Prologue
There wasonly shadow and night.
Both infinite.
Both alone.
They wandered the stars for an age?—
two silences circling one another?—
until loneliness gave them shape.
Together, they began to tell stories.
Each word a seed.
From their stories, the first worlds were born?—
mountains rose like breath,
oceans swelled with memory,
creatures emerged from the hush between their voices.
They made mortals who could live and die,
believing there was mercy in endings.
For a time, this was enough.
Then, they fell in love.
He was Night?—
the stillnessbefore thought,
the ache for meaning in the void.
She was Shadow?—
the pulse that followed,
the spark that taught silence how to listen.
And where her shadow passed,
life bloomed.
Because she knew the oldest truth:
darkness was never the enemy.
It was the womb that cradled light,
the quiet that made beauty possible.
Without shadow, the stars would burn unseen;