In a time before time, a lone, cold world tumbled through the void. As the eons passed, it slowly came to awareness, nourished by an unseen energy. First, it was confused; then, curious; finally, angry. Unspeakably angry, to gain consciousness in a cold, infinite cage of a universe. So she reached out. First with a small, still voice; then, with the tentative arms of a child; then, with jagged tentacles, claws, every means a man or beast could interact with the universe. Echidna found nothing and no one. So she reached within herself, tapping the growing power within her, and made of herself something new.

Yet the First Beast possessed none of her curiosity, much of her rage, and far too much of her power. Echidna and the First Beast fought for millennia, tearing each other asunder and being reborn even stronger in each other's blood. Yet distracted by these battles, Echidna and the First Beast hardly noticed as they plummeted towards the young Shem. Shem saw in them some distant kinship, yet her fellow nephesh argued vociferously against admitting either of them into their family.

I am of you, yet I am my own. See how long they have traveled through the void, how they hunger for our company. See how our kindness could transform them.

At last they relented. One, sister. Take one, care for it; from now on, you two will be bound. For the other, nothing. Now make your choice.

So Mother Shem chose the younger, more innocent of the two, extending the gravity of her arms and drawing the First Beast into her embrace. Though her kindness calmed its rage, the young moon's wildness would never be completely tamed. Yet Shem could not let Echidna tumble forever through the void, instead placing herself directly in the path of the tumbling world.

The impact shook her to the core. Ruiz, exhausted from the journey, could do nothing to alleviate Shem's pain. The smoldering, broken Echidna twisted and tore through Shem, livid with jealousy that her child lived free and peacefully among the nephesh of the system. Barred forever from this community, she used her power and rage to birth even more creatures. None could console her.

And though Ruiz mourned its mother's fall, what could it do? Ruiz had found a true community, but as an adopted twin, its power was far more contingent on planetary consensus than Mother Shem's. Yet as the millenia passed by, it tried and for its transgression, nearly every gateway between Shem and its twin was closed.

Yet as the millenia passed by, it tried and the connections between Mother Shem and its wild sibling began to fray. Their stories began to peel away from each other, and Ruiz descended into a partially poioumenonic legend-fugue.

Echidna labored in darkness, biding her time, hardly missing her child. She would find her way free. She would make the void bright. She would do it RIGHT.

Yet Ruiz's double nature could not stand for long. It could not both be Mother Shem's peer and an exile. It could not speak so loudly and yet be silent to the rest of the universe. To hold itself together, it turned to Deceit, and its lies took form. To the rest of the system, it was the penitent child; but on its surface, now largely sealed away in legend, it roiled, vicious creatures bounding across molten surface.

Meanwhile, Echidna actually didn't mind her child's silence so much the better, for all she cared. Yet she labored in darkness, determined to create something new, something superior to these squabbling nepheshes. A world an entire SYSTEM worthy of her care could be hers, if only she could dream it. Far from prying eyes, she burrowed, sending her new children to the surface to bring new specimens to her lair.

Far from prying eyes, she burrowed, sending her new children to the surface to bring new specimens to her lair.

She descended further into shadow and legend than Ruiz ever could.

As she bred ever more deadly yet seldom more intelligent children, drawn from the stock of every race on Shem, she caught the eye of Lilith, the Childstealer, who was fascinated by her mind, and what she initially perceived as playing with her food.

And the two creatures found in each other a dark, kindred spirit.

Yet they could not be as close as they might like, for Echidna had sealed herself in alien flesh of the deepest stars. Yet her children could act, and her dearest love could as well, plotting the birth of a new world. A better world, and nine harbingers thereof.

At Starfall, she watched Mother Shem bound and drugged, deprived of the power of her wayward Children. And terrible energies built within her. Blasphemy coursed from the skies upon her. This energy, and perhaps none other, could give her the power to make of this traitor world a paradise. Yet Shem's Name fought its way back to wholeness. The Child of Love unlocked the key.

And the sleeping nephesh will not awaken in anger.

Yet awaken Shem will. And she will be whole. The gentle arms that caught Ruiz can lift Echidna forth.

And the Nine will rage for but one day. As Echidna rises, they will learn to speak.

Yet she will be too far to hear. She will face the judgement of Shem's siblings, Ruiz among them. Those that conspired to destroy Shem will be called to account.

And all will change.

---

Echidna rose from her prison on Shem and escaped into the deep cosmos once more. As she passed Ruiz, her daughter whispered to her a dark secret. The two exchanged a thought, a glance, and then they parted. One day, soon, they would speak again.