Part of the Untold Story collection.

Once upon a time, there was nothing. Nothing at all, except for a little white owl.

The owl was very, very old of course: As old as the universe. But he still acted like a child.

You see, the owl was tired of the nothingness of the universe. So he made light.

Oh, the light was blinding! It would have made an ordinary owl go blind. The empty world was now all white, but the owl realized something. “It is much to bright. It needs to be dimmed.” So he made darkness.

Now he could see much better, and not only was there white and black, but there was also endless, beautiful mixes of both, which the owl called ‘shades of gray.’

He enjoyed these new things, but he thought, “Wouldn’t it be so nice if they had something to illuminate?”

So he made the colors. He named them Ruby, Amber, Topaz, Emerald, Sapphire, Opal, and Amethyst. Humans were the ones that named to colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The owl decided the light and dark should have named too; he named the Diamond and Onyx.

And then he decided that the Gems, as he called them, should color something other then air. So he made basic shapes: the sphere, pyramid and cube. And he made brilliant mosaics out of the shapes! First he made the stars, for Diamond, and then the void, for Onyx. He gave Ruby blood, Amber fire, Emerald plants, Sapphire sky, and Opal water. And he then gave each Gem an emotion: Diamond was hope, Onyx was sleep, Amber became rage, Sapphire knowledge, Topaz bravery, and Amethyst sympathy.

And then the owl made the creatures, to feel the emotions he made.

Thus, with just light and shadow, a consciousness was born…