The foundations of the infinite cosmos were made up of three ingredients. Power, Data, and Law. These three factors made up the grand totality of existence.

There were myriad energies that flowed through the universe. All of these energies were permutations of the original materia that occupied the first universes when the cosmos was still young. This energy was the basis of power.

Data was extrapolated from that power. Created from mathematical principals originating from the cosmos birth. The positions, magnitudes, vectors, and variations of the smallest quantities of all the energy in the cosmos formed the basis of data.

The nature of data was similar to the ouroboros consuming its own tail. This data both described everything that happened in the countless worlds, while also serving as the triggering agent for existence as a whole.

The ability to read, interpret, and manipulate this data was the starting point of all magic and otherworldly power.

The laws were ordained patterns that controlled the behaviors of both the powers and the data that occupied and made up the world.

This governance decided whether a combination of power and data described matter, or whether a combination of power and data described a force. These laws also defined the behaviors of the matter and forces within a given universe.

The first laws were born with the first universes. Each individual universe and multiverse inherited a copy of these laws. The laws themselves changed with each new branching point and great event within the cosmos.

Each change of the laws either came naturally or was set by the efforts of myriad beings of unfathomable power such as the angels, the spirits, the devils, the gods, and the vast miscellany of transcendental beings that were known only as old ones or immortals.

Within the cosmos there were areas where the power, data, and laws were completely uncertain. These areas were known as “figment-realms”. Figment-realms existed as pockets of ambiguity. Spaces that were near-impossible to find without having visited before hand because officially speaking the areas didn’t exist.

The cosmos only vaguely acknowledged these areas and most of the peoples of omniverse lived their lives in ignorance of the figment-realms.

Yet for those in the know, the figment-realms had gained a certain level of notoriety. Gaining two other names for themselves. The first was garbage-realm, the second was nightmare-realm.

The garbage-realms collected everything that proper parts of the cosmos had no use for. The nightmare-realms were used to seal away those who could not be allowed to exist in the true-cosmos, but also could not be killed.

Often, there was no real distinction between which figment-realms served as garbage realms and which were nightmare-realms. The figment-realms were realms that even the gods and devils could not freely go and visit unless invited. Thus it was impossible for the beings of the ordinary cosmos to have a clear idea of which figment-realms were which.

In one of these figment-realms, there was a being that could roughly described as a vaguely humanoid, sea anemone and squid hybrid, made of smoke, blood, screaming, and singing. As far as small number of the denizens were concerned this being had no name.

A few folk tried their best with labels like “Agghhh!”, or “Dark Presence Who Dwells within the Moonless Sky”. Others called the creature, “great beast” or “young old one”. There was growing support for simply naming the creature after the realm, like its forebearer, the first Lord of Abwickeln.

The word that was closest to being the creature’s actual name was “hoheit”. This was the term used for the being, by its attendant, a beautiful, pale entity, that stood in the background.

Since the strange doll-like. flower-like, biomechanical, creature was the one that the being interacted most with, her’s was the word that held the most relevance. All other terms were largely ignored because the strange being did its best to avoid interacting with other denizens of the realm.

At this moment, the being was working on a great construction. The being known as Hoheit, was creating great gate made of raw power, data, and cosmic law. An exit door that would allow the being to escape the figment-realm.

To the eyes of a mortal the gate would seem to be made of a strange crystalline metal. Humming below the range of human ears, but humming with enough force to make one’s blood feel like it was boiling.

Power hummed through the runes and sigils that marked the gate. Space and time trembled as more and more elements were constructed and added onto the doorway.

“Hoheit, are you certain I can’t convince you to wait? Surely, a millennia or two of waiting for your maturation to be complete wouldn’t hurt? You are too young for this. You are too weak for the greater realms. I think this is too dangerous, Hoheit!” said the doll-like attendant. A subdued panic bleeding into her normally atonal voice.

The being didn’t “speak” per se. It had no mouth. Instead its response came in the form a specially packaged, amplified thoughts, that made the air around it vibrate.

“It’ll be fine… Or maybe it won’t be but… honestly, I don’t fucking care anymore. I need to get out of here and I need to get out of here now. I’ve spent long enough in this awful place.”

“But, hoheit!”

“But nothing… I’m doing this! This is happening. Either you can help me, or you can get out of the way. Those are the only two options.” said the creature.

“...Yes, hoheit. As you command…” said the attendant. Seeming to wilt.

The larger creature sighed. The hundreds of large glowing holes that served at its eyes all pivoting to the pale humanoid at its side.

“I… I can’t promise that this won’t backfire. Nor will I promise that everything will be okay because we both know that’d be lying … I just can’t stay here anymore. Sitting on my ass, waiting to go crazy. I can feel myself losing myself every passing day. I need to get back on with my life. This place has only dead things, mad things, evil things, and you… I already promised you that I wouldn’t leave you alone like the caretaker and the old sovereign did. And that won’t ever change...but I need to be able to stay sane if I’m going to do that. This place… this place is wrong. I can feel that wrongness seeping into me. We need to leave this place before it ruins us.” said the creature.

“But… But how do we know that the greater realms will be any better?” said the attendant.

“We don’t… that’s life. Sometimes all you can do is look at what’s in front of you, and look what’s behind you and take a leap of faith.” said the creature.

“....”

“At the very least, we’ll be together. No matter what happens we’ll be together. I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine, even if it’s just us against the whole damn cosmos” said the creature. It’s voice rumbling through the heavens like thunder.

The attendant gazed up at the sovereign beast and pat the creatures side, her long slender fingers resting against the creature’s cool, gray-red, hide.

“I… I understand, hoheit. So long as we’re together, we shall conquer all.” said the attendant. An almost fanatical zeal in her golden-eyed gaze.

“Nh.” said the creature nodding. Returning to it work and adding the finishing touches to the gate.

Three nights later, the gate would be completed. The Hoheit would finish his creation by feeding it with the bulk of his power and vital essence. Then as the gate hummed to life, he and his attendant would step through the crystal door. Stepping into the greater realms and a world that was both familiar and strange.