DC/Sandman : Discord

The very first breath of Discord was not loud, nor was it grand. It was a shudder, a ripple in the fabric of everything. The Void, the great space between all things, felt it first. Nothing had prepared the Endless for this arrival, as their understanding of the universe had always been neat, and orderly, a carefully woven thread that held the realms of reality together. But now, a sharp tear in that perfect thread formed—a distortion that rang through the corridors of existence.

Discord's first thoughts, when he could think, were nothing but the fluttering of confusion.

"What is this?"

The words echoed in his mind like the ringing of an unknown bell, an unfamiliar sound that shattered the stillness. A sensation of jarring disarray filled his being, like a world suddenly broken into pieces. Everything around him was shifting, rearranging, nothing settled, nothing certain.

Discord felt his consciousness unfold like a chaotic storm, moving in unpredictable directions. He was not born in the same way as the other Endless—there was no smooth transition into existence, no careful design. There was simply suddenness—the unfolding of something new, something unbound.

"Chaos... this is chaos. The world must be... unmade."

In the vast, cold space where he existed, Discord began to perceive the forms of the Endless, far off in the distance. Dream, ever brooding, his presence emanating with quiet power, weaved visions from his ethereal realm. Destiny, silent and unyielding, sat surrounded by the threads of fate, observing all. Desire and Delirium, ever moving, never standing still, echoed strange currents across existence.

But where all was structured, where all was certain, Discord was the disruption, the break from the cycle.

"I will break the pattern," Discord murmured, realizing the weight of his existence. And with that simple thought, reality shuddered in response.

Far away, in their domains, the Endless felt it. Destiny, who saw all paths through time, narrowed his gaze, sensing the birth of this new force. Dream, who shaped the dreams and hopes of all creatures, paused in his work. Desire, who thrived on the tug of emotions, felt a disruption in the flow of desires. Death, ever aware of all transitions, felt a strange tension in the balance of life and death.

And, of course, Despair felt the stirrings of a new force, one that would complicate everything. She smiled, recognizing the potential of chaos in the grand scheme.

"Something new... something untamed." Dream mused, his voice a distant whisper. "A force beyond all expectations. This will be interesting."

But it was Destiny, the oldest and most knowledgeable of them all, who knew the truth of Discord's existence. "A new force has come into being... but it is not a force of order. It is a force of imbalance." His voice rang with authority as he observed Discord's emergence. "A force of chaos."

The moment Discord's existence unfurled, the Endless that came before him, his siblings felt the ripples of his birth. The three oldest—Dream, Death, and Destiny—found themselves drawn to the space where he had emerged. Standing together in the ever-shifting expanse that surrounded Discord's chaotic realm, they observed his every movement, each of them responding in their own way to the force of the new being.

Dream, the first to speak, stood with his arms folded, his eyes reflecting the chaos Discord caused in the fabric of existence. The realm around them, once quiet, now seemed alive with unpredictable energy, as if reality itself was on the verge of collapsing and reforming.

"I did not expect this… A force of chaos, not bound by the order we've created." His voice was soft, but there was a quiet tremor of uncertainty in his words. "How are we to shape this, if at all?"

Death, ever the observer of transitions, tilted her head slightly, her form pale and ever-present in the background of the endless cycle of life and death. She spoke with a quiet yet unsettling authority as if understanding the inevitability of Discord's place among them.

Death was the one to respond this time: "Not all things must be shaped, Dream. Some things exist to break the mold. This one, this Discord, will never fit the structure of what we are. He is the break. The rupture." She paused, her eyes glowing faintly as she watched Discord move, his very presence disrupting the natural flow of time and space. "The world needs him as much as it fears him."

Destiny, standing apart from them, his form cloaked in an aura of inevitable paths and threads of fate, observed Discord with a look of deep contemplation. Destiny, who saw all possibilities, all futures, remained still as ever, but his thoughts were far from calm. There was a slight flicker of unease in the subtle movements of his fingers, the threads of fate shifting in response to Discord's chaotic energy.

"The path is uncertain now. His existence introduces a fracture, a discordance. Where there was once balance, there will be… imbalance. I see no clear path for him, and yet... this chaos—this uncertainty—will change everything." He turned his gaze toward Dream, his voice heavy with unspoken understanding. "We did not anticipate this."

Discord, still in the process of discovering his own nature, moved in strange, erratic patterns. He laughed, a sound that reverberated across the cosmos, filled with both glee and madness. His form flickered, reshaping in ways that made reality bend and twist around him.

"Look at them, these little threads, these rules—so delicate, so perfect. But not anymore. What is order, if not something waiting to be undone?" He stretched his arms wide, his voice a harmonious blend of chaos. "Let it all fall apart."

Dream, troubled but not willing to show it, finally spoke again, his tone both weary and curious.

"What will you do, then, Discord? Will you destroy what we have created? Will you rip apart the fabric of existence itself?"

Discord, his smile wide and wild, stopped for a moment to meet Dream's gaze, the storm of his essence swirling around him. For a brief second, there was something almost playful in his eyes.

"Destroy? No... I'm not here to destroy. I'm here to remind. To shake things loose. What's the point of perfect creation if it can't bend? If it can't break? I am the spark that makes the fire burn hotter, the wind that scatters the ashes." He gestured to the chaos around them. "Without this, everything would be stale. Unchanging. Isn't it boring to be so predictable?"

Death's voice followed, calm but with a depth of understanding.

"And yet, chaos consumes itself. You are the fire, yes, but all fires burn out. Even you cannot exist in endless turmoil." Her eyes softened as she looked at Discord, as though seeing something she hadn't expected. "But you will not be the end of us. You are simply another part of the dance."

Destiny, ever so sure of his place, nodded slowly, his voice carrying the weight of knowing that all paths were interconnected, even if the path of Discord could not yet be seen.

Destiny: "Perhaps. But I cannot foresee the consequences. Not yet. You are a disruption, Discord. A necessary one, but still... unseen."

As the three older siblings watched, Discord's laughter echoed again, the very fabric of reality stretching and twisting with his presence. His form was unpredictable, and ever-changing, as if the universe itself could not hold his essence for long.

"We will need to learn how to deal with you, Discord. You will not simply fade."

Discord, still grinning, looked around at the Endless, his chaotic energy pulsing in waves.

"I'm not here to fade. I'm here to stir things up. To unmake what needs unmaking."

A silence lingered, and for a fleeting moment, the Endless could feel it—the tension, the uncertainty, the realization that Discord had, in some way, changed the course of their existence forever.

After his birth, Discord wandered through the uncharted expanse of existence, feeling his own chaotic energy unfurling. Where once there had been nothing, now there was something, a swirling storm of potential and formlessness. His form, ever-changing, flickered in and out of clarity as he searched for the space where he could solidify his place among the Endless, a space that would reflect his very essence: chaos, unpredictability, and constant change.

The realm he would create would not be like the others—his would not be a domain of stillness, quiet, or peace. It would be a place where reality could fracture, bend, and tear apart. A place where even time and space would find themselves caught in the tumult of his will.

Discord moved through the nothingness, his mind an unpredictable storm. As he walked, the scenery began to change. His first action was to pull at the fabric of the universe with a thought—tugging at the very threads of creation. The space around him shuddered, then began to ripple like water disturbed by a stone. The concept of order bent, and with it, the world began to shift into something else. What would become of his realm would not be fixed or solid—it would be alive.

The first thing Discord created was light. But it was no ordinary light. It twisted in on itself like an endless knot, blinding and fracturing. At one point, it would shine too brightly, and at another, it would fade to near-complete darkness, only to flare up again in a burst of incandescent intensity.

The light, however, was a paradox—it wasn't illuminating anything. Instead, it consumed itself, a swirling mass that neither gave nor took, forever caught in a never-ending battle with itself.

As Discord moved, his surroundings began to shift further. The ground beneath him became fluid, like molten lava that morphed and reformed endlessly. Every step he took left behind a trail of swirling, multicolored streaks that immediately fractured and dissolved, never leaving a permanent mark. It was as if the very concept of footprints had been inverted, replaced by a swirling chaos of shapes and colors that never lasted long enough to be defined.

Mountains rose from the ground, only to fall apart moments later into waterfalls of liquid glass that shattered mid-air into jagged shards. The sky above him was a mess of unpredictable weather—sun, rain, snow, and storms all existing simultaneously, with lightning dancing across the horizon in strange patterns. But there was no order, no regularity; each strike of lightning was different, constantly morphing into something new.

Discord raised his arms, and reality itself seemed to twist in response. The air became a liquid, swirling with impossible colors, as if the very essence of existence had been turned upside down and inside out. He laughed again—his laugh echoing across the growing chaos.

"Everything in flux," he murmured, his voice resonating with the creation of his realm. "Nothing here will ever stay the same. Not even for a moment." His smile widened. "It's the beauty of it. The inconsistency of it all."

The sky above him split open like a wound in the fabric of space, revealing shifting galaxies, burning nebulae, and the crackling presence of distant stars in their death throes. Time, too, was bent, moving erratically. At one moment, it felt as though the future and past were colliding—moments from a distant time floating in the air like fog, just barely visible, yet forever intangible. One moment, an image of Dream walking through the labyrinth of his realm flickered across the horizon; the next, an image of Destruction reclining against the ruins of his own lost domain. Everything existed at once, and nothing could settle into place.

Discord looked over his creation, eyes dancing with glee. He raised his hand once more, and the ground beneath him heaved and cracked. The mountains reformed, their peaks stretching and collapsing into each other in an endless cycle. The sky shifted in and out of vibrant hues—red, violet, orange, and black—torn apart by invisible forces.

"Reality is so... fragile," Discord mused aloud, his voice echoing through the space. He snapped his fingers, and the air rippled. Entire cities appeared, only to immediately crumble into dust. Buildings made of glass and stone twisted into impossible shapes before evaporating. The ground was alive, pulsing with energy as it shifted into new forms at a moment's notice.

To an outsider, his realm would be madness incarnate. A place where time, space, and reality bled together into an incomprehensible whole. But to Discord, it was perfect.

---

As time passed his realm came to life around him, Discord felt a sense of satisfaction—a deep, bubbling joy that came from seeing something so unpredictable and uncontrollable take form. He could feel his siblings watching him from afar, sensing their reactions. Dream, uncertain; Destiny, unsettled; Death, calmly accepting the inevitable transformation. He could feel it all, their discomfort at the unnatural way his realm unfolded.

And yet, despite it all, Discord was certain of one thing: he had created a place where the rules of existence were his to bend, break, and remake as he saw fit.

"Welcome to my chaos," he whispered, his voice a mix of joy and madness. "A place where nothing is certain. Where nothing lasts. A place where everything is—and nothing will be."

In that moment, Discord stood at the center of his realm, an ever-changing, ever-unstable world where all things could come together and fall apart in the blink of an eye. A reflection of his very essence—a being who thrived in the destruction of certainty and the creation of endless unpredictability.

And in that moment, Discord knew his place in the Endless had been made, for better or worse.