( ☼ ＳＴＯＲＹ ＯＦ ＴＨＥ ＳＵＮＪＥＷＥＬ )

[veridian]

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- -- -- ( chapter 1 , chapter 2 , chapter 3 , chapter 4 , chapter 5 , chapter 6 , chapter 7 , chapter 8 )
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[veridian]

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In the beginning, there was only darkness. A living darkness, that swirled and swallowed all in its path; where it went there was only chaos and destruction. The darkness, they called Aza'zel, and all whispered in fear of its name. In the world under the rule of Aza'zel, the people only knew of terror and torment. They were weak and pitiful, consumed by sin. All save for one small boy.

The boy's name was Imre, and he was the gifted son of a proud sculptor. He had clever hands; hands that created beautiful things that could shame even the most talented carver. However, his father was afraid of his skill, as Imre was a boy with a heart of a dreamer; he wanted things that could invoke the wrath of Aza'zel. So he locked his son away in the dark, only a candle small enough that he could see his hands to light the long nights. But Imre was tired of living in darkness, under Aza'zel, blind to the world around him. He was a cunning little boy, and what he wanted was a way out of this darkness. And so he started molding, crafting something that the world had not seen before. He took the light from his candle and nurtured it, tamed it. Days turned into months, and months into years. By the time he had finished, he was an old fragile man. Looking upon it for the final time, he knew that his frail fingers, nor any hands after him, could never create something as flawless as this invention ever again. But there was something missing, a spark.

Imre knew what was lacking from this divinely ball─ and he willingly gave it up for it. He was now an old man, and there was nothing left for him that he wanted in the world; save for finishing his creation. For the ball required life to power it. Imre smiled, and gave it what it wanted,

and as his life was slowly drained away, he witnessed another life be born.

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Where there used to be darkness, there was now light.

Light, warm and comforting, nothing like the horror that was Aza'zel, that filled the room. Imre watched the birth of the Sun; an exchange of a life for a life. As the last of his human vitality faded, he smiled kindly and his crafty, withered fingers opened the small latch that was his window, releasing the Sun into his world. And as he lay dying on the floor, his last breath approaching, Imre realised he had never felt more at peace. As he felt his soul leaving his body, he felt the gentle caress of light on his cheeks, a melancholy goodbye. He passed smiling.

As the first light touched the darkness of the world, two forms became clear in the heavenly blurs of the Sun that was rising above the horizon. As the people of Aza'zel gazed up in wonder at this huge ball of flame that started to occupy the sky, they witnessed the first Sunrise of the world. They looked around, watching grass tenderly swaying in the wind that once howled in pain, ripples of water move through the still lakes that once mirrored the shadows in the skies. They had never known that such beauties surrounded them, not in the world that darkness lurked. No, this was a new world, a new life. A new Earth.

The light that had been born along with the Sun was not one, but two. Twin bodies that manifested both light and darkness. They were locked in an ever-lasting embrace and did not let go of one another, even as they were set upon the soft grass that was Earth. One form, pelt of same golden light as the Sun, eyes filled with divine brightness, Day Triumphant. The other, pelt of the night sky and stars, eyes filled with wisdom, Night Eternal. They were sisters and brothers and the embodiment of Life. They had sworn to protect Earth.

Aza'zel was furious of what had become of his world. It raged and raged, devoured by its own anger that it did not understand what the Twins of Life were planning to do to it. Day Triumphant and Night Eternal banished it to a hell of its own, the innermost depths of Tartarus. Aza'zel swore to reclaim what once belonged to it. Then it was gone.

The twins divided the planet up between themselves. Night Eternal ruled where there was no Sun, their people to live in utter peace and harmony; dedicated to recording the wisdoms of the Earth. Day Triumphant ruled where Sun's light touched the ground, their people to respect the tranquility of the Night; dedicated to defense from the Wild Followers of Aza'zel.

They could never meet─ for they could not cross each other's territories. Day Triumphant could only walk where the Sun shone its light, and Night Eternal could never leave the light of the stars. They loved each others as siblings would, and this separation left an empty space inside both of them.