Where... am I...?

The boundless sea of stars lieth around me in every direction... A canvas born of the infinitude by which these lights are scattered, an immeasurable distance between each and every one, no matter how close they appear to be...

Why am I here? Why is it so cold? This blanket of darkness, threatening to engulf me whole... There is nothing around for me to hold on to. No family. No friends. Not even the ground to anchor me. Where did it all go?

Anora... Did I fail you?

The universe, born from nothingness, seemed to swirl all about them. A brilliant wave of lights and colors, too numerous to count, flashed by in what seemed like instants. Before they knew it, they stood on unfamiliar ground. It appeared to be a castle, and in front of them was someone they recognized.

Is that... father? Why is he looking at me so?

Runa watched as Valo drew his great blade, charging right for them. Unfamiliar arms lifted an unfamiliar weapon to defend themself from his onslaught, and they would push the Wolf back effortlessly. Valo leaped back to gain distance, regaining his footing quickly, before channeling a great amount of magic.

Father, please. Please stop. Why are you attacking me? And why can't I control myself? Whose hands are these? What is happening?

With a powerful show of strength, their attack would engulf Runa momentarily, yet when the smoke cleared, Valo was laying on the ground, still and in a pool of blood. Above him stood a large man, clad in armor as black as night, wielding a blade just as fearsome as blood dripped from it.

Father... Father, no. Please get up. You... What did you do to him? What did you...

Runa saw themself charge forward with a speed unlike any they had ever seen. And the world flashed around them again.

Soon, they found themself floating in the sky, a great surge of brilliant lights and overwhelming darkness mingling beneath them as it swirled into a great vortex. A simple look was all that was necessary to see that this wave of energy was devouring the world itself.

Everything is... disappearing... I have judged them STOP and found them unworthy of existence STOP The dark that envelopes their world STOP will soon restore balance to all of the universe. 

STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

They were back in the great cosmos, filled with nothing and everything all at once. The darkness of the universe. The lights that each and every star bore. It was beautiful. It was quiet. It was lonely.

They looked down to see hands, no... they were more like claws. One held light, a brilliant flame flickering as powerfully as any star. The other darkness, a powerful vortex like a black hole in the palm of their hand. The two were ever at odds. And yet, they completed one another. They needed each other to exist.

Beautiful. Quiet. Lonely.

As the judge, there was nothing more serenely perfect. They wished for it to stop. And in the end, everything did. It was my duty, as the fated abomination.

Their eyes would shoot open, and Runa would wake up in a cold sweat in their own bed. They looked around frantically, their hands desperately gripping their bed linens and everything else they could touch, as though it were to fade away any second.

But everything was real. Real enough, anyway.

They got out of bed, sweat all over their body as the breeze from the nearby window hit them. They would take a look around the room, finding the same familiar home they had been living in for some time. A basket of various goods that Anora had gifted them was on the table. This was their reality. They were no longer having a dream, or any terrible nightmare. But what was all of that?

Runa would take a look at their hands, human, but trembling. They couldn't get those claws out of their mind. Or the look on their father's face. Or the ashen clad knight. Or any of it. It may have been a bad dream, but the suffocating cold of... wherever that space was, felt far more real than anything they had ever experienced.

Abomination... The word resonated with them, a key reminder of their childhood from days nearly forgotten. Runa did not understand the meaning then, and they still didn't to this day. Perhaps they were more scarred than they realized, having a seer say such things to such a young mind.

Moving to their desk, Runa would pull up a pen and ink, beginning to write rough reminders of everything that they had dreamt of. Perhaps they could do some research in their free time, trying to see what any of this could mean. With any luck, it was just a bad dream.

"A whirlpool of perfectly balanced light and dark... A judge's spear... the stars themselves, in mine own hands... inconceivable. And yet, I feel like my mind has acquired new fears. Would it be better to live in ignorance? Or pursue truths that may not even exist?"

Runa would set the pen down, looking to the window and out to the moon above.

"As ever, a light in the darkness... The Divines above ensure you maintain that balance. But there you are. Beautiful, quiet, and lonely..."