The courtyard filled with the soft hum of new existence. The beings, my kin in essence, though not in form, moved through the open space with tentative curiosity. Their footfalls made no sound. Their bodies glimmered faintly under the hovering orb above the spire.
Yet something felt incomplete.
They stood, they watched, they breathed, but they did not gather.
A realm, I realised, needed more than walls and towers. It needed unity.
The mist stirred at my feet in a slow, circling pattern, responding to a thought that had only begun forming. As I raised my hand, the vapour rushed upward like an obedient tide. It swirled, condensed, and folded under my will until a long shape took form before us.
A table.
Its surface gleamed with the texture of still water smooth, reflective, yet solid. Embedded within the stone-like mist were thin veins of faint light, pulsing gently like a living heartbeat. It stretched wide enough to seat all who had gathered around me.
Then chairs rose behind it, each shaped by instinct rather than design. Some tall-backed, some curved, some simple mirroring the uncertain individuality of the beings who would sit upon them.
At the head of the table stood a chair unlike the others.Broader.Higher.Not out of arrogance… but acknowledgement.
I reached out and touched its surface. The mist within it glowed faintly in response. I understood then that this seat was not merely shaped by my hand, but also by the mist's knowing.
A leader must take the first seat.
I turned to the gathered beings.
"Sit," I said.
They obeyed slowly, awkwardly, almost reverently. Their forms shimmered soft blue-white as they settled.
Then I took my place at the head.
The moment I sat, the orb above the spire flared with brilliance. Light washed down the tower, across the courtyard, and into the table itself. The veins of glowing mist pulsed brighter, as though awakened fully by the act of gathering.
But among the beings, two stood out.
One shimmered with a silver glow, its body smooth and steady, its form more defined than the others. Its presence felt calm, sharp-minded, as if it saw deeper than most.
The other radiated a golden glow, warm and bright, its form vibrant and expressive, as though emotion guided its every ripple of movement.
Silver and Gold.
They approached and descended into the two seats nearest mine, one to my right, one to my left, almost as though instinct placed them there.
The silver being turned its head toward me first. Its voice was not a sound, but a gentle vibration, like light speaking.
"Your castle now floats in the ether."A pause."What will you do next?"
The golden being leaned forward, its glow pulsing with something like excitement or anxiety.
"Yes… What comes now? This place exists because of you. And we… exist because we came to your light. What future will you shape for us?"
The other beings looked to me as well, their softly shifting faces holding a mixture of trust and uncertainty.
Their question echoed inside me with the weight of destiny.
What would I do next?
I looked around at the table, at the beings who had placed their hope in me, and at the shimmering castle behind us rising high, glowing under the first light ever born.
From outside the courtyard walls, the ether stretched infinitely in all directions. Mist drifted like distant tides. My castle, our castle, now floated atop that boundless sea of potential.
A realm surrounded by nothingness, yet filled with possibility.
I pressed my palm against the glowing surface of the table. The mist within it answered with a soft hum, as if encouraging me to speak the truth forming inside my chest.
"When I crafted this castle," I began, "I believed it was simply a home. A shape in the formless land. A place to exist."
The silver being's light steadied, listening intently.
"But now I see more."
I gestured to them the beings of ether who had found me.
"This castle stands not only because I wished to create… but because you needed a place to arrive. It has become a beacon. A refuge."
The golden being's glow brightened in agreement.
"And the ether beyond these walls remains empty. Silent. Without form. Without meaning."
I stood from my chair, and all eyes followed.
"What will I do next?" I repeated softly.
I extended my hand toward the horizon, where mist shifted like a sleeping storm.
"I will bring shape to the void."
A ripple of awe spread across their expressions.
"We will not be beings wandering a formless expanse. We will build. We will expand. We will give the ether structure, purpose. We will shape a realm worthy of life."
The silver being inclined its head."A kingdom."
The golden being smiled in its own glowing way."A world."
I nodded.
"Not created by me alone… but by us together."
The orb above the spire pulsed again bright, approving, as though it too had been waiting for this declaration.
The beings murmured with light and movement, moved not by command but by hope awakening inside them.
The silver being spoke once more.
"If we are to shape a world, then we must understand our place within it. Tell us… what are we? Who are we meant to become?"
I felt the weight of the question, heavy yet right.
So I placed my hand over the glowing table, letting the mist within it swirl upward, rising like smoke given purpose.
"You are ether-born," I said. "Beings of potential. Sparks drawn from the same mist that shaped me. You came seeking structure… and in turn, you will help bring structure to everything that comes after."
The golden one asked softly,
"And you? What are you?"
The mist around me swirled in a slow, spiralling pattern.
"I am the First," I answered. "The one the mist shaped with intention. And I will guide this realm not by force, but by purpose."
I looked across the table at my fledgling council, at the glowing orb above, at the castle standing proud in the etheric sea.
"And together," I said, "we will carve a world from the void."
The beings bowed their heads not in fear, but in unity.
A soft wind rippled across the courtyard, carrying the faint whisper of the mist.
The first council had begun.
And the shaping of a world…had truly started.