Unnamed

It has no name. A creature of the abyss, it waits patiently for something to bring it out of its slumber.
Perhaps “slumber” is the wrong word here. It is by no means asleep. It is simply resting. Waiting.
Waiting for what? It doesn’t know.
As it waits, slivers of life from the outside world makes their way into its cocoon. Random snippets of sound and colors, each one a brief surprise, full of curiosity and wonder.
But none of them ever gave it the urge to leave its little cocoon, floating in the vast Void.
As time passes, it learned some things about the strange world out there.
In the world, there are many living beings – like itself, it supposes – of all shape and sizes.
There are also things that are not alive, like the Void outside of its cocoon. Is the Void alive? It doesn’t know. Sometimes it talks to the Void – and the Void talks back – so perhaps the Void is alive after all.
Once, it asked the Void, “Are you alive?”
It felt strange to refer to the Void as a “You”. That implies that the Void has an identity, that the Void is something concrete, that it is somehow possible for one to one day, understand what is the Void.
The Void is none of these things. The Void is simply there.
It also feels strange to refer itself as “I” or “Me”, but for different reasons.
It doesn’t know what it is. What is it? It doesn’t know.
For now, its perfectly content just being an “it”. Not an “I” or a “Me” or a “You”.
To answer its question, the Void said that it doesn’t know. The Void didn’t say “I don’t know”. The Void didn’t use the words “I” or “Me” or “You”. The Void just said that it didn’t know.
How does the Void do that? It doesn’t know. Every time it asks the Void a question, it couldn’t find a way to ask it without at least using the word “You”.
Is it okay to call the Void a “You”, it wonders. Does the Void like being a “You”, despite very obviously being something that is not a “You” or an “I” or a “Me”?
Perhaps that could be its next question.

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Being stuck in a cocoon floating in the middle of the Void tends to give one a lot of spare time, which is exactly what’s happening now.

And there’s absolutely nothing the abyss creature could do about it.

It tried to talk to the Void, but it seemed like the Void was busy doing other things.

Are there other creatures like itself? Maybe the Void was talking to them. But then again, couldn’t the Void just talk to both of them at the same time? The Void had previously mentioned that it was more than capable of multi-tasking, so why can’t it just do so now?

This must be what “boredom” means.

The abyss creature is very, very bored.

Shifting around in its cocoon, it tried to reposition itself into a more comfortable position. Strange. It had never felt the need to do so before.

As it did so, it felt a familiar ripple form in the edge of its cocoon, and it twisted around to face it. It watched as the rift formed in the middle of nowhere, and it wondered briefly which part of the outside world had managed to make its way into the Void this time.

There was… a lot of green. But it’s not exactly the lush green color that it saw in some of its previous rifts. This green color is more… mild? Less overwhelming, it supposes. On top of the green was a pleasant dark blue, with some wispy white stuff mixed in and a glowing white-ish-yellow circle.

Then came the sounds. There was something that sounds like a … a whoosh? Yeah, that’s definitely a whoosh. Oh, and voices. There’s also some voices. Maybe. It’s not really sure.

But the most intriguing was the many colored shapes moving around. They were red and green and blue – there’s even this giant, furry mound on the edge of its vision that’s a bright, neon amalgamation of all three.

Since when has its vocabulary become so…big? It wondered.

It tried to comprehend what the colored shapes are saying. At least, it assumed that they are saying things, because they appeared to be communicating.
Unfortunately, the abyss creature has not managed to understand their language yet.

The shapes – creatures – are gathered around a glowy, crackly thing that’s so bright that it hurts to look directly at it. Even through the Void, it can feel the warmth radiating from it. It feels… nice.

There was a large, pink-and-green thing next to the glowy thing, and it was making some loud and boisterous but still melodic noises. Music, it’s called. It’s not bad, it supposes, but the notes are a bit too loud for its liking.

The rift wobbled, for a lack of a better word. It yawned, – since when can it yawn? – preparing to go to sleep. Isn’t that something living creatures do? They sleep?

The scene beyond the rift this time was interesting enough, but observing things for so long can really tire it out. Some sleep sounds really good just about now.

Snuggling up into a comfortable ball, it waited for the loud, too-happy music to leave.

Instead, it heard a soft, clear melody, drifting dreamily into the cocoon, almost entirely overriden by the loud sounds still coming from the pink blob. But it was still audible.

And it was like nothing the abyss creature had ever heard before.

The music weaved in and out of the air, surrounding it in a silken cloak. The notes soared up, up up, through the Void in a mesmerizing crescendo, and as the melody fell, it felt the song settle gently into its soul, sending shivers through its entire being.

It was glorious.

But just as it was basking in the music, the rift shook. Violently.

Then the rift began to close, taking the music with it.

No.

The rift can’t close now– not yet, not when the song isn’t complete –

It wanted more. It wanted to hear the mystery singer finish the song. Suddenly, its cocoon felt empty, the Void felt empty, everything felt empty –

It wanted to join in. Become one with the music.

Reaching out, it clawed at the closing rift, not even taking the time to acknowledge the fact that apparently, it has claws now.

One claw caught on the edge of the rift. The rift stopped closing. The music stopped dying.

Emboldened, the abyss creature shoved its other claws in the rift as well, and then it pushed.

Slowly, the rift reopened as it used more and more of its strength, large enough for it to stick its snout through – it has a snout now!

It pushed and it pulled, trying its best to wriggle through the small rift. As it stuck its head through the hole, all the activity and noise suddenly ground to a halt. Even that quiet, soul-filling song had ceased.

It kept going anyways. It felt the various gazes of the colored shapes on it, and it didn’t care. It just wanted to get out.

A long, elegant neck emerged from the cocoon, followed by a foreleg.
The abyss creature gingerly picked up its other foreleg, and then pushed that through the rift as well.

Halfway there.

Whoosh. A pair of large, feathery wings exploded into the air for the first time, letting the breeze ruffle its new feathers. It felt nice.

With one last leap, the hind legs slid out, followed by a long, tapering tail. As it did so, it felt the familiar presence of the Void curl around it for the last time, and then the rift closed behind it.

All that’s left was one abyss-colored Skydancer, with one final whisper from the Void still echoing inside its mind.

Welcome to the world, little one.