The Covenant Of Primus

Chapter 1: The Thirteen Primes

I am.

No moment but the present lies within me. I am as empty as the spaces between the stars. They are the first thing I see, the first thing I know.

In the next quantum of time that passes, I am aware of what and who I am. I know the stars are above me and the solid metal body of the planet is beneath my feet. This world world that supports me is the titanic, semi-hibernating Primus, the demigod who created me. I have a name. I am Alpha Trion, third of the thirteen Primes.

A split cycle later Solus appears to my left out of thin air. There is a flash as she takes form and the ground quakes. Lightning surrounds her in a nimbus that reaches out and crackles into my nerves. I marvel that I can be blinded and shocked, and that I can recover from this. Everything is new. Everything is a wonder, even pain and fright.

Then, with a series of resounding booms, the next nine are made one after another to complete our lineup. Shrouded in the glowing golden light of the Energon burst that accompanies his explosive creation, Thirteen's first gesture is to salute with his arm raised-- a sign of victory and greeting marks the mighty effort of imagination and will that has made us all. He is the last Prime, and he completes us. I raise my arm to. To my right and left all do the same. our first action is unified. Knowledge of our destiny unspools in our minds in a steady cascade as Energon fills our bodies with life and power. Primus's work is done. In concert we will do what he could not; we are his successors, and in our creation he has drawn this phase of his life to a close.

I turn to him automatically across the comms net, son to father, but even as I do so, his presence is already fading away. He switches down from conscious flow to hypersleep with a gentle glide of unraveling synaptic processness. The last we know of him is a feeling of quiet faith, which he has for each of us. He has given us everything of himself, and there is nothing more to say.

I feel bereft: to gain and lose so much in a single minute. Between joy and grief I am torn into silence. Beside me the other primes stand, titans astride a reclining god, filled with awe. We look at one another. We look at the world, the vast skies, the sprays of light that are stars and galaxies and near-infinate reaches of the universe that extended beyond our ability to see, or hear, or know. As far as we can tell, there is nothing here but us and our dormant world.

But is there were truly nothing, there would be no need for our existence, and that thrilling and disrupting knowledge is reflected in all out eyes as we turn to face one another. Then, as our awareness unifies, our spirits draw together. We are granted a fleeting glimpse of what has gone before as the past unfurls before our minds' eye.

...

Ages ago, before time had a measure, there was a single being. it had no use for identity or name--it lived, and this was enough for a while. but as it explored the galaxy and began to find other living beings, the bliss of discovery gave way to disturbing thoughts that had no answers: if they are this, and they were many, what am I, and why am I alone? Having nobody else to talk to, it began a conversation with itself and gradually evolved two distinctive voices with which it examined the different sides of matters. One was reassuring, full of faith and acceptance; the other was restless and relentless, comparing itself with what it found and discovering that there were flaws and needs that went unanswered in the vast emptiness of space.

the two voices took names to themselves: one was Primus, meaning first and one, and the other named Unicron, meaning unique and one. They both knew that they were one being, but this act separated them into two pieces whose feelings and insights could not be reconciled. They were the essence of opposition, and being young and without guidance, they began to fight, each thinking his way was correct and that the other was a fool. The more that they argued, the more they felt in danger from each other's existence.