Amidst a vast cloud of dust there flew a great black bird with feathers of darkness. Where she flew, the dust cleared, and there was nothing but the frigid embrace of space. As she flew out further into the cloud, the swirling of her wings moved, shifted, and concentrated this dust. Once she had flown far enough, the black bird stopped. She beat her wings, until the gales she created condensed the dust into a sphere. With her claws, she took more of the surrounding dust and fashioned two creatures. Each with two legs, two arms, but two different minds. One was hope; the other was despair. The great black bird looked down upon her creations and instructed them to stay; she told them not to follow her, for she must keep going into the universe. With her task completed, the black bird flew away. And so Hope and Despair were left alone. 

But, in the dark emptiness that the great black bird had left them in, Hope and Despair were cold. The darkness crept in on them, peering from all around their new, round home. Hope and Despair, cold and frightened by their new lives, began to seek warmth. They talked with one another, and immediately their differences splintered them like crackling, flaming wood; Hope believed that the bird would return, because surely one that makes something would not abandon it. Despair thought this was foolish; if the bird wished to keep them warm, she would have done it already. Despair wanted to track down the bird, through the emptiness of space, and demand answers. Hope wanted to stay on their home, save their energy, and wait for the bird to return. Frustrated with one another, the two split up, wandering to different parts of their home. Now, they were even lonelier than before. To keep company, Hope took some of the dirt from their home and made it into whatever shapes they could imagine; 4 legs, 6 legs, 8 legs, or even no legs; flat, long, wide and strong tails; some even had broad or thin wings so they could fly. In creating these creatures, Hope hollowed out great valleys, canyons, and crevices all across their home. Seeing how happy Hope was with their creations, Despair became jealous, for they were alone. But an idea wove itself, burrowing into Despair’s mind, and they listened to it. In a fit of envy and rage, Despair took some of Hope’s creatures, smashing and piling them, creating mountains that Despair stood on to try and escape this home and find the bird that had abandoned them; yet, none of the mountains were tall enough for Despair to leave. The great black bird was still gone.

Seeing their creations destroyed in such a way, Hope began to weep. Their tears poured onto the ground, and filled the basins they had used to create the creatures. And when vast seas had formed from Hope’s tears, Despair began to feel differently; envy became regret. Seeing how their destruction hurt Hope, Despair began to make more creatures, similar in design to the ones they had demolished. The space left created small cracks in the mountains that Despair had once used to try and reach the great black bird. And so despair gathered their creatures, and to make up for their actions gave the creatures a name: animals. And so despair and the newly made animals returned to Hope, who lay crying by the side of the sea. Despair apologized, and Hope turned to look at Despair. There the two stood, as Hope looked at the scene; Despair, standing and staring at the ground amongst the animals of their own design. In that moment, Hope’s face beamed, and they ran to Despair. The two grabbed each other in a hug, and a brilliant, warm light shone from the both of them. This light created life; their home wouldn’t be empty anymore. Plants began to grow, reaching, grasping for the light. As the light grew stronger and stronger, Hope and Despair were shaped into new forms; without speaking, they agreed to work together, and in doing so made sure that nothing on their home would be cold or lonely again, even without the black bird’s help. As Hope and Despair rose into the sky, pieces of them flew to the ground, creating small copies that were part hope and part despair. These, the two decided, would be called humans. And so Hope and Despair flew around their former home, circling it forever. Hope would continue to shine their light on the land, giving warmth to all those that saw it; and with the power of hope’s radiance, despair took a new look and a new name: Grit. Grit flew where Hope couldn’t shine, reflecting some of that magnificent light on the darkest places.

Amazed at what they had seen, the humans and the animals cried tears of joy, since they knew that they wouldn’t be alone anymore. Their tears, instead of falling to the ground, flew up to the sky and stayed there. In Hope’s light, reflected by Grit, they shined beautifully. Sometimes, these tears would fall to the ground, and run across the land, creating rivers and creeks and keeping the plants alive. The humans and the animals worked together, being created by the same beings. The humans experienced both hope and despair, but they always had the animals created by Hope and Grit to keep them company. And so a mesmerizing cycle was created, and would continue, where humans and animals would be warm and never lonely, even without the black bird that had made Hope and Grit, as well as their home.

The black bird never looked back.

And neither did Hope or Grit.