Starlight dripped into a chalice, then he drank from it. Crystamus, son of Light, heir to The Next Focus, Sleeping Being, now awakened. Through him, in him, came everything and everywhere. Every being said his name with each breath.  
         
For eight thousand years, he lifted his verdant legs from the Rivers of Above,where schools of Air and Thought engorged themselves on his rejuvenating skin.Fully arisen, eight miles long, two miles wide, he was angry.            

In that moment of truth, in a roar whose echo carried on for five millenia, The Next Focus was born. Crystamus did not rest. With silver eye closing only once a year, Crystamus watched asteroids crash together, watched stars burst and swallow parts of his creation. And so he aged, knew pain, screamed more, broke more matter to crash into other matter, until in a prism of light a Supreme was formed. And when he looked at this Supreme and observed matter crashing and multiplying on its own, he felt that this world’s course was set, and he closed his eye. He closed his eye. Again and again he tried. Silence made for rocky sleep, for freezing atmosphere, nightmares of his inevitable irrelevancy. Awoken, gave voluntary scream, matter crashed faster, slept until the echos died. A cycle repeated for five eons. The Supreme World held ice ages, held exterminations, held floods and fire and life of one eye, two legs, bad temper, and insomnia.            

Once Crystamus knew himself and the life knew itself, this world was unceremoniously cast away like Earth and its universe had been. Death for Crystamus. No more roar. No more echo. Irrelevancy.  A sweeter, impersonal silence. Peace for Crystamus.

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Clay Vernon Taylor is a Californian, a grocery store milk-slinger, a part-time student, and a writer who would like for the tag "emerging" to be bestowed upon him. He is black and transgender and often writes about alienation, abuse, and the ecstasy of acceptance.

Ruwani Elapatha is a passionate acrylic pouring artist who finds joy and serenity in the unpredictable beauty of fluid art. Through vibrant colors and flowing techniques, she creates unique pieces that express creativity, emotion, and peaceful inspiration. Her artwork reflects a love for abstract movement and the calming connection found in the artistic process. You can find more about them here.