Origin Stories are so Cliche (but Fun).

Way back when there was nothing.  Not the between type of nothing, since there was no bits and pieces of stuff around it.  Not the empty type of nothing, as there would have to be a concept of something to fill it.  It was just a chunk of nothing.  It couldn't be measured because there wasn't really anyway to look at nothing without having a something to compare it to.

Then something happened to the nothing, something that was rather unprecedented.  A little magic appeared there.  Nothing formed well, just a blast of pure magic, the kind that one might throw at another's face in an act of violence.  The magic was sent to the nothing, sent in a similar manner to how one might make it go away if it were heading at one's face.  The important part of our story is that there was now a something in the nothing.

Once it had occurred the first time, more things showed up as time moved on, for now that stuff existed time was a thing too.  It wasn't always magic though.  Sometimes it was penguins, or rocks, or people, though anything living died off in the nothing rather fast.  Eventually there was so much stuff in the nothing that it really couldn't be called a nothing anymore, at least if you were there.

Speculation farther back tends to think that outside of the nothing where all the somethings were coming from was quite keen on believing the universe, for that is what we shall call it now, as nothing.  Speculation also leads one to believe that it was not just one other place of somethings, but many places of somethings.  So at that point, there was quite a bit of something in the new universe, for a few millenia is rather new for this sort of thing.

The strangest of coincidences happened around then.  Three beings appeared in the universe within seconds of each other and each refused to kick the bucket like everything else had before that.  Not to say that there weren't beings who had survived for a moment or two, maybe even a month for some lucky ones, but these were beings who would persist.  They might be called gods, for they did shape the fate of the universe, tailoring it to their tastes and fancies, but I prefer to think of them as entrepreneurs.  Each came from a different place, a different universe filled with somethings.

One was banished from his realm, thrown out for purposes he would rather not talk about.  He shaped the masses of matter into planets, creating for himself a new home.  One happened upon this plane through curiosity, playing with forces he did not then understand.  Happy to find a new cosmic sandbox, throwing matter around haphazardly in what might be called play by one and research by another.  The third arrived full of umbrage at her plight, devoted to escaping her prison of relative boring emptiness.  She found the first and learned to make her own sculptures of habitation.  She found the second and soaked from him his knowledge, creating experiments of her own.  Deep rooted were her marks on the world, great the signposts of her presence, detailing the many attempts out of the universe, the boundaries she clawed at and the holes she attempted to rip.  Then eventually one day she went home.

In the span between, more and more things kept piling up in the universe, shepherded onto planets or played with, but kept for the most part in much better shape than the things that came before.  Populations rose on the planets, new creatures and things were scattered in the wake of the curious one, and a few things went to the third with the common goal of escape.  None were quite so powerful as those first three, but some came close.

On each planet the builder raised up a pupil to shepherd the wayward to a new home if they so chose.  Countless of these followers rose up, generations of which still exist today.  The curious one was followed by three others who could match his pace as he delved into the secrets of the world.  When he eventually grew board of the universe, two stayed behind to continue his projects while one followed him out into the other realms.  The followers of the exile were numerous, though many died before their escape could become reality and many gave up halfway through.  One however lived to see the dream fulfilled, the secrets of the veil pierced, and instead of fleeing immediately he vowed to sew the rips that such constant exits would make.  Even more, he watched the fabric like the builder's pupils and was the first in his line to deny entry to that which had no place in the world.

The builder sleeps, the curious one wanders, every once in a while to return, and the exile is exiled no more, only present in her cult that guards the secret of the road.  In all that once was nothing a new thing thrived and thrives still.  A pocket of civilization and wilderness where the garbage of the multiverse was dumped.

We call it home, we countless beings scattered around stars the builder forged.  Some call it a great adventure or a great test in their passing through to other realms.  Others, mainly the curious one and his students, view it as the greatest playground invented.  Not that the whole of this is the story one might get from any of the three or any under their wing.

The builder is said to have carved out the whole cavern of space himself, breathing out the stars and using the carved nothing to squeeze the planets into being.  The curious one's students know enough of what happened to piece it all together, but they are all old and hoard their knowledge, preferring to differ to the sentiments of the other two to stay out of trouble.  Much the same as the builder, the exile is said to have carved out the world in her passing, walking out of her own world to venture to others, leaving a path trod down in which we all sit like squatters on the roadside.  Others have either never known the old ones in the vastness of nothing that remains around it all, or have forgotten such things, living as best they can.

I happen to be one of the few who can tell it truly, having come in on their heels, but no one really seems to remember the watcher, for he just sits and observes it all.