Story
Once, there was a god of light named Okin. Xe was quite happy spinning off balls of light into the nothingness of the universe, which often ended up making new collections of denser matter around them. Sometimes even planets would arise, though this was rare. Even more rare were the planets on which infinitesimal specks of intelligence would arise, which would eventually discover some aspect of Okin to worship. Xe was very pleased when this would happen, and made as much effort as xe could to watch over the forms of life that grew in xis light. Because xe was very large, as large as the universe itself, xe couldn't spend as much time with each instance of life as xe wanted to, but the life generally revered xim as Creator anyway. This made xim happy, and xe continued to form new balls of light and place them in space for many long time-units (relative to the god, several million or so years). Xe loved to form all the stars into clever patterns and orderly rows, making sure none were too close to each other in the entire sky.
Then something changed. A new god came into the universe. This was not in itself unusual, as the smaller flecks of intelligence were always making up names and personas for greater intelligences than them. These were completely separate from the god of light, usually formed in the image of the intelligence who made them up. Okin did not find them to be all that useful in the larger universe, though they were often helpful for interacting with a local light-ball system, as long as they didn't get overextend their boundaries in a hostile way.
This was different, though. The new god came from somewhere outside the universe, and claimed to be Okin's brother-sister god. Xer name was Mer, and xe was a god not of light, but of dark. Now there were two gods the size of the universe, and it was starting to get crowded.
Mer was a very different kind of god. Xer enjoyment was in making small balls of dark, which were very much like Okin's balls of light, except mostly invisible. The dark balls could not be seen with the same eyes as those that could see in the realm of Okin's light-spectrums, and Okin would not have even known they were there except for the dark affecting the gravity of the light. The dark permeated the spaces between the light matter, and had an attraction towards itself, which grew into larger clumps, eventually causing a pull on the light's motion. Slowly the balls of light started to drift into larger groups, spiraling around in great discs and whirlpools. Greater darkness formed out in between the spirals of light, attracting all of them in towards it. This ruined Okin's careful patterns and star plans, throwing the universe into apparent chaos.
Now, every so often a piece of dark would get so saturated with more dark that it would collapse into itself, taking any nearby light and matter with it. For this reason Mer started to be known as a god of destruction, which bothered xer greatly. Xe felt that while Okin was likely the creator of most life, even if accidentally in most cases, Mer was a superior god, even if the dark xe created sometimes had unexpected reactions. So Mer decided to go to Okin and talk to xim, to decide who was more worthy of ruling the universe.
Okin was quite surprised and not the least indignant at even asking who was worthy. "Who are you, Mer, that can ask such a question? I have been here in this universe since the beginning, since before there was light. I have shaped the light into bright stars, and given life to countless worlds."
Mer replied, "I am the dark behind the light. Without me, everything would be light, and all the same. Who would know what light is without its opposite?"
Okin trembled at this, angered, and all the stars in the sky flickered. "I am great and powerful! Without me life would not exist! Millions of civilizations across endless galaxies revere me as Creator, and I pass my blessings down to them as I choose. Is this not how it should be?"
Mer simply asked, "Did you create this universe?" Okin was caught off-guard. "Well, no, but..." xe started to say.
"Ah," interrupted Mer, "then you are no true creator! You came here from outside just as much as I did, only a bit earlier in what passes for 'time' around here. All you did was take the light and condense it into smaller bits, which means there's less of it now than at the start of this universe. If life arose because of that then it is only because you were very careful with the variables. I'm no more a usurper of power than you are."
Okin rumbled, "But the life I've created...does that count for anything? The power of belief makes me stronger, doesn't it?"
"Only because it's mandated from the start, reinforced by occasional displays of your power, and propped up by creating elite upper classes that receive privileges for doing whatever they want in your name when you're not paying attention. Do you really think you can take care of all of those people by yourself indefinitely? Let me tell you how I have let the people take care of themselves, and we'll see who has the better plan." Mer gave Okin the use of xer eyes for a moment, to illustrate the point. "See my darkness. See that it passes through all things, is inside and outside of all matter, including your light. See how it fills the emptiness between your light."
And Okin saw, and was surprised, as he had never seen this before. The god of light's eyes could not have seen where there was no light. Mer shifted their view to a smaller perspective, of a city on a planet who worshipped the light. "See your people, see how the dark even flows in among them. This is what I have done; not only have I shaped the universe into closer clusters of stars to keep each other warm, I have also spread my influence out through the dark, so that I am everywhere. Those of your people who discover this, I allow to use my power as they choose."
Okin watched the planet's inhabitants change over several hundred cycles around its star before xe replied, "There are those who would take that power only for harming others, or for greater individual gain by exploiting the weaker among them..."
Mer laughed, and all of space vibrated for a moment. "That is no concern of mine, those who uncover my secret have often gone through trials to gain the knowledge, and are deserving of using my power. What they do with it is up to them, but certainly it is no worse than, say, the abuses done in your name by empowered priests, right?"
To this Okin had nothing to say, so xe began to draw more and more light into ximself, swelling up and threatening to become a supernova to try and shove Mer out of the universe entirely. Mer reacted in kind by pulling together the largest ball of dark xe had ever assembled in one place. More and more fell into the mass as the chain reaction grew bigger, almost as big as the great star. As they spun around in space, Mer tried to calm Okin down, but Okin was no longer listening.
"Stop this! We'll destroy this universe and all life in it if you continue!" Mer shouted. Huge streamers of fire and light started to fall into the embrace of the darkness. Okin just continued to swell the light, consuming planets and stars alike, as the black mass tried to keep the star under control, but sucked in just as much destruction.
Mer struggled with all xer power now, just to keep the swell of light from burning out all else. Xe tried one more time to get through to the light god.
"Nik! Stop it! You're in a story...we're in a story! This isn't real...stop trying to destroy me! I'm trying to helMer's voice was cut off quickly as the supernova collapsed into the giant black hole, which then exploded, taking the rest of the universe with it.
THE END.
OOC AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've noticed that I've been rather slow at updating this, and lazy in the actual writing of posts. I'm going to try and push myself into a better writing schedule and see how it goes. My goal that I'm setting for myself is going to be one entry a week. The day of the week may vary, depending on when I have ideas for the next one, it will be once a week. This one a month or less has got to stop. :-}
Then something changed. A new god came into the universe. This was not in itself unusual, as the smaller flecks of intelligence were always making up names and personas for greater intelligences than them. These were completely separate from the god of light, usually formed in the image of the intelligence who made them up. Okin did not find them to be all that useful in the larger universe, though they were often helpful for interacting with a local light-ball system, as long as they didn't get overextend their boundaries in a hostile way.
This was different, though. The new god came from somewhere outside the universe, and claimed to be Okin's brother-sister god. Xer name was Mer, and xe was a god not of light, but of dark. Now there were two gods the size of the universe, and it was starting to get crowded.
Mer was a very different kind of god. Xer enjoyment was in making small balls of dark, which were very much like Okin's balls of light, except mostly invisible. The dark balls could not be seen with the same eyes as those that could see in the realm of Okin's light-spectrums, and Okin would not have even known they were there except for the dark affecting the gravity of the light. The dark permeated the spaces between the light matter, and had an attraction towards itself, which grew into larger clumps, eventually causing a pull on the light's motion. Slowly the balls of light started to drift into larger groups, spiraling around in great discs and whirlpools. Greater darkness formed out in between the spirals of light, attracting all of them in towards it. This ruined Okin's careful patterns and star plans, throwing the universe into apparent chaos.
Now, every so often a piece of dark would get so saturated with more dark that it would collapse into itself, taking any nearby light and matter with it. For this reason Mer started to be known as a god of destruction, which bothered xer greatly. Xe felt that while Okin was likely the creator of most life, even if accidentally in most cases, Mer was a superior god, even if the dark xe created sometimes had unexpected reactions. So Mer decided to go to Okin and talk to xim, to decide who was more worthy of ruling the universe.
Okin was quite surprised and not the least indignant at even asking who was worthy. "Who are you, Mer, that can ask such a question? I have been here in this universe since the beginning, since before there was light. I have shaped the light into bright stars, and given life to countless worlds."
Mer replied, "I am the dark behind the light. Without me, everything would be light, and all the same. Who would know what light is without its opposite?"
Okin trembled at this, angered, and all the stars in the sky flickered. "I am great and powerful! Without me life would not exist! Millions of civilizations across endless galaxies revere me as Creator, and I pass my blessings down to them as I choose. Is this not how it should be?"
Mer simply asked, "Did you create this universe?" Okin was caught off-guard. "Well, no, but..." xe started to say.
"Ah," interrupted Mer, "then you are no true creator! You came here from outside just as much as I did, only a bit earlier in what passes for 'time' around here. All you did was take the light and condense it into smaller bits, which means there's less of it now than at the start of this universe. If life arose because of that then it is only because you were very careful with the variables. I'm no more a usurper of power than you are."
Okin rumbled, "But the life I've created...does that count for anything? The power of belief makes me stronger, doesn't it?"
"Only because it's mandated from the start, reinforced by occasional displays of your power, and propped up by creating elite upper classes that receive privileges for doing whatever they want in your name when you're not paying attention. Do you really think you can take care of all of those people by yourself indefinitely? Let me tell you how I have let the people take care of themselves, and we'll see who has the better plan." Mer gave Okin the use of xer eyes for a moment, to illustrate the point. "See my darkness. See that it passes through all things, is inside and outside of all matter, including your light. See how it fills the emptiness between your light."
And Okin saw, and was surprised, as he had never seen this before. The god of light's eyes could not have seen where there was no light. Mer shifted their view to a smaller perspective, of a city on a planet who worshipped the light. "See your people, see how the dark even flows in among them. This is what I have done; not only have I shaped the universe into closer clusters of stars to keep each other warm, I have also spread my influence out through the dark, so that I am everywhere. Those of your people who discover this, I allow to use my power as they choose."
Okin watched the planet's inhabitants change over several hundred cycles around its star before xe replied, "There are those who would take that power only for harming others, or for greater individual gain by exploiting the weaker among them..."
Mer laughed, and all of space vibrated for a moment. "That is no concern of mine, those who uncover my secret have often gone through trials to gain the knowledge, and are deserving of using my power. What they do with it is up to them, but certainly it is no worse than, say, the abuses done in your name by empowered priests, right?"
To this Okin had nothing to say, so xe began to draw more and more light into ximself, swelling up and threatening to become a supernova to try and shove Mer out of the universe entirely. Mer reacted in kind by pulling together the largest ball of dark xe had ever assembled in one place. More and more fell into the mass as the chain reaction grew bigger, almost as big as the great star. As they spun around in space, Mer tried to calm Okin down, but Okin was no longer listening.
"Stop this! We'll destroy this universe and all life in it if you continue!" Mer shouted. Huge streamers of fire and light started to fall into the embrace of the darkness. Okin just continued to swell the light, consuming planets and stars alike, as the black mass tried to keep the star under control, but sucked in just as much destruction.
Mer struggled with all xer power now, just to keep the swell of light from burning out all else. Xe tried one more time to get through to the light god.
"Nik! Stop it! You're in a story...we're in a story! This isn't real...stop trying to destroy me! I'm trying to helMer's voice was cut off quickly as the supernova collapsed into the giant black hole, which then exploded, taking the rest of the universe with it.
THE END.
OOC AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've noticed that I've been rather slow at updating this, and lazy in the actual writing of posts. I'm going to try and push myself into a better writing schedule and see how it goes. My goal that I'm setting for myself is going to be one entry a week. The day of the week may vary, depending on when I have ideas for the next one, it will be once a week. This one a month or less has got to stop. :-}