PRELUDE

IN THE beginning there was the universe.

How it came to exist was a mystery that might never be solved—at least, not in its entirety. For the majority of the inhabitants, it was enough simply to accept its existence and the infinite number of parts that made up all that was known, and all that remained enigma.

Unknown to most, however, a key influence in the development of the universe had crisscrossed the cosmos for unknown eons, shaping worlds, creating and eliminating life, controlling the structures of space and time in ways that seemed incomprehensible. The Builders had always been there, seeding and molding entire civilizations in the name of the entity they knew as “the Mother.”

The sum of the universe, personified.

Even after they ceased to revere the Mother, the different species that constituted the Builders continued to impact the ebb and flow of the universe, operating in this reality and in all realities. They moved through the Multiverse as a driving force— ageless, eternal, and unconcerned with the consequences.

Until that changed.

The vast elements of the Multiverse warned the Builders that all of their realities were in danger of failing, of collapsing, of dying.

This could not be allowed…