There was nothing…
Only darkness, silence, and utter absence. The only thing that existed was a void moving swiftly through the darkness, leaving nothing behind; it had devoured everything, and there was now none left.
An entire universe was brought to oblivion.
A millennium later, a miracle occurred… The void ruptured, ripping apart as it spat out all that it had devoured countless years ago. Stars were reshaped, planets reformed, and life came to be once more.
However, the universe was not the only thing the void belched forth.
From within the devouring void, a being emerged, bathed in ardent light and darkness. Dreadful yet beautiful. Formless yet existing… She was the personification of creation, a being above all laws and concepts.
From nothing, Celestia was born.
With her power, the universe came into being once more, and after a thousand years, Astryss was reborn. Astryss—a world of beauty, a place where life thrived, and Celestia's greatest creation was once again bathed in its former glory.
Within this glorious world, she created a structure called the Firmament, and with it came plants, both aquatic and terrestrial. Beasts of the air, land, and sea: elves, whose whispers stirred the forests and spoke with the wind; dragons, whose wings made mountains tremble and rivers change course; Felyrians, graceful hunters blending into shadow and moonlight; wyverns, fierce streaks of living lightning across storm-split skies; demons, creatures of darkness and cunning lurking in the cracks of the world; and humans, fragile yet unyielding, who gazed at the stars and dreamed.
And for balance to exist amongst her creations, she created sovereigns—beings of great power that reigned supreme over the land.
The people called them gods.
********
A thousand years of destruction was rebuilt in mere seconds by all but a single existence… Celestia… was a being beyond existence.
Scattered clouds, towering peaks, shadowy caves, windy fields, quiet lakes, raging waves, violent winds, and thunderstorms… all lay under the gaze of Astryss.
As winds howled, the sun rose from the east and set in the west, rising again and repeating the same process. Oceans rose and fell, seasons came and went, volcanoes erupted, cities fell, and humanity stood firm.
To Celestia, time had no meaning. It existed only to guide the universe she had created, and for the first time in a millennium, that purpose was threatened.
Something approached, moving across the vast stars, through the planets, and across the great galaxies. In its wake was nothing but destruction. But Celestia had already seen them; she already knew them, and she had always been with them.
It wasn't a single being that had come to destroy her universe… there were two of them: beings that radiated a profound energy, humanoid in shape, with six wings gracefully extending from their backs.
The two identical beings radiated a subtle golden glow, facing each other with sun-sheen swords tightly gripped in their hands… It might have seemed formidable to a mere mortal, but Celestia did not perceive life in such pedestrian terms.
One possessed a broader lattice of bone and muscle, their frame built like a pillar meant to bear immense weight. Energy gathered tightly along their shoulders and arms, dense and direct, blazing and absolute, as though all motion halted in acknowledgment of its weight. They held their weapon with stillness—its tension contained, its force waiting to be released.
The other's shape betrayed their difference.
Their frame was narrower, their body flowing with a quiet balance rather than raw mass. Power did not gather in heavy knots but moved in smooth currents along their limbs and waist. Their weapon was held with fluid ease, less like a tool of force and more like an extension of motion itself.
The beings stopped abruptly, gazing across the expanse of the universe. An unspeakable presence loomed over them, existing yet not at the same time. Something was watching, and it had been so ever since they arrived in this uncultivated universe.
Their journey through galaxies all pointed toward a single planet—one which radiated more life than any other star. But as they drew closer, the intangible presence grew heavier, almost palpable.
Ignoring the strange sensation, they continued forward, deeper into the reaches of the universe. And just as Astryss came into view—radiant and beautiful—a surge occurred. The stars around them flowed, continuously circling the two beings.
The one behind tensed, stepping back slightly as they gazed to the side. The ease with which they held their weapon vanished, replaced by an unsteady, shaky grip.
Just outside the raging storm of stars, a single eye appeared, fixed upon them with profound intrigue. Something about that gaze was terrifying… But when had they ever been terrified?
"By all manners of creation… what is that thing?"
Something was absurdly wrong with the gaze, and before they could react, it was already too late. Their weapon felt heavy, slipping through their fingers. Their body grew heavier, slower, weaker, more vulnerable… their power was vanishing.
The voice of the other thundered as they turned, but before anything could happen, the swirling stars engulfed the weakened one. Fuming with rage and dread, they rushed forward, but before they could reach out, the stars wrapped around them fully, vanishing milliseconds later.
Not even time could comprehend when Celestia acted once more, and before long, the remaining intruder was enveloped in the wrath of stars. But before he vanished, his voice echoed:
"No! Wait! Give my sister ba—"
And then, he was no more. All that remained in their wake were their swords. From within the pupils of the eye, a graceful being emerged—slender, naked, and perfect beyond comprehension. Her skin radiated like the sun, and her eyes were as dark as the void.
Calmly, she floated toward the weapons and picked them up. After inspecting them, she vanished into the darkness—out of existence once more.