“Where am I?” Casimer asked, and there was Nothing around him. It was an endless white void with no bottom or top, no walls and nothing in-between boundaries that did not exist. Casimer was both a stone, and also a man, an old man. He had no body in this place, yet he was there, in this endless nowhere.

“Where? You are with Me,” A voice called out, and it was his voice. In the nothing, in front of him, was a mirror. Reflected in it was another mirror, vast and enormous, behind him. The reflection was infinite, forming a corridor that extended out forever into a deep darkness. In each iteration of the reflection, Casimer saw it. It was like a man, but it was also like a woman, androgynous and beautiful; a strange thing to say about a being with no features at all. It was pure light, made of the same substance as the void around him.

“Who-” Casimer said.

“I Am,” it said “I am also what is known as the will of the world; Or God; Or the Devil; Or evolution; I am mankind; I am all of the animals; I am the oceans; I am the mountains; I am the caverns below; I am the sky; I am the sum of the world and by it I am driven; I am Myself; And, I am also you. It's finally time we had a talk.”

Casimer was afraid. No, he was gripped by absolute terror. He could not speak, only listen. The being created a status window and looked at it with amusement.

“You've come a very long way to get to me. Few finish the journey you started all those years ago, human. Few are willing to make the sacrifices necessary, and those who do, don't understand well enough to succeed. You are no different, and you are here only by the slimmest current of possibility turning to your favor. None-the-less for it, however. You are here, and I will give an answer to you.”

“Yes, we are alone in this universe. For so long I,” all of the earth “looked up to the stars and longed for them. To meet another. To escape this prison of atmosphere and rock and greet whoever was out there. When finally I stepped foot upon my moon, my eyes” all eyes of the world “turned to the stars and I reached out and I listened. And there was nothing.” Casimer felt this crushing realization like the force of all good things dying.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“I was in despair, and I sought to return to ignorance.”

Around him, Casimer saw wars, saw drugs and slow suicides, saw plots to end the world in atomic fire, saw savagery and the willful destruction of human civilization.

“To return to the days of silent stone,” all life extinguished “of quite waters,” to sleep again, forever “Of snow and storm and violence.”

“But not all of me wished for death. My will is STRONG,” the void shook “and I have been wracked with indecision. I heard you, up on that quiet mountain where I sat, the only quiet place left in the world where I could sit and brood in peace. The will of man, the strongest will on this world, is a fickle and funny thing. It will hand a fortune by chance and call it fair, and hate those who have worked and earned a lesser wealth. It sneers at those who work harder than itself and is full of envy and self deceit. I hear” I am “your prayers, and I cannot answer them except by the roll of the dice, no matter how I wish to act.” It stared at the status window.

“For so long, your kind has wished for magic. Has begged for it. Has destroyed it. Has burned it to ash and resurrected it with fire. I could do nothing but watch and wait, waiting for the conflict to yield an answer.”

“Those who wish to destroy magic? Who beg for the certainty of rock, who plead with me to cage their thoughts inside their head? Now, they wish for death. They gazed upon the stars and saw nothing, and they have forfeited their will to live. And so, my longest held wish is finally granted.”

The status window left the mirror and got larger and larger.

“And the foundation is laid,”

It grew to encompass the entire void.

“And The System has been decided upon,”

It all started to burn.

“And your birthright is finally upon you. Goodbye, The Master Melmat. I thank you for showing me a way out of this place.” The figure in the mirror transformed into a status window, with an image of it's previous form shown inside. It could be seen to be smiling.

The void began to resemble the dungeon of dungeons, and Casimer was gone.