Before, there was One.
One knew only One.
In time, One knew One and Absence.
One considered whether One and Absence were the same. One made the first Choice and decided One and Absence were not the same. Which left One with the first Question: What was One?
That One might answer One's Question, One made the second Choice and spoke it aloud, "Where there is One, let there be an Other, that One may know One's self."
An Other came. Much of the Other was Like to One, but even more was Different. The Differences between One and the Other defined them. Respectively, they knew Affection and Antipathy.
A third Choice was called for, and severally it was made. To be Bound or to be Broken the One with the Other or the One from the Other.
Bound or Broken, each was Appealing and Appalling in equal measure. One and the Other were at an impasse. Between the Other and One there was Choice, but not Compromise.
One clutched at the Nothing surrounding them. One grasped Nothing and wadded it tightly, crushing and compacting until the substance of the Nothing became Something. A hard little Something composed of all of Nothing.
“From Nothing,” spake One. “Let there be Everything!”
And the Something, pressed so tightly from the substance of Nothing, erupted. Pieces of Something flew from the tremendous pressure at it’s core. The pieces travelled in all directions, and did not stop.
“A test,” said the One.
“A Wager,” said the Other.
“What shall prevail?” One asked. “Attraction or Repulsion.”
“When shall we know?” the Other asked in turn. “Now or Never?”
“Soon,” answered One.
Thus began the Everything After, prior to which shall always be Before.
