Story
Once there was a god of light, and a god of darkness. The god of light's name was Okin, creator of the universe. Mer, the other, didn't start out being the god of darkness. This is how it happened.
Mer was once not a god at all, but xe was a soldier in Heaven's army. Okin had made ximself an army of winged almost-gods to help xim keep order among all the planets and worlds that xe watched over. When the soldiers were not keeping order, they lived in a place called Heaven, which was just outside the universe. Heaven was full of light, since it was also where Okin resided, and xe was the source of all light.
Mer was a very high-ranking general in Okin's army, and was trusted with many missions on her own where lesser soldiers might require a full platoon. Xe got to visit so many worlds, more so than Okin even personally manifested on. Okin was busy managing cosmic affairs, and couldn't always spend energy to go everywhere.
After so many missions carrying messages to Okin's people, stopping wars, carrying out Okin's judgements, Mer started to notice something different between the planets he traveled to and his home in Heaven. The thing was, Heaven was far too bright. By comparison, planets had a sun (which was considered a part of Okin), but they also had a side that was always opposite the sun. This produced something Mer understood was called 'night'. Heaven had no night--everything was always light, in different colors and hues, illumination from every surface. There was enough glow that no shadows were ever produced, though Mer knew what they were.
Mer decided one day (relative to the age of the universe, not the revolution-cycle of any particular planet) that xe would try to create shadows in Heaven. The whole place to xer was starting to look the same anyway, and having a bit of darkness out of the light would be nice. The universe Okin had created was full of xis light, but there was so much space in between the light, so much potential for new things. There was beauty in the non-light, but Okin would never admit it, not unless Mer decided to prove it.
Mer set about building something in one of the large meeting squares in Heaven. It was a sculpture unlike most of the soldiers had ever seen. Mer had borrowed bits and pieces from the planets xe visited and brought them back to xer home. Now xe hauled them out and started fitting them together in a pattern that at first didn't make sense, even to xer. Since Heaven was outside of Okin's creation, it could hold nearly anything inside it without regard for size. So Mer put in all manner of things that xe thought might contain shadows: mountain ranges with deeply folded deposits of coal, machines that put out dark smoke, holes and shallow caves, the dark side of several moons, nebula dust clouds, regional dust storms, the forgotten past, several flocks of crows with the occasional raven, the secret heart of a broken star, completely reflectionless rocks from a volcano, secrets at midnight, dying words poured out as ink on a white page, regret, the smell of asphalt in the rain, the bottom of a sea, the inner surface of someone's mind, iron and steel girders framing emptiness, a treasure buried away for millennia, uncounted stories in unknown books, this and that from everywhere in the universe and more.
But still Heaven would not allow shadows. The light of Heaven surged up and entered the sculpture, pushing into into the valleys and cracks as Mer worked. So Mer started adding wheels and pulleys, cranks and gears, levers and switches to the sculpture, so that parts of it could move in, out, and around. This way it might move faster than the light could illuminate, or perhaps fool the light into going in a different direction. This only worked for a few moments, and Mer saw deep within the structure a brief flicker of blackness like the space between stars. Then the light surged forward and was brighter than ever before, until Mer had to close xer eyes to adjust. Xe looked behind xer, and there was Okin, striding up into the square.
"I heard about your piece of....art," Okin said, xis voice like the glare of an open kiln. "I had to come see it for myself. What do you think you are doing, my trusted and valued general?"
Mer wasn't prepared to face Okin, since xe hadn't even finished the sculpture yet. Xe bowed xer head. "Okin, my lord! I wanted to show you this when it was finished, but you have come early. I am building something beautiful, like all those worlds I see outside of Heaven. I am making....shadows."
Okin flared up like the shockwave of a supernova, and in fact several stars in the universe exploded right at the moment. "Shadows!?! Why do you waste your time with this! Heaven is a place of light, there is no place for shadows! If the people I created weren't so fragile, I'd fill that grim, dirty universe completely with light as well!"
Mer turned xer back to Okin. Xe knew Okin would react like this. Okin was light, so light was all xe knew. There was nothing else. Mer struck back quietly, while xe added more parts to what was becoming more machine than sculpture. "Why did you, oh great Okin, create the universe? If you desired no imperfection, no flaws, no shadows at all, why did you form worlds at all?"
The god of light continued pouring forth heat and indignation. Xe had never been questioned before--all xis soldiers were usually so loyal. Perhaps it was because Mer was always down in the worlds on missions, and xe had picked up strange ideas from the sentients there. "That is not a question you should be asking, Mer. My works and my methods are not to be questioned. Perhaps I should not send you on any further missions. You should remain here and serve me more directly. How would you like to be my right-hand soldier, my second in command?"
Mer pushed a lever here, and rigged a pulley there. The machine spun its parts faster, but the light still filled it all. Xe knew there must be a catch, some condition attached to such a swift promotion. "What do I have to do for that to happen?"
Okin smiled and opened xis arms wide. "Stop building your silly contraption, stop talking about shadows, and come to me. Leave the machine, and let me destroy it. I will raise you up to power almost as great as my own!"
Mer turned back to Okin, drawing xer sword. "I will not let you destroy this machine. It may be our only way out. It is mine, and I will never come to your side if you insist on its destruction. I will protect this with my life." The winged soldier's swords were as sharp as a beam of light, and could cut through planets. Mer raised xers in front of xer face in a defensive stance.
"No. I would not allow it to come to this. The spilling of blood of one of my own soldiers is the darkest deed I can imagine, here in perfect Heaven." Okin stepped forward without drawing xis own sword, hands out as if to disarm Mer.
Mer just smiled, and held the sword out horizontal, staring at its keen edge. "Perhaps you speak true. That only gives me an idea. If no darkness can be found in Heaven, I will create some." With that, Mer ran xer finger along the edge of the sword, opening up a deep gash. the soldiers had never bled before, but had also never been cut with their own weapons before. Nothing mortal from the greater universe could hurt them. All the winged soldiers stepped back with a gasp at seeing Mer's blood, dropping out from xer hand and staining the brightly glowing ground.
Xer blood was black, as dark as innocence lost. Mer's face was something that Okin had never seen on his own soldiers before--pain. Mer lifted xer hand to show Okin the blood pouring out. "Look, Okin. See darkness, see shadows. It is real, even here, even in the light." And Mer turned to xer machine, flicking a single drop of blood into the depths.
The machine kept turning, but the light didn't reach as far into the center. Mountain ranges and long bars of iron stopped glowing of their own strength. Dried leaves and cold frozen planetoids faced away from the light, now only streaming from Okin ximself. Turning on vast axes of time, wheels of stone and peat traded places with smoked glass and chrome, to the other side of the machine. Now there was an absence of light, in and around the vast mechanism, and all that should have been dark was truly dark. The blood of a new god churned within its new heart, and Heaven trembled.
Okin trembled as well. Xe raised a shaking hand, uncertain for the first time in eternity. "What have you done? You have brought the darkness into my light! You have ruined everything I built here! No! I refused to allow it! I got here first! You can't take away everything from me. If you like the universe I made so much, then I condemn you to live in it." Okin made a gesture with xis hands, and a hole opened up below Mer and the shadow-machine.
As the machine was pulled down through the hole in Heaven, Mer merely smiled, eerily calm, at Okin, still holding xer sword, which had turned from pure silver-white to the black color of xer blood. "Ah, now we see the god of light's true face! This is not over, Okin. I will return to Heaven someday. When I do, you can be sure that there will be more than just shadow here. There will be Darkness." With that, Mer and the machine vanished.
Mer fell, tumbling through the emptiness, for a year and a day, for a millennia, for a few seconds. Xe didn't know how long, or how far xe had fallen. Xe kept falling, but as xe fell, xe said to xerself, "No, this isn't over yet. But at least the world didn't end this time. I'm starting to discover how to play the game."
Mer was once not a god at all, but xe was a soldier in Heaven's army. Okin had made ximself an army of winged almost-gods to help xim keep order among all the planets and worlds that xe watched over. When the soldiers were not keeping order, they lived in a place called Heaven, which was just outside the universe. Heaven was full of light, since it was also where Okin resided, and xe was the source of all light.
Mer was a very high-ranking general in Okin's army, and was trusted with many missions on her own where lesser soldiers might require a full platoon. Xe got to visit so many worlds, more so than Okin even personally manifested on. Okin was busy managing cosmic affairs, and couldn't always spend energy to go everywhere.
After so many missions carrying messages to Okin's people, stopping wars, carrying out Okin's judgements, Mer started to notice something different between the planets he traveled to and his home in Heaven. The thing was, Heaven was far too bright. By comparison, planets had a sun (which was considered a part of Okin), but they also had a side that was always opposite the sun. This produced something Mer understood was called 'night'. Heaven had no night--everything was always light, in different colors and hues, illumination from every surface. There was enough glow that no shadows were ever produced, though Mer knew what they were.
Mer decided one day (relative to the age of the universe, not the revolution-cycle of any particular planet) that xe would try to create shadows in Heaven. The whole place to xer was starting to look the same anyway, and having a bit of darkness out of the light would be nice. The universe Okin had created was full of xis light, but there was so much space in between the light, so much potential for new things. There was beauty in the non-light, but Okin would never admit it, not unless Mer decided to prove it.
Mer set about building something in one of the large meeting squares in Heaven. It was a sculpture unlike most of the soldiers had ever seen. Mer had borrowed bits and pieces from the planets xe visited and brought them back to xer home. Now xe hauled them out and started fitting them together in a pattern that at first didn't make sense, even to xer. Since Heaven was outside of Okin's creation, it could hold nearly anything inside it without regard for size. So Mer put in all manner of things that xe thought might contain shadows: mountain ranges with deeply folded deposits of coal, machines that put out dark smoke, holes and shallow caves, the dark side of several moons, nebula dust clouds, regional dust storms, the forgotten past, several flocks of crows with the occasional raven, the secret heart of a broken star, completely reflectionless rocks from a volcano, secrets at midnight, dying words poured out as ink on a white page, regret, the smell of asphalt in the rain, the bottom of a sea, the inner surface of someone's mind, iron and steel girders framing emptiness, a treasure buried away for millennia, uncounted stories in unknown books, this and that from everywhere in the universe and more.
But still Heaven would not allow shadows. The light of Heaven surged up and entered the sculpture, pushing into into the valleys and cracks as Mer worked. So Mer started adding wheels and pulleys, cranks and gears, levers and switches to the sculpture, so that parts of it could move in, out, and around. This way it might move faster than the light could illuminate, or perhaps fool the light into going in a different direction. This only worked for a few moments, and Mer saw deep within the structure a brief flicker of blackness like the space between stars. Then the light surged forward and was brighter than ever before, until Mer had to close xer eyes to adjust. Xe looked behind xer, and there was Okin, striding up into the square.
"I heard about your piece of....art," Okin said, xis voice like the glare of an open kiln. "I had to come see it for myself. What do you think you are doing, my trusted and valued general?"
Mer wasn't prepared to face Okin, since xe hadn't even finished the sculpture yet. Xe bowed xer head. "Okin, my lord! I wanted to show you this when it was finished, but you have come early. I am building something beautiful, like all those worlds I see outside of Heaven. I am making....shadows."
Okin flared up like the shockwave of a supernova, and in fact several stars in the universe exploded right at the moment. "Shadows!?! Why do you waste your time with this! Heaven is a place of light, there is no place for shadows! If the people I created weren't so fragile, I'd fill that grim, dirty universe completely with light as well!"
Mer turned xer back to Okin. Xe knew Okin would react like this. Okin was light, so light was all xe knew. There was nothing else. Mer struck back quietly, while xe added more parts to what was becoming more machine than sculpture. "Why did you, oh great Okin, create the universe? If you desired no imperfection, no flaws, no shadows at all, why did you form worlds at all?"
The god of light continued pouring forth heat and indignation. Xe had never been questioned before--all xis soldiers were usually so loyal. Perhaps it was because Mer was always down in the worlds on missions, and xe had picked up strange ideas from the sentients there. "That is not a question you should be asking, Mer. My works and my methods are not to be questioned. Perhaps I should not send you on any further missions. You should remain here and serve me more directly. How would you like to be my right-hand soldier, my second in command?"
Mer pushed a lever here, and rigged a pulley there. The machine spun its parts faster, but the light still filled it all. Xe knew there must be a catch, some condition attached to such a swift promotion. "What do I have to do for that to happen?"
Okin smiled and opened xis arms wide. "Stop building your silly contraption, stop talking about shadows, and come to me. Leave the machine, and let me destroy it. I will raise you up to power almost as great as my own!"
Mer turned back to Okin, drawing xer sword. "I will not let you destroy this machine. It may be our only way out. It is mine, and I will never come to your side if you insist on its destruction. I will protect this with my life." The winged soldier's swords were as sharp as a beam of light, and could cut through planets. Mer raised xers in front of xer face in a defensive stance.
"No. I would not allow it to come to this. The spilling of blood of one of my own soldiers is the darkest deed I can imagine, here in perfect Heaven." Okin stepped forward without drawing xis own sword, hands out as if to disarm Mer.
Mer just smiled, and held the sword out horizontal, staring at its keen edge. "Perhaps you speak true. That only gives me an idea. If no darkness can be found in Heaven, I will create some." With that, Mer ran xer finger along the edge of the sword, opening up a deep gash. the soldiers had never bled before, but had also never been cut with their own weapons before. Nothing mortal from the greater universe could hurt them. All the winged soldiers stepped back with a gasp at seeing Mer's blood, dropping out from xer hand and staining the brightly glowing ground.
Xer blood was black, as dark as innocence lost. Mer's face was something that Okin had never seen on his own soldiers before--pain. Mer lifted xer hand to show Okin the blood pouring out. "Look, Okin. See darkness, see shadows. It is real, even here, even in the light." And Mer turned to xer machine, flicking a single drop of blood into the depths.
The machine kept turning, but the light didn't reach as far into the center. Mountain ranges and long bars of iron stopped glowing of their own strength. Dried leaves and cold frozen planetoids faced away from the light, now only streaming from Okin ximself. Turning on vast axes of time, wheels of stone and peat traded places with smoked glass and chrome, to the other side of the machine. Now there was an absence of light, in and around the vast mechanism, and all that should have been dark was truly dark. The blood of a new god churned within its new heart, and Heaven trembled.
Okin trembled as well. Xe raised a shaking hand, uncertain for the first time in eternity. "What have you done? You have brought the darkness into my light! You have ruined everything I built here! No! I refused to allow it! I got here first! You can't take away everything from me. If you like the universe I made so much, then I condemn you to live in it." Okin made a gesture with xis hands, and a hole opened up below Mer and the shadow-machine.
As the machine was pulled down through the hole in Heaven, Mer merely smiled, eerily calm, at Okin, still holding xer sword, which had turned from pure silver-white to the black color of xer blood. "Ah, now we see the god of light's true face! This is not over, Okin. I will return to Heaven someday. When I do, you can be sure that there will be more than just shadow here. There will be Darkness." With that, Mer and the machine vanished.
Mer fell, tumbling through the emptiness, for a year and a day, for a millennia, for a few seconds. Xe didn't know how long, or how far xe had fallen. Xe kept falling, but as xe fell, xe said to xerself, "No, this isn't over yet. But at least the world didn't end this time. I'm starting to discover how to play the game."