One Petal, Falling

"Lord?"

The Golden King did not answer. His face was lit from below by his work. "Do you know purity, Thimblerig?"

"M'lord?"

"Something so pure, so refined, that its very touch sears that which is contaminated by dross and the commonplace. The glimpse of perfection that destroys the capacity for everything lesser. The knife at the throat of the world. Poison."

Thimblerig glanced at his hands. His knuckles were very hairy, and one split cuticle oozed slightly. "No, m'Lord. What are you making?"

"Purity." He lifted the flower from the workshop bench and held it up. The workshop dimmed. "A weapon."

The Void-Kraken's Mentor

Out here in the black, it can be hard to remember that the fundamental goal of the universe is not to end in cold and dead emptiness. That is what happens, of course, and that is what we are here to ensure comes to pass, but that is not the goal. A goal is a want. A goal is a need. And given enough of a chance, given sufficient initial energy, given the conditions and the timing and the place, everything wants and needs to burn.

The universe does not want to end. The universe wants to end in fire.