Episode 1: And Then There Was Morning

“What’s going on?”

“It’s happening!”

“They’re doing it – now!

“Come on, don’t miss it!”

Eagerly, they crowded around the empty blankness, which for so long they hadn’t noticed or given much thought to. Actually, until The One had mentioned Their great plan, honestly, the Host hadn’t thought it was anything at all, because in essence, it was. Nothing. But now that they knew what it would be used for, somehow, it was still nothing, but now it was something – more.

Some of them sang reverently as they waited. Some simply spoke beautiful praises. Others watched silently, trying to take in the wonder. It was a lot quieter since the Great Separation. Everyone was nervous. One had still decided to go on with Their plan, even if it meant They’d lost a third of Their Own. What would the Others do? Would there be another attack? The warriors in the Host hummed with alertness.

Zarael, especially, felt trepidatious. He hadn’t left with the Others – he hadn’t wanted to – but still he had his doubts. How would this all work? One had tried to explain “Time” and “Space” and “Matter” to them, but they simply couldn’t understand what that could possibly mean. Some of Zarael’s family did wonder why One had decided to make this….universe…thing. These “humans.” They didn’t agree with Lightbringer, exactly, but why did One want to make these humans? Weren’t the Host – Their Own – enough? Zarael tried to explain how it would all work in the end, but One had reminded him that they just had to have faith.

Zarael was at least looking forward to his new job. While he loved singing and looking after things in the Home, he was curious to find out what this new creation would be. “Earth,” One had called it. Where the “humans” would live. Excitement also bubbled in him to see how his brothers’ and sisters’ designs would look once One had crafted and breathed into them – at last, all their hard work would come to life before their eyes!

All except for Lucifer. Zarael ached. The Lightbringer had rebelled and quit after completing his work, so frustrated was he with designing such a “lowly” element.

Suddenly, there was movement in the Nothing. They all peered closer. It was One! They were moving through it, and somehow, it was just a little bit less Nothing. One was covered by the cloak they had been working on since before the Separation. The fabric was made partly from the matter that one of the Host had designed. The rest was woven with the elements called Space and Time. It was all held together by the very Spirit of the One Themself. The hood of it covered Their face in swirling patterns of all colours, straining to escape into the Nothing and disappear. The One was in control, though. They kept moving, and the Nothing began to change. First, a small, ball-like object began to form. As they watched, it grew and grew, filling up the Nothing, covered in something bright, shiny, and roiling. Then, something else started to cover it. It started to look a bit like water. Though, not like any water Zarael had ever seen. This water was…flatter. It seemed less alive than the waters at Home, like there was something wrong with it, or like it wasn’t quite there. This strange ball began to rotate, slowly, then faster and faster. One reached out Their hand and cupped it, tilting it a bit while it spun. Then, before Zarael could think about it too much, One spoke.

“I command the Light to shine!”

Suddenly, the cloak seemed to catch fire. Zarael heard it before he saw it – a huge gust of life from Home rushed out, the likes of which he had never seen, knocking him and his brothers and sisters over. A sound like the Great Separation exploded inside and outside and the upside was the downside and nothing and the ball were suddenly…Everything.

And Lucifer had missed the big reveal of his element.

Slowly, they all rose. One smiled, and Their delight leaked into the new Everything and gave it more vibrance, more realness. Zarael moved a little closer. It was strange in its otherworldliness. Once things around them settled, the Host could see that One continued to work, pulling threads from the cloak and working them into the small new world. One talked as They weaved the fabric.

“Some of you may remember that the humans will need regular intervals of rest, called sleep,” They explained. “Well, I’m separating the darkness over there from the lightness over here, to help them keep track of when it’s time to sleep. The lightness will be called ‘Day,’ and the darkness will be called ‘Night,’ and it will change as the Earth spins. Once the night has past, a new day will begin, and this is how the humans will keep track of the passage of time. As long as they don’t go too far past the middle, anyway.” One laughed.

Zarael barely listned. Excitement bubbled within him, and a song burst from him of its own accord. His mission would soon be at hand. One had tried to explain time, one of the elements that the Host had been unable to understand enough to help design. The host had been assured that once this so-called “Time” began, they would finally comprehend its meaning. Zareal still wasn’t sure, but one thing he did know: after six of these “days,” he would finally get to behold his project.

On the sixth day, he would see his first humans.

Zarael was so excited, as a matter of fact, that he almost didn’t notice the strange movement beyond the edge of the Earth. Right in the shadow of where the day met the night. He wasn’t quite sure, but he thought he heard a flutter of wings, somewhere in that void. He almost missed sensing a different sort of excitement, anticipation, outside of himself, emanating from that shadow. It was a mirrored, backward reflection of his own feelings.

He wasn’t the only one anticipating the sixth day of the world.

One still smiled though, and gazed at what They had made. “That’s all for today, everyone. Come and sing praises to Us – the work is just beginning, and nothing will ever be the same again!”

Turning away, Zarael rushed after the others. He knew only a little of the destruction and horror to come – but more than that, he couldn’t wait until the end of the Earth Time, when all of the humans would come to live in the Home, and come fully to life like the Host. Zarael felt like he would turn into a song as he thought about how amazing it would be to have all those new beings to sing with, to laugh and play with, when the legacy of Lighbringer finally ended for good.

• YouTube
• Twitter
• WordPress
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Mail
• Spotify
• Instagram
• Link
• Patreon