<<Prologue: Part 1>>

'Endless and vast sky above. Black as night, not a speck of light in sight. How long will I sit here in this void? Will this nothingness ever become more bearable? Am I going to be alone forever?'

These are all the thoughts that run through the mind of an immortal being. One in charge of past, present, and future. They can guide time in one direction or another, they can accelerate time, they can decelerate it, but they cannot directly stop or start time as there is no true beginning and no true ending. They cannot jump from one point in time to another because it follows a linear path. These are the words passed down from one being to the next. No one speaks these thoughts; none are present to share the burden of emptiness with them. One day, they just came into being and the next they were lost in a sea of loneliness.

For one moment there was only Eternity. Eternity is the name of such a being whose presence is immense and powerful. Eternity has no shape, no color, no personification. Eternity just exists, watching and guarding the time that passes. How long will they suffer like this?

A voice slices through the deafening silence that surrounds Eternity. "Do not fear child, I bring with me a new creature. One with infinite beauty. One who creates and maintains life. One who has the power to create and also destroy. They are in infancy now. They are the first of their kind. Will you guide this creature? Can you show them how to create the space to fill this hollow cavity that is labeled as time?" Before Eternity could understand these thoughts, a small dot appears. It is far and it is small. But it brings light and warmth. Two concepts that are foreign to Eternity. The dot pulses, breathing and growing more and more as Eternity watches.

"Who are you?" The new being asks. Eternity has only heard one voice prior to this, the voice in his mind that provided the introduction for this small glimmer of light.

"I am time. I am the past, present, and future. I am called by the name of Eternity. I wait and watch, guarding this black and empty hole. I continue to push it through, not allowing it to stay in one moment for too long. There is too much to do for it to stand still. What is your name little one?"

"A name. I don't remember. All I know is that I am to grow and grow. I keep growing. Do I have a name?" Eternity listens. The creature has no name. No creature should live like that.

"I can give you a name, if you will allow it." Eternity waits, shoving the time by as they are meant to. Pushing, sometimes pulling it down the line.

"I would like that very much." Like? What does like mean? Eternity pushes this thought on through just as they do with everything else in their care.

"What about . . . Nature?" Eternity pauses. The only word that is present to describe what is before them is this strange word. Nature. Unsure of what it means but compelled to use this term, the new being adopts the name Nature.

Every day Nature grows vaster. This black emptiness is becoming filled with something. It started with the light. Small and shiny it continued to grow until there was no more growing left to do. After light came something brown. It hovered underneath the light. It was soft but dry. Sometimes it would crumble. Sometimes it would fall apart. On the days when it would start to separate, Nature would get upset.

"Why won't this creation stick together? Why doesn't it stay?" Eternity did know the answers to these questions but could not share them with Nature for Eternity did not possess the language to explain them. Eternity could only wait. Eternity knew what was coming next, but Eternity also knew they could not change it. Nature began to cry. Fluffy white objects filled the light, dimming it. From those objects came drops. These drops were colorless when they were looked at individually. However, when gathered together, they created the most brilliant shade of cerulean that Eternity had ever witnessed, not that Eternity had witnessed many colors during their early existence.

The drops filled and cemented the brown stuff, keeping it in place. "I did it!" Nature shouts. "Now that you are all forming together nicely, I will call you Earth."

"Why Earth?" asks Eternity.

"I do not know why. I only know it is what this new place is meant to be called." Eternity scoffs at this notion. A being not knowing 'why' something under their care is, or 'how' it is, that is unheard of. Irresponsible. Eternity did not have high hopes for this thing called Earth.

Despite their doubt, Nature continued to grow. Nature brought green to this brown and blue place called Earth. The green came in many shapes. Some of the green was clumped together into weird individual masses while other parts of the green were spread neatly over the brown stuff. Nature had begun to call the brown stuff dirt. When brown is by itself, it is dirt.

Eternity didn't understand why some green was different than the other green. Why did some green clump and some green spread? Why didn't green cover all of the brown? None of Nature's creation made sense but Eternity knew not to meddle. Eternity was only there to observe and guide time along. What Nature did was up to them alone.

For a while, Nature was content with only the brown, blue, and green. However, one day the green got too big. The green could almost touch the bright sky that Nature had created. Nature did not like this.

"Argh! Why does it do that? Why doesn't it listen?" Nature had become frustrated with their creation. Despite their frustration, the green only continued to grow. Eventually, the green overtook the brown. For some reason, the green couldn't completely overtake the blue. The blue could keep the green separate. "Why can't the brown be like the blue?" Nature sighs.

"Because brown and blue are not the same. Just like how green and blue or green and brown are not the same. They are different. How can you make them work together?" Eternity wasn't sure why they were concerned with this project, nor why they offered these opinions.

Nature stopped talking for a long time after Eternity's answer. With Nature's silence, the sky lost its light. The sky grew dark once again. This time, however, in the darkness, the green and blue, and brown still existed. They were still there; they just could not be seen. Eternity did not like this darkness. It reminded them of when dark also meant empty. Eternity grew worried that Nature would never come back to finish their silly project.

"Nature, where did you go?" Eternity spoke again. As soon as Eternity released these words, the light came back.

"I was not gone. I was thinking." Nature responds. Thinking. Another word that Eternity doesn't quite understand. "I have figured out how to keep the green from overtaking the brown!" Just like that, something started moving in the blue. Why is something moving in the blue and not in the green?

"How is adding something to the blue going to solve the problem?" Eternity was not so sure about this solution. Nature made a strange sound in response. It was light and airy. Eternity felt something about this sound. The sound made Eternity feel warm. Is this like?

"You are impatient Eternity. It will work. You just have to wait. I would think you of all beings would understand how time works." Eternity did not like what Nature had said. Even though Nature gave a good answer, Eternity still felt wounds form from those words. Is this the opposite of like? What is the opposite of like called?

Eternity sat and waited. Dragging time along as they do. The longer that they dragged time, the less Eternity felt towards those words from earlier. Out of nowhere, the moving shapes that were in the blue started making their way onto the green.

There were many different kinds of moving shapes. Some were smaller than others. Some were taller than others. Some were wide and some were narrow. These shapes were not uniform. Eternity doesn't understand why Nature always has to make things different. But Eternity knows that it is not their place to understand. The moving things were called life. Each moving thing had its own name, but Eternity could not remember each and every one. Because of this, Nature had to come up with a word to describe every moving, growing thing. That word was life.

Life is different than the brown or blue. Life has many colors just how it has many shapes. Nature said that green was one of those colors. Eternity watched as life began to spread, just as all things created by Nature tend to do. Life began to consume the extra green. Somehow, Nature had created balance. Life needed the blue to survive and to eat the green. The green needed the brown for stability and green needed the blue, but Eternity did not know why. The blue didn't seem to need anything. The blue was confusing. It did a lot, but it also did nothing. Even though none of it made sense, Nature's creation called earth continued to grow and change.

Nature and Eternity continued like this as time moved on. Nature worked on Earth and Eternity observed the changes, making sure that no change stayed still for too long. Everything has to move forward eventually, and Eternity is always making sure of that. Eternity grew to like talking with Nature, but something kept Nature from talking at times. Eternity did not like those times when Nature was busy.