The Little Things in Life

At first, there was nothing. Then Time and Inevitability took their toll, and a world-egg was created from the elements. And once it hatched, there was Phanes. He was the ruler of all that was- but what was there? Void. To fill the endless nothing, Phanes created the earth. And upon the earth, he placed trees, mountains, lakes, rivers, grass. But there were no animals, no sentient life. As years passed, nothing moved but the wind, swaying in the trees, and the rivers slowly burbling down to the sea. But Phanes was not content. He wanted- no, needed- to have something that was truly alive, as was he- something over which to lord his power. He created the gods, but the gods grew petty and squabbled without anyone to rule. So Phanes mustered his power and created, in the region now known as Greece, a single creature- a human. This human was known as Amoebus. And here is where our story begins...

Amoebus was just a man. He was a simple, ordinary man with curly, dark hair, but he was also the only human, the only sentient creature, on planet Earth. More than anything, he was lonely and bored. He spent his days watching the river flowing by and growing plants in a clearing. He tried anything to ease boredom, from climbing the rocky mountains of Greece to running through the fields, but he felt as if his life had no real purpose.

One stormy day, Amoebus just became overwhelmed by it all. He was alone in a universe of silence and stillness. Feeling desperate, he ran to a rocky bluff. Standing at the edge, his face wet with the spray of the crashing waves, he cried to the heavens, "Why, O gods? Why do you torment me so! I cannot bear this horrible isolation!"

With his plea, the sky seemed to rumble. It continued, growing in pitch, and eventually becoming unbearable. Amoebus curled up into a ball with his hands cupped over his ears and waited until the rumbling abated. When he looked up, the sky had cracked open, as if it were an egg. Beyond the crack was black void.

A voice so deep that Amoebus felt it rather than heard it spoke. "I am Phanes, and I am your creator. You have proved to be interesting to me, so I shall grant you your wish, this one time only. You shall have ten creatures as companions. These shall be: a squirrel, a unicorn, a badger, a cheetah, an ox, a fish, a hyena, a grizzly bear, a basilisk, and finally, yes, another human."

"Oh thank you, thank you!" wept Amoebus as the animals were shaped into existence. They appeared one by one, and at first looked confused, then headed toward the forest. As Amoebus watched in wonder, the grizzly bear trundled off, then a hideous beast which he assumed was the basilisk appeared.

"Do not look at its eyes or you shall be turned to stone. Its sting is acid," warned the voice.

Amoebus quickly averted his eyes as the basilisk passed. It strode in a slithery sort of way after the other retreating creatures.

As the procession continued, the grizzly bear turned to look back at the basilisk and froze. Literally. The bear had been turned to stone. Amoebus shuddered as the other creatures, terrified, fled into the forest.

"Wait!" shouted Amoebus. "Why did you create such a horrible monster? It's killing the others you made!"

But there was no answer. Amoebus turned to see that the crack had closed, and standing behind him was another man, one of his kind. He introduced himself to Amoebus as Apelpisía.

Months passed. Apelpisía and Amoebus had become close friends. As for the other animals, neither knew where they had gone. They had found only the squirrel, hiding terrified in a tree. However, as the only other animal that had not gone missing was the basilisk, it was not too hard to figure out what had happened.

One day, when the two friends were out in the woods, they saw the squirrel dashing frantically past. A rumbling of footsteps echoed through the trees, getting closer. They hid behind a cluster of trees just in time to see a huge tail dart out and sting the squirrel. It was the basilisk, with its deadly poison.

As the flesh dissolved from the squirrel's bones, Apelpisía turned to Amoebus. "We have to stop it," he declared, before rushing out toward the basilisk, armed with only a sharpened stick.

But Apelpisía had no idea of the dangers posed by the deadly creature. "No! Wait!" yelled Amoebus, following. But it was too late. Apelpisía looked up- right into the eyes of the monster. The makeshift spear slipped from his hand, and he had only time to glance at Amoebus. In that moment was a lifetime's worth of apology, regret and grief. As the stone spread to consume Apelpisía's body, he spoke for the final time, "Goodbye, my friend."

Amoebus screamed as he felt a pain deep inside him, worse than anything he had ever felt, worse than the loneliness. His vision went red. When it cleared, he was standing over the dead form of the basilisk. He had stabbed it with Apelpisía's spear. Amoebus was alone once again.

Amoebus fell into a deep depression. Nothing mattered now. He would have ended his life, were it not for one simple question that nagged at him: if the gods were so wise, why had they not realised this would happen? The more he thought, the more he was confused. So on the one-year anniversary of Apelpisía's death, he stumbled down to the bluff, the place where it had all began. And once again, he cried to the gods.

"Why? All-powerful as you are, why did you create the basilisk? You must have foreseen this happening!"

The rumble came again, and Amoebus covered his ears and watched as the sky split. The voice echoed down: "Ah, human emotions. So ridiculously predictable."

In that instant, Amoebus realised what a fool he had been. The gods cared naught for him. This was just a game for them. Then Amoebus did something that, with all of his omniscience and power, Phanes had not foreseen. He grew calm, as calm as the sea on a windless day, and he laughed. "You think you have control. You think you are the master of all life. But once it is created, you have no power over life. Life, and love, twist in unusual ways, ways even a god could never comprehend. You want to deny me company now? That is fine. If I cannot have life, well... I shall be life."

Amoebus raised his hands to the heavens and cried out, not to the gods, not to Phanes, not to Time. No, Amoebus called to the beginning- for everything has a beginning. As he raised his hands to the sky, his body began to disintegrate. Infinitesimal fragments of what had once been Amoebus scattered far and wide, to the ocean, the sky, the soil. And those fragments stayed, some waiting hundreds of years, others just seconds, before beginning to evolve. Phanes attempted to halt this process, but he had no control over the outcome of life, merely over creation.

And so it came to pass, that all of the small parts became different forms of life. They evolved and changed, some becoming fish, others oxen, or birds, or even humans. Billions of different creatures, all life forms made from the same type of microbial life, made from Amoebus. So from then on, in tribute to his sacrifice, we now refer to that life, those microbes, as amoebas. Thus, he shall be forever remembered.