do you know the anxious feeling of starting something?

do you know the bitter feeling that comes when you complete something that took hours to make?

no? maybe the feeling of leaving a grand idea to die then? I bet most people have felt that before, the sickening feeling of disappointment when dreams wither and decay in front of eager and tentative eyes.

I don't think we give those feelings much thought, not until they come back to haunt us at least.

---------

the world was already dead and dieing way before the days of echos. neglect seeped into every crack of our world until there was nothing left but decay. all of it for quick and short lived fun like booze or love, tossing every bit of our selves into keeping those short lived things afloat and not even stopping to think of our impact on everything.

only when smog filled the sky and rain fell like mortar fire did we see the light again. a golden light in the shape of a small child was the first. a golden colored rip in the world to large to go unnoticed. many praised it stating it came from the gods and many more called its existence in contempt, a wretched curse they called it, a blemish on the earth. oh how right they were

ten days.

ten. days.

ten days and the world shattered.

the child of gold, the rip in time and space. it opened its eyes and with it came pouring out everything we humans called wretched and vile. the cracks reached far and wide, to every mind and body reflecting every thought we had.

at first it was chaos. it only took a moment for the bonds of trust to shatter with this new found truth. you see human minds are not exactly modest things, they say things we don't mean and things that are crude and hurtful.

"what did we do?" you might ask... nothing actually, after a few months trust was gone and things slowed down. not untill another shape appeared, this one of a somber orange in the shape of a young man.

everyone feared what would come next and did as they saw fit, throwing every destructive thing we had at it. from harsh words... to nuclear weapons. it didn't do much, the rip in time itself stood where it formed even when the land around it was gone and burned. people prepared for the worst, the next horrible thing about them to be exposed. shutting themselves in their homes and makeshift bunkers. as if they were to escape what was to come.

ten days after the orange man appeared its mouth opened and the world shook. the earth itself seemed to crack and glow and all things did too soon follow.

the world was bathed in light of all kinds, from white to black to green to orange. all were different but all glowed the same in the cacophony of light. when it all died down a feeling of exhaustion seeped into the being of all things and all drifted to sleep.

all things drifted in a abyss of their own minds. man, woman, creatures of all types. they were all asked one question by a velvet voice. "who are you?" nothing more nothing less but every being felt compelled to answer and such they became.

seven days passed from the time all things drifted away, and oh how they did change. their words of who they were echoed into their very blood and changed every aspect about them. they all became who they saw themselves as whether that be beautiful or grotesque. but there was a change more fundamental, not only their words were echoed but their soul as well. not a change easily put into words, a change that effected the creatures very nature

humans called it Ecna meaning the reward of pain, the new intelligent species formed from this gift called it Vacna meaning the changing force, and the creatures formed of the very void of mind the others drifted from named it Matria meaning motherly gifts. these words changed the energy and it split, becoming opposite of each other.

nearly instantly -as all creatures were recovering- a new shape formed this one of an old man. this split in space was again a different color but instead of a dazzling solid collage of a single stark color this one mirrored the sky with stars as its being. it acted near instantly after appearing, giving us words of why.

the shapes voice resonated through all things coming from every direction. "to name something is to give it purpose. to strip one of their name is cruel. yet here we stand in this age where our names have no solidity in this world... we scorn you for your absent mindedness. so we offer you a chance to repent... we have given everything you wished for, from endless power to the ability to truly know someones mind... remember our names or your most shadowy wishes shall consume you all. may your minds be quick to remember."

the shape dissolved like all the others but in its place stars remained. landing on the earth, turning it to an inky reflection of the sky. and soon after the creatures of Matria were born.