{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://serpentsquiggles.neocities.org//posts/black-nerve/shorts/demise",
  "description": "|",
  "path": "/posts/black-nerve/shorts/demise",
  "publishedAt": "2021-12-31T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:ivoe7cntxuy6at7uzmxzs2ft/site.standard.publication/3mfk6cpprzt2t",
  "textContent": "In the fullness before yet there were any kingdoms nor lords to rule\nthem, all was all and nothing else.\n\nBefore there yet were any gods of the sky or even a sky at all, there\nwas one who came first. When all that was first became divided, it was\ninto Demise and all things else. All things would, and must, change, and\nit was Demise who first saw this.\n\nShe looked upon the blank, unchanging excess of all things, and she grew\nbored.\n\nSo Demise reached into herself and from the womb of her being she pulled\nforth a new thing, the first child. This child she called Time, and she\ntold him to bring forth something to amuse her.\n\n\"But mother,\" he said, \"in the fullness of all things there is\nnowhere to go, nothing to bring, and all things are already here.\"\n\n\"Idiot child.\" Demise gnashed at her child's foolishness, and in\nresponse she took hold of all things and torn it in two, destroying one\nhalf and leaving it empty void. This void was to be the sky, and the\nremainder of all things was to be the earth.\n\n\"Find me something interesting among what is left.\" Tired from the\ngreat effort of clearing away the sky, Demise fell to earth and watched\nTime as he went.\n\nHe gathered up bits and pieces of the earth and brought them together\ninto gradiose patterns, and they became vast and beautiful creations.\nHe uplifted the mountains and laid sweeping valleys. He could not\nreach into his being and bring forth a child like his mother, but he\ncould carve from what already existed.\n\nHe showed his creation his mother, excited to reveal to her what he\nhad made. She took one look at it and laughed.  She brought the\nmountains to her mouth and devoured it with great erosion.\n\nTime was dismayed by this act of destruction, but Demise took great\npleasure in it. \"Bring me more, my child.\"\n\nSo he returned to the earth and swept more things together into\nanother sublime creation. This second creation he made even grander\nthan the first, a great tower of earth overlooking the sea, and he\nshouted in his excitement. \"Won't she love this?\"\n\nDemise, still watching her child work, saw this as the moment for her\nto act, and she took his latest creation and devoured it as well, his\ngreat tower crumbling to nothing before him.\n\n\"Mother, why do you devour everything I create? Why...\" Much as he\nbrought things together into beautiful patterns, he decided to create a\nword to reflect this horrid act. \"Why do you kill?\"\n\n\"Fullness is the absence of change. Nothing can grow, nothing emerges.\nSo I created you, my child, to farm this earth and grow what I will\nkill.\"\n\nTime cast his eyes downward and returned to his work. In time, he once\nmore brought the remnant of things together into a shining whole,\nsomething still greater than his first two creations, such that the very\nsight of it made him shake with joy.\n\nIf he could create something beautiful enough, would even Mother Demise\nhesitate to destroy it?\n\nBut it was not so; no matter how hard he worked, no matter the glory of\nhis creations, there was no thing too resplendent the Demise would not\ntake it.\n\nHis spirit was truly leaden with despair, and Demise found even this\namusing for a time. His work became rote and heartless, each new\ncreation more dim and uninspiring for the knowledge that it would soon\nbe taken away.\n\n\"I grow bored of killing your simple creations, my child. I am going to\nsleep, wake me if ever you create something interesting again.\"\n\nAnd so Demise crawled down beneath the earth, the roteness of existence\nboring her to sleep.\n\nTime continued to create, for there was nothing else on earth to do, but\nhis ennui had not withdrawn; for would his mother not awaken eventually\nand take it all away again?\n\nSuch was his thoughts for a time. But cunning struck him: while his\nmother sleeps, she could not watch his work and snatch it away just as\nhe makes it.\n\nNothing was too beautiful she would not kill it. But what if he created\nsomething she could not kill?\n\nSo Time began to work with renewed determination and gathered all of the\nthings on earth into something far bigger, far brighter, far greater,\nthan any work he had shaped before.\n\nIt was so shiny he could scarcely look at it; but Demise's mouth was\nwide, and her gut large, and so he still knew she could devour it if she\nsaw it.\n\nBut then he looked up, into the great void Demise had cleared away. So\nhe took this shining thing and threw it as hard as he could, until it\nwas so far away in the void that nothing could reach it.\n\nTime was lonely now that his creation was so far away, so he endeavored\nto make more of them. Shiny thing after shiny thing he made, some of\nthem brighter than others, but all of them thrown away into the\nunreachable expanses of the void. He grew fond of these creations, and\nbestowed upon them a name: stars.\n\nTime's masterwork was such that even in placing stars in the sky he\nmade it so that they formed still greater patterns among themselves.\nWhen his work was done, he had painted a majestic, sparkling expanse.\n\nYet his loneliness had grown with each star he threw away, even if the\ndistance was for their own protection. So for the last star he made, he\ncould not bear to part with it, and kept it on earth with him, adding\nmore and more until it shined brighter than any of the stars.\n\nIts radiance was such that it woke Demise from her slumber beneath the\nearth.\n\n\"My child, what have you done?\"\n\nTime was quick, and on hearing her voice he made to hide his last\ncreation. But the sun was too bright to be hidden.\n\n\"Idiot child. Is this all you made for me? I will not be amused by\nsnuffing out a single one of your lights.\"\n\nTime's voice shook, but he dared say, \"Mother, I made more than just a\nsingle light.\" And he pointed up to the sky. \"Do you like my stars?\"\n\n\"What is the use of putting them so far out of reach? I cannot kill\nthem from here.\"\n\n\"Can you not learn to be be amused without destroying?\"\n\n\"My child, I am the demise of all things. I was here before the sky was\nvoid, and I know there is nothing but boredom to be found in fullness\nwhere nothing can change and die.\"\n\n\"Perhaps it would be more amusing if you would change. Or even die!\"\n\nDemise stared at him with vast eyes. \"Is this how you dare speak to\nyour mother? I created you, and I can kill you just as well.\"\n\nBut when Demise advanced on Time, his last creation, the sun brightest\nof all, moved to protect him.\n\n\"I will start with your foolish light.\"\n\nDemise tried to devour its radiance, but Time had achieved success in\nhis first plan, and she could not easily destroy this sun. After a great\nstruggle, she spat out the light, and it flew up, hiding the stars with\nits brightness.\n\n\"I never wish to see you again, idiot child. You have plotted against\nand betrayed your mother, and for this you will be punished. Go. Run\nto the ends of the earth. If you ever stop moving I will swallow you up\nand you will know the fate all of your creations.\"\n\nCast out by his mother, Time shuddered, a despair engulfing him. But the\nearth began to open up beneath him, so he knew he better move.\n\nTime roamed the world as the winds, always marching forever, never\nstopping, and watched as the earth swallowed and then spit back up the\nsun, nevering fully extinguishing its light.\n\nDemise had devoured all things --- was it a matter of time before the\ntriumph of his last creation was also dust?\n\nSo as he wandered he began to sow the seeds of something new. Never able\nto stop --- for if he dallied, the earth would shudder and quake with\nDemise's fury --- he could never again work something as magnificent as\nthe sun or stars.\n\nSo he made small, flourishing things. They eagerly accepted the light of\nhis greatest creation, worshipful, a continuous thanks for protecting\nhim from the wrath of his mother.\n\nAt times he was able to tend to these flourishing things, slaking the\nearth so that they might grow, but he could never stay for long lest the\nearth open up and swallow him.\n\nWhen Demise saw that flourishing green was overtaking the earth, her\nfury erupted into flames like an imitation of that sun she was growing\nso familiar with. She burned away the greenery with great consuming\nflames, leaving nothing but ashes.\n\nStill Time continued to pour adown water to extinguish the flames, and\ngrow more green.\n\nSo Demise perverted these rains, made them black and acidic to melt away\nthe green.\n\nSo Time made them fold up their leaves, and endure the black storms.\n\nEnraged, Demise erupted once more, smoking pouring out from the earth to\nengulf the plants.\n\nBut Time, still traveling as the winds, blew away the smoke again and\nagain.\n\nSo finally Demise reached inside of herself to rip forth another child\nfrom her womb. One smaller, more obediant then time. She called her\nRuin.\n\nAnd she sets Ruin to chase after Time, to snatch away everything he\ntries to create. To let rot and decay overtake that which is green.\n\nTime is harried and distraught, chased by Ruin, and no longer can he\ntake the moments to care for and hone his creations.\n\nAbandoned, the flourishing things quarrel and conflict, growing taller\nthan one another and spreading their leaves to block and grasp more of\nthe sun's light. And seeing how ruin takes them, turning them to\nrotting husks, some get an idea, and turn away from the light entirely.\nThey begin to devour one another.\n\nThus following Ruin's ways, the plants become the beasts of the earth,\nand they kill and devour each other, such that Demise need no longer\neven do so herself, and her amused laughter rung throughout the world.\n\nDemise had settled deep below, even as she continues to swallow the sun\nand spit it back out. She felt the birth of every creature as a terrible\nitch, and as plants and beasts fall down and return to the earth, it is\nas if that great itch were finally scratched.\n\nDemise could feel as the beasts struggle against each other, how each\none that dies next was stronger than the last. And yet they die all the\nsame. It pleased her that nothing is beyond her grasp. She would witt",
  "title": "Demise and the Gods"
}