There was a certain beauty in watching the stars move further away from them, growing in size despite their place in the center of the black hole. He wasn’t sure if they were watching the birth of a new universe, the birth of their own, or something else entirely. What he was sure of was that they were not alone. Something out there, beyond the expanding galaxy before them was watching them, and had been for some time. It was only in the absence of the world that Lith became aware of the focus that had been on them since they appeared in this weird dimension. He couldn’t see anything in particular that was looking at them. It felt more like what was beyond the universe had turned its attention to them the moment they appeared. So Lith waited, patiently looking out into the void beyond the observable galaxy for the being to make its presence known. Smaller galaxies started to appear in the distance as his eyes started to adjust to the darkness of the void. Although they grew at the same pace as their own, they also moved further and further away. It was hard to tell, really it was impossible to tell, but some instinctual force told Lith this was happening.

  “Lith.” Fayde said as she walked over to their daughter and him. Her voice was low, as if not trying to draw attention from the being beyond their galaxy. Did she notice it too? Surely with how intuitive she was, she had. Her tone expressed nothing. His name was a statement. He was to be alert and aware. They were already on edge from what they just went through and from their current situation. Would the being make itself known? Did it hold any answers or were they supposed to discover it on their own?

  *clap*

  The stars of their galaxy flashed brighter. The sound of the clap came from all around them, as if it echoed from the galaxies beyond their own. The flash didn’t hurt their eyes nor did the clap hurt their ears, but it did startle them. Matia’s grip on his chest tightened.

  “What was that?” asked Enki.

  *clap*

  The clap was louder, and seemingly closer, as if the being beyond the void was coming closer. Again, the stars flashed, some winking out while others gained new shades of luminance. Did the stars move?

  “Mom what’s happening?” asked Guidry.

  *clap*

  It came closer again, both in proximity, and how soon it had followed the one before. More stars flashed out of existence while, yet others grew in brightness. The stars were indeed being moved. A literal manifestation of the movement of heavens and earth.

  *clap*…*clap*

  Closer and closer came the claps, in distance and rhythm. Twice the stars flashed and grew brighter, fewer of the stars disappeared this time.

  *clap*..*clap*..*clap*

  Faster and faster each clap came, and with every clap came a flashing of the stars. As the stars disappeared, the galaxy seemed to shrink down upon itself, growing denser. Even the black hole they were sitting in had shrunk in size. There was hardly a pause between the claps now, and it seemed more like applause. Flashing from the stars had stopped and they continually emitted a brighter light that no longer relied on the clapping to be sustained.

  Lith and Fayde were the only ones to notice something grander happening. All of the galaxies beyond their own had started moving, While the initial claps came from everywhere, the applauding claps were now focused ahead of them, towards where the galaxies were gathering. The claps became softer as the galaxies coalesced before them. They were still loud, almost to the point of deafening. Fayde was still flinching as each clap caused a small firework to burst in front of their eyes because of synesthesia, but she could still make out a figure forming in the distance out of the galaxies. As they came closer, the figure became similar to that of a person, although they had no distinguishing features. It was just a jumbled mess of galaxies in the shape of a bipedal humanoid. It continued to clap as it approached them, each step now sending shockwaves through the void as it crossed the border into their galaxy.

  Trever, Guidry, and Enki joined Fayde, Lith, and Matia closer to the center of the black hole. Lith stood and left Matia with her sister, brother, and nephew, moving to the outside and front of their formation, mirroring Fayde’s movements as the vanguard of their family. Thin red rivers were now flowing from each star in their galaxy, converging on the living mass of galaxies approaching them. Each step seemed to pull increasingly from the stars. Like a living pulse that kept time with the being’s steps. The only red that did not move to the being was what was inside of the black hole with them. It remained fixed in place around them, like a thin veil of foreboding death, filling the entirety of the spherical void in space.

  With each step, the rivers of red pulled into the being, and at the same time, something inside each of the members of Lith and Fayde’s family shook. It wasn’t a physical shaking like the bouncing of their brain in their skulls, but a stirring of something deeper. It felt like it was their body but had no physicality to be shaken. It felt more effervescent and immaterial. With startling realization, Lith and Fayde were the first to become aware of their souls. One step later the rest of their family became starkly aware of the new reality of souls as well. And their souls were shaken to their core. What was this being that was approaching?

  Step by step the being came closer and closer, drawing in the red rivers. As it neared the event horizon, the red rivers detached from the stars they originated from before disappearing completely into the being as it stood one step away from the black hole. What did it want? They had no idea. But if push came to shove, Lith and Fayde were prepared to fight the stars themselves for the survival of their family. It waited a moment, looking at them, observing them. Sweat was rolling down their backs from their recent experience and now in anticipated nervousness of the being.

  Then it stepped into the black hole and beyond the event horizon and the galaxy collapsed into the being. Now the only light was coming from the being itself, but its previously galaxy covered face was now a void that was only pointing in their direction. They stood there looking at it puzzled and nervous. Had it just destroyed their galaxy or eaten it? It was a valid question. It had been siphoning the red from their galaxy with each step and as soon as it stepped into the center of the galaxy, the galaxy in its entirety had disappeared, their red along with it. The only explanation was that it either ate or destroyed it if there was even a difference. Their question was answered as a galaxy shaped eye opened as the face of the being. Blue and white swirling lights and a black-red core. The exact image of their reforged galaxy. The question now was what happened next? That answer came quickly and was the most unexpected answer they could have fathomed.

  “Well done!” Came a booming and echoing voice that emanated from the being before them. “I admit I’ve never seen a Ring Bearer and family handle integration quite like that. What a marvelous performance. Especially you Ms. Fayde.” It bowed, one hand in front of its waist, the other to its side, like it was in a royal court.

  They were all left speechless. The words spoken by the being hung in the air for an eternity as it remained in a bow before someone spoke up.

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  “Are..” The word left Enki’s mouth hesitantly with reverence in an evanescent tone. “Are you God?” he finally asked.

  A loud, boisterous laugh followed in answer to the question. It was sincere in how comical the question seemed to it before coming to an abrupt stop. Had it realized that Enki’s question was not a jest but a sincere concern from the young man? “Do you truly think I would lower myself the stature of a mere God?” The voice was devoid of its previous humor. The tone was as serious as the question he had asked. “Ah.” It continued with understanding. “You mistake me for the being known as Yahweh from Judaism. Interesting divergence there. One became two, and then the first of the two became two again, making three. Then the third became thousands more. Begs the question; was there ever one God they all believed in, or did man invent the innumerable iterations of god themselves?”

  Was this being contemplating the existence of God? It had asked if it would lower itself to the stature of a God, so was it above a God of Gods? How much power did a God of Gods have? Enough to consume a galaxy apparently. But why would a God of Gods contemplate the existence of a god?

  “Are you a Primordial?” Lith asked next.

  The being’s attention turned towards Lith, who took a sharp step back.

  “By primordial I assume you mean in reference to Greko-Roman theology. The beings of primordial chaos that fought and brought forth the world and other celestial bodies, birthing the Titans who birthed the Gods of Olympus. Beings made of stars, nebulae, and galaxies” It stopped, taking up a pose reminiscent of the statue of The Thinker, but standing. “A more accurate assumption, but still not right. If it helps you to understand you can think of me as the being that birthed Primordial Chaos itself, just allowing an infinitely higher number of galaxies and universes to exist.”

  Everyone was staring in bewilderment at the self-proclaimed creator of all. Thousands of questions ran through their minds. Why did this happen? Is it going to kill them? Why is it just talking to them? How did it know Fayde’s name? How did it know about Earth’s religions and theologies? The next question came as a surprise to the rest of the family.

  “So, what do we call you?” Asked Matia, the flame of teenage rebellion still burning in spite of the hesitant fear they all felt. “Mr. Everything?”

  The primordial being let out another boisterous laugh before answering. “You may call me Sum. I believe it means ‘I am’ in Latin. I am the Sum of all existence after all.” It said following it up with another laugh before abruptly stopping and pointing at Enki. “And no, not like ‘The Great I Am’ in Christian theology.”

  Fayde and Lith shared a look. Did this thing just make a joke with its name as the punchline?

  “Okay, what is this? What the hell is going on?” Fayde said as she dropped her guard. “We get absconded from dinner at the best restaurant in town right after a marriage proposal to this blank void of existence where we are tortured by some unknown source who we might as well assume was you, only for you to menacingly approach us for the sake of giving us photophobia, tell us you’re some supreme existence, and make fucking jokes?”

  Sum bowed to Fayde again before answering. “My apologies Ms. Fayde. It does not escape my awareness that what you and your family have just gone through is traumatic, especially for the younger members. I do admit that while I do benefit from what happened to you and your entire galaxy, the process is beyond my control. My attempts at humor are common, non-harmful, coping mechanisms that your race has developed.”

  “How do you know so much about our race and its history?” Guidry asked. “And how do you know grandma’s name?”

  “That would be an effect of the integration of your galaxy. All information currently and previously known and experienced by every race is imprinted into my being as you become one with the greater multiverse. It enables me to know you better and helps me in your navigation of the current iteration of the system. That includes the name of every being in your galaxy.” Sum pointed its finger one at a time at each of them, going down the line. “Fayde. Enki. Matia. Guidry. Trevor. Lith. I now know all of you and your life stories, as well as the life stories of every living being that exists and had previously existed.” There was a pregnant pause in the air as they all felt as if they had been violated. To have the entirety of their lives known by someone else was invasive. Neither Lith nor Fayde had given each other full details about their personal traumas to the other. Because that’s what they were, personal traumas. There were things they both had meant to go to a therapist for, but never got around to. But now Sum had every personal detail about all of them, and everyone else in existence. “Not bad for an all-powerful being, eh?”

  “Nah, that’s pretty fucked.” Said Lith. “But you’ve said a lot of fucked things in the last minute so I’m going to need a lot of clarifications.”

  “Same” agreed Fayde. The children nodded and mumbled in agreement.

  “To use an Earth phrase; I am an open book.”

  “Better be an encyclopedia with all the questions I’ve got.” Said Fayde.

  “What do you mean by ‘integration’?” Lith asked.

  “As galaxies and universes age and grow, they eventually spread their influence into my domain. An intrinsic part of my domain is to incorporate everything into a system of self-empowerment. I call it Cultivation. The first stage of this incorporation, called “The Integration”, is to purge all of the current inhabitants of impurities and give them all a fresh start on a new path through life. What you all went through was a process called “Refinement”. Each galaxy or universe will experience the “Refinement” once as a collective. Any further refinements will come to the individual through opportunities they may or may not find themselves happening upon.”

  “And what does this ‘Refinement’ process do?”

  “Cures sickness and disease, restores limbs where desired or potentially required, removes any potential negative or self-harming traits of the body. For example, Fayde should no longer be affected by sunlight. Lith should no longer have any issues relating to their previous sciatica. Your bodies are also put into a prime condition to deal with any coming hostilities.”

  “Why would we have to deal with hostilities?”

  “Integration and Refinement affects all living beings in a galaxy or universe. This has a tendency of upturning what you would call ‘natural order’. Planets that were once dominated by beings of higher intelligence or technological advances have been sundered and surpassed by newly empowered beasts and plant life on a multitude of occasions. This is because after integration comes cultivation. Every being, sapient creature, living organism, and alternative life form begins to grow. Strength. Intelligence. Fortitude. Speed. Abilities related to everything that has an effect on existence. The potential for unparallel exponential growth can all give its thanks to cultivation.”

  “Why?” Fayde asked.

  “Why to what?”

  “Why, to all of it? What is the point?” she clarified.

  Sum didn’t answer right away. It put its hand to its chin like it was contemplating again.

  “There have been many theories across the infinite multiverses as to why cultivation only works after initiation. However, the truth is far simpler. I want it to.”

  “You want it to?” Lith asked. “You want millions, no quadrillions of people to die by beasts and plants, entire planets left to ruin? What purpose does that serve?”

  “Not by beats and plants. People too. Sometimes death is self-inflicted. As for the purpose, I want to understand.”

  “Understand what?” Fayde asked.

  “I want to understand why existence does what it does.”

  “But aren’t you the totality of existence?” Fayde asked, completely baffled at this point. Was this thing going through an existential crisis?

  “Yes, but you misunderstand. I know why I exist. I want to know why drives all of you to exist. Every being has its own reasons for continuing down the path of cultivation. There are so many answers as to why, I’ve almost lost track of them all. I want to know what, at the core of everything, drives something to continue.”

  “It’s because we were given life.” Enki offered. He paused a moment as Sum’s singular eye focused on him. “Why squander the gift of living and not make the best of your life that you can?”

  Sum’s almost featureless face changed. The galaxy shaped eye contorted, or maybe it was more appropriate to say compacted in a way that made it seem like it was smiling. Not in a way that expressed sudden enlightenment, but in a way that one would when you entertain a child that is trying to explain something you already know, but they’re very excited to tell you about.

  “Good try kid, but you are narrowing your thoughts to that of people. Does an elephant think of its life a gift? Does a dog? A tree? A blade of grass? An amoeba?” Sum paused for a moment to let his words sink in. “Does a planet? You think too big and too small at the same time. I have these questions because I see them all. I know them all. And yet I do not understand. So, I developed a way for all things to tell me.”

  They all staired quietly at the now presumed mad embodiment of the totality of existence. They were lost for words and scared for what was going to come next.