Nil

There was once nothing.

But before there was nothing, there once had to be something. Nothing implies something.

Nil could feel before she could see. Light had not yet come to be. But somewhere, somehow, there was feeling. Cold, warm, and the drastic scale in between. From this feeling grew her form. Every detail could be felt as the universe around her gave her sensation.

It was beautiful. To exist. To be.

But before she even truly existed,
Before words ever were created,

She wondered where she came from.

There were others that were born when she was. She didn't know this at first, but by the time light came to be, she could see them. And finally, after ages, she heard them. They were kin, but from birth, separated. As while all of them went towards the new light of a new world, Nil went towards the dark.

They had never known their mother. What being blessed them with life, crafting the dragons from stars. But she knew she was closer than any of her brothers or sisters.

She resided in this place, this dark void, as she grew. Her scales matched the distant patterns of stars far away from the blackness around her. A reminder of her home. She often wondered if the others had missed her. Or if they weren't even curious enough to have turned their heads after creation.

That was what she saw herself as. The one who asked. The one who sought the real questions. Whatever it was the others pursued, it was not the greatest truth.

One day, as she dwelled in the gloom, Nil heard a signal. A cry from the universe. From the dark, from the silence, it exploded with potential.

Her teeth drew as her jaw readied itself. It was the prime energy of the world, and after all this time, it was hers.

Her bite crunched down, and blinding potential escaped from the signal. Her eyes were forced to close, and for a moment, she was not sure if she existed. But when her eyes opened once more, she was struck by the glow from her body. A mark of bones; of death; of mortality.

What did this mean? She pondered it for as long as she could bare. Every time she imagined an answer, it would swim away into the darkness, unable to be caught.

But the closest she ever got to understand was a simple theory; that what was, will be, and shall be again. The signal, coming from the past, was that of change. And it had pushed by, ready to shape and begin a new world. Nil was no more, but in doing so, she was. Her very possibility became what she was, and as she died, she lived.

She still did not exactly understand her thoughts, and she wondered if they were even her own.