Lirsti and Illúvetar: Part 1

The Big Bang Paradox

All was quiet over the non-existent universe. There was nothing to see, nothing to hear. In fact there was nothing to nothing at all. It stands to reason that there was no time either. So it is hard to say when the following happened.
For the first time in eternity, there was a flash of light. A pebble the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence appeared out of nowhere. Faintly from behind it, in the distance, a sound travelled through the nothingness as well: someone said, “Damn!” and so the world began. That was fourteen billion years ago.
“I found it! Here it is! We did it!” shouted Illúvetar. He was shaking slightly from the excitement. Lirsti calmly observed as Illúvetar idealised the treasure chest before him.
“It appears we have,” he replied, “or at least we hope so.”
Illúvetar, still engulfed in his excitement said, “Quickly, let’s open it!”
Lirsti closed his eyes and slowly stepped away from the hole Illúvetar had just dug. Sparks formed on the tips of his fingers and silently jumped onto the chest. The lid flew open. This process was repeated five more times and within the sixth chest (each chest was within the previous) lay a small fragile oyster. Illúvetar gently opened the oyster and transferred a full-stop sized orb into a beautifully padded jewellery box.
“We must make sure that the improbability orb arrives at king Radix’s fort in time (long live the king)” Illúvetar said as they walked down the old forest road. Lirsti was about to reply but he was stopped by something.
A little man about the size of a tree stump had jumped out in front of them. The man said, “An orb? What is this I hear? What sort of orb? May I look at it?” Illúvetar, already on the defence, whipped the jewellery box out of his pocket to keep it safe.
“Never,” he said, “be gone little man. We were entrusted with responsibility greater than you can ever imagine!” and because of his wild hand gestures, something very unfortunate happened: the box opened and the orb flew out. With a deafening silence it hit the ground and disappeared.
All was quiet over the non-existent universe. There was nothing to see, nothing to hear. In fact there was nothing to nothing at all. It stands to reason that there was no time either. So it is hard to say when the following happened.
For the first time in eternity, there was a flash of light…