The universe is an endless expanse of potential, a vast emptiness decorated and adorned by the stunning display of nebulas, galaxies, and stars that leave us on Earth, this floating rock amongst countless trillions, in sheer awe. For thousands of years humanity has tried to make sense of the unknown, looking to the heavens for the slightest semblance of understanding. Stories become legends, legends become myths, and myths become stories, a cycle of folklore that is true to all, despite our differences all around the world.
 
 
I invite you, reader, to allow me to continue this tradition amongst men. Allow me to tell you another tale. Another story about the source of creation. A story of unimaginable stakes and dreadful suspense. A story of a mythological celestial dragon and his savior. And most importantly, the story of a mother’s love. Allow me to retell the tale of “Min'na no Okāsan”, the “Mother of All”.
 
 
~~~
 
 
  The Heian period. In these early days of Japan’s first empire, the island of Japan lives its days under the golden age of classic Japanese culture. Despite its troubles within the imperial court, the arts, poetry, and architecture are things to be admired, by both its peasants and its scholars.
 
 
  One woman, however, does not find solace learning the art of poetry or admiring the architecture of Heian-kyō, the castle that resides in the Empire's Capital. Instead, she finds herself outside, from the late hours in the night to the early hours in the morning, staring at the sky. Nameless to history, this nobleman’s wife looks to the stars in both awe and desperation.
 
 
  Married off at a young age, she has known nothing except for the walls of his mansion and his expectations as his wife. For years now, she has diligently served her duty as one of his many spouses, under the mentorship of those older than her and as a guide to those recently taken in.
 
 
  However, this woman yearns for more than to die the wife of the noble. She regrets being born only to be held captive within the walls of luxury. Unable to leave, she has turned to the stars, looking up at them as she wishes for more than this life. She prays for a chance to change her destiny, for fate to change its course of action and pick her up.
 
 
  Her wishes are met with silence from the starry void. She pulls out a pipe, the only distraction she can afford from within her husband's walls. Puffs of heavy spoke float softly in the air as she breathes out, before dissipating into the stars. A tear rolls down her cheek as she feels envy for the shapeless cloud, wishing she could disappear just as easily.
 
 
  As she stares into the night, a twinkle catches her eye. One of the stars is shooting across the sky, and for this nameless woman she cannot help but be captivated by the magical object. The star seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, falling closer and closer to the earth until the housewife realized that it was indeed getting closer and closer, before it landed into the mansion garden, not 30 feet ahead of her.
 
 
  Shocked and curious, the housewife traverses through the shrubbery to reach the fallen object, its faint glow dimming down with each passing second. Stumbling through the brush, she eventually reaches her fallen star, only to find a small celestial dragon, breathing heavy and at the size of a harmless garden snake.
 
 
  “Dragon,” the housewife announces. “From what heaven did you fall? Have you been cast out of the sky or is your falling to the earth merely happenstance?”
 
 
  “Kind woman,” the dragon breathes out, his voice deep and ancient. “I mean you no harm. I have sustained injury from battle, for I am still young.”
 
 
  “Young,” the woman questions. “My Lord Dragon, compared to you I am a mere infant who’s not left their mother’s womb, and yet you name yourself ‘young.’ Does your attacker still pursue you?”
 
 
  “No, I am utterly lost to that adversary,” the dragon laughs. “However, I am weak. I fear that you shall bear witness to my passing.”
 
 
  The housewife, kind and respectful as she is, pulls out her pipe, offering it to the injured beast. “Partake in my pipe,” she says, guiding the serpent. “May it reduce the pain.”
 
 
  “Ha ha,” the dragon laughs, before taking a deep inhale of her pipe. He lets out a deep exhale of smoke, releasing a cloud twice the size of the woman. “Thank you, maiden. I am grateful your kindness is to be the last event I experience.”
 
 
  “Is there nothing I may offer to save your life, Dragon Lord?”
 
 
  The dragon ponders in her embrace, before answering her question. “There is one option, however it requires a great sacrifice from you, much too great to expect you to accept.”
 
 
  The woman looks the dragon in the eyes, her compassionate look unwavering. “Tell me Lord Dragon, for I fear the retribution from the heavens should I leave you to die in my husband's garden.”
 
 
  “Then stumbling across me may have cursed you either way. Very well. If I were to reside in your womb as I rest, I may heal. But in return, you will be infertile and will never again bear children.”
 
 
  The woman laughed, contrary to the dragon’s expectations. “Dragon, I have been a victim to a loveless life, fearing the day that my husband forces me to bear his child. I have called to the stars this night for an answer and they deposited you to my doorstep. I do not hesitate to accept my role from the heavens as your nurturer.”
 
 
  “I see,” the dragon said, understanding the heavens' divine plan. “I am grateful, woman. I am forever in your debt. Now, if you would be so kind as to present yourself to me, so that I may regain my strength.”
 
 
  The housewife bared her body for the dragon, disrobing herself as she lay in the garden. Her legs spread out as she awaited the serpent to enter her womb.
 
 
  “If I were a man, I would most certainly give in to temptation,” the dragon said, gazing upon her nude body.
 
 
  “Careful, dragon, for even the divine have been punished for lustful acts.”
 
 
  “Indeed.” Upon saying his peace, the dragon traversed up her nethers, his long, serpentine body pushing into her womb.
 
 
  The woman could not help but acknowledge the pleasant feeling. “I apologize for chastising you earlier, dragon. It seems my mind is not equipped to withstand pleasure.”
 
 
  The dragon curled up inside the woman’s womb, her stomach jutting out if only slightly. Her heated breaths became clouds in the night sky as she simply sat, adjusting to her burden.
 
 
  “I suppose I must tell my husband that I am with child, for I do not want to be thought crazy should I tell them the truth.” The woman put back on her clothes, familiarizing herself with the weight of the dragon within her.
 
 
  The dragon did not answer, its soft movement causing the woman to conclude that he was at rest. So the woman walked back inside the mansion, rubbing her stomach as she followed suit, laying to rest in her bed.
 
 
~~~
 
 
  The immediate reaction of the noblemen was to call for celebration. While he did not recall impregnating her, there was no report that she had ever left the mansion from his other wives or his guards. He concluded that he was the only one who had slept with her, which meant that another of his wives bore his child. The two wives before her had produced girls, a satisfactory, yet not preferred outcome. This was his chance to declare an heir.
 
 
  The housewife foiled his many attempts at romance and newly found attention. Opting to stay indoors alone, under the pretense of being a pregnant mother. While not happy about his wife’s isolation, he dreaded the thought of her taking the life of herself and potential heir if he were to pester, so she was given reprieve by the others in the mansion.
 
 
  In her solitude, she spent her time smoking and conversing with the dragon. For nine months, she and the dragon talked about the cosmos. The dragon may have been young, but its knowledge of the universe was more than enough to titillate the mind of the nobleman’s wife. She would spend hours listening to her growing womb as he told her stories of divine encounters, described the various astral bodies in the night sky, or even the perspectives from other nations and empires around the planet.
 
 
  “You jest, surely,” she said one night, blowing a puff of smoke into the night sky. “A man like us, riding in a western chariot as he throws bolts of lighting through the sky?”
 
 
  “It is true,” the dragon said from within her. “He is the king of the gods in the west. Just as divinity resides here, the rest of your world has created such pantheons.”
 
 
  The wife laughed. “Still, it seems like a funny notion. What if his wheel were to come loose? Will he have dropped his lightning all over their cities?”
 
 
  From within her body, the dragon joined her laughter. “Maybe! You humans are an interesting people. There is conquest and horror, but also laughter and kind people, such as you.”
 
 
  “I suppose.” After a moment of silence, the woman’s cheerful nature turned to melancholy. “Tomorrow is the day that I am due. It has been nine months, and I fear for the end of this illusion. After you free yourself from my womb, I will most certainly be executed for treachery to my husband.”
 
 
  “Execution? But it is not you to blame for your appearance, but I.”
 
 
  The woman sighed. “My husband will punish me regardless. He expects an heir of me. But if I were to produce no child at all, I would be seen as a curse upon his homestead. My life is forfeit, for he has many wives.”
 
 
  From within her body, the dragon pondered her dilemma. “I apologize for burdening your body, my lady. Had I known of your sacrifice I would have gladly died the night our paths crossed.”
 
 
  “Do not think such things, Lord Dragon. I have nothing but fondness for you and have grown to enjoy your presence. Your physical form within my womb is one that I have come to cherish and love, almost as if you were my own. My only regret is that I shall never truly experience motherhood before my time is cut short. You have my eternal gratitude, dragon.”
 
 
  The following morning, the woman woke to a flat belly. During the night, the dragon had abandoned her womb, off to traverse the cosmos as dragons do. Her husband was furious, calling for her death to be a public spectacle. To bear the child of a noble and dispose of his heir prematurely was a crime against the very laws of nature. She did not resist as she was shackled to the town square, berated by the townfolk for her treacherous ways.
 
 
  Suddenly the sky darkened before a tear in the sky brought forth a giant dragon, his winding form emerging from the rift as it hovered, patiently above the crowd. His body shined in indescribable colors of light while his mane flowed in the wind. A long pipe rested in its mouth, the tip glowing like the sun above, a fiery ball of power and heat. The wise kneeled in his divine presence, while others ran in fright. The nobleman stood strong with his cabinet, addressing the giant beast.
 
 
  “Oh, Dragon Lord! Has my wife’s treachery offended even the heavens? Have you come to bear witness to this witch’s death as I deliver justice?”
 
 
  “No.” The dragon’s voice was deep and mighty, rattling the very bones of the strongest warriors present. “I have come to give my gratitude to the one you call ‘witch’, for the child that was within your wife was not your heir, but me. I have come to take her away to travel the cosmos from within me, so that I may always protect her as she did me. She shall become ‘Min'na no Okāsan’, Mother to All.”
 
 
  Hearing this, the nobleman looked to his wife.
 
 
  “Is this true?”
 
 
  “Yes,” she replied. “I have been nurturing this great beast for nine months.”
 
 
  Pondering it over and looking over to his assembled court, the nobleman sighed. “Very well. If it is the heavens’ will, I relinquish her unto you, Great Dragon.” The man looked over to his wife, unshakled and embracing the dragon’s snout. “May you bring life to the heavens and honor your nam, Min’na no Okāsan.” He knelt down to his former spouse, followed by all present.
 
 
  “I will do my best,” she promised. The dragon opened it’s ferocious maw, it’s throat swirling in like the stars. The woman turned away from her fellow man, calmly making her way deeper into the dragon’s body.
 
 
  As she went deeper into the dragon’s throat, she began to change. Her himecut hairstyle took on the shade of infinite void, dotted with ever changing stars and constellations. Her belly tightened as it grew, the sensation of pregnancy returning to her. Her clothes faded into mist, swirling around her body as it took on many different styles of clothing, ranging from elegant kimono, western gowns, and strange two piece outfits from a time yet to come. The smoke swirled around her head before a majestic, ornate pipe hung from her mouth, it’s wide end glowing like her protector’s.
 
 
  She reached the dragon’s deepest chambers where a welcoming pool of cosmic wonder beckoned to her. She gracefully stepped inside, realizing that she was becoming one with the cosmos as a goddess. She took a long drag before blowing from the ornate pipe, releasing clouds of gas and dust that were destined to become planets, solar systems, and nebulas. He rested her arm on her taught belly, looking up at the sky. From within the dragon, she could see the whole of the universe.
 
 
  A wave of peace washed over her as she attuned herself to the universe. The dragon had long since returned to his home in the infinite as she ascended to godhood, now drifting through endless cosmos, eternally serving as the goddess’ protector. The urge to create was ever present as she understood her role as Min’na no Okāsan, the Mother of All. The universe was now hers to create, her kindness towards the dragon rewarded.
 
 
There was so much more to come.