On the other side of the galaxy, a shadow rises, body black as night, face shining like a sun. It opens its mouth and utters a wail of immeasurable longing in an unknown language that strikes the Earth, shaking it to its core.
 
At least, that's how the dream went.
 
Seems like a pretty ordinary dream when you first hear it, but when people the world over start realizing that during a 24 hour period, everybody who fell asleep saw that same dream, people started asking questions. The event came to be known as the Time Blast. Stupid name, but what do you expect from people in a dream? So yeah, the name Time Blast was coined by some idiot online and caught on like wildfire. A one-time event in which everybody on Earth had the same dream. Religious fanatics were practically having seizures, saying their messiah was coming.
 
'Cept it wasn't just a one-time thing. At least not for everyone. I kept having 'aftershocks', even afterwards. Every night, I'd at least have that same dream, usually followed by a regular one, though the 'Time Blast' usually changed in subtle ways. The wail would sometimes be colored, usually light blue. Sometimes the figure would change. And sometimes, instead of melancholy, the wail would be of anger. But what do you expect from a dream?
 
And then it stopped being a dream. I had the recurring aftershocks for about a day or two before the dreams stopped staying in my sleep. I was at work once, when suddenly the figure was in front of me, stars on every side. It wailed, and I was back to reality. I thought I had dozed, but then it happened again the next day. I still kept about my business as best I could, and kept quiet about the 'visions', as I now called them.
 
That changed when I saw something new. It was a colorful background, cliffs, waterfalls, greenery, brightly-feathered birds. It almost seemed like a scene from a game or a painting. A long-haired figure stood on the center of the area, and a tiny bird descended towards her. She held up her hands, and the bird stopped in between them and spoke to her. That's when I recognized who she was. Hanako.
 
If it had just been a dream, I would have ignored it, attributing it to my infatuation with her, but this was another vision. And something about the colors made me think of the Time Blast. I saw the sight again, several times, over the next few days, only sometimes it was a reindeer that would visit her, with ivy hanging from its horns. Eventually I decided it was time to pay her a visit.
 
I visited her at her part-time job at a local fast-food place the next day. She seemed to be doing well. During her break, I sat down with her and told her about my dream, as well as my recurring visions. She seemed surprised at first, and apprehensive about talking on the subject, but the fact that I had seen that vision brings the story out of her.
 
"The bird and the reindeer... they're messengers, from the dark figure in the Blast. They're called the-" she gives me some absurdly long title that I think begins with 'the avatar of', though only for the reindeer.
 
"Who is the figure?"
 
"He's the creator," she answers. "He shaped this universe, and the one that came before it, and the one that came before that. And he'll shape the one that comes next."
 
"Why did it... he, sound so sad?"
 
"He wants us, the humans. He loves us and wants us to return to him, but we're being kept from him."
 
"How?"
 
She looks sad, and almost scared as she continues. "I'm... I'm what the avatars called a 'pillar'. There are several people like me in the world. We're reincarnations of the chosen ones from the universe before, and we're supposed to stay close to each other... or else the universe will descend into chaos."
 
"But?"
 
"But we're scattered. We're not supposed to be. The avatars say it's never happened before. Because of that, the Earth is descending into chaos. Wars, hunger..." She rubs her arm. It's clear she blames herself for this.
 
"There's gotta be a way to fix this, though." I say.
 
She nods. "If two of us can get together, the others should be able to find us. But we don't know where we are, and getting together might take too long." She pauses. "But there is another way."
 
"Yes?"
 
"Somebody else can take another pillar's place."
 
And that's when I woke up. At 3:30am. Which is completely unlike me and my body clock... Stranger and stranger.
 
Still, it gave me time to imagine how the rest of the dream went. I'll condense this bit, because it's probably less interesting.
 
Basically, I accept to become a pillar. Hanako warns me about taking the weight of the universe on my shoulders, and I tell her I don't care because I get to do it alongside her. She tells me to come to the parking lot near her house at 3am the next night. When I get there, she tells me that she's only visited by the avatars in this place because it has some sort of spiritual significance, and that she first discovered it by sleepwalking there. We wait a bit, and are both struck by a vision. I'm in the waterfall place I saw before, and both the bird and the reindeer are approaching. They introduce themselves, and I explain why I came.
 
The reindeer tells me that I received the aftershocks from the dream because I am also linked to the rebirth of the universe, though I'm not a pillar. He tells me that in my past life, I tried to interfere with the rebirth, and am actually the cause of the current pillars' separation. He threatens to kill me, but is convinced by my love for Hanako that I have good intentions. He tells me that because my spirit is already attuned to the pillars, it will make the transfer from one pillar to me much easier and safer, as such a transfer would otherwise weaken the fabric of reality.
 
The bird tells me that the land we're standing in is an echo of the previous Earth, and that I need to travel through it to reach another pillar and take their burden. I do so as quickly as possible, and find a giant red pillar with another chosen one inside it. As soon as I touch it, I become the pillar and find myself standing next to Hanako, back where we started.
 
The deer tells us that we should touch in order to summon the others. We kiss, and a bright light surrounds us, and soon four other pillars stand around us.
 
Timeskip. The dream figure stands over the Earth and speaks to the pillars. He asks if we're ready to sacrifice everything. Some of them are hesitant, but we all accept. Hanako and I spend our last moments in this universe holding hands as everything is reborn.
 
Millions of years later, in a rural village on an unknown planet, six children are born...