Once upon a time, the universe was a hazy void, where nothing at all existed. Even existence itself, the very origin and root of this entire universe, was non-existent. At that time, the universe was merely a lake filled with chaos and uncertainty. It was brimming with disorder; nothing could possibly exist within it.
What filled this lake was only non-existence.
“One day, a being appeared, who created all things in the world. That was the Creator God.”
“Not God?!”
A child’s voice piped up, asking. It was a child, approximately nine years old, yet his face and entire body seemed only that of a six-year-old. Furthermore, this child had a distinctive feature: his hair was clearly split into two colors. The right half was white, the left half was black.
The child’s name was Trần Ngọc Lâm.
Mộ Dung Nguyệt smiled, lifting her head from a fairy tale book. “No. We are telling the story of *The Legend of All Things in the World*. Now, be quiet, little one, and let me tell the story.”
Trần Ngọc Lâm lay down, looking up at the rays of light in the form of mist erupting from the storybook. They gradually transformed into the shape of an incredibly beautiful deity, so beautiful that it was impossible to discern if it was male or female, girl or boy, old or young.
It wasn’t even clear if it was human or an angel.
Perhaps, this was the image of a divine being.
Mộ Dung Nguyệt continued, waving her hands, and the mist changed again…
“In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe. Then one day, a majestic and mighty voice resounded.
That voice said:
“I exist.”
And He existed. His words were commands. What He said, all things dared not disobey. With a single word, He caused the universe to form the most basic element of all things within it. That was Existence. He created Existence, because He was the Creator God.
Next, He said:
“There needs to be something to support all things, a foundation for everything. For all the things I will create, I will make a place to stand. Therefore, let there be land.”
And land appeared in the form of an infinitely vast continent. But the very moment the land appeared, it shattered into countless tiny pieces.”
Trần Ngọc Lâm looked up and asked:
“Why did the land shatter?!”
Mộ Dung Nguyệt replied, her finger gesturing to form the shape of a small continent slowly breaking apart:
“Because there was no gravity. Rocks and earth are bound together by gravity. In the beginning, gravity did not exist, so rocks and earth could not bind together, and thus they broke into countless smaller pieces.”
Trần Ngọc Lâm nodded, and Mộ Dung Nguyệt continued:
“The Creator God watched His creation shatter into space. He raised a finger and continued:
“Laws. There should be laws, regulating how all things act.”
From that moment, the universe officially stepped into the first second of the endless flow of time. Because before that, time had never existed.
At that very instant, the rocks and earth that had shattered from the first continent began to clump together under the pull of gravity. Billions of years passed in the blink of an eye, and they transformed into planets, meteorites, and those things that are forever searching but never found, which today we call comets.
And, the Creator continued to create Water. Water transformed into rivers, lakes, ponds, and seas. Water became clouds floating in the sky, water became vapor in the air, water flowed beneath the earth, water turned into ice, forming water planets. From the moment water was created, it was destined to be the living material for all species.
He then continued to create fire, illuminating the dark night. At this instant, the sun burst forth with brilliant flames, and the moon, reflecting, also shone with a shimmering silver light. Fire permeated the earth, transforming into lava, into volcanoes, into subterranean fire.
Then came the wind, and trees and grass were created. In this moment, the entire world was suddenly filled with color; wind blew, clouds billowed, and plants, trees, flowers, and leaves flourished like a paradise on earth.
Only, it was too silent.
Therefore, He created animals. First were the creatures swimming in the water, then those running on the land, and next, those flying in the sky.
And, He created humankind. Humankind was weak, without claws like beasts, unable to fly like birds of the sky, unable to breathe fire like dragons and phoenixes, nor could they live for hundreds of millions of years like the Black Tortoise Xuanwu.
But they possessed wisdom; soon their towering buildings, palaces, and temples covered the land. They flew through the sky, burrowed through the earth, and dived deep into the water. They created, created, and created, bringing an entirely new vibrancy to this world.
Gazing upon His creation across the entire universe, He murmured aloud:
“Good.”
But…
Just like Day and Night, Delicious and Disgusting. If there were no such thing as Day, there would be no such thing as Night; if there were no delicious food, there would be no concept of disgusting food. For the “Good” to be created, something opposite to it must also come into being.”
Murong Yue looked at Chen Ngoc Lam, and asked:
“Do you know what that is!?”
Chen Ngoc Lam pondered, then smiled:
“Evil!!!”
Murong Yue nodded:
“That’s right!!! Simultaneously with the formation of 'Good', 'Evil' also appeared.
At this instant, the world was filled with chaos.
Baseness, greed, laziness, betrayal, hatred, resentment, all appeared simultaneously in the minds of every person, and from that, villains – those whom the world could not forgive – were born.
But there were also those whose spirits were filled with altruism, compassion, courage, indomitable will, righteousness, and affection; they were the ones who would become heroes, ready to stand against the villains.
At this point, the world was divided into three halves. One was the most wicked, those utterly depraved who dared to do anything. Another half was those ready to stand up for justice, to oppose the wicked, the heroes.
And finally, there were those caught in the middle, neither bad nor evil.
The Creator looked upon this world, His heart filled with sorrow. In the world at that time, the strong were kings, while the weak sometimes didn't even have a reason to continue living. No, they were simply trying to exist. Therefore, the Creator gave them a reason.
Something, like those caught in the middle, simultaneously utterly wicked and utterly good.
It was both the most malevolent demon among all “evils”. It whispered sweet nothings, it created illusions to deceive all beings, it fashioned a beautiful future for the weak to continue enduring their cursed lives.
It was also the most beautiful angel in the world. It made people move forward, it guided people, it raised people up after their falls.
It was the last demon and the last angel among all the 'Good' and 'Evil' created. It was both good and evil.
Therefore, it had to be released by the Creator alone. It lay there, waiting to be set free, for it knew that moment would eventually arrive.
The Creator said:
“Let there be, for both the weak and the strong, for both the wicked, the evil, and those in between. Let there be Hope for all of them.”
End of story.
Trần Ngọc Lâm, intrigued, looked at Mộ Dung Nguyệt and asked:
“So, are words the source of that power you speak of, whenever you tell stories about people who can fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, who can shatter mountains and rivers with a single punch?! I really love those stories.”
Mộ Dung Nguyệt looked at Trần Ngọc Lâm, kissed his forehead goodnight, and said:
“Not exactly, there are many other kinds. But words are the most powerful. Now go to sleep, kid. And when you go to school, remember not to tell anyone the stories I tell you.”
Trần Ngọc Lâm pulled the blanket up and smiled:
“I know. Goodnight, Auntie.”
Mộ Dung Nguyệt stood up, walked to the door, and turned her head back:
“Goodnight, kiddo.”
Mộ Dung Nguyệt held the book, and it slowly turned into black powder. She went outside and leaned against the railing, looking through the bustling metropolis of 2047 below. She saw through to a cemetery, where three graves lay silently.
She remembered half a year ago, the first time she met Trần Ngọc Lâm. Back then, his mother had begged her to adopt the child before she herself turned to dust, following his father. Mộ Dung Nguyệt sighed and shook her head:
“Poor child!!!!”
Trần Ngọc Lâm was slowly drifting off to sleep when he suddenly opened his blood-red eyes wide. These eyes saw through the darkness, looking at the wall. On the wall hung the stuffed head of a crocodile, about 3 meters long.
At that moment, he saw the crocodile head open its mouth, yawn widely, smack its lips a few times, and then return to being a stuffed head. Trần Ngọc Lâm then yawned himself, turned to face the wall, and drifted off to sleep. Auntie Nguyệt had told him that this was completely normal.
~~~~~~
“Yaaawn….”
Trần Ngọc Lâm let out a long yawn. It seemed he had fallen asleep again on the bus. This sometimes happened. He wondered if he had talked in his sleep.
If so, that would be super embarrassing. This would follow him throughout his high school years.
Today, his whole class was visiting a rather famous place, Cúc Phương Forest. What was quite special was that this trip was for three days and two nights. Of course, there were supervising teachers. And when he said teachers, he meant a lot of teachers. It was a three-day, two-night trip, after all. Without supervision, some students would surely get into trouble.
Rubbing his eyes, he looked around. At that moment, the kids sitting next to him were giggling and sharing photos that he guessed were of him sleeping with his mouth wide open and drool hanging out. It looked like he'd have to spend a bit of money later to treat them to a few soft drinks and hope they'd delete the photos.
Trần Ngọc Lâm looked out the window, thinking back to the dream, which felt very distant. He didn't remember Auntie Nguyệt ever telling him those stories, nor did he remember her ever puffing out glowing wisps of smoke while telling stories, nor did he remember having any stuffed crocodile head at home.
The truth was, his childhood memories were very hazy. Around nine or ten years ago, an accident occurred, leaving him all alone. While he was still dazed and undergoing treatment for what was called post-traumatic stress, Miss Nguyet arrived with guardianship papers and adopted him.
Perhaps it was due to having suffered such an accident that Tran Ngoc Lam's memory of that year wasn't very clear.