The Protector

It was emptiness that confronted Him when He awoke. An emptiness so large it seemed to consume all things He could sense. It confused Him. There were infinite stars scattered across the plain of reality, and yet there was something missing. He floated where He was for a long time, incorporeal, insubstantial. Just how had He come to be? He did not know. In a burst of thought, He willed himself into physical form. From dust of stars long since dead, he built Himself a body. But even this did not satisfy Him. It was shapeless, not solid enough. And still there was that emptiness. It ate away at Him, a sensation he had no way to describe. He realized He could describe nothing around Him, not even himself. There was simply nothing He could use to do so. He tried again and again to rectify this, but it did not work. A wash of something came over Him, something that chilled Him more than the universe He now occupied. Looking outwards and inwards, seeing the endless amount of reality He had as His new domain, He began to drift.

Slowly at first, then gathering speed as His formless body explored the sea of galaxies. He saw it all, every little bit of existence, and it enlightened Him. He saw things no other being would ever see, felt things impossible to feel. The emptiness, that jarring, ever-present lack, began to shrink, and with it, His body began to become solid. With a feeling that He still had no way to encapsulate, although it felt like a new star was being born inside Him. He travelled more and more, faster and faster, rapidly appearing throughout all of the universe. There was so much! So many different worlds, so many monuments of incredible scale! Every new star He saw, every new piece of existence he experienced, made the emptiness retreat. His body began to take shape, a swirling cloud of something unique.

Then He found the planet.

He had seen almost all of creation, and then there it was. In a small galaxy, in a small system with a small star, there floated an orb of green and blue. It was nothing on its own, He had seen many more like it, almost all of which were more impressive. But this one was different. Something inside Him pulled Him closer to it. He grew nearer and nearer until He sensed something. It puzzled him. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was at that moment that the emptiness disappeared entirely. There was something special about that planet, He realised. He gazed closer at the world, scouring the rolling landscapes and seeing nothing.

He was about to leave when He spotted them.

They were few, sparce amongst the teeming life of the world. The other creatures were lesser than other things He had observed, but these few were different. They had four limbs, ten digits on the end of each one, and they stood on two of them. It wasn’t their bodies that intrigued Him, however. It was their gaze. They looked around at their surroundings with such a spark in their eyes, absorbing everything and wanting to understand it. It was entirely unique. It was life, pure and simple. Gazing upon them, He felt His body solidify, moulding and shifting until it emulated the form of the creatures. The emptiness dissipated entirely. He made a decision then, looking upon His new body. Whatever became of these creatures, He would protect them. After all, was that not what His purpose was? He had seen everything, observed all there was in existence. Now He could use this knowledge for something.

It was then that they saw Him. Gazing up into the blue sky of their planet, the creatures saw a face, like their own, hanging in the sky. It was expansive, ancient. They could not comprehend it. However, while some panicked, most simply looked upon it with curiosity. They spoke, uttering vibrations that seemed to have meaning to them. He observed them for a while, then tried to replicate their sounds. Speaking carefully, He said.

‘Greetings, humans.’

To them, His voice was like thunder, a booming resonance that shook them all to their core. They spoke more rapidly, repeating one word over and over, a word for something that had only been superstition for so long. God, they said.

Floating above them, a smile crept across His new face.

God liked His new name.