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Post by sd on Apr 5, 2010 0:19:25 GMT -5
 SiMPLE DECADENCE ,
since when was anything simple and clean? ——------ - - - - - - - ----——
They lied. The Light was never the "good" everyone so fervently thought it embodied. Like the Darkness, the Light was capable of lies and deceit as well. Everyone always pegged Darkness as the monster. Wasn't it? After all, it was the Darkness that gave birth to the monstrous beings known as the Heartless—it was the Darkness that gave birth to the cunning creatures known as the Nobodies—it was always the Darkness—
—but never the Light. Oh, it was never the Light. The Light was always pure and inexplicably beautiful. The Light was always the darling, beloved by all, always filling people's hearts with warmth and happiness.
But, like the Darkness, even the Light wasn't infallible. Each element committed its fair share of sins, mistakes, crimes. Purity was relative—had always been relative. Simply put, the Darkness and Light were opposites, offsetting each other on the grand balance of the universe. In the beginning, only the Darkness existed. It filled empty space, content to roam the universe and play in the dark crevices between worlds. But then stars were born. And thus, the Light came to exist. Matters dissolved into a power struggle as the Light wrested space from the Darkness, gradually filling the universe and its creatures with more stars and light.
That was when the Light landed a harsh blow—it coaxed the many worlds into believing that it was the good one. Previously, "good" and "bad" had been nothing more than mere terms, but now, they meant everything. The Light seduced unwary denizens with its beauty and warmth and grandeur. The Darkness was easily just as beautiful, but few were able to appreciate it for its more subtle grace. And thus, the Darkness was ignored and thrust to the side, while its lighter counterpart became more powerful. The balance grew steadily more upset, tipping the universe closer and closer to self-destruction as each moment ticked by. Everything rested on balance—without balance, the world was nothing. Without balance, the universe was nothing. Nonetheless, the two archenemies ignored this concept, contentious as they were. In retaliation and jealousy, the Darkness planted seeds of doubt in the people's hearts, yearning for the attention it once had. To its dismay, the people merely began fighting over the light. But this was enough. The darkness in their hearts was growing.
When the Keyblade came along, the enigmatic weapon initially based its selection on strength of heart. The Light, blinded by its own rose-colored visions of righteousness and goodness, coaxed it into choosing those whose hearts were full of light. The Darkness was again shunted to the side, ignored in favor of its opposite. It retreated and observed its opposite's machinations. And soon enough, it too made a bid for the Keyblade. Wielders of both darkness and light came to be. The resentment it harbored for its opposite, however, persisted. The Darkness wove elaborate machinations and selected several unknowing humans, showing them embodiments of its element—the Pureblood Heartless. With careful manipulation, the fools continued what the Darkness started and created Emblem Heartless, which, in turn, created Nobodies.
The Light, baffled, unable to fight against the monsters, was forced back this time, relying on its precious keybearers and the Keyblade to make amends. To its delight, the Keyblade selected well—Sora, the latest Keyblade wielder, defeated the greatest advocates of the darkness. The balance once again tipped in the light's favor. After the worlds previously taken in the Darkness' rage were restored, the Light smugly gloated over its rival, having triumphed for the umpteenth time. The struggle grew quiet, with the hearts of worlds inwardly screaming from the pain and wrongness of it all—without the cooling comfort of the Darkness, the balance grew more unstable.
Push came to shove. It was about time the Darkness grew personally involved. The Heartless and Nobodies slowly grew again in numbers and the Darkness itself went on the move, preparing for the largest battle of all—an all-out war of the greatest scale imaginable. The Light noticed its archenemy's plans and, enraged, forwent all ideas of simple manipulation. Before, it had forced itself to appear alluring, seducing anyone unknowing enough, filling their heads with promises of greatness and righteousness. The justice it had always pretended having was now gone. It was full-fledged war—what did the Light care for the petty creatures that served it? In this battle, sacrifices were to be made. What did it matter if each element had to sacrifice millions in their petty squabble? What did it matter if the blood of innocents was spilled—especially when the two knew not of what was right and wrong anymore? Each element, callous in its hatred, cared little for those who served it.
No, the two elements no longer cared about anything else. Everything came down to absolute war now. The Light created another enemy of its own volition: the Darkless, creatures of light so unadulterated it devoured those with so much as a speck of darkness in their hearts. It all came down to the two extremes—being purified to total annihilation by the Darkless, or being consumed to utter destruction by the Heartless and Nobodies. For the Light and Darkness, it was a race: it was time to see who could take the worlds for itself.
The Keyblade, in a last bid for balance, scattered itself to the hands of many, many wielders, balancing the keychains between wielders of light and wielders of darkness. Nonetheless, whether they liked it or not, they were nothing more than mere puppets in this grand scheme. Willing or unwilling, they would be forced into the roles of tools by either element. After all, nothing is simple and clean—there is merely simple decadence. Already decaying morals will become utterly shattered, friends will be pushed to take sides, families will be coaxed to destroying themselves and their kin. There is nothing black and white about this. This is a full-blown grayscale, with every shade of gray imaginable lying between the darkness and light. If your heart so much as wavers from balance, you too will become destroyed.
Sora's entire struggle? Riku's internal battle? Ansem's selfish schemes for knowledge? The Organization's futile bid for hearts? All of those are nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially in the face of a battle as encompassing and destructive as the continuing bloodbath between the Darkness and Light.
This time, the darkness and the light are monsters. Terms as simplistic as "good" and "evil" have no place in such a war. Everything depends on viewpoint. Everything depends on perspective. The greatest question of all, however... Which, exactly, is the lesser demon?
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