It is said that in a distant galaxy, there are creatures known only as the void beasts. The great void beasts swim through the universe for purposes unknown. They dance in orbits of black holes and toss stars as toys. The small things, the flesh creatures that are so common, dread them, for there is no way to communicate or clash with a creature of this awe inspiring size.
It is said that the great void beasts care not for such small things. They don't even notice them as they dance to purposes unknown.
And it is said that one day, a thing in the form of a man stood upon a sun and called the void beasts. The thing stared at them as they approached and they stared at it.
"What do you want?" asked the void beasts.
The thing that was shaped like a man laughed, for in all the iterations of the universe, in all the infinities that ached by like grains of sand in the wind, it had never seen anything such as these. Perhaps for just a moment, the novelty rendered it human again. Perhaps.
"What do you want?" asked the void beasts again, for they were not used to being conjured by small things and this scared them a little.
"I seek your form," said the thing.
"Why?" asked the void beasts, for they played with form as naturally as one might breathe, and the concept of specificity was foreign to them.
And the thing studied its rotting body, its failure of humanity. This flesh was a limitation and no matter how it cloaked itself, it felt the tug of the truth pulling it down again. Power cares not for the needs of the flesh. "Because growth requires sacrifice," said the thing, finally.
The void beasts were scared by this. They had no concept of sacrifice. But they sensed the meaning of the word intuitively and it scared them. Finally, their leader spoke. "Small thing," it said, "we can see you have suffered great hardships. Come and dance with us. Come and dance in the starlight and regain yourself."
The thing that was once human considered. As was so common, it saw the branching future curving away from it. It watched down the paths. It saw itself recovering, old wounds healing, scars fading. It saw a refusal, the cold of space, the infinity of isolation, a slowing until death. It saw the non-path of violence, the road to infinity, that unknowable future.
And because time was cyclical, it saw the past too. It saw a farm, a woman reclining on the porch. She waved, baby in her arms. The thing screamed.
Eyes closed, it centred itself. "No," it said at last.
"No?" asked the void beasts.
"I choose power," said Solroxoth, Ascended-Master, formerly Seri, apprentice to Aza. "I cast off my pain and walk the road to completion."
They say that it danced for centuries until it took their form and lived its days as one of them. They say that it left reality that day, back to the cracks between, and was never seen again. They say that the void beasts screamed.
These are all things they only say, of course. There are no void beasts. There never have been.
But the thing walks between universes, shadows following it as it goes. It is not human. It never was.