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Cut Scene: Fractal Temple

AfterTime

The final place in which Sethkill finds himself, at the end of all things, has the appearance of a vast fractal temple.

At first it seems that he is in the centre, and alone, and that vast bands of something resembling one part concrete made with the shells of the unborn and one part bleakness swirl, spreading outwards into nowhere, into the infinite darkness. As his eyes begin to adapt, he realizes that he is not alone, and there is light out there in the empty spaces.

At first he thinks the person standing with him is the Lady, but she is not. And she resembles Keselt too, in her way, but there is a haze about her, that distinguishes her from all of her assumed identities. In the end, he is forced to conclude that he was right the first time, and this is the Lady, but a different one. She is Wolfmother, the first one, the child born of darkness, mistress of the second creation. She has taken a vastness and called it home.

The Wolfmother walks toward him, down the slope of the first anti-time curvature of the fractal temple, doing him, he perceives, a great and terrible courtesy by taking on the form of a living creature and doing something so low as walking. Something intangible has cloaked itself in the shadows of the world and come to him. This is the mother of Fish and Dragon, come to give him greetings.

His eyes continue to adapt to the darkness, here where the manifold of the many shadow realities converges at the center. The Lady Wolfmother is still beyond apprehension, but soon he begins to make out the outlines of the lights, moving about in the deep. To his surprise, he sees that all of them are also people, of many different species, shapes and sizes, gently illumined by a great many strange objects, each of which they carry alone in the great abyss.

"They are building me a fractal temple," says the Wolfmother. "Each of them will contribute to the whole a single memory, a moment of kindness, a small inspiration to bring light to my darkness. When the temple is finished, it will shine with the light of all creation, and all the shadows will bask in the splendor."

Sethkill cannot speak. There is a sensation like choking deep in his chest. He would make some wordless noise, but not in this place, amidst the gathering radiance. He cannot speak.

"I have bought you here to this place because I must show you one final truth," the Wolfmother explains, outstretching her hand, unfurling some indeterminate number of fingers to reveal something resting in the tenebrous night of her palm, a small and glittery thing, one tiny single crystal, the myth of infinity in a grain of sand.

"If this was a children's story, I would say, this is all that is left of the world, nothing more than a single grain of sand. But this is not a children's story, and that would be a lie. It falls to you to make the decision, and so you must truly understand.

"This is the first moment, the first grain of all the sands of time, a single asymmetric fragment taking the forms of all the worlds it might become. In a short subjective duration, time will start again, and a new possible outcome will always have been. By arriving here, by trying to make things right in whatever way you could, you are delegated the necessary permissions to make certain changes to the way the universe occurs. We have allowed for this. And now you must decide what you wish to do. Your intent alone is enough."

Sethkill becomes aware that the Wolfmother is just another mask for something even bigger. It is trying to express itself in his awareness, with bits of broken metaphors and fragments of stories, with strange expressions reminiscent of dreams and virtualities, in the certain knowledge that it will not be fully understood, however hard it tries. The very nature of being other to itself fully precludes true understanding.

Sethkill finds himself feeling just the littlest bit sorry for the Wolfmother. It must be hard to find someone to talk to, to be friends with.

"You must decide," repeats the Wolfmother. "Please hurry. God will awaken soon. Even I do not know what will happen then."

This is quite possibly the scariest thing Sethkill has ever heard. Something in the very intonation of the words suggests absolute and informed certainty, and that close personal exposure to said absolute would be a very bad idea.

In the end, he decides to fall back on love and hope and good intentions, just like he always has. Doing what seems right here will take nerve beyond belief, but he's already well beyond belief or instinct or certainty of any sort, so that should be alright.

He steps forward, slips one arm gently around the waist of the Lady Wolfmother, brushes his muzzle up against her neck, and much to his surprise, she responds in kind. In that strange dance of mutual response that is second nature, she leans her muzzle just a little sideways, a little up and back, and accepts his kiss.

She tastes like warm rain, and the color of shadows, and loneliness. To the side, his fingers stroke her forearm, and she forgets her grasp on the grain of sand, or maybe persuades herself to be allowed to let it go. They hold each other close. An exchange of selves is negotiated.

For

a moment

he understands

and the grain of sand

falls and gains

speed and

it is

Now, and time starts again with one Wolfmother of a big bang.