IN THE BLACK HEART OF THE ENDLESS EXPANSE,

A DRAGON CALLED ABAKIRAL

ROLLED RESTLESSLY IN AIMLESS CIRCLES

AMONG THE DRIFTING CLOUDS

OF GAS.

HE WAS AS BLACK AND AS COLD AS THE VOID ITSELF.

EYELIDS NARROWLY SPLIT, THE DRAGON COULD SEE FOR MILES UPON MILES,

AND WHEN THE FLASH OF A DISTANT MOON CAUGHT HIS GAZE,

ABAKIRAL WOULD DART TO THAT MOON AND DEVOUR

ANYTHING UNDER ITS LIGHT.

THE NEXT MOON HE WOULD DEVOUR

WAS ALSO THE BRIGHTEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL.

HER SURFACE WAS DOTTED AND SPECKLED WITH MOUNTAINS OF GLOWING SAND.

HE HAD TO HAVE THIS TREASURE.

AND SO, THE DRAGON BEGAN TO COIL HIS LONG BODY AROUND THE MOON,

 WHERE HE NOTICED THE BRILLIANT, BLUE PLANET HIDING IN HER SHADOW;

VAPOR AND MUD BREWED WILDLY, DOWN THERE.

STORM AND TREMOR SHOOK THE PLANET

AND FROM HIS PLACE, ABAKIRAL COULD HEAR THE ANCIENT ELEMENTS RAGING.

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WHENEVER A WORLD WAS FOUND TO BE SUITABLE,

THE DRAGON HELD THE CUSTOM OF DELIVERING HIS OWN PROGENY

TO THE UNFORTUNATE SPHERE.

AND SO IT HAPPENED THAT WITH DAGGER-LIKE CLAWS,

ABAKIRAL TORE INTO HIS OWN SIDE,

AND EXTRACTED FROM HIMSELF ONE OF HIS MANY ROWS OF RIBS.

HE SNAPPED THE BONE INTO QUARTERS, AND DIPPED IT DOWN INTO THE FRESH MUD

OF THE PLANET BELOW.

THE DRAGON THEN HELD THE BONES, DRIPPING WITH MUD, OUT BEFORE THE NEIGHBORING SUN.

AS BAKING CLAY HARDENED AROUND THE HUMBLE FRAME,

ABAKIRAL SWEPT HIS TAIL ACROSS THE FACE OF THAT SHINING MOON

WITH SUCH A QUICKNESS THAT ITS VERY LIGHT WAS CAPTURED UPON HIS SCALES.

THAT MOON FADED GREATLY IN ITS BRILLIANCE.

THE FIGURE OF CLAY AND BONE WAS ROLLED ALONG THE LENGTH OF HIS TAIL,

WITH INCREDIBLE SPEED, AND WAS WRAPPED IN THE MOONLIGHT IT COLLECTED.

ABAKIRAL WAS PROUD OF HIS INSPIRED CREATIVITY,

AND SPOKE ALOUD IN UNKNOWABLE TONGUE

THAT HE WAS THE GREATEST OF LIVING BEASTS,

AS IF TO TEMPT A CHALLENGE FROM THE REACHES OF THE DARK STRETCH.

AND WITH A DELICATE TOUCH, UNLIKE HIS NATURE,

HE PLACED THE MOON-KISSED BODY UPON THE SURFACE OF THAT STORMING PLANET.

QUARTERING THE BODY ONCE MORE, WITH HIS JAGGED CLAWS,

  BY UNHOLY FIRE, HE RESEALED THE BLOODY SEAMS.

IN TIME, THE POOR CREATURES GREW AND LIVED, HAD CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN,

AND DID DIE.

AND SO THIS REPEATED FOR CENTURIES, IN THE HOPELESS SHADOW

OF ABAKIRAL.

ONLY WHEN BOREDOM SET IN, DID THE DRAGON FINALLY LEAVE,

TUNNELING DEEPER INTO THE DARKNESS, FAR FROM THE NEW LIFE HE HAD CREATED.

NO GREAT HERO EVER DID EMERGE.

NO PERFECTLY TIMED INTERVENTION CAME TO THE RESCUE OF THESE SOULS.

ELSEWHERE, MORE MOONS WERE CONSUMED AND ATROCITIES CRAFTED, BEFORE

THE DRAGON MET HIS END, IN THE PREDICTABLE AND UNIMPRESSIVE WAY

THAT ALMOST ALL DRAGONS DO.

HAVING LIVED FOR MILLENNIA SINCE THE MOMENT OF HIS BIRTH,

AND HAVING GROWN SO LONG AND SO FAT IN ALL THIS TIME,

THE DRAGON’S BULGING SIDES FINALLY TORE.

AND SO THE LIGHT OF MANY MOONS WAS EXPELLED BACK INTO THE COSMOS AT THIS TIME.

UPON THE BLUE PLANET, THE PROGENY OF THAT ANCIENT BEAST

PRAYED, AND CRIED, AND WAITED LONGINGLY

FOR THAT EXPLOSION OF MOONLIGHT TO DRIFT ITS WAY BACK FROM THE BELLY OF THE BLACK DRAGON

TO THEIR OWN MOON, RESTORING ITS ORIGINAL BEAUTY AND BRILLIANCE.

AND THIS WAS THEIR GREATEST HOPE, THEIR REASON TO SURVIVE.

AND SO WAS THE END OF ABAKIRAL, “THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD.”