Of fanfiction and insanity.
I've been writing lately. It helps me think, and it brings my idea to life as well.
First up, the soliloquy of madness, the birth of the monster clown of Final Fantasy VI. I didn't give him a name because I believed Kefka to be an ideal, and anyone, under the right circumstances, could have become Kefka.
As the man sat in the chamber, he contemplated about his life.
They told him not to think while the Magitek infusion process was being carried out, but he thought they were being worried over nothing. Magitek was state-of-the-art, a futuristic process designed to allow normal human beings to wield the power of gods. The power to destroy and create to your heart's desire. The power that had single-handedly sparked off a war that almost destroyed the Planet.
Magic.
And he was the first. The first of a glorious generation of Magitek Knights, magic-wielding super soldiers that would fight and die for their cause. Namely, for Emperor Gestahl, the supreme ruler of the Gestahlian Empire. There were rumors, of course. Rumors that the process had not yet been perfected, that fear of Gestahl's wrath caused the researchers to rush it out. The nameless man was not afraid, however. A cowardly man would not have been as brilliant as he was in the art of military strategy. It was ambition and talent that propelled his meteoric rise through the ranks, to become the head strategist of the Gestahlian Empire.
As the machines whirred, injecting anesthesia into his body to numb his body to the many injections that would infuse his body with the power of magic, he smiled.
He had always been special, that much he knew for certain, and now he would prove his ability to his critics. To show them how powerful he was.
There was another fear that had been plaguing the man for years.
He had been suffering from incessant nightmares, with morbid Jungian archetypes and insane laughter.
Of clowns and court jesters, who laughed maniacally in his dreams. Of dangerous, beautiful flames consuming everything he held dear. Power, wealth, everything.
Most prominently, of a desolate wasteland, with blood red rivers, despairing townspeople and-
-And a tower of God.
It was ironic that the very first test subject for the Magitek infusion process was someone who was afraid of the very idea of a God. The Warring Triad had powers beyond his imaginations, but it was not God. The God in his dreams had been a being of infinite strength. A being who had four wings and was cloaked only with a loincloth. Of a being who radiated light.
The man's God had a cruel, sickening laugh, as if he knew the meaning of life. The meaning of life that no human should have been aware of. Then again, gods were different from humans because they had the power to be different. The man wondered faintly if he could have become one, with the power of Magic. No insolent fool would dare cross him once again, knowing he could easily set him on fire if he wished.
The God had a name, and it was Kefka.
He felt God's kiss in his skin, as power coursed through every fibre of his being. The man grinned widely, at the realization of his dream.
Absolute power.
He would- No, he could become a god if he so wished. He could reign over everything, and topple Gestahl and his foolishly short-sighted Empire. He could become God itself, and reign over the world with this power.
The nightmares would be no more, crushed by his godlike strength. His dissenters would be persecuted and tortured endlessly, made to cower and beg for their lives.
And he would kill them after humiliating them completely, of stripping them of every last ounce of their dignity.
Clowns? Symbols of fear? Of the being they called Kefka?
He could and he would crush them all. With this power, he was God and he could do anything.
But-
What exactly was the meaning of life then? If Magic was the power of the gods, and if God knew the meaning of life, then it only made sense that he would know it as well.
...And then it dawned on him.
The ideal world was the wasteland.
A beautiful picture of catastrophe, despair and destruction. Beauty in destruction, how poetic.
Fire. He would burn everything down. That was the meaning of life.
Destruction.
Despair.
Chaos.
A quiet, trembling voice at the back of his head asked, "What if you die?"
What if he died?
What if God died?
Would anything have mattered once he did? Once he died, he would be whisked into the Phantom Train of legend and his power would be gone. He would then be reduced into something simple, of something trivial, like a pitiful human.
Where did life come from?
Where did dreams come from?
Where did hope come from?
All these things were abstract, and-
If God's power was absolute, he could destroy anything. Anything concrete, that is. Did God also have the power to destroy abstract beliefs?
No.
There was nothing he couldn't do. He would destroy them all.
And he was now Kefka.
The harbinger of destruction. The messiah of the new world. He would usher in a new age of chaos and destruction.
And he laughed. It was humorous, his life's struggle for power and wealth. Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing else mattered from the very beginning.
One more, for my friend kakaetakiseki, a belated birthday present of sorts. What if she had the death note? A... parody of the original material, it would seem.
Wong Li Ying was bored.
No, the reason for her boredom was not due to the lack of events occupying her time, nor was it because she was simply too efficient and competent, with abilities far exceeding those of her age.
The real reason, was because there was too much to do, and she hated it all.
She didn't mind studying for the national exams that were only two months away. Delving inside the fountains of knowledge had always been relatively exciting for her, and she actually enjoyed it. That was also one of the reasons why Li Ying had excelled in all of her schoolwork effortlessly, much to the admiration of her peers.
There was another aspect of education that she vehemently detested, with every fibre of her being.
It was the competition.
Naturally, being one of the top students of your school, you would be placed in one of the best classes, mixing with those who were also deeply motivated and highly ambitious with their lives. However, they were being too ambitious, and Li Ying could see the pointless backstabbing and scheming among her classmates from a mile away. She was considered a loner, in the eyes of others, and she was perfectly fine with that.
It was, in her opinion, far more efficient to trust no one else but herself, because she knew that she would never betray herself and everything she held dear. Of course, as that loneliness consumed her, the shadow of boredom descended upon her as well.
Li Ying wanted something else from her life. Something greater and more... interesting.
Something that would take this emptiness away from her, and transform it into something special. That she could use to leave her mark on the world.
Somewhere from up above, God was smiling upon her.
---
"What's this?"
She knelt down and picked up a small black book. The texture of the book was... different. It felt slightly rough, unlike the perfect smooth texture of paper. It was small, and inconspicuously seemed no different than any notebook one could purchase in a convenience store.
However, Li Ying froze slightly, not believing her eyes.
The book had a very ominous title indeed.
"Death Note."
She opened the book, wanting to laugh to herself.
"The human whose name is written in this note shall die."
This definitely had to be a prank. Some stupid kid probably thought it was funny to scare people, and dropped this book that he created. Okay, she had to admit that this scenario seemed a little iffy to her, but this definitely couldn't be a notebook of death, right?
It would completely defy the laws of physics if one was able to murder someone else without lifting a finger, or in this case, by writing a person's name into some weird notebook.
The logical thing to do would be to leave the book on the ground and walk away, but Li Ying wanted to check something. There was this sickening feeling inside her that she couldn't explain, an unnatural obsession with the book. Perhaps the book was real after all...?
...Naaaaah.
---
No one was home, as usual. Her arrogant excuse for a brother was probably off bragging about his latest accomplishments to the people he deemed as friends, although Li Ying occasionally wondered to herself if anyone would be stupid enough to befriend someone as completely obnoxious as him? Father and Mother had a reason to be absent though, they were away at work as usual, and Li Ying was never really all that close to them anyway.
Sitting on her study desk, she was about to open her Chemistry workbook to complete the day's homework, when she suddenly remembered the very strange book that was currently sitting in her backpack.
Sighing to herself, Li Ying flipped the book opened, and quietly read through the numerous laws as stated by the book.
"This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected."
"If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen."
"If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack."
"After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds."
This book was most definitely intriguing, that much cannot be denied. To think that a prankster would put so much thought into his prank, to carefully consider the rules behind this Death Note, and to painstakingly write it all out...
This was no normal prank, that was for sure.
The only real way to know if this book was real or not... would be to test it, naturally. She had to find someone that was internationally renowned, because that would yield the fastest results for her experiment. It was most likely a prank, but Li Ying had to be sure. She wanted to know. She had to know.
Question is... who should she kill?
A criminal?
A politician?
An actor?
A singer?
Looking at her brother's poster of the famous singer, Justine Bieber, she smiled in approval to herself.
"Justine Bieber."
The time was approximately one thirty in the afternoon.
Millions of miles away, in Hollywood, America, Justine Bieber collapsed in the middle of a rehearsal. Sleeping for eternity.
---
When Li Ying read the news on Twitter later that night, she felt like she was going to throw up.
According to a reliable source, Justine Bieber collapsed and died in her studio, in the middle of a dance rehearsal. The most likely cause of death?
You didn't even have to ask.
She died of heart failure.
A heart attack.
The experiment had succeeded.
The book was real.
Wong Li Ying was now a murderer, having directly caused the death of an international pop icon.
No, no, no, Li Ying tried to tell herself, this could have purely been a coincidence. A trick of Fate. This didn't mean anything. She needed to see for herself that the notebook of death worked.
With her own eyes.
---
Sliding the Death Note on top of her Chinese textbook, Li Ying shivered inwardly. This had to have been a coincidence. Justine Bieber didn't die because of her. It was totally illogical and impossible for something as crazy as this to happen.
"Oi, Pipsqueaks. I come in here to teach you guys and this is the respect I get. I know what you students are up to nowadays, with your stupid boyfriends and teenaged relationships. In my day..."
Her Chinese teacher was universally hated, to say the least. No one liked her, and she was a completely horrible person. There were rumors of her having physically abused a student, although no one had evidence to verify the claim.
...The perfect test subject.
Li Ying smiled to herself, masking her fears, and started scribbling.
If one didn't know better, they would have assumed that she was taking notes, as usual.
Forty seconds later, her chinese teacher collapsed on the floor of the classroom, twitching violently before she fell asleep for eternity.
It was true!
This book really was a notebook of death.
She was now a murderer.
Li Ying was panicking inwardly. She killed two people. Two.
Should she give herself up? No, that would be stupid. She would ruin her future if she did, and murder was a crime punishable by death. It was not a good solution.
She couldn't give the book up though. What if another found it, and traced it down to her? She'd be finished.
That left only one option to consider.
It wasn't even a choice. There were no evidence pointing to her, so she should be free from suspicion from the police for now, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't catch on. Still, this was a risk she had to take. This was the only road left for her.
From that day on, Li Ying was never bored again.
And Kira was born.
First up, the soliloquy of madness, the birth of the monster clown of Final Fantasy VI. I didn't give him a name because I believed Kefka to be an ideal, and anyone, under the right circumstances, could have become Kefka.
As the man sat in the chamber, he contemplated about his life.
They told him not to think while the Magitek infusion process was being carried out, but he thought they were being worried over nothing. Magitek was state-of-the-art, a futuristic process designed to allow normal human beings to wield the power of gods. The power to destroy and create to your heart's desire. The power that had single-handedly sparked off a war that almost destroyed the Planet.
Magic.
And he was the first. The first of a glorious generation of Magitek Knights, magic-wielding super soldiers that would fight and die for their cause. Namely, for Emperor Gestahl, the supreme ruler of the Gestahlian Empire. There were rumors, of course. Rumors that the process had not yet been perfected, that fear of Gestahl's wrath caused the researchers to rush it out. The nameless man was not afraid, however. A cowardly man would not have been as brilliant as he was in the art of military strategy. It was ambition and talent that propelled his meteoric rise through the ranks, to become the head strategist of the Gestahlian Empire.
As the machines whirred, injecting anesthesia into his body to numb his body to the many injections that would infuse his body with the power of magic, he smiled.
He had always been special, that much he knew for certain, and now he would prove his ability to his critics. To show them how powerful he was.
There was another fear that had been plaguing the man for years.
He had been suffering from incessant nightmares, with morbid Jungian archetypes and insane laughter.
Of clowns and court jesters, who laughed maniacally in his dreams. Of dangerous, beautiful flames consuming everything he held dear. Power, wealth, everything.
Most prominently, of a desolate wasteland, with blood red rivers, despairing townspeople and-
-And a tower of God.
It was ironic that the very first test subject for the Magitek infusion process was someone who was afraid of the very idea of a God. The Warring Triad had powers beyond his imaginations, but it was not God. The God in his dreams had been a being of infinite strength. A being who had four wings and was cloaked only with a loincloth. Of a being who radiated light.
The man's God had a cruel, sickening laugh, as if he knew the meaning of life. The meaning of life that no human should have been aware of. Then again, gods were different from humans because they had the power to be different. The man wondered faintly if he could have become one, with the power of Magic. No insolent fool would dare cross him once again, knowing he could easily set him on fire if he wished.
The God had a name, and it was Kefka.
He felt God's kiss in his skin, as power coursed through every fibre of his being. The man grinned widely, at the realization of his dream.
Absolute power.
He would- No, he could become a god if he so wished. He could reign over everything, and topple Gestahl and his foolishly short-sighted Empire. He could become God itself, and reign over the world with this power.
The nightmares would be no more, crushed by his godlike strength. His dissenters would be persecuted and tortured endlessly, made to cower and beg for their lives.
And he would kill them after humiliating them completely, of stripping them of every last ounce of their dignity.
Clowns? Symbols of fear? Of the being they called Kefka?
He could and he would crush them all. With this power, he was God and he could do anything.
But-
What exactly was the meaning of life then? If Magic was the power of the gods, and if God knew the meaning of life, then it only made sense that he would know it as well.
...And then it dawned on him.
The ideal world was the wasteland.
A beautiful picture of catastrophe, despair and destruction. Beauty in destruction, how poetic.
Fire. He would burn everything down. That was the meaning of life.
Destruction.
Despair.
Chaos.
A quiet, trembling voice at the back of his head asked, "What if you die?"
What if he died?
What if God died?
Would anything have mattered once he did? Once he died, he would be whisked into the Phantom Train of legend and his power would be gone. He would then be reduced into something simple, of something trivial, like a pitiful human.
Where did life come from?
Where did dreams come from?
Where did hope come from?
All these things were abstract, and-
If God's power was absolute, he could destroy anything. Anything concrete, that is. Did God also have the power to destroy abstract beliefs?
No.
There was nothing he couldn't do. He would destroy them all.
And he was now Kefka.
The harbinger of destruction. The messiah of the new world. He would usher in a new age of chaos and destruction.
And he laughed. It was humorous, his life's struggle for power and wealth. Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing else mattered from the very beginning.
One more, for my friend kakaetakiseki, a belated birthday present of sorts. What if she had the death note? A... parody of the original material, it would seem.
Wong Li Ying was bored.
No, the reason for her boredom was not due to the lack of events occupying her time, nor was it because she was simply too efficient and competent, with abilities far exceeding those of her age.
The real reason, was because there was too much to do, and she hated it all.
She didn't mind studying for the national exams that were only two months away. Delving inside the fountains of knowledge had always been relatively exciting for her, and she actually enjoyed it. That was also one of the reasons why Li Ying had excelled in all of her schoolwork effortlessly, much to the admiration of her peers.
There was another aspect of education that she vehemently detested, with every fibre of her being.
It was the competition.
Naturally, being one of the top students of your school, you would be placed in one of the best classes, mixing with those who were also deeply motivated and highly ambitious with their lives. However, they were being too ambitious, and Li Ying could see the pointless backstabbing and scheming among her classmates from a mile away. She was considered a loner, in the eyes of others, and she was perfectly fine with that.
It was, in her opinion, far more efficient to trust no one else but herself, because she knew that she would never betray herself and everything she held dear. Of course, as that loneliness consumed her, the shadow of boredom descended upon her as well.
Li Ying wanted something else from her life. Something greater and more... interesting.
Something that would take this emptiness away from her, and transform it into something special. That she could use to leave her mark on the world.
Somewhere from up above, God was smiling upon her.
---
"What's this?"
She knelt down and picked up a small black book. The texture of the book was... different. It felt slightly rough, unlike the perfect smooth texture of paper. It was small, and inconspicuously seemed no different than any notebook one could purchase in a convenience store.
However, Li Ying froze slightly, not believing her eyes.
The book had a very ominous title indeed.
"Death Note."
She opened the book, wanting to laugh to herself.
"The human whose name is written in this note shall die."
This definitely had to be a prank. Some stupid kid probably thought it was funny to scare people, and dropped this book that he created. Okay, she had to admit that this scenario seemed a little iffy to her, but this definitely couldn't be a notebook of death, right?
It would completely defy the laws of physics if one was able to murder someone else without lifting a finger, or in this case, by writing a person's name into some weird notebook.
The logical thing to do would be to leave the book on the ground and walk away, but Li Ying wanted to check something. There was this sickening feeling inside her that she couldn't explain, an unnatural obsession with the book. Perhaps the book was real after all...?
...Naaaaah.
---
No one was home, as usual. Her arrogant excuse for a brother was probably off bragging about his latest accomplishments to the people he deemed as friends, although Li Ying occasionally wondered to herself if anyone would be stupid enough to befriend someone as completely obnoxious as him? Father and Mother had a reason to be absent though, they were away at work as usual, and Li Ying was never really all that close to them anyway.
Sitting on her study desk, she was about to open her Chemistry workbook to complete the day's homework, when she suddenly remembered the very strange book that was currently sitting in her backpack.
Sighing to herself, Li Ying flipped the book opened, and quietly read through the numerous laws as stated by the book.
"This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected."
"If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen."
"If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack."
"After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds."
This book was most definitely intriguing, that much cannot be denied. To think that a prankster would put so much thought into his prank, to carefully consider the rules behind this Death Note, and to painstakingly write it all out...
This was no normal prank, that was for sure.
The only real way to know if this book was real or not... would be to test it, naturally. She had to find someone that was internationally renowned, because that would yield the fastest results for her experiment. It was most likely a prank, but Li Ying had to be sure. She wanted to know. She had to know.
Question is... who should she kill?
A criminal?
A politician?
An actor?
A singer?
Looking at her brother's poster of the famous singer, Justine Bieber, she smiled in approval to herself.
"Justine Bieber."
The time was approximately one thirty in the afternoon.
Millions of miles away, in Hollywood, America, Justine Bieber collapsed in the middle of a rehearsal. Sleeping for eternity.
---
When Li Ying read the news on Twitter later that night, she felt like she was going to throw up.
According to a reliable source, Justine Bieber collapsed and died in her studio, in the middle of a dance rehearsal. The most likely cause of death?
You didn't even have to ask.
She died of heart failure.
A heart attack.
The experiment had succeeded.
The book was real.
Wong Li Ying was now a murderer, having directly caused the death of an international pop icon.
No, no, no, Li Ying tried to tell herself, this could have purely been a coincidence. A trick of Fate. This didn't mean anything. She needed to see for herself that the notebook of death worked.
With her own eyes.
---
Sliding the Death Note on top of her Chinese textbook, Li Ying shivered inwardly. This had to have been a coincidence. Justine Bieber didn't die because of her. It was totally illogical and impossible for something as crazy as this to happen.
"Oi, Pipsqueaks. I come in here to teach you guys and this is the respect I get. I know what you students are up to nowadays, with your stupid boyfriends and teenaged relationships. In my day..."
Her Chinese teacher was universally hated, to say the least. No one liked her, and she was a completely horrible person. There were rumors of her having physically abused a student, although no one had evidence to verify the claim.
...The perfect test subject.
Li Ying smiled to herself, masking her fears, and started scribbling.
If one didn't know better, they would have assumed that she was taking notes, as usual.
Forty seconds later, her chinese teacher collapsed on the floor of the classroom, twitching violently before she fell asleep for eternity.
It was true!
This book really was a notebook of death.
She was now a murderer.
Li Ying was panicking inwardly. She killed two people. Two.
Should she give herself up? No, that would be stupid. She would ruin her future if she did, and murder was a crime punishable by death. It was not a good solution.
She couldn't give the book up though. What if another found it, and traced it down to her? She'd be finished.
That left only one option to consider.
It wasn't even a choice. There were no evidence pointing to her, so she should be free from suspicion from the police for now, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't catch on. Still, this was a risk she had to take. This was the only road left for her.
From that day on, Li Ying was never bored again.
And Kira was born.