Genesis
by the March Hare
He smiled.
A blank void, an unspoken existence, as if a canvas left all alone for a painter laid before him.
The man rubbed his hands together, and something magical started to appears; pure light, came from the warmth of those two hands. He then took one hand, full of the light, turned it up, and blew across the palm of it. With that, the light came bouncing off his hand into a million sparks, like a swarm of fireflies, flittering about into far-off worlds and unknown realms. These sparks burned their way across the abyss, illuminating the darkness and revealing the extent of its depths. Soon, they snuggled in, and made their little homes like birds in a nest in the void.
"No, no, no." the man said with a fatherly laugh. "Try here," he said to one. With a squeak of interest, the little light ball jumped up over to a spot. "Now…you…here." he said, pointing to another one. Like its brother, the tiny spark jumped over and settled itself in its new home.
The man rubbed his chin in thought. "How about…" he said, pointing over to several more little lights, "here, here, here, here, here and… here!" and like that, the little lights jumped over and settled themselves quite snuggly.
The man clapped and earnestly smiled. "Good job, good job!"
The other lights, staring with intense interest, gazed at the gathering of their brothers and sisters, and wondered what the man saw that they did not; it was merely a close gathering of their family, nothing more…was it?
Despite their confusion, they did not cease to do as they were told, and they followed the man's commands to the tee, as he went about gathering more and more of them in groups. Each time he pointed to several of them, and each time he organized them into positions.
After a while of this, he stopped, looked about and grinned ear to ear. "Good job, everybody!" He said with uplifted arms. The lights, despite their lack of understanding, still puffed themselves up and glowed bright with pride.
The man walked around for a while, making mental notes to himself. After a while of this, he suddenly stopped and laughed. With that laugh, legions of smoldering rocks came flying out of his chuckling jaws along with a legion of airs, and some were attracted to the glow and warmth of the lights, and others were more adventurous and ventured off into the cold void.
The man grew puzzled however, for what he had created still lacked…something more. Soon, he grew glum, and sat down on a hunk of orbiting stone, deep in thought. His mental processing made him sweat, and he wiped some off his forehead. The sweat he wiped off went flying off, and landed on a lone rock. That rock, still rumbling with the fires of its creation, burned the sweat away with a fiery passion. The man jumped up, his curiosity peaked.
He looked over at the rock. It still burned, but not quite as much as before…
Wiping his forehead again, but saving it in his hand; he took that sweat and poured a little more on the burning rock. Just like before, it cooled. Still, it burned hard and strong.
He frowned. This was not going to be as easy as he had thought it would be.
Taking off his coat, he began to run. He ran around the lights, through the orbit of rocks, through the clouds of cosmic airs, and as he did he sweated and sweated and sweated, until he was covered it. Taking off his shirt, he wrung it out over the still-smoldering rock, and to his joy he had created just enough to cool the burning stone off. It was however one of many, and as he looked around his pride faded.
"Oh, boy."
Still, he worked on, sometimes sleeping, sometimes thinking, but always working towards his goal. It took him many years, but soon he had done it, for all his little rocks were now as cool to the touch.
Putting his coat back on, he looked around in pride. But soon his mind began to wander. What next? His shoulders slumped, and he sat down on another orbiting rock. Was this just it, a few beautiful rocks and clouds lighted by balls of fire? True, that was nice enough, but none of it laughed, none of it sang, none of it dreamed…
And he wept, for all his work had been in vain.
Yet, as he wept, a single drop fell on a passing rock, and it was saturated with the waters, and became like mud. The man stopped his crying, and watched in amazement as the rock miraculously became malleable…
He leapt up, and taking the ball in hand he became to shape it, mold it, design it to fit his dream. Some spots he pushed together, raising the earth to form peaks. Some spots he pinched down, creating long trenches. Other spots he just pushed down, and the waters saturating the earth came flowing out and formed deep bodies of water. From a piece of the rock he placed it in the sky that it may shine like silver hope in the darkest of times.
Inspired by his success, the man took a twinkle from his own eye and poured it on the earth, and out of it came greens and reds and blues and all sorts of magnificent colors. The colors wrapped around the rock, binding to it. Yet they had no homes, no places to stay.
The man worried momentarily but driven by success he pressed on with new ideas. Rubbing his hands together again, he forged more light, and blew it on the rock, yet the rock did not glow, for the light seeped into the earth. From the rock suddenly came green grasses and tall trees and fluffy clouds and whistling wind, and the man smiled, for he had made a land more beautiful than the dreamers could ever dream.
But he needed someone to occupy this land, to fill it with laughter and song! With another breath of air, flowing with light and hope and dreams, he breathed into the world, and out popped a tiny, little mouse with a biggest heart you ever did see. The mouse laughed and waved hello, and the man laughed and said hello back. The man then breathed into the earth again, and furred beasts, scaled creatures, feathered ones and more came out of the earth. Soon, these creatures began to rejoice in the creations all around them and some began to write praises to it, and many danced on it in joy, and others sang of it, and no small few drew or painted its glorious likeness. In this the man smiled, for in this life he had found what he had wanted.
Stroking his moustache, he rubbed more light onto the rock, and more life and more plants and even more rocks came pouring forth out of the dirt. The life and the rock it was on became more diverse, more splendid, until all the stars agreed it was this life that was the most precious of the man's creations.
And it went on like this for many years, him blowing light into the orbiting rock, and that world growing more and more beautiful. The creatures soon grew in wisdom and strength, and they began to shape the land and to build tall buildings and to till long plots of land. The man rejoiced, for his dreams had come true.
Yet, the man's time grew short, for all his creations had worn him old. His flesh wrinkled, his hair grew gray, and his breaths came in gasps so that he could no longer laugh or sing or play with his creations. He was to go soon, to a place beyond the void; yet there was no one to lead this creation, no one to help it grow and nurture! Many reached up and shouted their promises, to help, to hold, to nurture the world he had made, but out of all of them, he picked one…
"Hey, little guy." He said to the tiny, little mouse with a biggest heart you ever did see. "You mind keeping an eye on everybody while I go away for a while?" The mouse, a normally cheeky little fellow, felt nervous. "I am not worthy of this honor." he said humbly, looking down. The old man just laughed.
"You've got it…just like I did." And with that, the old man reached into his pocket, pulled out a crown, and placed it on the mouse's head. With a bow and smile, the old man walked away, into the darkness...
Never to be seen again.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any helpful critiques I would be more than glad to listen!
I know I said that I would be really taking a step forward in my writing. Well, that's not going to be really possible now, so from now on I will be writing more for fun. If there are any mistakes pointed out by my reviewers, however, I will fix it.
This is, of course, dedicated to the memory of Walter Elias Disney.
Disclaimer: I own neither Walt Disney, his company, nor its creations.