The One had always been, but of late it had been quite bored, so it suddenly rearranged itself into two. This revolutionary step caused a chain reaction that produced a myriad of opposite and complementary twins: This and That, Before and After, Left and Right, Up and Down, Back and Front, Top and Bottom, Light and Darkness, In and Out, On and Off, Yes and No... Well, you get the drift. But every one of these has a Beginning and an End.1
Beginning and End were a very special pair, different from all the others because they were joined in the middle like Siamese twins. Beginning just loved to start new projects and develop new ideas. End, on the other hand, loved to see things come to a satisfactory conclusion. They just couldn't live without each other2
Once upon an eternity, Beginning invited her beloved twin brother End to play a game of Middle. The object of a game of Middle is for Beginning to start things and when they are going strong in the middle, End does his best to thwart her efforts by ending it all in order to win. They had played many, many games of Middle during their existence; particularly using songs. Beginning would start a theme and develop it right into the Middle and just as it reached the climax; it would be finished by the End.3
But for this particular game of Middle, Beginning decided to use something more tangible. So she looked around until she found a promising star with a swirling cloud of debris, thought it into a roundish, solid form, and gave it a spin and a push. This took her 4.5 million years, but at last a suitable planet was born and made ready to start the game.4
Naturally, Beginning moved first. In the interim, End stood in the wings watching while she started life in the planet's seas! Then it was End's turn and his move was very simple. The life Beginning had started couldn't just go on and on because everything, absolutely everything, has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. So, when it was going strong in the Middle, in its own time, each individual life had to come to an end.5
After an eon of playing this way, the score was still even.6
To get things moving again, Beginning decided to ignore the end of each individual life, concentrating on developing a multitude of new varieties instead, and the One became the Ten Thousand Things. Thus she began the Cambrian Explosion. While this was going strong in the Middle, End started planning his strategy. He quietly set up a convection current in the planet's mantle that caused its land mass to drift over its North Pole. It became so terribly cold that 3/4 of all life on the planet ended!7
This was quite a stumbling block for Beginning and it took her a couple of million years to recoup her losses, but she managed well enough to reconfigure life into yet another slew of new varieties. She also experimented with the first primitive fish and with mosses on land. When life was going strong in the Middle, once again it was End's turn to play. This time End had a meteor crash into the planet. Thus he scored another victory with the Second Great Extinction. 8
Beginning had great stick-to-it-ive-ness, so she forged ahead by altogether redesigning fish. After this, she had animal life come up out of the seas onto the land and the first amphibians appeared. By now End had gotten the hang of things and he decided to set off a disturbance in the planet's inner core. This caused widespread volcanism and the ensuing ash cloud was so thick it turned the lights off and the planet again went cold. 9
Beginning spent a while thinking about what to do next while she allowed things to come back into balance and for the time being she just let flying insects develop on their own, but she did intervene directly in the development of her secret weapon, the nearly indestructible cockroach! End countered with a new maneuver. He disturbed the planet's angle of tilt and brought on extensive glaciation. He managed the extinction of 50% of all animal families, 95% of all marine species, and many kinds of trees. However, cockroaches continued to scurry along, doing fine.10
Beginning was stumped. End was driving a tough bargain! She inventoried her resources, and finally hit upon a grand new plan. Reptiles! She really put the strength of her whole being into this and for the next 250 million years she developed her pet project into the fiercest, grandest, most imposing creatures the planet had ever seen! It seemed like End was losing the game and Beginning became overconfident. This was just the moment for End to seize the opportunity to orchestrate a variation on one of his old tricks because he knew Beginning wouldn't be expecting it. He said he was going to do some astral travel, and while Beginning was focused on making butterflies more colorful, he used willpower to gently nudge an asteroid, setting it on a collision course with the planet, and as a result there was yet another great extinction. (The cockroaches were unaffected.)11
Despite this setback Beginning was undaunted. True, her giant saurian friends were all gone, but she was wise enough to see that the way was now clear for her to begin an era of mammals. She tried out all sizes, designed all kinds of models, and slowly filled every available niche. Not only that, she began something entirely new with a particular group of apes. They began walking upright, their brains began growing larger with every new generation, they started using and inventing tools, and they developed minds. In just 65 million years she had gone all the way from mice to men and she truly thought there would be no end in sight now!12
But how mistaken she was... End studied the new thinking creatures carefully and had a brilliant idea! Why not make the thinking creatures fulfill his agenda to end it all?13
So, from behind the scenes End encouraged a series of already existent trends that increased in momentum over the next millennia. First, the thinking creatures began migrating and spreading their own pet disease-causing organisms everywhere they went. They began disrupting ecosystems by over hunting and over fishing. They started wondering where everything had come from and why things happened, and they eventually systematized answers, calling them Religion. They were quite territorial and whenever they came in contact with other similar groups, they engaged in a new game they had invented called War. They did stop roaming when they discovered agriculture, but that only disturbed the bionetworks even more. 14
By now Beginning had caught on to End's strategy and she decided to try the same thing. Instead of acting directly she decided to let the thinking creatures begin things on their own. They did what comes naturally and the birthrate soared, which led to overpopulation. These supposedly intelligent creatures caused many more species to become extinct, and also polluted the environment with their non-biodegradable and toxic wastes. They decimated the oxygen-giving trees and plants to make way for their farms and ever-growing coal and oil hungry cities, thereby instigating serious climate changes on the planet. New plagues and diseases arose and the thinking creatures themselves caused widespread destruction because they enjoyed their Wars so much. Needless to say, the cockroaches followed them all over the globe. 15
Things are still in the Middle for now, and though some people still believe the final outcome depends on the thinking creatures, I wouldn't be surprised if the cockroaches won in the end!16
Now that would surely make an interesting new beginning...17
Author notes
Anaya Roma is my user's name.
A contest entry
- So You Think You Can Write? by EtherealButterfly.
1225 points, ended October 5, 2007, 39 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest - Show me how the world was created, how it was really created. by Play Pretend..
250 points, ended January 12, 18 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next story in this contest, remove from contest - Almost Anything Goes (Seriously This Time) by Shadow Pixie.
220 points, ended June 25, 14 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest - Anything your heart desires! by CelesteSanford.
825 points, ends December 5, 183 entries
• next story in this contest, • Add to finalists list, or remove from contest
Anaya Roma
Comments
1 - 16 of 16
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Lmao, I liked that so much! At first I didn't know where you were going with it and I was a bit...eh..uncertain. I like the philosophical bit, and also how you sort of look at history of the world from a completely original perspective. I also like how you made the story playful, so that anyone can relate to two 'kids' playing a competitive game. Also, I liked the facts that you threw in there too, so you had a little bit of science to go with a fictional (Or is it?) story.
The cockroach part really made this extremely enjoyable for me
Also seeing how they kept going back and forth, and how you made a connection between everything that was happening, which is what history is (One domino hits the next and so on)
It was a bit strange and I had to reread some parts to understand the meaning, but otherwise it was very enjoyable and I salute you for your creativity! Thank you for entering my contest and good luck
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This is a great, and interesting, concept. I thoroughly enjoyed the humour and the fact the cockroaches would probable end up as the masters of the planet could become true
Not only is this story humorous, it is also educational and combining the two is a hard thing to do; you have done it really well
The only question I have to ask is; How on earth did you think up such a "word" as "stick-to-it-ive-ness"
Well done, very well done indeed
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An interesting twist. Yes, I also had to concentrate on keeping an open mind. However you have great imagination and i loved the beginning of this piece.
I see that you mentioned religion as 'systematized answers' but wouldn't the One be classified as god since Beginning and End originated from here and created everything? -
Great take on an old thery
A different approach them hooked me straight away. I had to keep an open mind as i concentrated.
good stuff
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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Quite Well Done
This possesses an impressive degree of skill. Typically I would totally dismiss a story written like this (in the almost folk-tale sense), but here I am pleased to find something quite original in that vein.
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I liked reading this interesting story, I think the roaches will end up being the last living things on earth. well done.
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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This was really good, interesting and a new take on evolution. The language flowed nicely and it was easy to read without being predictable.
Thanks for your entry and good luck
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*clap clap clap* I'm very impressed!
This is an interesting children's story that holds significant weight with the rest of the world and how we affect it.
Well done!
DarkOneShadow
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Another stunning piece!
You are an amazing talented writer! You, again, had me hooked from the beginning. I love the fable-like quality of this piece. It reminds me quite a bit of the traditional Native American creation legends, and other similar tales. You have really piqued my curiosity. I HAVE to read your other pieces. Great job!beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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Excellently done! A witty, clever and entertaining piece!
I love the fact that its like a retelling of the start of it all, with some bizarre add ons! Like Pratchett in his novel Good Omens.
Kept me reading the whole way through, superbly done!
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This is fabulous! Clever, entertaining and funny, but with an incredibly thoughtful message. Beginning and End, a disfunctional but necessary relationship, battling it out to determine the fate of the Middle... combined with a history of the universe... and a social commentary on the nature of "thinking creatures"... What a great story!
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this was absolutely great! the originality is what really pulled me in after the first paragraph - - I wanted to see where you were going... very nice twist too
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I love it.
Most would see it as a complicated plot, but I found it very enjoyable.
it wasn't difficult to understand, not to mention it made me laugh.
=D
-->Keara
[♥]
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Where did you come up with with? I am one of those ppl that kind write a story but can't get the depth that you do. Thanks for sharing this very entertaining story.
~*Brooke*~
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Extremely Entertaining
I loveed the whole concept that it was a game, the beginning was a little weak, but the end was great. Beginning and end symbolized to me, life and death. I dont know if that is what your were trying to convey, but again the story was entertaining.beginning: 4, language: 3, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 2, characters: 3.
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Good Story!
So the cockroaches will win in the end. That's good to hear. I'm glad that something will win. Actually, I think humanity's population growth will stabilize and humanity will last for a while, but modern civilizations have really only been around for a brief moment of time. Who knows what the next several millineum will bring. I think it will be relatively safe for the rest of my life.
Andy
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