Tendrils of Creation

In the beginning there was Chronos and Ananke, time and force, coalesced into the form of a serpent. They encircled a cosmic egg made of molten silver; reflecting nothing. Squeezing it, they slowed and split the world; cracking sound that would eventually condense as Echo. Chaos, Erebus and Aether floated out to rule space, darkness and light, while Gaia and Oceanus fell to become earth and sea. Olympus rose above the night and became a font of gods; each bored of the new day’s unblemished beauty.

While these Titans quarreled, castrated and killed one another over their infinite domains, young Prometheus shaped mud into man. He stood his new creatures upright and gave them torches dipped in Helios’ sun. But this technology couldn’t save them — Chronos would take the life of each in time for his wife to crush as diamonds.

The first woman, Pandora, held a small jar given to her as a gift by Zeus. It was clay, baked in fire, smashed and put back together, pulverized and remade, ground and reassembled with a paste of lacquer and gold dust. She lifted the lid carefully and found what seemed only shadow. Beneath — small pieces of silver; bright glisters of hope that her race might one day expect to live forever. And, with that, despair that this torment might be everlasting...