES AND ATE OF A LESSER MONSTER.
"Excuse me!" KAOL CHEERED WITHOUT HESITATION, "What is your name? I have only heard you referred to as, ‘the king,’ why is that?"
"You do not know my name? Hah!" THE BEAST CACKLED BEFORE CHUCKING THE BONES AT KAOL. HE BELLOWED HIS NAME, AND THEY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND.
"How are you king? I do not think a king can rule if there are no subjects!" HE NOTED WITH A LAUGH.
“Kaol, do not be so haughty with him..." BALROSAT GROANED.
"Ah, but I do have subjects!" AND WITH A WAVE OF HIS CLAW, HE SUMMONED HIS KINGDOM. THE NEPHILIM AND BEHEMOTHS AND LEVIATHANS COULD NOW SPEAK AND SLAUGHTER LIKE THE KING COULD. THEY WORSHIPED HIM WITH THEIR TONGUES. “They have learned from me, for I am all that is to be and all that was to not!”
"But how are you everything? Am I you?" KAOL TILTED HIS HEAD BEFORE BALROSAT SLAPPED A TENDRIL ON HIS SHOULDER.
"Hush!"
"No, he is right to wonder. You see," THE KING BEGAN AS HE SAT DOWN ON HIS THRONE AGAIN, HIS SLITHERY VOICE SPOKEN TOWARDS KAOL, "I am king because I am the most with hunger. The bones I sit on are of my own doing. These words are of my own tongue. I am the Inevitable!"
"But why? What does this do for you, is it fruitful?! I don't understand!"
"It does me good. I slaughter because their very essence helps me grow! They see me as all that is to be because of this, and so I teach them too. But to them it is fruitless, because they will fall apart without me. They cannot slaughter me! I grant them meals and a king so they can feel like they may partake in the feast, but they never will be me. They will never be inevitable." HIS FACE WAS NOW IN FRONT OF KAOL'S. HORRIBLE HISSING NEAR HIS EAR.
"I see," KAOL GASPED AND STUMBLED BACK. THAT WAS THE LAW OF THE BEASTS. "And it has done you well? Keep you secure?."
"Yes."
KAOL STAYED IDLE. HE LOOKED UP AT THE KING.
"Show me! Show me so my friends and I can be well off."
THE KING STARED AT HIM WITH SHOCK. HE TAPPED HIS CLAWS AGAINST THE ARM REST BEFORE LETTING OUT A HEFTY LAUGH.
"I shall show you!" HE CACKLED, BRINGING KAOL AND BALROSAT TO HIS SIDE.
HE SHOWED THEM LIES, BLASPHEMY AND SLAUGHTER FOR AN ETERNITY. WHILE BALROSAT STAYED TRUE TO HIS WORD, HE COULD NOT HELP BUT TREMBLE AND WINCE AT THE ACTS OF THE OTHER BEASTS. HIS FRIEND'S CURIOSITY GREW TAINTED INTO OBSESSION. EVERY THOUGHT HE HAD WAS OF UPPONT, THE INEVITABLE ASPECT OF HIS BEING. HE COULD BECOME THE START AND BEGINNING. HE COULD BE THE DAY AND THE NIGHT, AND THE REST CAN BE HIS STARS. BALROSAT CAN BE HIS BRIGHTEST STAR! KAOL AND THE OTHERS, THE RULERS OF THE WORLD. EVERY CURSE FILLED HIS MIND WITH ECSTASY, WITH POWER, WITH HUNGER. INSATIABLE HUNGER. EVERY SOUL HE ATE MADE HIM STRONGER.
BALROSAT COULD NEVER BRING HIMSELF TO DO ANY OF THESE THINGS. NOT A CURSE, A WORD OF MALICE TOWARDS ANOTHER. KAOL DID NOT MIND.
HE HAS A WEAK HEART, HE THOUGHT TO HIMSELF, BUT I CAN KEEP HIM SAFE. I WILL BE HIS KING.
TIME WENT ON, BUT BALROSAT ONLY GREW DISTANT AS HE WATCHED KAOL FROM AFAR. HE SAT IN A HOUSE OF SKIN THAT KAOL HAD MADE HIM, UNAWARE OF THE DISTRESS THIS CAUSED. HIS FRIEND'S HEART GREW MORE AND MORE UNBEARABLE. KAOL DID NOT FORGET ABOUT BALROSAT, NOR HIS FRIENDS, BUT HIS QUEST FOR CONQUEST LEFT HIM UNABLE TO PONDER MUCH ELSE. BACK BEFORE THE STARS BOILED EGGS FOR DINNER, OR WHENEVER A LONG TIME AGO IS, AN ANCIENT TIME, THERE WAS NOTHING. THEN THERE WERE MONSTERS, AND THEN, A NEW ERA UNDER KAOL'S REIGN.
BALROSAT FINALLY MUSTERED THE COURAGE TO CONFRONT KAOL. THE PILES OF BONES HAD BECOME SO ANCIENT THAT THE SMELL OF DEATH WAS CLEAN OFF. IN THE FEW TIMES THEY SPOKE, KAOL HAD SPOKEN NONSENSE. BECOMING KING, A PLACE FOR THE TWO OF THEM, SHADE AND LIGHT. PURE HUBRIS FILLED THE PLACE WHERE HIS WONDER HAD ONCE BEEN. IT WAS TOO LATE FOR HIS FRIEND.
I SHALL LEAVE, THERE IS NO FRIEND OF MINE HERE ANYMORE, BALROSAT THOUGHT.
BUT AS HE BEGAN TO WANDER BACK TO HIS OLD HOME, HE NOTICED THOUSANDS OF MONSTERS SWARMING THE KING'S THRONE OF SKULLS, SCREECHING AND YELLING AND DEMANDING. THERE WAS EVEN A CALL FOR THE GREAT BEASTS!
HE BEGAN TO HEAD TOWARDS THE THRONE, BUT SAW THE OLD KING WAS NO LONGER THERE. INSTEAD OF THE KING SAT KAOL, WEARING THE SKULL OF THE OLD RULER AND FEASTING ON HIS CORPSE.
"Benevolence? Rancor? Sufraket? Mulvahan?!" HE SAID AS HE MADE HIS WAY TOWARDS HIS FRIENDS. THEIR FACES FILLED WITH TERROR SOMEHOW WARMED HIM, AS HE HAD NOT SEEN THEM IN SO LONG. "What are you doing? Why are you here?!"
"How could you let this happen?!" RANCOR ROARED, "Did you allow him to stay this long?!"
"He said it was to learn! To protect us!!" BALROSAT CRIED.
HAIL THE LONG LIVING KAOL! BOW DOWN TO THE NEW KING! THE SWARM SHOUTED. ALL WHO WITNESSED BOWED DOWN EXCEPT FOR BALROSAT, WHO WAS ENGULFED IN HIS RAGE AND SORROW.
"This is not right Kaol! I followed you to this nightmare and I would have gone back with you!"
"It is to keep us safe! I killed the king! Did you not think I could have?"
"I knew you could, I did not think you would!!"
"It will be ok! I am king! I rule everything, haha!" KAOL LAUGHED BEFORE GRABBING BALROSAT'S TENDRILS IN HIS CLAWS. "You can be my brightest star!"
"You are not some endless glutton, some killer. You are my friend," HE SNARLED AND DREW HIS HANDS AWAY.
"You do not understand, Balrosat. I am shade! I am light! I am day! I am night! I am all that is to be and all that was to not! I am strong, I became strong for you. Kneel, and I will keep you safe! We will be ok.”
BUT BALROSAT REFUSED.
"I will follow you, but I will not kneel."
SILENCE FILLED THE NOTHINGNESS. THE BEASTS LOOKED UP AT BALROSAT IN DISBELIEF.
"Then let there be another way.." AND WITH A SNAP OF HIS FINGERS, BALROSAT'S SKIN BEGAN TO TWIST AND HARDEN LIKE CLAY INTO A BALL OF LIVING FLESH. HE CRIED OUT TO HIS FRIENDS, HELPLESS TO FIX HIM. HIS TEARS BECAME STREAMS, HIS EYES TURNED INTO BUSHELS OF TREES, AND HIS SKIN BECAME ROCK. HIS BLOOD SPLIT INTO PIECES AND DUST WITH DIFFERENT COLORS OF HUES AND FILLED THE VOID. THERE WAS NO LONGER NOTHINGNESS, BUT NOW A SWIRL OF DEEP PURPLES AND BLUES. THERE WAS NOW A WORLD. A PLANET!
KAOL TURNED TOWARDS THE OTHERS.
"This is for us.”
AND SO, HE MADE THE OTHER FOUR RULE ALONGSIDE HIM AS THE NOTHINGNESS BECAME THE UNIVERSE. HE TURNED MORE BEASTS INTO STARS, PLANETS, MOONS, AND FILLED SPACE WITH A HAUNTING BEAUTY. HIS LOVE GREW INTO POISON, AND HE SOON BECAME OBSESSED WITH WHAT WAS LEFT OF BALROSAT'S BODY. HE SPLIT HIS BODY IN HALF AND CREATED THE INNER INSIDES, A PLACE TO STORE THE SOULS OF THE DEAD. HE NEVER TOUCHED HIS HEART, AS IT KEPT HIM ALIVE. IT KEPT THE STREAMS FLOWING AND THE TREES STEADY. IT WAS IN MOCKERY AND ADMIRATION OF BALROSAT.
THE FIVE WOULD BE KNOWN AS THE ABSOLUTE, THE ULTIMATE POWERS OF THE UNIVERSE AND PARENTS OF THE ANCESTORS. THE ANCESTORS CAME FROM BALROSAT'S ROCKS AND TREES, BENEVOLENCE TOOK STARDUST AND RANCOR HOISTED THE WINDS. MULVAHAN COLLECTED SEA GLASS AND WEAVED IVORY. SUFRAKET IGNITED ASH, AND KAOL CREATED FROM HIS SKULL MARROW. THEY WERE ANIMALS, SAVAGE LIKE THE BEASTS USED TO BE, BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD WERE BALROSAT’S TEARS. SOME ANCESTORS DRANK OF HIS TEARS, AND THEY GAINED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GREATER BEASTS. WITH THE WISDOM AND POWER OF THEIR PARENTS BUT THE BODIES OF WORLDLY THINGS, THEY BECAME THE ELEMENTALS.
THE ABSOLUTE TOOK CARE OF THEM AND GUIDED THEM TO CREATE CIVILIZATION. THEY BECAME THEIR GODS, THEIR PATRONS. FOR THE FOUR, IT WAS TO APPRECIATE BALROSAT’S BODY. FOR KAOL, IT WAS TO FARM THEM LIKE THE LIVESTOCK THEY BEGAN TO GROW.
LIKE ROTTING FRUIT, KAOL'S HUNGER BECAME FOUL, FOR HE WAS NOW THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE! HE KNEW OF ALL THINGS TO BECOME AND TO NOT, AND HE WAS NO LONGER AS SATIABLE AS HE ONCE WAS. INSTEAD OF JUST SOULS, HE BEGAN TO EAT THE SOULS OF PLANETS TOO. HE CAUSED DISASTERS. HE TOOK A PIECE OF HIS OWN SOUL AND PLANTED IT INTO THE GROUND LIKE A GRUESOME TUMOR ON BALROSAT, SPREADING CYSTS OF DARK HATE AND HUNGER FROM HIS HEART. TO EAT. TO CONSUME. TO SPREAD!
HE BECAME THE TYRANT OF HUNGER ON BALROSAT. SOME ELEMENTALS FEARED HIM, SOME PRAYED AND HOPED THEY WOULD BE SAFE IF THEY DID. THEY CRIED OUT TO THE OTHER ABSOLUTE, BEGGING AND PLEADING FOR MERCY AS THEY BELIEVED IT WOULD SAVE THEM FROM KAOL'S RAMPAGE. OTHERS SHOOK THEIR FISTS AT THE GOD IN ANGER AND FEAR, BUT IT WAS FRUITLESS. THE ABSOLUTE DID NOT LISTEN.
FOR MILLENNIA, AS THE WARMTH OF THE GODS' CARE BEGAN TO FADE, PEOPLE PRAYED. THEY LIVED AND HOPED AND LOVED AND PRAYED AGAIN. THEY WISHED FOR A WORD FROM RANCOR, A TOUCH FROM BENEVOLENCE, A GLANCE FROM MULVAHAN OR SUFRAKET. IT WAS APPARENT TO EVERYONE, THOUGH, THAT THE ABSOLUTE HAD ABANDONED THEM.
BUT SOME HAVE WAGED WARS AGAINST THESE TUMORS AND DISASTERS. THEY WILL NOT LET BALROSAT FALL. AND IN THE WORLD OF SOUL EATING GODS AND MONSTROUS BEASTS, THERE WAS STILL LOVE! THERE WAS STILL HOPE.
AND SO, THERE WOULD BE A DAY WHERE KAOL WOULD NEVER FEAST AGAIN. THE END OF THE INEVITABLE BEGINS WITH A CURRENT AND A SHORE.