Creation. Science.

At first, there was no First. It was the time before the Before. A singular infinite Moment, without beginning or end, past or future, light or darkness. It was All, and it was One.

With a bang, the Moment ended, the All became Many. The Many sorted into Others: Matter, and Energy. Dark, and Light. Proton, neutron, electron. Gravity, momentum, potential, kinesis.

The Many heard the call of Gravity, and began to form new Ones. Clouds spun about each other, pressing close, as though containing a memory of the All. The pressure grew. Hydrogen became Helium became all that comes after. These clouds became the Stars.

The Stars then collected, spinning about each other again, seeking and perpetually missing the inescapable darkness at the center of the path. Some collections grew arms; others became disks, and still others formed neither structure. All of them simply Were, and some still Are.

As the Stars formed and grew and built new atoms, they flung out Matter with their immense Energy. Matter fled, and yet was captured by Gravity, first of its star, and then of itself. The memory of All is repeated, as mass collects, and forms satellites. These satellites become comets, asteroids, and the Planets.

Planetary matter churns, cools, finds bonds between atoms to form molecules. The right amount of Hydrogen with the right amount of Oxygen becomes the miracle of Water. The right temperature keeps Water liquid, and it absorbs Energy released by its Star.

Energy hits atoms and molecules on a Planet, exciting them. The complex rules by which they exist form organization between them to absorb and use this Energy. Systems develop, that become Cells. Cells absorb energy and convert it to movement, secretion, reproduction.

The Energy flood continues. Cells find other Cells, and again collect together, forming new Ones. Cells find themselves better at one thing or another; responding to light, converting starlight to molecules of stored energy, relocating the One to where it can become Many more quickly.

The Many Ones spread across the planet, finding a path for movement and growth in the great seas of liquid Water. They grow more complex, constantly absorbing the energy of the Star and converting it to Life. Cells specialize more, develop new systems. Systems develop to combine two Ones to create new combinations. The process is imperfect. The new Ones are not always like the old. Sometimes, the difference doesn’t matter. Sometimes it does, and spells Death. And sometimes, a difference comes that advances the path of Life.

A difference such as this spreads, until all the Ones that survive have it. Conditions change, differences that once made no difference now advance the path of Life. The Many Ones continue to spread, finding new conditions in new places, and changing over generations. The Tree of Life grows new branches.

Life reaches a point of complexity where different Ones find each other, and find greater survival together than apart. Symbiosis, Parasitism, Collaboration, Domestication. The Lives of the Many Ones find their path together, or separately. They coexist, or they outcompete. Change continues. Energy still pours from the Star, and complexity grows.

There arises an organism that is different. It does not only have reflex and instinct; it desires. It fears. It inquires. No longer must it wait for the long slow process of generational change to bring it new comforts and successes. Now it bends Matter to its will, forming it into clubs, blades, and arrows; clothes, tents, and dwellings; paints, charcoals, and engravings. It discovers new layers of need as it satisfies the old. It harnesses the power of plants, bending them to its will, helping them to grow even as it changes them to ones that can no longer grow without help. It harnesses the power of animals, teaching them to hunt differently and guard the People and their Possessions; teaching them to bear burdens and the People themselves.

Life serves but one purpose: to continue. And so it does, until a Change comes that spells Death.