The First Race

Darkness. Warmth. Total quiet.

Then BOOM.

The world exploded.

"MOVE! OUT OF THE WAY!" a voice screamed.

A wave of light slammed into Dash, spinning him upside down. He whipped his tail furiously, trying to catch his balance. Everything was moving. Everything was loud. The darkness was completely gone, replaced by a roaring river of bright, glowing silver.

Millions of tails flashed like shooting stars. It was a sea of bodies, all rushing forward into a massive tunnel with soft, velvet-red walls. The ground beneath them trembled with a deep, heavy thud. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. It felt like a giant, distant heartbeat.

"Dash! Help!"

Dash spun around. Through the chaos, he spotted a tiny, frantic shape. It was Dot. His little brother was getting pushed sideways by a massive crowd of faster swimmers. Dot's tail was whipping twice as fast as everyone else's, but he was so small he was just bobbing around like a cork in a storm.

"I got you!" Dash yelled.

Dash dug deep, kicking his tail with everything he had. He sliced through the crowd, dodging a giant swimmer who almost ran him over. He reached out and grabbed Dot's arm just before a heavy current pulled them apart.

"I'm spinning! Why am I spinning?!" Dot gasped, holding onto Dash for dear life.

"Because you're swimming backward, dummy!" a loud voice laughed.

A bright green streak zipped past them, doing a perfect, unnecessary loop-de-loop in the air before splashing back into the fluid. It was Loop. He stopped right in front of them, upside down, with a massive grin on his face. "Come on, slowpokes! The race started three seconds ago! We're losing!"

"It's not a race, it's a stampede!" Dot cried, finally turning himself facing forward.

"Everything is a race!" another voice barked.

A sharp, fast swimmer cut right between them, nearly clipping Dot's nose. It was Slash. Her silver tail was longer than anyone else's, and she looked like she wanted to fight the entire tunnel. "If you stay still, you get crushed! Move those tails!"

Behind her, a short, solid swimmer drifted into view, completely unfazed by the millions of bodies crashing around him. Pebble just blinked his big eyes and let the current slide right off his thick shoulders. "The wall is stable. Stay close to the edge," he said quietly.

Dash looked up, past the sea of rushing heads, past the wild currents.

Way up in the distance, past the twisting turns of the red canyon, a magnificent golden light pulsed. It was huge. It was beautiful. It looked like a sun trapped deep inside the earth, casting a warm, magical glow over the millions of travelers.

The Egg.

Nobody knew what it really was, but they all felt it in their souls. It was paradise. It was the place where dreams became real.

"The first one there gets to be human," Dot whispered, his eyes wide as he stared at the golden glow. "A real, giant human. With hands and feet."

"And I'm gonna use my human hands to eat ten thousand cookies!" Loop shouted, already racing ahead. "Catch me if you can!"

Slash burst forward right behind him, kicking up a storm of bubbles. "Not a chance, circular boy! I'm winning!"

Dash looked down at his little brother. Dot was still trembling a little, looking at the massive, dangerous road ahead. Dash gave him a playful shove.

"Hey," Dash said, his voice warm and confident. "Sometimes small things survive the longest, right?"

Dot blinked, then a small smile broke across his face. "Yeah. Sometimes small doesn't mean weak."

"Exactly," Dash grinned, snapping his tail against the current. "Now keep up, Dot. We have a world to build!"

With a loud laugh, the two brothers dived directly into the glowing chaos, racing side by side toward the light.