In the Beginning

It was time. The harness descended for the final time as the Station prepared to fulfil its true purpose. The Reaper slid their arms into the harness and equipped the Heimdall Station. The room roared to life as the walls ascended. Below them, war raged as those who couldn’t or wouldn’t participate drew Reality’s gaze. The Reaper stood alone in the room, preparing themselves for the next step; their mind abuzz with the thoughts and conversations of its other occupants.
“Right, everyone shut it!” Lore shouted to themselves. Their voice echoed through their mind. The other voices fell quiet. “I’m going to need you to stay like this for the next few minutes or this will have been a huge waste of time.” There was a general rambling of consensus. “Good. Deep breaths Lore. We can do this.”
“Yes you can.” Piper whispered. Those three words were more reassuring than anything they could have told themselves.
The Reaper tightened their grip on the harness as they dragged their arms towards their core. They braced as the station began pumping the energies of every one of its occupants into their body; golden light channelled straight into their veins. Today was a day of firsts as they ascended past what they thought was godhood to become an actual deity. They had been naïve to think that before boarding the station they were at the level of the gods; the power they wielded now was absolute, the kind written about in holy texts, the kind they needed. Channelling it was another task, right now they were a balloon but they needed to be a hose. The Reaper extended the stations spires. Fifty two grew from the stations equator and the other two, from its poles. They extended nearly fifty miles away from the station’s surface then no further. From each spire shot a beam of gold and purple. This swayed Reality’s attention. One hundred and eight bolts of light erupted from the spires. They travelled for a couple of miles before stopping suddenly. At first the energy seemed to pool in mid-air but as the first chips appeared, that changed. Slowly but surely, the light managed to penetrate its target and seep out from reality and into the void. The chips became cracks and the cracks became larger. Reality was fracturing around them. The fighting below came to a gradual stop as more and more of the troops became enamoured with the light show above them. While the fractals the cracks created stretched far and wide, overlapping at times, there was nothing to worry about; the Reaper remained calm and focussed their efforts to solidifying the holes they were creating. The space around the station was a beauty to behold, an orb, a web of purple and gold hundreds of miles in diameter. As they continued to drill, they began the next phase; the spires were once again moving. They finished their two mile journey with ease. From the inside looking out, one could see that now the spires were filling the holes they had created, their beam emitters now firmly in the void but to the soldiers caught outside of the orb they would be forgiven for thinking the spires’ tips had simply vanished. The Reaper, confident that the job was done, ceased their drilling. They took a deep breath and centred their mind. The next phase would not be as easy. From the polar spires they fired a beam of white light which curved back on itself like water from a fountain. The light cascaded from the spout and fell back, trying to re-enter but it couldn’t. As it once had before, the light that came from the spire pooled against the surface of reality. The Reaper jolted their hand and as they did, the light froze, securing the station between the void and the central universe. Outside, all of reality had a view of at least one spire but they had no idea what was going to happen next. The Reaper brought their hands back together. They crossed them over their torso as they began the final phase. Lore took another deep breath. Despite breathing the whole time, it felt as though they hadn’t felt oxygen in their lungs since their creation. They nodded and began again. They held their arms closer as they wreathed themselves in The Past. Pale golden light circled their body as they drew upon those contained within them for all they had. Then came the rest. Amplified by the clones within them and the station around them, the pale golden light grew. It mutated slightly as the violet dark matter was introduced but it balanced out quickly. Ready to pop, The Reaper released the past into the timeless abyss around them. Lavender-Gold light erupted from two of the poles’ spires. The Reaper extended their arms as if to better channel the energy. It waited for their command just beyond the spires exit. The Reaper closed their eyes and span in a clockwise motion and so did the energy. The past pirouetted through the dark void; the various Realitys came to bask in its glow, unsure bordering on fearful as to what was happening. Still spinning, The Reaper brought their arms back to their core and began collecting the present. White light illuminated them and, if their eyes hadn’t have been closed, would have blinded them as it accepted the charge of the clones and the station. It too was released into the void and joined the past in orbiting the centre of reality. The future wasn’t far behind, it’s electric blue glow barely tainted by the purple dark matter as it joined the past and present. The three lights braided in the void, spiralling and weaving into perfect time. As it came together, it shed its purple hue and revealed it’s true splendour. The three colours continued on the path The Reaper had set it on even after they came to a stop. Although they knew they could do it themselves, they drew upon Space’s powers next. Blue light poured from all fifty two of the equator’s spires. It too stopped and waited for The Reaper’s direction. Their hands balled into fists and so did the energy. Fifty two purple-blue spheres began to form on the band of time they had just created. As they formed, The Reaper prepared for Life and Death. Lilac and purple-rose bolts followed the blue as they penetrated the orbs they had just created. Reality stood speechless as they watched the formation of fifty two new universes. The Reaper stopped the flow of Death’s energy just before they did Life’s.
“On your last.” They whispered as they returned to their original pose and ceased the energy transfer.
For the first time, in fifty two universes, the sun rose. The Reaper stood for a moment and took their final collective breath. The harness dropped and they saw their creation with their own eyes. All but the clones had separated from them and all but their family had immediately Breached to the universe below. Body coursing with energy, Lore limped to the viewscreen and fell against it. Char and Tay were unconscious but alive and they were sure that they too would soon be joining them. With their last moments of energy, they too Breached to the universe below, released the clones to a terrified battlefield then returned to the station. The cracks in reality had faded and the spires retracted but the ordeal had had a definite effect on them. It had affected all who saw it. Reality would never be the same again. Blinking, Lore tried their hardest to remain awake. Like a child waiting for Santa, they strained with fatigued excitement. Lore looked out on the universe they had changed and the worlds they had created and they thought it good. There Was Lore.