-Prologue-

Intro to the 9P world, wherein there are several key scientific and relativistic differences to our own world.

-Prologue-

There was no beginning; everything that is, will be, or has been was created at some point in this infinite cycle we call time. It loops and swirls, passes through literally countless universes moment by moment, paying attention to each chance no matter how small. Of course this duty was too big for a single entity to undertake, and so three Beings arose from the mass of infinite space, in order to govern the universes, the spaces between them, and control the pacing at which time hurried about in its endless pattern. Of course the only thing that could come of the formation of these entities was sentience; growing from the aggregation first of matter, then to the movement of this matter relative to the time flowing around it. This movement caused the matter to wonder as to existence- and so the first sentiency was created. While the other Beings wandered the universe, tending to their duties with no thought or awareness despite the enormity of their existence, the Ninth was able to notice the potential within the universe it had come to recognize itself in.

This lead to the creation of matter as we know it today, with the Entity of Being as it is now known shaping and molding the universe to his will. Despite the infinite limits however, the Entity grew tired with the same old materials, repeating moment after moment, eon after eon performing the same simple tricks; and so it was that the second Entity, controlling the links and spaces between the various universes, was too awakened to its sentiency.

This resulted not in the conjoining of the universes into one, as the Entity of Being had expected, but for them to be separated by barriers intangible among them, with the world that was the home of the Entity of Being remaining as the epicenter of the resulting web of universes. This pleased the Entity of Being, as it could now freely perform various tasks across different universes, some almost too great for a single world to handle, the newly crowned Entity of Spaces watching from its external perches all the while. Again however, the Entity of Being grew tired of its amusements, and sought to conquer the final entity in this universe of universes it had yet to understand; Time itself. And so it was that the First and Last entity was awakened to sentiency, taking eon after eon of Time’s mindless passing to finally recognize itself as an It.

‘It’ as it is simply known, was the wisest of the three, as it had been the first to be created and was of itself closer to Time than either of the others. This allowed It to realize the danger of the Third’s actions, for if the ultimate Entity of Time itself was awakened to its power, there was the chance that It’s curiosity would cause it to cease its actions; this would lead to the destruction of Time itself, and relocate all the universes and creations so far into an infinite void; no contact would be had between matter, nor the Entities; this would be the death of them and us all.

It managed to pacify the Third, allowing there to be a medium of fluctuation between the speeds of time between universes; the only rule was that time could never be truly stopped, in any universe, lest the Three be forced to remove that universe from existence altogether. An agreement to this was made, and as such the Third was permitted to reign almost absolutely over all it surveyed; nothing was above him, save Time itself, and its only equals were its kin. There was nothing below it however, and it was this thought, the thought that sparked all events into motion, that moved the Third to pass on the gift of sentiency, of true existence, to all matter in its own home world. For a whole cycle of Time’s passing, nothing happened; and surely the Third reasoned, if it had not happened within a passing of Time, then when shall it happen at all? The Entity of Being turned away from its world, its brethren and its creator, and took to a slumber between the universes that lasts til this day.

Upon the absence of this omniscient presence, the sentiency the Third had breathed into its home sprouted; all at once and across countless eons, there grew life; still only a form of life, as we know, feel and live it today. At first there was merely a sense of matter; this came to be known as Terra, as it was simply the Earth- as we named it- that we stand upon today. Shortly after there came a sense of heat, extreme to both measures, known now as Pyre. The heat melted the rock and matter of the worlds around it, allowing the Aquas to come into existence. The remaining heat agitated the liquid further, prompting it to further split and form the Aeras that you or I would have called a gas.

These four managed to coordinate themselves marvelously over the eons, eventually forming themselves into things; the ones you could see in a museum (or far more likely preceded even them). These elements each worked relatively harmoniously, with the Raidin being created as the result of the rubbing of Aeras particles; this was lightning for you or I. This was where ‘evolution’ as you knew it stopped however, as the various sentience’s created had no way of harnessing or creating the elements for themselves; in becoming their own race, in exchange for their own existence, they had separated themselves from the bond and sentiency that all other matter shared. The remaining two Entities were confused by this, as the matter they had found in the Home universe was decreasing as they saw it; for matter that was not connected to this bond was considered not to exist at all; and it was only upon the timid interference of the second Entity that the growing beasts and beings were able to expand their growth exponentially.

When the linker of universes came down from the bridges between empty worlds, it was wondered beyond thought at how far the will of the Third had brought itself before grinding to the inevitable halt. The sacrifice of the Third, its absolute slumber rendering it mute and deaf to the remaining Entities, had intrigued the Second to no end; and so it was that it too decided to put itself to slumber, in hopes that the beings would be able to advance in Its absence. This would not have worked, as the First also sacrificed a part of its sentiency in order to cause beings to flourish; it was only at the passing whim of the Second that it created Six Guardians to watch over it, one for each element it had seen created and a fifth in order to manage and process the information the other four gathered for it. As a result, the slumber that followed allowed the presence of the Guardians to now be felt, with the Sixth unintentionally imparting its knowledge unto them; this was the creation of thought, information- Daeta.

With Daeta however the beings that were created were now introduced to concepts of payment, money, worth, etc. There was a dark time, in which the Guardians grew increasingly restless as to the destruction of the matter not bonded to a sentiency; this was the period known as the Evolution Age, as the advances made during this time were both wondrous and horrifying at the same time. The Guardians themselves began to question each other’s authority, blaming one or the other for the chaos below them; this mirrored the elements within the Homeworld, as they became finally truly distinct from one another, seas, lands, air and the ever-present heat all fighting for a place in the world. The Raidin grew short-tempered as a result, splitting matter from matter in a way that eventually left chunks floating through an endless abyss of emptiness; the Terra bonded together, grew strong and stoic by nature; Aquas decided to become freer flowing, though still attracted to the Terra for company, with the Aeras following suit in grander fashions. Pyre was the only form of sentiency that was able to freely travel through the emptiness, with the Raidin becoming co-dependent on the others as the result of its destruction.

It is here that the tale of our birth is left blank, for there was a period of time during which none knew nor remembered anything; all that was known were the results.

After the gap in time, Blank to the inhabitants of the world the Third and Second had left inhabited, the First Entity It was nowhere to be felt, seen or found. Assumptions are made that a catastrophe occurred in the Homeworld, forcing the First to sacrifice itself for the flourishing beings that were defenseless to external threats; others say that Time itself became aware, with the First still soothing it to sleep til this day. Regardless of the cause, the First was lost from that moment onward. In its place, true life was created, with particles, bacteria, plants and finally animals coming into existence one after another; each of these beings was imbued with an affinity for each of the existing elements, with the eventual term Paths being designated to them by the human race that eventually emerged. All sentiency up until this point had resided in every conglomeration of matter, no matter how big or small; however as the result of Blank, only those that would now be classified as ‘alive’ were able to feel any connection to their own sentiency, cut off entirely from others about them. This created individuals, which by a method taking place in Blank, had managed to spread to every universe that was known to the Entities. The guardians however remained, and order was maintained as the result of the creation of two new guardians; one that was both entirely non-existent, yet there at the same time; this was the personification of Blank. The next Guardian was the opposite, for it was very much real to any who wished to see it; this was the guardian of order, of light, of peace; it was akin to an Angel, and it granted the path of Lyre to those with exceptionally good honor or hearts.

It was now a world you or I might almost recognize today. The now Eight Guardians watched over and eventually ruled the Homeworld, merely observing other universes and preferring to leave evolution to itself for the most part; the only exception being the blossoming evil in the heart of the most advanced race; humanity. The Lyre were powerless to stop them for they had sworn oaths against harm, and as such were thrust aside; if any other Path attempted to interfere with the actions of the evil, a Lyre would be forced to put themselves between the combatants, resulting often in the horrific death of the Lyre and the mental or physical destruction of the well-meaning Path-carrier, as they were now known. In an act of profound individuality, the Eight Guardians decided for the first and last time to create their own kin; the Ninth Guardian, the Ninth Path. The Eight willed into being an entity that would combat the injustice the world was succumbing to, able to tell the truth and righteousness apart by instinct alone. The resulting being was not what they expected.

Kage. This was the name given to the new path upon a lottery, but the meaning in any Earthen language remained the same; Shadow. The Kage were swift in their judgment, efficient to the point of unease. They alone were tasked with the defense of the universes against the expanding evil, with the other eight paths gradually becoming entrapped in the war against the unjust. For a long time however, for an age that was declared the Progenitor of Darkness, it was the Kage alone.

The Kage were unable to be killed by any mortal means; they had a subconscious intelligence far higher than any other path, generated in order to be able to tell right from wrong in a single moment. This omniscience quickly garnered them attention, both respectful and despising, from the paths about them, resulting in a world of torture for those who had been summoned in order to protect countless universes across even longer periods of time. It was only a matter of time before the first of many snapped- and the subconscious intelligence took over.

The beings created from this process were known from then on as True Kage. They had no sense of morals, no care for their ‘host’s’ society; they lived solely as the antithesis to their birth, to serve their own desires even at the expense of others. This was known far and wide as the ‘death’ of a Kage, for once one succumbed to the True Kage within them they would never be returned; the body, the vessel that had previously contained the malevolent consciousness’ was consumed by the True Kage, resulting in an evil equal, in every measure, to the evil they had vanquished and absorbed throughout their ‘normal’ life. This brought the Kage to the brink of banishment, but they cared not for it was their duty to uphold the just in the world, regardless of what society would care for them. They would hunt down their fallen brethren, capturing them regardless of their own expenses; eventually reaccepted into society, though never fully, they continued to do their duty in a manner serving the purpose of the 9 Guardians, combating the darkness of humanities heart’s until the end of Time.

We are now in the current era, the Era of exploration, for as the result of Blank it is a time in which the Homeworld has become linked to the innumerable networks of alternate, inverse and parallel universes. The Homeworld serves to protect these each from various threats, the Guardians watch over and direct them to peace, and the Entities remain either in slumber, lost to the worlds, or both. Time itself moves on, through every universe, with no true beginning or ending; only a sense of continuity resides within it, if one is attuned to sense it- of course, only the paths are able to sense anything like this, and then only the most powerful are successful at noticing the creator of all creators; and yet here I stand before them, far away from, and yet almost a part of the world and time in which my journey began.

 

Author's Note

Yes I am aware that there are likely many grammatical and spelling mistakes in here, as well as some inconsistencies/confusions with the naming schemes for some concepts. Still, first draft; far from perfect, but I like the foundation.
Advice or comments welcome