Life, Death & Rebirth

    The last star in the universe let out it's final gasp. A mercy at this point. It had held out for centuries after all other light had been extinguished. A tiny thing fated to never grow. In terms of celestial bodies it was a child, barely formed before the end set in. A dwarf with no partner to dance with, let alone give life to. Others burned brighter, bidding farewell with elaborate explosions or colossal collapses. The last star simply faded. No fanfare. No funeral. None left to mourn. It simply ceased to be, allowing the dark and cold to take dominion.

    Life, along with light and warmth, had come to an end. Only traces remained of what had long ago been sentient. Fossils, oil, fumes. No way to discern which of the beings had prayed for rapture, which rebelled against fate until the end, how many had simply gone to sleep never to wake again. Architecture that once threatened to challenge the heavens, had long since crumbled and returned to the earth with their creators. The seas, primordial birthplace of life, had frozen, shattered, and disintegrated, falling still and silent ever since. Even the wind had ceased it's endless wailing, it's final sigh passing shortly after the sun's last breath. 

    The interloper walked among the ruins of reality. Each step loosed clouds of dust that could only be felt. Sight and hearing were gone now that entropy had set in. The building blocks that made up the universe had begun to decay. With no energy left to share, all had begun to end as one. As above, so below. 

    Moments ago it had been beautiful. All of reality crumbling into its base components. While there was still light to see, the universe had become a single joined being. Iridescent. Shimmering. All of the rainbow road meeting back at its origin. It would never reach its final destination. Not when the interloper had already seeped into its very foundation. Now there was nothing left to bring it all back together. Neither order nor chaos, simply a lack of being, itself.

    The next part was the most tedious. Soon even the interloper would not have the energy to move. Incorporeal as it was, even it had to obey the laws of reality. It knew all about the laws. It was one after all.

    A single leap was all it took to leave the surface. It hadn't been a forceful affair. This was the great calm before the storm, the moment between the bang and crunch. As the only conscious observer left, it didn't even need to leap. Thought was enough to bend reality in this state. Only habit made it perform the action. A habit formed over immeasurable eons and through countless forms. What had this form even been? The interloper floated on through the expanse. Looking around would bring no answers, even if it had the will to seek them. 

    All was dark now in a way that no other sentient being could experience. The universe had become nothing. It joined the interloper in the abyss, each becoming as one. Time ceased as all became still. For almost as long as the universe had existed, now it ceased in death while the interloper waited. Words came to its mind in a language it no longer recalled.

    "Oh, pitiful soul, freed from the shackles of this world. Burn bright and find your place among the endless night."

    Void. That was the only word for it. Not cold, for friction ceased to exist. Not quiet, for all movement halted. Only thought remained. Thoughts which threatened to become as still and cool as the universe. An eternity passed then, as it always had, in the blink of an eye. The interloper was moving, drawn backwards in every sense of the word. Dimension had lost its relevance, so who was to say whether it was a physical experience. The end had come, now it must begin again as it always had. All of reality condensed from everything to nothing, as the interloper was.

    Light, heat, life. It felt them for a fleeting moment as time began anew. The sensations passed as quickly as they came. Light couldn't illuminate such darkness. Heat wouldn't thaw such cold. Life? At this point the feeling was as foreign to the interloper as the interloper was to this universe. Once more it witnessed the birth of reality. Stars, solar systems, galaxies, all of them were forming as the interloper woke. A dazzling display that might reduce a younger being to pure emotion. Looking upon the majesty of the almighty, there was no feeling that took hold within, only the instinct that brought with it conscious thought. Words once more filled it's mind as it stood vigil to all of creation at its inception.

    "Oh, pitiful soul, weighed down by a life of resentment, would you share this burden with me?"

    One word above all others filled the interloper's mind, and in doing so chilled the universe at its core.

    Death.

    That was it's purpose. It's existence. The fate of all things bound by the laws of reality, and bound to it. Death was the one thing that couldn't die, and it greeted life once again with barely a thought. Its time would come. Until then it returned to rest, allowing reality all it needed to form new life. Waiting for it's time to usher in the end, as it had before time existed many times over.