Chaosomonium

(Based on 'Pithoprakta' by Iannis Xenakis)

The universe stood very still. From the empty darkness comets came hurtling about. Asteroids the size of small houses had already been shattering into cosmic objects with no rest. Long ago, the extinct humans had predicted that someday will come, when the universe will be nothing but a giant mass of black darkness. Midnight will prevail…

Crash! An asteroid hit a medium-sized star, who was about to complete its journey to some planet, but perhaps its sudden death, was actually beneficial to it, for where would it give sight, now that everyone had vanished into the ever-increasing darkness?

Then it came, a sound – it was a ‘plink’. The stars were hurtling and colliding with each other. The cosmic clouds were giving out sounds which were unexplainable. But then, it was going to be midnight….

Now the meteors had started coming. Ripping the dark air, they crashed down on Mars, which was nearly reduced to reddish rubble. They crashed into it, giving micro-loud sounds, as if several mini-cannons were bursting. The rocks had also hurtled towards the others, and crashed – giving off cosmic sounds.

And then, there came – a scream. The voice looked like it came from a far distance. It came in breaks – as if each vocal cord had different sounds. The rocks continued to crash either into each other or with the planets. The scream once again was heard, this time the pitch was higher. At the same time, two stars collided with each other.

Now two sounds echoed around the nocturnal atmosphere – the micro-cosmic sounds from the asteroids, and the seemingly surreal scream. It looked like the voice had been slumbering on, slumbering on for many centuries, and it had finally awoken….was it because that it knew that the universe was ending? Was it some sort of messenger, signaling the Great Ones above of this self-cosmic Armageddon?

The asteroid noises culminated now into a crescendo. All colours of the visible spectrum splattered everywhere. The scream was now increasing. It looked like it was releasing rage, rage at the fact that it was locked for so long…hungry for…

And then, another sound hit the eardrum of the atmosphere.

‘Whoosh! W-h-oo-s-sh!’

At least a hundred comets – all dark yellow in colour – whizzed around, going to as many directions they can. They crashed against the devil rocks – the sound was even more than them, and it was as if a giant bouncy ball was ricocheting everywhere, bouncing from every wall. And then it came – a blood-curdling vibration.

The sound seemed to come from the very depths of the bleak curtain of darkness. It was the noise of a giant drone. The stars had started to now collide with each other very much faster – but the tinkling sound was covered by this new intruder. It came like a heart-beat: ‘Lub-dub, lub-dub…’

The surroundings heaved back and forth. It looked like it was vibrating due to this cosmic vibration. The stars were colliding with their microtonal tinkling even louder. But the vibration continued, now literally throwing everything – once here, then there, everywhere. The comets began again hurtling towards each other – the low sounds again filled the void. At one point of time, the planets – which were revolving very much slowly – stopped abruptly.

There was silence for a few moments. Then,

A wisp of white smoke suddenly went past by Saturn. The sound produced by both the clouds and the rings of Saturn felt like the day when the last of mankind was reduced to dust by a heavyweight nuclear missile, both from the Superpowers. Screams erupted – first high, then low – they eventually faded out, and there was once again a silence…

Deafening silence…

And then, the universe was suddenly filled with microtonal sounds.

The comets had now started to hit each other, and a shower of meteors had arrived. The meteor’s noise pitch was very much high, and as it hit, it gave off vibgyor-coloured particles – which bounced off everywhere, crumbling anything on which they landed. The nebula clouds seemed to suck out everything – the screams of the dying continued to ring around. A pandemonium of sounds ensued, where almost everything was moving about wildly. The planets started to crumble up. The galaxies which were almost several million light years away were now crashing with each other, exploding in a dense high-pitched sound.

And then, it stopped. Only the winds of the unknown blew about. Then, a sound – covering up everything – came. A sound which made the blood run cold.

The Sun was appearing much larger and brighter than usual. From there, the sound had emerged. It was identical to a scream – the scream similar to the combination product of the nebula and Saturn’s rings – only this time, it was as if almost everything which had the thing called ‘life’, were screaming with all their might. It was as if the Day of Judgement was arising.

Then suddenly, white and black flurries of something unknown came speeding form the above and below respectively. They merged together, and from there erupted another terrible sound. Pandemonium which had been occurring now increased to a monstrous height. The planets – the ones which had been holding up for so long – now began to crack off. Uranus broke off into a million pieces with a cannon-fire sound, followed by Neptune, Saturn….

A thunder erupted out of nowhere on the Sun, which amazingly got deflected and hit the Earth, splitting into nothing but a large mass of water, land, and rocks. The black and white flurries continued their mock fighting, as if saying – Let’s see who gets to rule this void!

The Sun then suddenly split into many divisions, which quickly collided with everything. As it did so, the sound of that cosmic vibration came again, this time more terrific and bone-chilling. The Sun – whatever it touched, made it to dust, which was carried away by the nebulaic winds…

After what it seemed like an hour, another unusual thing occurred. Out of Mars emerged a Man – strong, valiant, and looking determined, and had a smile lurking up his cheek. Then, a Woman emerged from Venus – shy, beautiful, and looking quite uncertain. The two of them dived from their respective planets, and kissed each other, as they fell down through the endless void. The planets crushed, immediately followed by a loud scream – the final moment of those souls!

The universe then suddenly fell silent. Everything had become empty. It only showcased darkness. Suddenly, the cosmic vibration gave one jerk, with another drone shriek, and then it fell silent. A scream followed, replaced by silence…

Deafening silence….

And out of the dark, two red sphere-like objects suddenly glowered. It looked like an eye, whose jet-black narrow pupil moved around madly. Then, they came to a standstill, and vanished altogether. The universe had nothing but darkness….bleak, void-like darkness…for…

Midnight - was now - prevailing.

…..

***

M.Macabre

20.08.2020

Dedicated to: H.P.Lovecraft (Happy Birthday!), Iannis Xenakis