Under the beautiful starry night sky, a young woman could be seen treading through the desert.
With practiced steps she followed an invisible trail. Guided by her instincts, she had made this small journey hundreds, if not thousands of times before.
She had tanned skin, deep black silk-like hair that had been braided into a long ponytail, reaching all the way down her back. Her fierce golden eyes seemed to pierce through the darkness, revealing the way ahead.
Adorning her body were dark robes freckled with golden accents and glyphs. These robes, while intended for ceremonious purposes, were designed for life in the desert and freedom of movement.
Above her head a luminescent white ring was levitating.
Her name was Tiye and she was currently on her way to perform her daily duties as the possessor of the Deshret as her grandmother had done before her.
Tiye had been living alone with her grandmother for all her life and had been groomed to inherit the Deshret ever since she was little.
While she had always yearned to travel the world and explore, she couldn't bear to leave her grandmother alone. And so, she stayed until recently, when her grandmother passed away.
Now with her grandmother gone, her desire to leave this abandoned holy land grew even stronger.
But still, she couldn't bring herself to leave.
Tiye didn't care for traditions and old customs. After all, what use had those if she was the only one left anyways?
No, what kept her here was something else.
Devotion.
While Tiye's adherence to the old ways and her respect for her people's traditions were a facade she kept to please her grandmother, her devotion and loyalty to her god was real.
If she left this forsaken desert to pursue her desire, her lord's temple would be left abandoned, doomed to wither and lose its rightful glory.
How could she ever tolerate this?
No matter how badly she wanted to leave and explore the world, how could she abandon her lord's residency.
Impossible.
It was simply impossible for her. Forsaking the temple would be like forsaking the lord Himself.
Even though He had never awoken throughout the entire history of her people, Tiye didn't doubt one bit that He eventually would. At that time if the lord found Himself abandoned even by her who held the Deshret and was thus supposed to be the exalted one's closest aid, what would He think.
Tiye couldn't bear the thought.
Thus, she soldiered on, traversing the all too familiar desert, eventually finally arriving at the temple of Ahlam Fidiya.
Only this time something was different.
The ever-shut golden door securing the temples entrance, now, stood wide open like a gaping maw yawning after awakening from a thousand-year-slumber.
"This...", Tiye mumbled quietly, dropping her water-bag in shock.
"Impossible...", the sound of her water supply flowing out of its container and seeping into the dry desert ground fading in to the background.
Tiye stood as if rooted to the ground, quietly staring at the open temple gate, her mind engulfed in a torrent of thoughts.
'Did some outside force break in? Thieves mistaking the temple as some king's grave?', she thought, her blood starting to boil at the thought of some filthy grave robber tainting her lord's holy residency.
But she discarded the thought almost as quick as it appeared. The golden gates protecting the temple of Ahlam Fidiya could only be opened with the Deshret, which had never left her possession since her grandmother passed away.
Even those wretched scavenger gods of Elysium would need to destroy the temple to get inside. Though long forgotten and devoid of believers, this was still a god's residency after all.
The only other way to open these gates was from the inside.
Slowly realizing the actual meaning of the sight in front of her, Tiye's whole body started quivering.
Blood pumping through her veins at unprecedented speeds and tears dropping from her eyes into the sand below, she dropped to her knees clasping her hands in prayer.
Finally, her lord had woken from His everlasting slumber.
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Nothingness.
That was all Randolph Carter could perceive. He didn't know how long it had been since he destroyed reality, time had stopped existing after all.
What felt like a second could be as long as ten years and vice versa.
Not that Carter cared about any of this, he was only half conscious as he drifted through the void of nonexistence. All his remaining awareness and strength focused on maintaining his being.
The corruptive force he currently faced, while not as inherently malevolent and maddening as those eldritch gods, was still constantly threatening to erase his now fickle existence.
After all, how could he 'be' if there 'wasn't' anything.
His existence was a paradox. A small flame flickering in the overwhelming darkness, undermining its natural authority.
If this was nonexistence, then why 'was' Carter. If Carter 'was' then why couldn't everything else?
Thus, Carter and the 'void' found themselves in a stalemate. One trying to prove his 'being' the other trying to erase it.
Of course, the 'void' was not a living thing. How could it 'be' if it 'wasn't'. 'It' was just the consequence of destroying everything.
If 'nothing' was everywhere, there couldn't be 'something'. If there was 'something' nothing didn't exist. Thus, Carter and the 'void' fought a silent battle for dominance.
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-??? later-
Carter could feel his Existence becoming clearer and more defined. Very slowly he was pushing back the 'void'.
After what felt like eons, he could finally faintly feel his body again, an amazing almost forgotten feeling.
His resolve reinforced Carter continued to fight on.
Little by little, with the power the silver key's explosion left behind, he started to trace the vague feeling of his body, giving himself shape.
Starting from the point where Carter felt like his consciousness resided, glowing silver lines spread, twisting and converging, slowly defining the shape of a human body.
Carter lifted his hand to his face, studying his current existence. His body looked like rough sketch etched into the darkness with silver lines.
These lines represented the new boundary of his being. Through this he could see where he 'was', and where his existence 'ended'.
'This shape constitutes 'myself'. It represents the boundary between 'outside' and 'inside'.'
With each word forming in his mind, Carter's outlines became clearer and clearer. The once faint and thin lines grew brighter, bleeding into one another.
'Whatever is 'inside' is 'me', whatever is 'outside' is not.'
A clear distinction was made. The silver light which had been leaking outside its defined shape, now readjusted and only shone inwards.
Soon the entire 'sketch' had been colored in with resplendent silver light.
"A body giving form, consciousness forming will, and a mind to dream, I Randolph Carter declare my own existence"
Piercing silver light erupted from Carter's new body, illuminating the dark void around him.
"I 'am', therefore nothing cannot exist"
Blinding light burst through the darkness. The void now decidedly defeated, torn to shreds by Randolf Carter's silver radiance.
"Let there be light"
Thus, the first words of a new world were spoken.
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Only now, with the void's corroding pressure finally gone, could Carter finally feel the exhaustion settling inside him.
Looking around he could see the beginnings of a new universe.
A satisfied smile graced his silver lips.
Looking around one last time, Carter gathered his silver power around him in a protective barrier, before curling into a fetus position and lowly closing his eyes.
Still smiling over his final victory, Carter slowly drifted off into well-deserved slumber.