The Sand Kingdom, Many Years in the Future


"Have you ever considered that the fundamental aspects of our very world are actually people? Yes! You can meet Time itself and ask it lots of questions. I, personally, have a lot to ask Death. Why is it always so cruel and poorly timed? Does it ever take a break? ...This is life-changing stuff people! Imagine that you could speak directly to the creators of the universe..."

What a dumpster fire. For being a very, very powerful dragon, Blackfang was a complete nutcase. A lot of listeners would probably think that this was metaphor and hyperbole, but Tancitar, who had known Blackfang for a lot longer than many people here, was aware that he believed it all to be real.

He had been on this 'personified reality' tirade for quite some time, and believe it or not, a handful of dragons believed it too. Tar thought it was all a bunch of rhetoric, but he was stuck with Fang thanks to a promise through a family friend. Besides, with all of his insane ramblings (and power) Fang was always under threat, so it was Tar's job to keep an eye out.

You give a legendary animus artifact to some dude who wants to preach that 'Time is alive' and there's probably a recipe for disaster in there somewhere. Sure, Fang claimed visions and all that junk, but anyone with half a brain knew he had some problems.

Still, the cheers from the crowd were chillingly real.

"On dragon kind's endless quest for answers, we are closer now than we have ever been. I implore you now, to seek out the signs. I have had a fleeting glimpse of reality, but I believe that one of you, perhaps many of you before me can do more. Search for these dragons among us who control our every whim. Visit them, reach them through your dreams. Do whatever it takes. For we will let them know that we are finished with being left in the dark!"

As more and more souls were swept in this nonsense, the following cry was practically a scream of hundreds. What are we getting into?

Tancitar felt a shiver run his spine. If these 'personified properties' were actually real, they had to look out.

Everyone was after them.


Long Ago; The Reality Corps, Five Years Into the SandWing Succession War


"Hey, Matter. Have you seen Death?"

"Sorry Life, no. I think there's a new war on Pyrrhia; he might be really busy. Maybe try the scales?"

It only made sense. With deaths on the rise on the planet, Death had many more souls to reap. Life thanked me and went off in that direction.

I was truly the lucky one here. Sure, I didn't have such a carefree life as Motion, but at least I didn't have Death's job. All I had to do was keep expanding the edge of the universe on occasion—which in the grand scheme of things didn't really matter. After all, the only creatures Life had dreamed up were on a small planet, and they were millennia away from exploring outer space, let alone the entirety of their own planet.

Still, it was a fun task. How many people get to say they can design planets and solar systems whenever they want? And supernovae? Always fun. Except when black holes happened, but they weren't common anymore; I had made more mistakes in my youth.

What? Natural forces of life itself aren't perfect.

The day that I can say it all started, though, was one of pure relaxation. I had made three galaxies the previous afternoon, and was pretty winded. Things on the planet were as normal, with nothing being newly created or destroyed. The order of matter all okay and balanced.

In fact, that day had been so nice that I didn't even want to bother with Motion's goofing off, though she would force my proverbial hand.

I was taking a nice nap when she strolled in with that iconic mischievous smile. It would normally be impossible for a fundamental concept to 'stroll' anywhere, but Life had created a bunch of corporeal forms for all of us to utilize, modeled after those 'dragon' creatures she was so fond of. After all, a bunch of unfathomable ethereal beings conversing in space would be pretty weird.

I, being Matter, was a dragonoid composed of every element and I existed in four states at a time, but to the everyday person I just looked a little shimmering and wavy like the far-away road on a hot day. Life had given me earthy tones and a strong figure similar to her 'MudWings'. (Strangely, Life always protested when I used terms like that. She said they weren't hers, instead belonging to someone or something called Tui Sutherland. Last I checked, that wasn't a principle of the universe, but I digress.)

Motion, on the other hand, was much more active and fiery, thus resulting in her 'SkyWing' appearance. Very red. Very loud. Very fast. She admittedly drove me bonkers sometimes, but try and imagine finding a replacement for movement. Just like the rest of our group, we all depended on her and she depended on all of us. One of those symbiotic thingies.

It was weird, though, because Motion didn't really have to regulate or do anything save for...exist. Her mere presence kept gravity and electromagnetic fields functioning. Perhaps she did have to stay balanced for her poles or something, but the way she acted around Reality Corps HQ belied any responsibility.

"Heyyy, Matter. Do you know what would happen to a radium atom if I threw it really hard at a wall?" No. It would likely either do nothing or explode.

Oh, you noticed the 'ys' at the end of the hey. Yeah, she had probably been interested in me at some point. See, with corporeal forms came an understanding of emotion and personality, gender, other such societal tendencies. You could imagine what that might cause.

But don't get your hopes up for little ol' me; we never got any further. The only couple at Reality Corps was Life and Death, and of course they'd been going strong since the beginning.

"It might be radioactive, but it's not uranium. The most radium could do is, well, break." Motion was obviously disappointed, as her main hobby involved hurling things into walls at intense velocity. As you could imagine, she had a lot of fun with tungsten and my manganese alloys.

"Man, you are a buzzkill. Think of all the fun we had last time!"

"Dropping a nuclear warhead in the middle of the ocean is not fun. The planet isn't supposed to be exposed to anything like that for eons! Time said so." She scoffed at me, making a few stray atoms spin around wildly.

"You're such a follower, Matter. Time isn't the boss, none of us are. You've got to step out a little and try something new."

"...You'd be irrelevant without Time." Motion rolled her eyes, but offered no response as the two of us lounged about awkwardly.

I forgot to mention where we actually were at this point. Of course, Reality Corps' absolute location doesn't necessarily exist in the known universe; it really isn't anywhere. However, if you were to see it, you'd get the impression of a humble two-story office building just kind of floating in space. I built it that way. ...I say this all in past-tense, but of course it's still there. Nothing's changed.

(Is that a bit of a spoiler?)

Amenities were dragon-based for our forms, but it was designed with human preference in mind. We all had personal rooms, there was the meeting room to conduct proper business, and there were some time killers like a pool table and even some electronics. Everyone loved the viewing screen, where we could peer in on life on the planet. Take pride, SeaWings; you're my favorite to watch. I get to see all of my water in action.

Anyhow, all of this was completely at a different state of technological advancement compared to the dragons of Pyrrhia, but at least it made existence less of a slog.

Trust me, doing my job is endless. And boring.

Of course, there were no bathrooms or a kitchen or anything like that. We at Reality Corps don't need them! I mean, can you imagine Death itself munching on some pizza, or getting an upset stomach thereafter?

Back to the story. Motion was getting restless, and that always meant something bad was potentially going to happen to the planet. You ever get really dizzy when you stand up too fast, or there's a wind storm? Yeah, that's her. Expect a hurricane if she gets upset.

"Matter, I'm bored!" A modern Sherlock. She was very observant!

"Then do something." She whined a bit at that, sprawling out on the floor to try and earn some pity. Pathetic; I would not be so moved by wide puppy-dog eyes...a-and a shaky whimper...

As you would expect, Motion was very capable of moving me.

Rimshot!

I figured now was finally the time I could introduce her to a little something. I walked over and handed her the conjured object. It was very simple, just a few small titanium spheres hanging from strings. However, I knew what it was capable of.

"Here. Have fun." Immediately, she dropped the pity party act and ecstatically snatched up the gift, but her confusion arrived just as quickly.

"Um. What is it supposed to do?" I sighed, wanting some peace and quiet and feeling a little perturbed, but I didn't want to upset Motion. After all, without her I wouldn't do anything.

"Here. Take the ball on one of the farthest sides and hold it up." She followed the instructions, watching the cradle with utmost curiosity. "Make sure it's nice and up there. ...And let it swing."

Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The physics model served its purpose as energy traveled through one outside ball to the other, causing them to swing despite the spheres in the middle, and Motion watched in amazement. "It's not endless, but it lasts awhile."

She stood, mouthed a soundless thank-you, and slowly meandered out of my room and away, staring at the cradle the entire time. Who knows what she was planning?

With it having been on my mind, I also left the area in favor of the lounge. Perhaps viewing the events of Pyrrhia could help me relax.

I passed Space on the way. His dragon form was reminiscent of a SeaWing, as their blue tones often matched with cosmic colors. Space was a little different from us at the Corps, as his role was atmospheric and more general; he approved my new galaxies and made sure to keep Motion in check when it came to planetary orbits and gravitational forces. However, he was really quiet and soft, as though his presence was irrelevant. To be fair, three-dimensional area and depth is something we most frequently take for granted.

Don't get him mad, though. He will stick to an opinion like glue on tape. Even though that's a bad metaphor because why would you put glue on tape?

As always, he seemed preoccupied, likely going to concur with Time. Despite what Motion said, the two of them were effectively the unspoken leaders of Reality Corp, as they were somewhat independent (Time especially).

Still, I offered him a light wave. Space looked surprised, but meekly returned the gesture as we moved past each other in the hall.

I reached the lounge in no time; our building was by no means large. As always, the footage was rolling on the screen. How we got video coverage, you ask? I'm connected to all forms of matter in the universe.

I could look out of your eyes right now. —On second thought, for some reason I don't think I would want to.

Of course, there was a meta for this sort of thing, because with literally everything as a choice to look through, you had to make wise decisions. There were no volume capabilities, thanks to Motion neglecting to add it for eternity, so distance was not a problem. Flags were always a good choice because they hung in and around buildings. Watching through weapons could get pretty interesting. Personally, I enjoyed looking through instruments, as those were quite rare in the dragon world and often had interesting individuals associated with them.

Like this one SeaWing who had invented the dragon version of a cello. He played music with his sister sometimes, and it was super cool even if I could never hear it.

I scanned through some popular spots. This new war that had started seemed pretty volatile. Lots of SandWings involved.

"How horrible."

If not for my knowledge of Life's voice, I would have jumped out of my surreal scales. I had hardly noticed her and Death walk in, also watching the screen. Currently, a group of MudWings was facing off with a SeaWing squadron. It was actually quite evenly matched...implying there would be more losses on both sides.

Contrary to what you might think, Death's reaction to the bloodshed was in line with Life's, rather than the opposite of it. He wasn't some sort of crazed, carnage-driven sicko who loved his job of gathering the deceased. In fact, he was rather begrudging.

"I'm sorry," the NightWing-like principle said to his significant other. "I always feel as though I'm taking your gifts away."

"It's alright, love," Life responded, reasonably always gracious. "And it's not you. Dragons have free will for a reason; we can't choose what they want to do with it." Death and I both winced as a poor MudWing was stabbed through the side. They looked disturbingly like me.

"Sometimes, I wish otherwise."

"Here," I said, moving away from that unfortunate scene. "Maybe I can find someplace where no one is actually fighting for once." I suggested one of the various tribal palaces, but no one was in the mood for watching the stuck-up snobs prance about. Most villages were also hard to keep track of, and most of it was unnecessary.

Hmm...there was some unfamiliar movement in the mountains. Kind of near the Diamond Spray river.

Yeah, those ones. Now you know what this is about, eh?

"That's weird. A bunch of dragonets from different tribes, all in a cave." This piqued my friends' interests. Both climbed onto the couch beside me, cuddling as we settled in to watch. Ew. Love, am I right?

"Oh, I remember these ones," Life murmured, somewhat to herself. "The MudWing was a blood-red egg, and I'm pretty sure the yellow one is a hybrid." The dragonets appeared restless at the time, and you probably know why. After all, you're reading this.

I don't need to recap those events for you, the tension with the guardians, their crafty plan, Clay and Tsunami's escape, all of that. We at Reality Corps, however, were watching these future heroes with immense interest. We had begun watching late into the 'cave' period of their story, and simply put, we were quite upset when the SkyWings arrived. It didn't take a genius to know this was not something you wanted to see.

"Life? You said that one was Queen Scarlet, right?" I asked this of her having not entirely known at the time.

"Yeah. She's the current SkyWing queen. Bad news." We watched in trepidation as the morally suspect ruler invaded the now familiar walls of the caverns.

It looked like they were going to take them all as hostages, but you know as well as I that they didn't take them all alive.

I would later learn of him as Dune, this dragon whose neck was snapped so violently. It caused all of us to grimace, and Life even gasped.

We were quiet for a second, and I instinctually looked to Death.

"...If you'll excuse me." He slowly and somberly left the couch, heading back towards the scale room. Life and I followed; unfortunately for the former, she had become attached to Dune as a 'character', and was sad to see him gone.

We made it there in short order. The scale room was more or less a maintenance stop. It was here where Death made sure the many souls flowed peacefully to the afterlife, catching any runaways and repairing the flow if, say, someone was brought back by medical procedures or something.

What afterlife, you ask? I don't want to spoil it for you. (I actually don't know. None of us do!)

Despite our current urgency, I made sure to give a friendly wave to Pestilence, Famine, and War. They were three small beings Life had created to treat as 'children' for her and Death. Due to their names, they all shared a significant resemblance to the 'father'. They were pretty quiet and didn't do too much, generally lounging around. However, today, as I assumed made sense, War was jumping about and squealing with energy. Despite bringing destruction to the planet, the triplets were pretty cute.

Meanwhile, Death scanned the flow. None but him could actually see it, but it probably wasn't pleasant. Who knows what souls actually looked like? "Snapped neck. Poor guy. Tough way to go." Well, he was the expert.

He looked for a second longer. "Aw, there he is. Good luck in the beyond, buddy." Life clung tearfully to her mate as we watched the open air.

"They always kill my favorites."

"I know, dove. I know." I awkwardly twiddled with my claws for a bit as the moment passed.

"Sorry guys. Maybe watching the world wasn't such a good idea today." Life swung back around, eyes low. It wasn't common to see her so passionate, and I was reasonably frightened.

"Yes. It was. I've been thinking about this for a while—" Death clearly knew what she was starting to discuss, making an effort to put it down.

"Woah now. You promised me you would never consider this again."

"I know, raven. I haven't 'considered' it. Now I've decided on it." This was the first thing I had seen divide them in ages, even slightly; now Death was looking all grumpy. I made an effort to not get involved.

"I told you before, that is a horribly dumb and irresponsible plot! The others would never agree to this."

"Yes, but Motion would. And she's the only one we need." Stay out of it. Come on, Matter. Just stay out of it. Don't be curious. Don't ask why they need Motion. It has nothing to do with you. Surely you can—

"What would you need Motion for?"

Darn it, you stupid protagonist. Always so curious and willing to adventure.

"She wants to go down there," Death clarified, disgust heavily in his voice. "And fraternize with the murderers."

Go? To the planet? Walk among them? Okay, well I thought about it too at one point, it kind of sounded fun. "It is horribly against what we stand for. Imagine the repercussions."

"But imagine the benefits, Death. I give life, but dragons have emotion. We can figure out why it is they do what they do, and discover how to better help them solve their differences and enjoy our blessings more. Wouldn't you like the chance to improve?" The pseudo-NightWing growled, and gestured pointedly to where the flow of traveling souls would be.

"Last I checked, not all of us give blessings."

With that one-liner straight from Shadow the Hedgehog's Edgy Handbook, Death left the room in a huff. Life was about to call out to him, but stopped, knowing the effort was futile. Maybe now was a good time to be nice.

"Life...he's stressed about this new war. I get the sense that maybe he's mad at the dragons for killing so often. To him, that's an insult to you. Who knows, maybe...he feels like an insult to you." She gasped, staring at me with such a realization.

"Okay, um, maybe not the most encouraging thing. Uhhh...I know you really like puppies! Death is like a puppy. That is a horrid sentence in any other context." She held me off for a second, heavily in thought.

"W-wow, Matter. You're really good at this. It's almost like you can see through Death."

"All things are either matter or energy, both of which can be disassembled and viewed in their component parts, no matter how dense they are."

Bam. Beat that, Confucius!

Life sighed, watching after the exit our local reaper had stormed through.

"I'll talk to him when he's feeling better. Maybe then we can figure out a way to get him on board with the visitation plan."

"We?"

"Don't think I didn't see that smile of yours. Besides, you can get us Motion's support really easy. You two go hand in hand. Claw in claw. Unfathomable cosmic appendage in unfathomable cosmic—alright, yeah."

Just great. Going behind Time's back. If you couldn't tell, I've never been a fan of that. Something's bound to go wrong when you don't operate under the flow of everything. How would you know when the 70s were? I've heard there's a comeback though.

"Are you sure we can't talk to Time about this? We're busy dragons up here. Would there be time for this excursion?" Life rolled her eyes with a shake of the head; the levels of recklessness and rule-breaking were reaching dangerous levels.

"Time is too obsessed with order and protocol. Too unwilling to accept change, even when it's good. We need to prove to her that we need to make improvements." Sheesh. Show some tact, Life.

"Improvements? You don't like my galaxies?" She hesitated and sighed. Being honest here; my fellow Reality Corps members were aware of my...harsh response to criticism, in particular about my work.

Don't give me that look. Making stuff is the only thing I actually do. Am I not allowed to be self-conscious about that?

"Y-your planets are fine, Matter. I'm talking more about the system. What we can add rather than what we can change." The pale dragoness was antsy, bouncing on her talons and raring to set this plan in motion.

Speaking of which...

"Hey guys. What's going on? I was fiddling with this new momentum thingy when Death stormed by all glum and upset." She stayed outside of the scale room; Motion said it made her feel uneasy. At her appearance, Life smiled in a manner that was significantly dark and clever, which logically sent shivers through the liquid portion of my inter-state body. She was going off the rails now.

"Motion, dear. Have you ever considered going to the planet?" The SkyWing's eyes widened.

"Ooh! You know, I have, but then I figured it wasn't the right thing, but then I thought, you know, it would be really cool and fun."

Just my luck. I should have called Death back so he could have thrown me into the flow. But nope. Stuck now.

"Perfect. Death's clearly out, and I doubt Time would go for this, so let's get Space and go." I opted to give a bit of advice against dropping into unfamiliar territory without any semblance of a plan, but by the time I tried, both girls had already rushed off. Minimal good could come from this.

And consequently, lots of bad could.