An Open Letter to the Universe

R.J. Ren

Creator of Worlds

From Beyond

Then/Now/To Come

Everyone

Everything

The Universe

To whomever it may concern,

First thing’s first, this ain’t an apology. I’m a gambler. I hold my hands up to that, not ashamed. Although, I will admit to playing for higher stakes than most. See, my game’s not poker or blackjack; in fact, it’s a game most don’t even have the dice for. It’s called, Creation! Maybe you’ve heard of it? 

I’m not going to beat about the bush, what’s done is done. It’s best to be up front about these things. Air my dirty laundry, so to speak. Tell it like it is… Look, I’m just going to come out with it.

I lost the Universe in a game of dice.

There, it’s said and before you start, I know once there’s life it’s not strictly yours to play with. And maybe that’s right. Maybe it wasn’t only mine to gamble away. But if not for me, none of it would have existed in the first place. Frankly, I was the one what won it all, so why shouldn’t I be the one to risk it.

When you get right down to it, they’re my dice and in this game, that’s all that matters.

Dice is the game. Creation, the prize! 

But like I said, this ain’t an apology.

Besides it’s too late now and it’s not like you lot were taking care of it. You never know, maybe the new guy will spruce the place up a bit. Splash some of their hard earned winnings on a shiny new dimension or two, roll back time, reintroduce the dinosaurs...

Before I go on, I should probably clarify something. The dice I play with aren’t like any you’ve seen before. They look like normal dice, most of the time. They have six sides, most of the time. But they don’t have numbers. In fact, they don’t have markings at all—not that can be seen. The dice I’m talking about are called, primordial die. You need two to play the game­—four if we’re being technical, two for each player­—and they're what started this whole mess off.

I used them in the beginning, you know, way back when, right at the very start of everything. I was new to the game, had only had my dice for an eon or two. But I was a natural, everybody said so. You see, I rolled BANG on my very first try. It was kind of a big deal, a lot of folk got to hearing about it. I was a name on the scene for a while. A new face. One to watch.

But I don’t like to brag.

After the BANG incident, I was on a roll. I won light off the guy who invented it and time off a woman who had the weirdest looking dice I’ve ever seen. Then space off this dude down on his luck, poor sod went up against me for a single nebular.  I still feel bad about it, but this game’s for keeps. You know what they say; if you can’t take the heat of a newly forming star, then get out the system. I guess some folk just don’t know when to quit.

Anyway, I was hooked. Been playing the game ever since. I’ve won a lot, more than most. Stars, galaxies, nebulae, dark matter… You name it, I’ve won it. It took a while but eventually, I got myself a nice little universe underway. It’s all in the wrist you see. 

I was virtually unstoppable. Until about sixty million years back and it all started going downhill. I ran into a real bad losing streak. 

See, I’d gone and got a load of tasty forces under my belt, won myself some fancy elements and ended up wangling a pocket full of habitable planets. Won enough to start playing the big boys. Got wind of a group of players calling themselves, The Old Ones. So I started upping the stakes, got my name out there and introduced myself. 

Only went and swiped cellular life the first time I played one of them. After that, there was no stopping me. I moved up the ranks, put it all on the line and went from strength to strength. Multicellular, incrustations, fish, plants, insect, the lot… Well, I only ended up with blinking dinosaurs didn’t I! 

Thing is, you can’t win them all. 165 million years, that’s how long I had them for. A long time, as these things go.

But once I finally lost them, none of the Old Ones wanted to play me anymore. I had to settle for smaller prizes. I won this newfangled thing they were calling mammals. Don’t get me wrong, It was life and complex life at that… It’s just, after having my own planet full of dinosaurs, DINOSAURS mind you! These strange little, hairy, warm-blooded things just didn’t have the same kick. It wasn’t all bad, before long they brought out a load of upgrades for the little beasties. I won most of them, but something went wrong, or someone decided that enough was enough and they started cheating, began working faults into their genome. It happens from time to time. Bad losers, some folk. Either way, the last upgrade infected the whole damn thing, really done a number on it. Made most of their hair fall out!

You know, if I’m honest, I’m glad I lost it all in the end.

I’ve still got my dice. And I reckon I’ll be able to start over. It’ll take a bit of doing, but next go round I’ll know better. No matter how down on my luck I get, I’ll steer well clear of mammals.

Once I win back dinosaurs I’ll quit.

They were cool.

Anyway, I hope everything pans out and sorry about the universe.

See you on the flipside,

God.

The End.

AUTHOR BIO