She stood at the edge of the world, a silent
and solemn figure. So many aeons ago, she had given birth to this world,
taught it to nurture the feeble life-forms that she had crafted so carefully
from the basic elements. She had drawn the life-forms along as well, teacher,
protector, guider... they had grown well and wise under her care.
But all too soon they wanted more. More than she
could give them, for they wanted superiority over all. They wanted to be
better than even she was. They even started wars over it, fighting against
each other, killing in her name.
She retreated only slightly at first, then drew
her skirts of wonder about her and rose high into the heavens, leaving
behind only a treacherous path that would lead to her. To Enlightenment.
Many hundreds of years passed, centuries blowing by under her haven, the lives below her having almost forgotten her in their zeal for war. War became who they were, and they set out to war against neighboring planets, neighboring systems, and she despaired all the more.
A handful or two of them had remembered her, and
they had sought the dangerous path, only a tenacious few managing the easier
obstacles. The closer to her, the fewer remained on the path. She watched
in silence as they fell prey to the dangers, the voices below convincing
them to return to the life as it was. Hers was a path of the Spirit, not
a true physical challenge, but one of the mind, heart, and soul. Even the
last, a promising young girl had fallen trapped beneath the weighty words
of the war-leaders.
It was time, she thought. Time to leave the war-torn
and damaged place, to vanish from this dimension. She turned away, staring
out into the Void. It could not kill her, but she would not bring life
to anything else. Rather that she should drift forever in the Nothingness
than do again what she had done. And yet she loved them too much to destroy
them. They were, after all, her children. She stood for a moment at the
precipice of World and Void, unseeing the slender hand that reached up
to grasp the ledge.
She reached out with her arms, embracing the Void,
and stepped off the ledge.
Slender fingers grasped at the gossamer hem as the
Goddess slipped off into the Void. A moment of tangibility passed, and
the small being saw and understood. Sinking to her knees, she clutched
to her the slight shred of gossamer-thought that had remained behind.
"No..." She whispered. "That wasn't it at all..."
The Goddess hadn't understood the wars. People had
disavowed her, were killing those who Believed. They hadn't fallen into
war themselves, war had destroyed them. Those who hated had not wanted
the Goddess to return.
And now they had won. The Goddess was gone forever.