Before time is even a named concept, a war among beings of infinite power, fury, and ambition rages. After seemingly endless conflict, a victor is named. The ultimate being enforces the ultimate punishment upon its archrival: the utter obliteration of anything resembling form, consciousness, memory, or self. But despite the intense and thorough acts of banishment and dismemberment among twelve separate realms of dimension, a grain of the archrival’s consciousness has remained intact. It has been patient … but it has not been forgiving.

In this dimension, it reforms, and it is first known as the Pharaoh Cheops. But the archrival’s deception does not go unnoticed, and the Formless, its ancient guard, appears. To prevent the transfer of the ancient spirit into the pharaoh’s infant son, the child is murdered and his brain is placed in a canopic jar. The archrival is contained once again … or so the Formless believes. But consciousness remains and, once again, is patient. It sees an opportunity, a gate, in an unexpected host— Daemonorops Draco, a palm tree.

In more modern times, Misty, a college student, and her friends enact a necromancy ritual. Misty and her friends drift in an out of a dreamlike state so intense they are no longer sure of reality. Misty is transformed into a real necromancer able to travel the twelve dimensions of existences. Her new found power is soon challenged by a great cosmic struggle. Misty has good intentions for all life, but the source of her power has its own agenda.

The ultimate being, in the super position of all beings, cast down its rival in order to maintain its supremacy over everything. Its loyal deities surrounded the arch rival for supremacy, escorting him in heavenly shackles towards the throne. They walked up a path appearing upon clouds of vapor nestled upon the illumination of light from the essence of gold. The supreme one stood up from its throne, a bright light from behind making only the silhouette visible. The supreme one spoke with the echoes of thunder, “I am and you are not; never shall you surmount me.” The arch rival bowed his head in shame knowing the battle was over. Light of heavenly power flowed into his body, reducing it to particles, like a cloud of illuminated vapor, hovering in the very spot he once stood. His life form was disintegrated and diffused through infinite dimensions of universes and endless cycles of time. His intelligence was separated by twelve types of parallel dimensions; containing twelve conflicting genetic levels of extraterrestrials. His body was completely entangled with the greatest maze of energy complexities ever created by the gods. He was held forever in suspended animation by governing forces of super-nature that maintained the perpetuation of his prison. A grain of consciousness remained intact, but he was unaware of any true existence. He lived generation after generation, like a repetitious hell, as the Pharaoh Cheops ruling over planet Earth. He called his world Egypt and ruled using this empire, which was known as the golden empire. The empire’s power over the world was vast and its reign of power lasted far longer than any other empire or country in Earth’s history. Cheops’s god-like intelligence allowed for many feats to advance the genetics of Earth’s species. Architectural structures were built that would forever puzzle humanity. His consciousness possessed the bodies of many generations of pharaohs, passing through the gates of death into the next bloodline’s descendant born, only to begin the learning process of a child over again. However, Cheops’ consciousness was regaining awareness of more than the boundaries of his world; it was only a matter of time before he would discover the great mystery of existence. The Formless, one the great forces of super-nature created to keep Cheops divided, infiltrated Cheops’ empire and possessed Cheops’ highest wizard, who watched over the transformation process. In the moment that Cheops transferred its consciousness into the newborn, the Formless injected the newborn with a tonic that made the infant appear dead. The royal family stood around the table weeping and praying to the gods, “please save our baby”. The wizards all performed their greatest spells, but the baby still appeared dead, their powers were useless without Cheops’ presence. The wizard lead the rituals of mummification before the tonic wore off, but this mummification process was unique, because he removed and sealed the baby’s brain into a diamond container. The diamond container prevented Cheops’ consciousness from possessing another life form, not long after the great empire collapsed. Yet, Cheops’ consciousness was still able to influence the actions of people. He searched endlessly for a passage back into the physical world but found only one gate, the genetics of a species of palm tree known as Daemonorops Draco. This species alone contained the sequence needed to host his consciousness in physical form.

Paul Campbell is a freelance writer and artist living in Champaign, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois Central College with a degree in graphic design. His dynamic imagination is fueled by extensive travels throughout the United States and other countries.