A vast darkness, not empty at all, but full of... things.
Colossal clouds of matter, luminous and dark, constantly in flux, morphing anew into shapes and essences and structures wondrous and complex and astonishingly ephemeral. A superstructure one cannot begin to grasp or visualize, let alone comprehend. A wild dance of chaos and order hurtling, hurtling, and in spite of all the matter and all that energy in eternal conflict, all is eerily silent.
I am falling.
Riotous colors assault me. Blue and yellow, red and green, orange and purple; and yet the inky blackness pervades all; my very soul. Yet I hear nothing, can utter no sound, no screams, no howl of wind; so I imagine one for myself. I am cold; so very cold - yet I am on fire. A remote speck of light in what was a blinding, remote array but a moment ago suddenly surrounds me, as though it were a universe by all by itself, it snatches me from the inky shroud and fills my world with blinding light.
They are dancing.
Globes of fearsome majesty move along in tune to an unheard melody. Strands of light stretch between them, faintly glowing as if they were the trails of their motion from ages past. And yet they last for only an instant in time... their own tiny era... before they dissolve. Dissolution is everywhere now... this cloud is dying. Slowly, and gracefully, but surely. I stifle the inevitable sob, the aching despair, even as I dance myself, to that melody... and the cloud is past me.
And then I see it.
Another cloud, as though a disc, spinning, its tentacles reaching out and whipping back, a whirlpool of light and matter. It is my objective - it ever was. Not its center, no, that place is for the behemoths that will not be denied. A remote corner instead, away from their pull, away from... everything.
Then I hear them. Others. For the first time, others!
The inky black makes way for another yellow globe, and the littler globes around it. I am upon one of the smaller globes now, where I hear them... I really hear them. Screaming, laughing, speaking, crying, moving, shaping, struggling, mating, living, dying. There are billions, here, suddenly, there are billions! I call to them myself, in exhilaration I finally let voice to that vast emptiness I have been lugging around... and they ignore me! ME!
But I will not be denied. I have traveled too far, too long. An explosion then, of heat, and light; a roar to quell their voices for one moment, so they see I am come. I darken the sky they look at with wonder, scarcely knowing what lies beyond; and for that reason their wonder is inadequate. I hasten to show them.
Look! This is your universe, as it is mine. I have seen it, and you have not. See it for yourself - look! You need no names, no comprehension, no words, just to look. To be drawn in and be buffeted by this majesty. To look beneath and beyond the obvious, to the essence of things and thought.
They fall to their feet. Not in wonder, but - to my anguish - in fear. They chant and burn things. They kill and offer. They cajole and rail, and worst of all, they close their eyes and bow their heads. They seem to think I care. They seem to think I know. They seem to... live and die... for me?
For the first time, then, incredulous, I laugh, and they cower some more. So it is, to the moment I depart...
Once again, falling... seeking...
