At the edge of Creation, far removed from mortal and Maker’s touch, the Oort cloud shimmered like a fragile wintry gasp. Within that primordial glow of rich immateriality, the veil between order and oblivion silently flared and flickered. Pure crystalline bodies spiraled through the ethereal expanse joined by Centaurs rushing recklessly at full gallop chased by capricious comets flaring amorously across the ecliptic challenging the stygian gloom. It was dreamlike and brilliant, almost angelic in its beauty, this challenge to the void by Creation’s most independent children. But even the cosmic was finite and beyond this last brave gasp of Life lurked the lapping inexorable black sea of the abyss.

Drawn by their radiance, a scarred legion of carbon and iron rose from the deep in approach to those fading shores. Their pitted, stony faces soon pierced the celestial shroud entering the divine firmament on their empyreal march toward that infinitesimal point of light at Creation’s core.

Next Chapter: Chapter 1