Chapter One

It was lower where he felt he wanted to be ... it was more dense, foggy and slow. He wanted to experience the separating of the Now into three parts: past, present and future. It was a memory that fascinated him, even as he recalled losing, grieving and dying ... he also gained, loved and lived ... truly lived because he had died.

The creatures about him cocked their heads and he saw their figures shimmer before him. Then the landscape became enveloped in fog. He felt less connected to the place of his creation, although he knew he was always connected, as was everyone. Memories came into being ... all of them now ... but were they from the past or of the future? It did not seem to matter as they were all in the Now.

But then something happened, something that he remembered but had not yet experienced. He found himself in a place with no past and no future. Everything felt to be later.

He looked around. Things were different here. There was a sense of imbalance, chaos, anger and confusion. The Now was disillusioned; love seemed to be coming "later" and Now all that was being lived was anger separated from love. He had always known about the balance of love and hate but had not experienced them in their separate forms. He had known neither love nor hate alone, which made him realize that he did not really know either very well. What was hate without knowing love? What was love without knowing hate?

He looked at the people and felt himself falling into the illusion of chaos. There was a stir of panic inside hi