Work Text:
In the void, there was the endless stretch of space, and in that ever-growing expanse, space molds into consciousness. In the boundaries of the world, the Empty began to feel – to feel the edges of themselves, to feel the edges of another.
The Empty came to realize it was not alone, an ever-present companion.
First, the other being spoke. They spoke of colors and smells and textures and stars and rocks and life. They spoke of small things and big things and a myriad of shapes. They spoke of names and titles and epithets and of their own, the Collector. Eventually, they realized the Empty could not speak, though it listened ever so intently. And so, the Empty received its first gift: a mouth.
And when it had a mouth to speak, the other being said, do you see that? The novas and constellations, the sunrises and sunsets, the glittering surface and dark depths of the ocean, the trees that dot the earth, the asteroids, the planets, the nebulae, the spinning galaxies. And the Empty asked, what is sight?
So the Collector gave a pair of eyes for the Empty to see. The Empty blinked its eyes open, sight filling with colors, the endless swirling images of all it had been told.
And when it had eyes to see, the Collector said, do you hear that? The songs of the universe, crackling flames, stories given voice, the chirping and howling and bleating, rumbling thunder, wheels turning on a road, ticking clocks, the clang of metal on metal, leaves brushing against other leaves, flesh giving way, asteroids colliding with moons. And the Empty asked, what is sound? For its world was silent but for the Collector’s voice.
So the Collector gave two ears for the Empty to hear. The Empty listened and the void was filled with noise and music, all the sounds that had long existed and that the Collector had described before it could perceive them, echoing, resonating, ringing.
And when it had ears to hear, the Collector said, do you smell that? The dirt after rain, odorous comets, the fiery trails that arc out of suns, freshly baked bread, sweet flowers, decomposing pages, blood, raspberry dust clouds. And the Empty asked, what is smell?
So the Collector gave a nose for the Empty to smell. The Empty inhaled, burning and metal and earth and all the scents of the universe filling their nose and mouth and fragmented body.
And when it had a nose to smell, the Collector said, do you feel that? The snow gently falling down, the sharp and frigid wind, the burning heat of a summer day, standing barefoot on the sand, the cool slide of water, the explosion of stars, the impact of comets, the bark of trees. And the Empty asked, what is touch?
So the Collector gave the Empty hands to cup the snow, a face to feel the breeze, and pieced together a whole body so it could know the Universe in the same way the Collector knew it.