Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers, they belong to their respective copyright owners and are used here without permission. No money is being made from this fic.
Authors Note: This is an alternate universe with an alternate time line.

Birth of the Cosmic Gods

Universe: Zero Reality: Zero Temporal Location: Sometime between the Second and Third Age

The universe was taking shape as The One desired. After sending forth a wave of matter and energy to create the rough outline of existence, his servants had followed in the wake of the Creation Wave and had given the rough structure form and function. Where once the universe had been a flat construct, their adaptations had led to the creation of layers with The One's planet and its nearby galaxies at the top.

And at the bottom of the many layers was a dimension that served as the dimensional prison of The One's greatest regret: The Dark One.

At the beginning The One had appeared in the darkness and had given birth to existence. As the universe had expanded, he had been given many names, among them: The One, The Creator, The Presence, The Source, The Voice, The One Above All Others and even just The God of the Universe. He had willed the universe to exist and then expand. It was at his urging that existence grew beyond a simple series of galaxies into the complex structure those that came later would inherit.

But The One was not flawless and he was lonely. And so, The One create beings to carry out the task of shaping existence on his behalf. He then created others to act as his eyes and hands as they travelled through his creation, transmitting back the results of his other servant's work. Of all his creations his greatest work was his own offspring, a being he created to be almost his equal. He later created a second child to be almost the equal of the first. But in his desire to create a child he failed to consider how that child should behave. He gave his creation a sense that it was superior to all beings, even its creator and that led it to turn on him, corrupting many of his other servants in the process.

In the end the first clash between Good and Evil had taken millions of years to truly commence and had then taken much longer to reach a point where it appeared The Dark One had gone to far. It had ended in a matter of hours when The One had finally decided to intervene. The Dark One, the almost-all-powerful force of darkness within the fledgling existence had been defeated by his creator. His army was dismantled, his generals were taken away from him and he had been banished far from the sight of his creator, forcibly imprisoned in a place beneath the lowest plane of reality where he had been locked outside of existence for the rest of his days. It was an extreme punishment and an act of mercy; it was a weakness The Dark One promised his father would come to regret when he broke free.

As for The One, he returned to his world at the very top of creation, looking down upon his work and approving of his servant's labours. In his absence there had been a lack of control and the process had become random. The One found he approved of the change and so decided to sit back and watch as the cosmos grew without intervening. But before he did so, he sent a command to his workers to erect barriers between the layers of creation. Never again would the population enjoy the freedom they had once possessed. His servants obeyed, separating existence into planes where different forms of life could be found.

And as they worked, his servants followed his instructions precisely, separating all layers of existences from the lowest dimension where The Dark One fumed and threatened his revenge all the way to the highest point of existence where The One rested upon his throne. As billions of years passed, many tried to enter The One's presence, finding ways to defy his will and breach the barriers to reach his planet. Some even believed that he had vanished and sought to sit upon his throne and claim his power. They never returned and their bodies were used to build walls separating his plane of existence from the rest of the universe. Now only those He deemed worthy could enter and the bodies of those that had tried to usurp him stood as testament to the fate of such traitors.

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The first conflict between the forces of Good and Evil had ended when The One had personally intervened to stop The Dark One. The Dark One had been subdued with ease and offered the option of being stripped of his power and being left to wander the cosmos, or to retain his powers but remain imprisoned in a place of The One's choosing. The Dark One had selected the latter option and had been placed within a multidimensional prison far beyond the reach of any of his remaining followers.

Meanwhile Paladin, the leader of the Army of Light, had survived his grievous wounds due to The One's intervention. But despite his survival, he was no longer the being that led the Covenant of Light into battle.

For a time, peace reigned.

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Before the creation of Paladin and the Dark One, the cosmos had reacted to the Creator's need for his work to be finished while he concentrated on controlling the wayward energy that swept through existence. It had created a race of servants to finish the construction of the universe, using what The One had provided as the raw material. They had been named the Celestials and while Paladin and the Dark One had led their little armies, they had carried on with their task of creating worlds throughout the many dimensional planes and seeding them with life. As they worked their way down through the dimensions and further away from The One's sight, the worlds they created grew less impressive and the life forms that evolved upon them held less potential.

Each dimensional plane had different physical laws and this along with the lack of creativity by the Celestials limited the growth of some beings. Some made great progress while others never seemed to evolve beyond simple albeit powerful beasts. It did not help that in the war between Paladin and the Dark One, the lesser beings had been recruited and altered to serve as soldiers.

As the Celestials reached the point at which they planned to turn back and inspect the progress of their creations, they put the finishing touches to their work. Here they created a realm that allowed its people to grow and evolve without limitation. It was a place where the energies emitted by The One barely reached, where the majority of its population would have a limited life span. It was the realm of mortals.

As they finished seeding the worlds that would serve as homes for the universe's lowest denizens, the Celestials allowed themselves to indulge their curiosity for once, tapping into the vast energy of existence and sending forth a wave of energy that would allow some of those it encountered to grow beyond the limitations of their mortal forms. Some would be able to ascend beyond the limitations to occupy the higher dimensions where the environment would make them more than simple mortals. But that would not occur for a long time.

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Unbound from his previous role, Shadow discovered that he retained many of the powers he had enjoyed in his previous role and that he was able to create new beings to help rebalance the cosmos.

Shadow had realised during those moments he had been on the verge of death, that the universe needed a struggle to survive. When at peace for too long the universe stagnated and shrank, while the struggle between the opposing forces kept the universe growing. Those he created were released into the cosmos and allowed to fall through the dimensions from the highest planes close to where The One and those that now worshipped him resided, down to those that the Celestials had recently completed.

These were beings of great power and potential that could one day guide the cosmos in a new direction. He granted them the freedom to decide upon their own morals, seeking a balance between the good, the evil, the chaotic, the lawful, the creators and the destroyers. He made certain there were those that represented various states of balance and neutrality. Groups formed among the many dimensions, creating the cosmic pantheons that would be a dominant force for eons to come. Some chose forms that the mind could not comprehend while others chose to resemble beasts.

Some of his creations chose to isolate themselves from those they considered inferior. They took control of the boundaries to the planes and realms they occupied in the belief that the conflict would then be something they could escape when they wanted to. But such efforts only led to divisions within the pantheons as their memberships divided along the old lines of light and dark. It seemed that while balance and neutrality were acceptable, existence had no tolerance for peace.

The Cosmic Gods soon grew weary of the constant fighting between good and evil. Being formed from Shadow's essence they did not have the strict black-and-white view that their predecessors held. Even the most noble of their kind was flawed in some way and even the most wicked possessed a small redeeming feature. One thing they did enjoy was playing with what they considered the lesser races that had started to emerge in the lower dimensions. The Mortal Realms were filled with those they could influence and torment without fear of reprisals. They allowed the flawed little people to battle on their behalf, often throwing obstacles in their path for fun. But while they amused themselves by believing that they controlled the events in the Mortal Realm, they failed to understand how they had been rendered unimportant by the weaker but by no means inferior creatures.

====

At the very depths of the cosmos, on a plane so far removed from The One's radiant presence that it could barely be considered a part of existence, sat a small dimension containing a single world. It was there that The Dark One waited as his wounds healed and his strength recovered, for his loyal followers to release him. His father had not intentionally hurt him during their confrontation, but you did not endure a struggle with a being that powerful without receiving some physical harm. Just as he was certain that his father would feel the effects of his attempts to break free.

As time passed The Dark One recovered much of his former strength and his ability to know what was happening outside of his prison. He had discovered that his most loyal servants had been imprisoned, just as he had, and realised that his release would take time before they were free to assist him. In the meantime his ability to influence others had returned and despite his prison, he could still reach out to those that would serve him, turning them to his cause.

He soon came to understand that The One's wrath had been swift and brutal, but the intention had been to remove The Dark One, not to punish or contain him. And although The  One had taken steps to make sure his wayward son remained imprisoned, he had not taken all of the precautions to keep The Dark One from continuing his evil ways. Physically he was trapped within his prison, but his mind was free to wander through existence, seeking those that would aid him and setting in motion the plans for his release. And despite his prison being located at the very depths of reality, his father had been a fool to leave it connected to the Morphin Grid.

The Power flowed through The Dark One's prison, just as it did the rest of reality. And as it did so, he was able to corrupt it and the creatures that dwelled within. He created an impurity within the Power, dividing it between the purity that had once been thee and the dark energies that served the Dark One. Over billions of years his presence within the Grid would taint the Power, creating a darker side of the Morphin Grid and weakening The One in the process.

It was all a matter of patience. The Dark One had grown to understand that his release would take time, but as the long years passed, he had grown to accept that vengeance would take a while, but when it came, he would make The One and his creations suffer.

End of Part

<post_date>2021-03-04 16:00:01</post_date><post_modified>2022-11-15 14:09:26</post_modified>