Sadie Madison and the Boy in the Crimson Scarf

Michael Madison's "The Seven Days of Creation"

In the beginning there was nothing.

Less than nothing— if you can imagine such a thing.

But, out of the nothing, as if conjured by a sorcerer at the peak of her power, the Gods appeared and stood in the vastness of the nothing that surrounded them.

There were seven in all.

Together they created everything we know.

And everything we are yet to understand.

On the First Day, Aurora—the God of Light—tore the darkness in two. This rending of the nothingness spawned infinite shards of light that exploded, multiplying across the darkness, giving it depth and scale.

On the Second Day, Paladin—the God of Spheres—organised the light into stars and life-giving suns, orbiting them with barren worlds, gaseous worlds, and worlds of precious water. Between the stars and the suns, he created a vast labyrinth of dimensions known as the Vents—a place to look after all that had been forgotten, and all that was to come.

Upon the Third Day, Terra—the God of Earth—pulled the water back on infinite worlds and exposed the land where trees and plants grew in colossal numbers.

On the Fourth Day, Epoch—the God of Seasons—split each earth's orbit around its sun into four distinct phases, differentiating them with rain, and snow, and wind, and glorious sunlight.

On the Fifth Day, Oceania—the God of Sealife—made the whales, and the fish, and all that lives beneath the waves.

On the Sixth Day, DeMenza and DeForna—the Twin Gods of Animals—created cattle, and birds, and snakes, and every living thing that creeps upon the land.

On the Seventh Day, the Gods rested—for the Universe was complete.

The Seventh Day lasted for billions of years.

Peace and harmony reigned on every Earth between the fish, and the birds, and the beasts. But, as time passed, the Gods became restless. They argued and tormented and dared one another to alter one of the perfect worlds that they had so lovingly created.

DeMenza and DeForna—the Twin Gods of Animals—who acted first.

From the billions of galaxies and solar systems, they picked a single planet and created a woman and a man in their own image. They gave them dominion over the fish, and the cattle, and the birds, and the snakes, and every living thing that creeps upon the land. The Twin Gods created the Kingdom of Heaven above for them to worship and the Rings of Hell below for them to fear.

They created love, kindness, and compassion.

Wickedness, jealousy, and hate.

Tentatively, DeMenza and DeForna sat back and invited the other Gods to admire what they had achieved. For generations they worshipped the Gods. Women and men thrived, expanding their dominion across the earth and the seas. They built townships, and cities, and great roads to join one to the next. Language spread and transformed, cultures developed, music, literature, trade and business. Land borders were formed, patrolled, and militarised. Empires rose and fell, and with them came war and destruction.

To the Gods' dismay, worship ebbed, belief in their creators begun to fade.

For the first time in a million years, the Gods returned and stood over the continents of the Earth. They demanded an end to warfare and murder, to sorrow and suffering, to intolerance and devastation.

But the women and men of Earth stared up at the Gods, their faces filled with contempt and hatred. And then, as the sun rose on the Eighth Day, they took up arms against the Gods and vanquished them all.