The Birth of the New World

-Prelude-

Welcome to the End of the World

Just keep smiling. I tell myself for the umpteenth time today.

Standing in front of me, across from the counter is a rather annoying woman and her very loud child. The woman is trying to place an order while constantly micromanaging every part of it. The child is of course being as loud as can be and trying to get their mother’s attention to tell her what they want.

With how loud this kid is being, I am pretty sure that the entire restaurant knows what they want. Although I’m starting to think that this kid believes our restaurant is a freaking McDonalds or something.

Glancing back towards the woman while I continue entering her order into the terminal, I can’t help but wish I was anywhere but here. I wish I could be hanging out with Anna today, but she has soccer practice and I’m here being screeched at by someone’s crotch goblin.

Hah, I want to go home. Just three more hours of this and then I can take a shower and pass out on my bed. Ah, no good, gotta keep a smile on my face. The last thing I need is this lady going full Karen on me.

It takes a long five minutes for the woman and her spawn to finally finish their order. I thank the woman for dining with us and tell her that her order will be out shortly.

With a potential Karen successfully placated and now officially the server boy’s problem, I let myself relax. Luckily, we aren’t very busy at this time as the dinner rush has already ended, so there is only one guy left in line.

Poor guy had to stand behind them for all of that. He looked like he was very uncomfortable.

Giving him the best customer service smile that I can, I welcome him and ask for his order. Luckily, he is very kind and polite, seemingly understanding that neither of us wants to draw this out any longer than we must after being forced to endure that last lady’s presence.

Finishing up his order and giving him the usual spiel, I let myself relax a bit and let out a slow breath.

“Ah, finally. I wonder if dad would fire me if I punted that kid out a window?”

Letting myself get distracted by thoughts of some cathartic Worker on Customer violence, I walk into the back.

My father owns a small chain of restaurants and naturally thought it would be a great idea for his daughter to work at his restaurant despite still being a senior in high school. To be fair it’s not as if I play any sports or have any after-school clubs to go to. And it is nice being able to earn some money. I just wish I didn’t have to deal with annoying customers right after school.

Disregarding my misgivings about the cruelties of life, I let the shift manager know that all the customers have been handled.

“Hey Joe, lines taken care of us. Anything you need me to focus on?” I called into the back office.

Taking a second to think, Joe responds, “Not really anything that needs done in the back. Just head up front and do some cleaning for now.”

“Ok.” I call back as I grab the cleaning stuff to go wipe down tables.

Heading up to the front, I get to work cleaning tables and sweeping up crumbs off the floor. Letting myself get caught up in my mind daydreaming about hot showers, warm beds and other fluffy nonsense, I work my way around the restaurant.

It’s while I’m working on one of the last few tables that I pick up on the conversation of the two elderly gentlemen that have for some reason chosen our restaurant as the place to spend their afternoons. Not that I’m complaining, these gents are always nice and make sure to tip.

“I swear this is all they keep talking about on the news anymore. I can’t even turn on the television without someone being on there talking about that nonsense going on over the pacific.” Says one of them; I think his name was Samuel.

His friend, Gerald if I’m not mistaken, responds with, “Of course it’s all they are talking about, what else are they going to talk about? You know that people nowadays only care about the big stuff going on. For the news stations this is easy publicity. And what else are they gonna talk about? That war going on overseas?”

I quickly lose interest in their conversation; I already know what it is they are talking about as the news has indeed been covering it nonstop for the past two weeks. There have been these weird electrical storms all over the pacific for the past couple of weeks. Scientists and researchers keep making appearances on the news as well, talking about strange readings and measurements they’ve being getting from their equipment.

Most of this is already interesting and worrying enough, but the main problem is that these storms seem to be focused right above Hawaii.

They’ve gotten so bad that all flights in and out of the island state have been grounded. The only way for people to leave is by ship, but even that has become difficult as GPS and other satellite-based systems are having trouble getting through the storms.

It’s really concerning knowing that all those people are sort of trapped on those islands, but at the same time it has already been a couple weeks and I can’t spend all of my time being worried about people I don’t even know.

Instead, I let my mind wonder too the question of how it is that I know these guy’s names. It’s not as if they are our only regulars here, but as much as I think about it, I don’t really know any other customers’ names. Just these two old guys that are always sitting in the corner bullshitting away the afternoon. My brain is just weird, is the natural conclusion that I come to.

Getting back into my work and cleaning up the last table, I can’t help but notice that their conversation has suddenly stopped. Samuel was in the middle of saying something about a submarine when he just trailed off.

Turning to see what’s going on with them, I see Samuel Looking up to the television that we have mounted on the wall. I want to look and see what it is that caught his attention, but his friend calls for me.

“Hey missy, could you turn up the volume on the television for us?” He calls out.

“Ya, give me a sec. I’ll go grab the remote.” I say heading back to grab it from behind the counter.

Returning back to them I turn up the volume to a reasonable level and watch to see what has them so interested.

Is something going on with those electrical storms over the pacific or something?

On the television the News Anchor is saying, “Yes, thank you Tom. For anyone that is just now joining us. We have just received reports that the intensity of the storms over the pacific has drastically increased. Over the last couple of hours, the storm has seen growth that far exceeds any storm that we have seen in recent years.”

“It is currently predicted that… I’m sorry it would seem that we are receiving further information. We are receiving reports from NASA and the NWA, concerning dangerous levels of electromagnetic and radioactivity readings from the skies above the heart of the storm. We will be continuing to monitor the situation as it progresses, but we can only pray for the safety of all those still stuck on Hawaii.”

Huh, that is concerning, just looking at how that storm is easily covering most of the pacific is already crazy. But to imagine that it can get worse is just horrible. If there is any golden lining it is that the storm doesn’t seem to be moving anywhere.

Ever since the day this thing had formed over Hawaii, it hasn't moved an inch. It’s grown, most certainly. But it hasn’t moved anywhere. Besides its abnormal scale and intensity, it simply refuses to be blown away.

Of course, this has led to a bunch of rude jokes and memes on the internet about the storm hating Hawaii, but those are best ignored.

The two old guys are talking with each other again, something about global warming and other ideas for how the storm started.

I tune them out as the News Anchor starts talking excitedly again, drawing all of our attention.

“This just in, we are receiving satellite footage live from the NWA from above the storm were something has started to happen!” Says the woman.

At this point more of the customers in the restaurant have started to gather around the television to see what’s going on. On the television, the screen has switched from showing the News Anchor Woman to a live feed from a weather satellite passing over the storm.

Where normally one would see an expanse of blue from the Pacific Ocean, there is instead nothing but grey and black clouds stretching from east to west. The Storm has grown to the point of spilling out over the west coast of America and is looking like it will soon reach Asia, as it is already encroaching over Japan.

Marveling over how the storm has managed to grow over the course of a single day, we are late to notice an important detail.

In the center, sitting high above the heart of the storm is a glowing light. It started as a flashing speck of light which is easily mistakable for the flash of lightning. But with each passing moment the light grows in size and intensity. Eventually it is as if a miniature sun had been born in the Earth’s stratosphere.

Everyone in the restaurant grows deathly silent as we watch something that we have no way of comprehending.

On the television the light had stopped growing, it is already impossible to guess how large it is, but we had only been watching it for a less than a minute max.

How fast is this thing? What is it!?

After a moment it seems as if the light is finally done; its constant flashing stopping to become a solid glow. Slowly the light begins to grow dimmer, but it does not disappear. Instead, what appears in its place is a perfectly black and perfectly spherical object where it is almost as if light is barred from existing.

We all marvel at the object; everyone stunned into abject silence as we bear witness to something that should not exist. The only sound is that of the woman’s child trying to ask his speechless mother what is happening.

A few moments pass and nothing happens. The Orb simple floats there in our stratosphere, from the angle of the satellite’s camera it almost looks as if a hole had been carved out of space. With the background of storms and lightning it was beautiful in a horrible way. Like looking at the craftmanship and artistic beauty of a sword. Simply waiting to be used and turn art into death.

It does not take long for this feeling of promised violence to be realized.

Reality began to crack. Like opening an eggshell, the space around the orb began to split and splinter. Lines of broken reality spread to the east and west with the orb sitting immaculate and perfect in the center.

In deadening silence, we all watched as the fractures in reality started to open upon themselves, folding and growing. Growing in directions that hurt the mind to try and understand. At the apex of this growth the Orb sat in the middle of the tear, like the pupil in the eye of a god, it looked down upon our world with cruel indifference.

My mind could hardly follow what was happening. Was I witnessing the birth of a god? Is the Earth going to be consumed, viciously pulled through a crack in space, never to be seen again. Is this the end of the world?

As if to answer my question, the Orb pulsed. A visible wave moves through the space around the Orb followed by more and more. They oscillate with noticeable rhythm like the beating of a heart. The waves spreading outward, seemingly doing something to the fractures in space. No longer are they a mess of branching splinters and tears but instead a singular incision through the folds of reality. Swallowing up the Orb in its entirety, the incision completes its growth and stabilizes.

Watching the television, we can’t help but look on in horror and morbid fascination at what has just been created.

Through this cut in space, we see things that are impossible. Visions of distant and completely alien worlds, places where the rules of reality and physics are nothing more than laughable suggestions made by a child that doesn’t know their place. We see places where darkness smiles back too those who look to deeply and the oceanic depths were Levithan like monstrosities hunt.

Someone behind me breaks down and screams, their mind trying to understand sights they were never meant to comprehend.

But I keep looking. I can’t look away, because I can see it. Emerging from the perfect incision in space is the wriggling and searching limbs of a god incarnate. They extend out from where the orb used to reside; first ten, then a hundred, and soon over a thousand tentacle like appendages grow outward from the source.

The appendages continue to grow, stretching and reaching for the Earth’s surface. Within a matter of moments, veritable miles of these limbs have emerged, each as thick as a skyscraper and only growing larger.

As the limbs pierce through the atmosphere, they punch through the now forgotten storm clouds covering the Pacific. Parting them and clearing the sky above Hawaii with the ease of grown man pushing aside an unruly child.

We can all see it. The moment that they make contact with the Earth, with the islands. The tentacles of unimaginable size and scale pierce into the islands of Hawaii and the surrounding ocean. Cutting through mountains and earth like a knife through butter.

The limbs of this hellish god continue to dig into the Earth until they grow taught and rigged.

They are pulling. Be it a blessing or a curse, it does not appear that the limbs are trying to pull us through the portal. But instead, are trying to drag something else out.

Looking back up to the rift, a veritable window onto chaos itself. Something else is being dragged through. Its size easily dwarfs all the limbs that preceded it, its surface is covered in scales of a divine golden brown.

This is the hand of a god, and it has already taken hold of our world.

Watching as it continues to emerge from chaos itself, more of the body of this entity is exposed. Further limbs branch off from the main body, and from them many more. From these limbs Golden leaves grow; each one large enough to comfortably hold entire cities atop their surfaces.

It’s not a hand, it’s not even an arm. The thing, no, the god that is emerging from the rift in space is not covered in scales, but instead bark.

This god is a tree.

With realization, sudden understanding is gained. As if a key had been slotted into an ancient hole within everyone’s minds. Truth becomes self-evident and knowledge is brought forth from the recesses of the mind.

A simple name, two words. But spoken in a truth that defies chaos. Knowledge that was always known, but simply locked away behind the ignorance of the mortal mind.

//World Tree

Contact.

The base of the World Tree collides with the Earth and from it one last pulse echoes out from its trunk through reality. This pulse hits the satellite and the feed cuts to static. The News Station quickly cuts back to a flabbergasted News Anchor Women. She’s at a loss for words like the rest of us.

Shortly after, the television goes out and is soon followed by the lights of the restaurant.

Looking out the window I see the moment that the pulse arrives; having traveled from the pacific all the way to Ohio in mere seconds.

The pulse hits and reality simply moves out of the way.

I’m lifted off my feet and for a single moment in time I feel as if my eyes are on the ceiling, my organs are spread around me, somehow both inside and outside of my body. My mind and very being are stretched to the limits as reality expands, bends, and shrinks with the passing pulse.

A single moment and it is over. Gravity regains control, my body is whole, and I and everyone else are ungracefully dropped to the floor. Fighting to get on my hands and knees, I retch and throw up everything in my stomach.

What the hell!? These are the last thoughts I have before I pass out and collapse onto the cold unforgiving floor.

This is how the world ends, not with a bang but with the birth of a new God.