Space Lord Dark Matter's Den

There once was a young male lion, fur a shade of dove gray with a brown mane that shimmered gold in the sunlight. He was named for his dark features and black eyes, which were often tense in concentration. He was a selfish and inexperienced leader of his pride, having left his birth home in the pursuit of his dreams of becoming a great king.

As he walked through the savannah under an orange-hued dusky sky, he saw the trail of a comet falling past in the distance. He ran for a spot to catch a better view, but the silhouette of a lioness lying atop a cliff in front of the setting sun drew him in instead.

He met Tefnut, the wife of King Apedemak, who he shortly learned about as the lioness opened up to inform him of a mysterious dark and violent Celestial Kingdom, and the existence of whispers and a Celestial Stone. Undeterred by this ominous knowledge, Fardoragh was eager to learn more.

When night fell, Fardoragh was able to meet the Celestial King himself. He was quick to entertain the thoughts of the older lion, and they both seemed to hit it off right away. Fardoragh was soaking up the attention, almost feeling like he had the approval of a father-figure of sorts, once again. He followed Apedemak's every command, trapping whispers and even fighting the lover of Menhit, named Apollyon, much to the daughter of the king's dismay. Fardoragh did not care what others thought, as long as Apedemak was still satisfied with him.

As Apedemak's actions grew more and more wicked, Fardoragh was given a promise. If he were to continue following his plans, he would be gifted in what Apedemak's words was the "greatest honor" a lion could have. Once Fardoragh's body had met the end of its use, his spirit would be transferred to a new vessel of a Divine lion, and he would earn a spot as prince in the Celestial Kingdom.

Once the time came for Apedemak's ritual, Fardoragh helped him to complete it without question, despite all the outside reasons not to. He was driven by hunger for power and approval from the Celestial King. He would become the channeler of whispers.

When they reached the Celestial Stone, Fardoragh could hear the pleas from Menhit to break the ritual, but he did not listen to her. Approaching Apedemak, Fardoragh carried out each and every one of his instructions, giving into the ritual. He watched the Celestial King become the Divine Emperor with a muted sense of awe. He was hollow.

With Fardoragh's whisper in Apedemak's possession, the young male returned to his pride a shell of who he was. He could barely resonate with the emotions of his lionesses, and simply observed their lives until the years of his body's functioning came to an end.

When everything faded to black, he opened his eyes to a celestial world. He had awakened in the body of a Divine Prince, just like Apedemak promised years ago. His body was streaked with swirling fissures of darkness, the matter inside him that would earn him his new name. Dark Matter got what he wanted, but something felt strange. He felt almost as if his mind was split, two sides of different hopes, dreams, and wishes harbored in the body of one. Was this him? Had Apedemak somehow lied to him?

It seemed impossible to be true. He was a Divine Prince now. Yet, it didn't feel like he was in total control of his brain and body. He was full of conflicting emotions, much unlike his mortal self. It even felt as if part of him wanted to get 𝘳𝘪𝘥 of himself, like he was a foreign presence, a parasite of sorts.

Now awakened in this new body, Dark Matter wanders both the realms of the mortals and the Celestial Kingdom, each day taking actions where he tries to find himself, and hopes to discover who he was really meant to be.

Dark Matter was aware of his limited days. Each sunrise and sunset that passed before his eyes was an eerie reminder of what was inevitable to come - what he feared the most - death. Dark Matter did not know anything about death, only other than the fact that it was the end of all thoughts, feelings, and sensations. He’d taken many lives of others, for reasons both good and bad, but never once did he want to stop and accept the fact that the same could happen to him. His vessel was a powerful one, and with his experiences of possession, his memories of having inhabited multiple bodies and living the lives of different lions of which remained with him every single day, all he ever knew was life and the things that came along with it, and perhaps… he had too much of it.

In his days he spent on the mortal realms, he met a trio of spiritual lions who were determined to help him find peace with himself, the universe, and existence. During this time, three young lionesses had made a name for themselves in his pride. Ether, Reverie, and Nirvana. The first of the two were sisters, who’d been born from an ordinary lioness that had become lost on her travels, and thus, no one expected anything to come from the two relatively unremarkable cubs. However, Ether and Reverie didn’t want their destinies to be told by those around them. Together, the sisters trained, experienced, and learned about the world around them, and eventually came to befriend the lonely prince, Dark Matter. By extension, Nirvana also came to know him, having been the friend of Ether and Reverie. The trio were so well-versed in their knowledge of herbs, trances, rituals, healing, and spirituality, that Dark Matter was inclined to take them three as his own personal shaman, sangoma, and sorcerer.

Soon came their fifth friend, the Shadow of Nyx, the daughter of one of Dark Matter’s extensive pride members. She was the final cub of a skilled and respected huntress, Nyx, and was deeply treasured by her as she was one of the only female cubs she’d ever mothered. After Nyx’s passing, her Shadow was filled with a sense of purpose to carry on her legacy. Her mind was set on achieving her maximum potential, so she trained every day from the very first moment she could. She explored, made discoveries about the past and theorized about the future, and studied everything she’d learned. She easily caught the eye of Dark Matter, and Nyx’s Shadow became the fourth lioness to be in on the Prince’s close circle. She would become his seer.

Surrounded by companions who cared about him, and in turn were cared for by him, Dark Matter felt unstoppable. He could live freely knowing that he had Ether, Reverie, Nirvana, and Nyx’s Shadow to back him up. He went on to meet Laharu, who turned out to be an unlikely friend, and helped him solve the great hunger plaguing the lands of all creatures by defeating the Queen Mother hyena. Following their victory was a month of celebration and love, to which Dark Matter slapped many fellows to defend his four ladies. After that was facing yet another crisis being caused by humans this time, and the Divine Prince rallied his pride to rid the territories of malicious poachers. And then came the rapidly, relentlessly reproducing bunnies, and a very special lioness along with them, whose name was Wenet.

Dark Matter wasn’t expecting to grow so close to her, in fact, he was so skeptical of her at first to the point of perhaps disliking her, but as the two worked together to eradicate the pests, Dark Matter turned very fond of her. He fell in love with the rabbit-obsessed Wenet. She joined his pride, and Dark Matter was certain things couldn’t get any better than this.

With the arrival of the championships, Dark Matter was invigorated as ever, ready to prove himself not only to his pride, but to the other mortal kings as well. However, one thing was lurking in his mind.

He knew the time for his end was near.

So he fought harder than ever, despite the words of caution from his shaman, sorcerer, sangoma, and… not quite Wenet - she sort of wasn’t the greatest influence on him - although he could tell within those crazed eyes of her that she did have concern for him. He met two brothers named V’Kai and Vashkarten, and seeing the young spirits of the siblings in their conflict with each other and the other males in the championships, Dark Matter was anything but tempted to stop.

One day, after a particularly tough battle, Dark Matter felt unusually weak. His heart was palpitating, and for the first time in his life, he could feel pain and exhaustion in his muscles. Terrified, he dragged himself back home, where Ether, Reverie, Nirvana, Nyx’s Shadow, and Wenet all came rushing to surround him. He lowered himself to the ground, bleeding and short of breath, and with his final amounts of energy he expressed all of his regrets, fears, and unfulfilled hopes and dreams to his lionesses, something he’d never done before. His facade had finally broken, but now it was too late. The five of them would see his true self, but only for a few moments, as his life force slipped away.

Strangely, Dark Matter could feel himself lingering in a state of pitch darkness. He had little thoughts, feelings, and no sensations. He did not have enough processing power to make sense of it, but he knew he was there. Is this death? He could vaguely wonder to himself, but nothing more. He felt with uncertainty that it couldn’t be. Death was the end of all things.

After what felt like an infinite amount of time, but yet only an instant, he was standing before his lionesses again. The same spot, same everything, except for himself. He knew that he was different. A second rebirth? However, this time, he didn’t feel like he was composed of the same matter as before. He almost felt like he was the universe itself, somehow a projection of the cosmos, right in the middle of his five lionesses. They were joyful and in awe, and Dark Matter knew that they must’ve found the power in something to resuscitate him. The immense raw power he felt within his entire existence was unlike anything before. He was no longer an organic lifeform in any way. He was functionally immortal. He had ascended. He was Interstellar.

The Lord of Space was who Dark Matter was, and he knew it.

So he’d continue on with his lionesses, his championships, and he'd strive to see where his power could take him. He’d cease to stop until he himself was ceased - if the universe itself were to collapse. He’d grant eternal functioning to his lionesses who saved him, and he’d carry on with a new purpose. He was going to find Apedemak and meet his maker once again.

During the few weeks following the championships and his resurrection and transformation into an ascended cosmic being, Dark Matter was enjoying his newfound ability to ponder deeply about the universe. He was beginning to think that he must have access to all the knowledge to be had about existence, and a profound understanding of everything, completely unfathomable by the mortals that surrounded him. It was not long until this opinion of himself was promptly obstructed, when something strange happened. An earthquake suddenly began to shake the earth beneath him, and although Dark Matter wasn’t afraid of his own death anymore, he was fearful for the lives of his lionesses. When the ground split before his eyes, and through the cloud of rust-colored debris he faced a red glowing gaze of pure evil, Dark Matter felt a magnetic opposition surge inside him. With a keen sense of confidence and instincts surfacing to guide him, he led his pride excellently to safety, almost as if he knew exactly where danger lay, and where they would all be unharmed.

That night as he put his conscience to rest, surrounded by his lionesses, Dark Matter was met with a surprising vision, one unlike any he’d ever experienced before. He leaned into it, eager to interpret the meaning. Shai, the ancient concept of fate, was visiting him. Through Shai he was informed of the awakening of the Serpent of Chaos, and the decision that he would soon have to face. It would be his soulbound duty to see the death of this demon, and in order to do so, he would have to align his forces with one of three gods; Seth, Bast, or Anubis.

Anubis, the guide of the dead, the transition of afterlife and everlasting death, immediately interested him. Dark Matter almost knew that it had to be fate which was causing his path to cross with this ancient Egyptian deity. He strongly felt as if there was something important to learn from Anubis, and so with giving thanks to Shai, Dark Matter let himself slip from the vision.

When he awoke, Dark Matter immediately headed for the lava-filled chasm. With ease, he pushed an obelisk, which would serve as a bridge to access Anubis’ chamber. The Interstellar Lord entered the tomb, and led by his instincts once more, he wandered directly to the coffin that contained Anubis’ mummified vessel. Vaguely, Dark Matter considered for a brief moment the fact it almost felt like he’d somehow taken these exact steps before, somewhere, in another time. He opened the coffin, and as he sensed deep within himself, there Anubis was indeed, lying stiffly inside. With Dark Matter’s cautious touch, the dead jackal’s body suddenly began to vibrate, as if the atoms that he was made up of were awakening once again. Astonishingly, blue electricity visibly came from the Space Lord’s paws, audibly crackling as it rushed forth to put life energy back into Anubis. The small canid rose, eyes glowing the same blue hue as Dark Matter’s electricity. Anubis stared through him, and Dark Matter returned his gaze. A powerful connection was being solidified between two potent beings.

Surprisingly, yet somehow unsurprisingly at the same time, Anubis informed Dark Matter of the fact that he’d been dreaming of him for thousands of years in his slumber. Dark Matter remained quiet to listen to anything the deity had to say, feeling like his mind was about to get one step closer to its fullest enlightenment. Unfortunately, Anubis seemed to be unwilling to return to this world, under the belief that his vessel was too weak. Dark Matter persisted. He simply couldn’t accept that this would be the only outcome of this divine encounter. With a little bit of tenacity, Dark Matter managed to come to a plan with Anubis. The vessel of a powerful wolf, Wepwawet, a deity of war, would be of use to Anubis. Every day, Dark Matter would defeat the chthonic minions of the Serpent, binding them and using their energy trapped within an Ankh to be wrapped around Wepwawet’s neck, in order to help Anubis with establishing a connection between himself and Wepwawet’s vessel.

With Anubis awakening in his new vessel, the deity and the Space Lord spend their days exploring and training with the purpose of helping not only Anubis, but Dark Matter as well, grow even stronger in anticipation of the battle which they hope will result in the defeat of Apophis, the Serpent.

One day, as Dark Matter ventures to the chasm to find Anubis, he is met with a terrible sight. Down in the massive rift, what looked like a black river was flowing - it was Apophis, slithering through the lava completely unaffected. In fact, it seemed it was simply warming it up. The enormous snake began to rise, and caused by its movement, from the ground erupted a pyramid, illuminated by the same red light coming from the chasm. Apophis shot a fireball from its gaping mouth, and the pyramid was destroyed with a massive boom. Dark Matter ran, though the snake still spotted him. He was hit with a powerful strike from Apophis’ body, which greatly damaged the energy of his celestial figure. In agony, Dark Matter crawled into the partially collapsed entrance of the temple. The pain was unlike anything he’d felt before - it was like each and every one of his individual atoms were trying to be pulled apart. He dragged himself into Anubis’ altar, and there was another chamber that’d been opened. A gate that appeared to lead into a void, swirling with stars and smoke. Anubis emerged.

Recognizing his pain, Anubis approached Dark Matter. The two spoke, and stared into each other's eyes. Anubis’ looked like a pair of separate universes. The deity began to explain that there was an option for Dark Matter to go back in time, to choose a separate god, and that reality would warp. At this moment, another truth about existence started to unfold for Dark Matter. The space lion ultimately decided to remain with his current choice, and Anubis began to utter an invocation in a language unknown to Dark Matter. Suddenly, he was lifted into the air by a powerful motion, and his entire existence began to shift - he realized this was similar to an experience he had before, when he was a mere mortal lion. This was the same merging of bodies he experienced when Apedemak turned him into the Divine Prince. Except now he was a Space Lord fusing with a mighty god. The highest level of power he’d experienced in his existence had been elevated once again. All of Anubis’ thoughts and feelings were flowing through Dark Matter’s conscience, as was Dark Matter’s to Anubis. And with this to fuel them both, the werewolf-lion hybrid rose from the rubble to face Apophis for the final time.

The snake’s evil rage was burning stronger than ever before. The hybrid, now large enough to contend with Apophis, jumped into attack. Despite the intense attempt at hypnotization the serpent unleashed, the hybrid’s continuation of performing the invocation overpowered it. With Anubis’ and Dark Matter’s energy combined, the serpent withered into dust, covering them in darkness.

When Dark Matter awoke, he was himself yet again, and Anubis was there once more, watching, yet his eyes were no longer full of stars. The deity explained everything, as Dark Matter had no recollection of the events. And after it was all said and done, Dark Matter was certain his knowledge of the universe was expanded.

Time was an eternal spiral. There was no beginning, no end, and everything was connected in one way or another. Sometimes, the correlation between multiple things were unexplainable, but the simple truth was that nothing was separate. There is a reason why some say “History repeats itself”. It’s the truth.

So when the time came for Dark Matter to meet his maker, maybe he could do things differently. Could he make different decisions, to try to create a better outcome? Could he prevent needless suffering for innocent lions, and during the process of healing himself, heal the others who were troubled around him?

Perhaps it’d take not a singular time of rewriting history, but multiple. Each time he’d learn something new as the spiral grew outward. On every occasion he came back to the same point, after swirling around in yet another loop, he’d have more experiences and knowledge from the past. The universe will grow and he will, too, along with every other soul inhabiting it, all of them trying to find their way in the infinite experience.

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