Abyss

*I have always tried to create an overarching mythology for a lot of my stories. The Deep, a mystical sea in which the multiverse floats, is one part of that mythology. This is another*

The darkness dreams in his prison.

We'll not draw any nearer to him, for he's a tricky one, and even in slumber he may do us harm. Yet we'll still gaze upon him.

Look at him. 'Behold, the conqueror worm,' as another might have said. For that is what he is; a great worm that once held entire universes under his sway. That is no small thing; only a handful of beings can lay claim to such an accomplishment. He is the greatest of that number, all others pale before his power. But, that was in the other time, before the Deep uprooted itself, churned with anger, and he was imprisoned.

It is hard to believe, isn't it? Even considering his immense scale, you find it hard to believe that this one was once the foe of the multiverse. Yet it is true. Once he spewed forth darkness and venom, and would have conquered all, had he not been sealed away.

So long ago, so long ago that no fleshy mind remembers it, and yet so strong is his legacy that even now the mere whisper of his name makes those same minds shudder with dread. He will never be forgotten.

Take heart, he stirs, writhing and coiling in his sleep. Have you ever seen anything like this, anything like the dreaming spasures of the void itself? You have not.

The worlds breath easy, he grows still once more. You might think that there is nothing to fear from him. Here in this place, this prison deep within the heart of the multiverse, there could not be any threat from him anymore. Yet a prison needs guards, and the only ones who could do that deed died to seal him there.

In his dreams he reaches forth, searching for a way to escape this binding slumber. And that will happen. It has been written in the prophecies of a billion worlds, set down as fact from the moment when he was first imprisoned. He will not stay like this forever.

A day will come when, in his sleep, he will bring down the very foundations of his cell. A child will die alone , a star will go nova and take two civilizations with it, a rose will wither in the winter, the Deep itself will scream in fear, and he will wake again. Oh, woe and lamentation, he will be awake and free and angry. Woe to all worlds on that day.

Yet he still sleeps, and in that we are blessed. While he slumbers lives may be lived without his influence, lives full of hope, love, and light. And we may use these days to ready ourselves for that coming horror, so that we may stand against him when he comes.

We shall go now. There nothing more to see. Yet mark in your heart the things you have seen and remember this. He is always dreaming to escape. As you go on to other stories, other tales of other places far removed from this one, remember that he wants to wake. His dreams are more fitful now, his times of stillness shorter. It will not be long.

Abyss will soon awake.