Aysus was still. It was the stillness of the center of the universe, the stillness of something around which everything else spins. Yet even so, in that ultimate stillness, there was motion. For Aysus was tied to that universe of which it was the center. The universe pulled at it, pushed at it, creating the smallest of ripples within it, silken in their flutters. But, for now, there was no reason to pull back, no reason to push back. The tremulous threads were a nuisance, nothing more, something to be observed and tolerated until they finally fell into the truth of their existence. Aysus could not have articulated what was that truth, but it waited, just beyond sight, tremulous and faint, but certain.
Aysus shifted, rolling out to one side, and the universe rolled with it. The threads gathered around it, swarming, tying up in knots before breaking apart in a chaotic paroxysm of energy. Slowly growing more tired of the chaos, it reached out, pulling at one thread, drawing it tight against the opposing side of infinity. Another thread and another thread it pulled, until it sat at the center of a web that spanned the universe in all directions. And for a moment, everything around Aysus was still.
It let go of the threads with a gentle expiration, knowing it could not hold them, and for a heartbeat in reality they hovered in place, coiling as faintly as Aysus in the emptiness of eternity. But they would not remain. They were not constant. Slowly the threads worked against each other, every tiny ripple of distortion amplifying against the next until the universe returned to its base state. Unordered. Uncontrolable.
Tahaan’s return was a welcome distraction from the chaotic nothingness. Not that Aysus’ companion was really that much less chaotic than the universe around it. Unlike Aysus, who sat as a rooting element for the threads, around which they could gather and tug, Tahaan danced among the threads, pulling and plucking and, most importantly, scattering. There was a very good chance it was Tahaan’s actions which caused the slight disturbances in Aysus’ otherwise calm exterior, but Aysus did not begrudge its companion its pleasure. They were two sides of the same coin, equal yet opposite, and while each acted against the other, neither could be complete without the presence of the other.
It was for that reason that Aysus let out a pleased tremor, one that echoed along the threads, causing them to briefly enter into a state of greater turmoil. It was a greeting, and acknowledgement towards Tahaan and its presence in the universe, and, most importantly, Aysus’ was of letting Tahaan know that it was pleased at its return, despite the opposition it represented. Aysus was a being of stillness. What better way to let a being of motion know pleasure than to create motion, at the sacrifice of stillness?
~Centered~ Aysus replied, ~But dissatisfied. Your game grew dissatisfying to you as well, I take. Otherwise you would not yet be back.~
There was an answering moment of stillness, where Aysus sat, letting the universe tug at it, and Tahaan swirled about its counterpart, waiting for the completion of the thought that was building within its partner’s mind. The thought was neither long nor short in coming to the forefront of Aysus’ mind. There was no change in this universe, only the vibration of the threads. And that was no way to measure the passage of reality.
~Come.~ Aysus finally concluded, pulling Tahaan in towards it. ~I wish to try something. Hold still, as much as you are able, for one moment.~
Once more Aysus gathered the threads toward it. But this time it did not resist the desire of the threads to draw close to it. Instead it focused on drawing them in, drawing and drawing until they gathered around the two consciousnesses like a storm, pulling and pushing, roiling and bending and twisting and breaking, only to come back together a moment later in and new and even more chaotic pattern. And for a point in the history of the universe, that is all there was. Two consciousnesses, drifting together through reality, existing as the threads of the universe drew in around them in greater and greater number. And then the instant passed. Aysys reached out, gathering together the ends of all of the threads that surrounded the two, and pulled them in towards its center. The threads hummed, straining against themselves and each other, until it seemed like they should all break apart and explode across the universe.
But Aysus held them in place despite the imminent eruption, drawing them closer and closer together until it seemed like there was no room left for the two companions. Aysus could feel Tahaan moiling about above it, as they drew closer and closer together by the force of the threads. Soon it seemed they must inhabit the same space, or be crushed by the threads Aysus drew in around them.
And then the gathering was over. The threads stood quivering around them, vibrating and trembling against each other in a space that left them no room to move against each other. Out in the greater space of the universe the ends of the threads had the room to move, and there they shivered and shook in massive upheaval, protesting against this breaking of their most innate nature as they were shoved ever closer to each other, in a space that, by their very natures, they could not inhabit simultaneously. But around Aysus and Tahaan it was too tight, and the threads could do nothing but wiggle slightly as they tried to find room to maneuver away from their opposites.
~Go!~ Aysus ordered, and Tahaan broke free from around it. ~Do what you will with it. I care not.~ And that Tahaan did. It dove among the threads, poking and prodding, ripping and tearing, and all the while Aysus gathered together the new ends that Tahaan created, pulled them in tighter and tighter until Tahaan was dancing among threads that were separated by nothing but the faintest sliver of reality. The threads rippled around it, becoming tangled and inseparable, and still Aysus was drawing them in, pulling new threads to fill in every space that Tahaan made around them. It was exhilarating, intoxicating, and the threads were growing into larger and larger bundles, a weaving of two things that were not meant to come together into such close proximity. Something had to break soon. Maybe it would be Tahaan and Aysus themselves; for a universe no longer able to cope with their meddlings might break apart and pull them with it. Somehow, they both unconsciously accepted the risk, understood that it was worth it to find the new option that was waiting just beyond the edge of existence. For they sensed what the other alternative was, and it was more heady than anything they had ever experienced before this moment. For, if they did not break, the thing to give would be the reality they had always known. Now it was a race against the nature of the universe, to see which was the stronger: the threads, or the combined power of Aysus and Tahaan.
In the end, it was reality that broke. The threads, constantly fighting against each other in a desperate attempt to escape Tahaan and Aysus’ manipulations, and each other, finally melded so completely that there was no way for them to ever break apart until the end of reality itself. And something new, something that nothing had never seen before, bloomed.
It was bright. A moment ago Aysus could not have told itself what that meant, but now it understood. This was bright, and it could not help but recoil from this new, unexpected truth. For a moment it longed to put it out, to break the weaving of the threads and return to the way things had always been. For the way things had always been had to be right, didn’t it? But there was something far too beautiful about the light to destroy it. Something bittersweet and heartbreaking, but something that whispered of the beat that thrummed withing Aysus.. It was the promise of a new reality. But with that first promise came a second promise: There would be no way to return to the reality Tahaan and Aysus had once known. This was the ultimate break, and there was no turning back if they moved forward.
For a moment, Aysus was more still than it had ever been in the history of its existence. ~Can you repeat that?~ was its answer to the precipice that stood before them.