There was an echo…

A distant call? Or was it something unintentional and benign? A sign from beyond which no sentient being could understand or make sense of? Or at the root of it all, just a whole bunch of nothing which we tried to derive meaning from. That was the consensus eventually; civilizations would crash and burn, people would rise and fall, a cycle and story that carried across the dimensions and other universes.

Everyone would forget. Eventually.

After eternities, they would forget. They always did. When they finalized their investigations of that echo; the perceived disturbance? It was ruled out as nothing or just an anomaly. Perhaps, those who deduced the latter could’ve found something.

But, how does one prove the existence of something you can’t see, feel, hear, or experience? That you can’t interact with? Just a theory based on a singular phenomenon which others found in one instance and lost in the next. No long-standing evidence which is restarted time and time again with every attempt.

Unfortunately, there is always that one person. A gifted individual who collects the right attributes of stubbornness, giftedness, and persuasion which perpetuates this study by themselves or carried on by his successors. The perfect storm of probability where there is no ineptitude, no exhaustion, no incessant doubt, and the push for an answer. A chance which has only been seen once before.

Centuries of dead ends followed by millennia of failures and close calls. A civilization which had stood the test of time and hoped to achieve a greater purpose. Prosperity, longevity, and creativeness plagued their people to continue towards that answer: the answer to the universe. And when their universe no longer required claim? The only logical step was the next one. On and on they went until they had conquered universes and dimensions like precious gems for their outward expansion. The equivalent of “gods” playing in the sandbox with which they had no equal. All thinking of the “purest” of questions their curiosity could bring to bear.

What was the limit? Where couldn’t their power go to and how could they climb that obstacle?

Eventually, all of it brought nothing. Infighting, greed, and destruction reset their control and other civilizations had the chance to rise to their very mantle. Yet, there existed a single one which had survive the vindictive holocaust. A single one which had played until the end and perhaps gotten the sweetest reward of it all.

A tapestry of lights and existences were put on display for the survivor. A visage of new places to ward over and exploit for their own sadistic tastes and pleasures. A being who had some servants in toe and promised them an eternity of indulgence and bliss. For the saying goes, “ignorance is bliss,” but better put, some questions do not need answers. Some are best left to fade into obscurity. To never see the light of any person’s eyes.

It is better this way. Isn’t it?

Art by the awe-inspiring  SpectrumShift A piece I won't soon forget.