in nox oriatur.

[doryphoros]

tryout for this kalon, do not post.



a large worn book rests before, you, stained black leather gleaming with an oily light.
a bone-white skull stares at you from the cover with a maniacal grin, the words, omnis sunt par, in morte. a strange chill runs down your spine, and you open to the first page.

[doryphoros]

in the beginning, there were only two things. lux and tenebris. lux represented light, the "good" end of the moral spectrum. tenebris represented darkness, the "bad" end of the moral spectrum. they soon created more things, gods and goddesses springing up to breathe life into the world. in the end, there were four worlds; aetheria, purgatory, niflheim, and the mortal realm. purgatory is considered as the space in between worlds, where people go if they do not strongly identify with either side of the spectrum. they are forced to stay there until they choose a side, or are forcibly transported to one of the other. it is rare, but some ghosts are stuck in purgatory forever. the reapers are kalons who have been chosen by azamuku to become one of them. their souls have been severed from their mortal bodies and they exist on the astral plane. They carry a scythe, which is the tool used to sever the soul from the body. the scythe can take any form, but it usually takes the form of a weapon with some significance to their past life. for example, if someone was a doctor in their past life, they’d use a scalpel or something else medically related as their scythe. after the soul is severed from the body, a door opens up to take them to heaven, hell, or purgatory. the reapers are doomed to an immortal existence of this, until they either resign or are discharged by the higher courts. the higher courts decide reaper law, and decide which afterworlds recently deceased souls will travel to.

[doryphoros]

lux and tenebris always were in the midst of a bitter feud, about something or other. this time, lux had created their "subjects", beings of glaring light that caused the creatures of the darkness to shriek and scuttle away for fear of being burned. in retaliation, tenebris created a being of pure darkness, so black that no light could penetrate it. "go, nox." they said, pointing towards the blinding white light emanating from just beyond the darkened swamp where tenebris's children roamed. nox tried to respond, but their throat was silent. nox simply nodded, and disappeared into the trees. they came upon the castles of the lightened folk, and cried out in pain as their light seared their eyes. they retreated back to tenebris, shaking their head. tenebris looked down upon the creature with disappointment, but gave them a cloak to shield themselves from the blinding light. nox set out again, disheartened but still somewhat determined. they came upon the village once more, trying to search through the various beings, all staring at the dark visitor which had intruded upon their festivities. suddenly, a whirlwind of dark energy surged from the cloak, the light flickering and dying around him. nox cried out in fear, fleeing the now dark palace. tenebris was waiting, a sinister smile on its face. "you've done well." nox shook their head and tried to scream, but once again, no sound came out. tenebris's smirk faded, turning into a twisted snarl. "you dare to defy me? fine. accept your fate." excruciating pain ripped through nox's tail, splitting in half. tenebris roared at the ghost, slamming their paws on the ground. "begone from my sight, azamuku." a vortex opened beneath them, and the world faded into black.

[doryphoros]

azamuku had wandered among the kalons for milennia, trapped between death and life. they still hadn't found a place within it, but had an inkling of desire to have one. as they walked along the alleyways of a dark city, torchlight hungrily gulping at the darkness, a pitiful meowing caught their attention. they turned to see a mother cat with four wriggling kits. or at least, it seemed at first. as they drew closer, one kit seemed to be suspiciously still, flanks jittering with uneven breaths, growing stiller with each passing moment. azamuku watched, transfixed, as the kit lost its final grasp on life. a wispy grey cloud came out of it, trying to fly upwards, but stopped abruptly a few inches away from the body. azamuku came closer to it, swiping at it with a curious paw. the soul wriggled, drawn towards them. it was stuck to the body by a few tendrils. they remembered something that a traveler had given them, a black rectangle with an intricately detailed skull drawn on the cover. the traveler had smiled strangely and said that they would need it, but azamuku had dismissed it at the time as mad ravings of a long-doomed race. they pressed the skull, and it quickly unfolded into a wickedly sharp scythe, with a blade of what seemed to be bone. azamuku swung the blade, severing the connection. the spirit floated to the heavens, and they they smiled, for the first time in eons.