Jewels of Darkness - 1. Origo: Rudimenta Tenebrae

“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n”1

Paradise Lost, Milton2

Primarily, before life, and before the Universe even had a name, there was only one thing. Light was everything; He presided over the Earth, the Sky, the Oceans, the Land, and the Heavens. His elegant, lissom, and graceful step created new light throughout the entire Universe. Everything was light, and Light was everything. There was nothing to bow down to Him, or to challenge His power; His power was all that existed. The Sky, of a blue so pale it rivalled the gemstone apatite, adopted Light’s power to make the Earth below it, glow a warm crimson. The Oceans ebbed and flowed to Light’s command; the tanzanite colour showed the brilliance and purity of the seabed, yet also the emptiness of the Ocean; there was no life there to add colour to the blue. The Land was a smoky russet, desolate and inhospitable; somehow there was a hint of beauty present, when viewed from afar. The Heavens should have been perfect; the pure white that should have been there was replaced only by Light Himself.3

Although, over time, Light became disillusioned by the perpetual power invoked upon Him, by Himself; one cannot have true power over everything, if one is the only existence. Light eventually gave in to His lust for power, and went about creating a servant, someone to bow down in Light's presence, to make Light feel more powerful. Light did not fully think it through; He wrongly assumed the servant would stay in its place by treating it badly, thus He decided He would create a female servant. Collecting together all the light He had made in one corner of the Universe, Light had begun to make Darkness.4

She defined beautiful. Ebony wings caught the light; pieces of broken shells acted like feathers. As She moved, the sound enthralled the ear; the pieces clattered together to make a symphony that exceeded the beauty in the music of modern pianists. Her pearl like eyes were mysterious, had an iridescent glow, and were pure black in colour; She only allowed Herself to look at Her Master’s feet, and as She did, Her eyes became covered with a cloud of pain, love, and indignity. Her ruby red skin was mainly covered by a velvet dress, that Light created from the dust of old, dying stars; Her skin glowed softly, like an effervescent, yet excitable, demon squirming and writhing under the surface.5

To start with, Darkness bowed to Light like a perfect subservient slave, but very quickly rebelled against Her creator. She forced the light surrounding Her to become Her destroyer; one cannot be truly invincible, if nothing is willing to attempt to destroy one. Darkness wrapped Herself around Light, forcing Him to become Her slave.6

After a passing of time, Light became isolated, desperate, and lonely in Himself. Naturally, He turned to Darkness, and forced Her into becoming His wife. Darkness had no choice but to agree, to a fate She did not want to face; fortuitously, help was at hand, in Light’s own inanity and greed. She gave him a dowry of a handmade gift, which She made when He was not around. Her dowry, black and white in colour, was Death. Hoping that Light would be killed by Her gift, She gave it with Her eyes locked with His. Instead of killing Him, Death assumed the position of Light’s second in command. Fleeing in fear, Darkness knew She had to do something, anything, to survive.7

Darkness did not have the same lust for power as Light; She shared out equally days and nights so that She and Light had equal power over the Earth, the Sky, the Oceans, and the Land. The Heavens She put in Light's power, and She gave Herself power over Hell. She cleared away the unnecessary light from the Sky, so that the living beings on the Earth could admire the distant worlds that only She could experience firsthand. She created living beings by breaking the pieces of shells from Her wings, and carefully placing them in the Oceans; instantly the Oceans were filled with a variety of colours. From the shells, other life forms evolved, until there were enough for Her to fulfil Her plan.8

From the living beings, She chose a select few, of all ages, genders, and classes, to become Her messengers. Through their Art, they conveyed the messages of Darkness to millions. She created the Muse, the idea giver, so that many of her messengers could create Art at the same time, but each one creating something unique every time they created Art. She let some of Her Muses go to Light, so that He could have some messengers. These were fewer in number, and the Art they created was not as overwhelming as the Art the Darkness' Muses created.9

Each Muse looked identical. All had soft features, that gave whoever looked at them, a feeling of being around someone they loved; Darkness wanted it to be like this, so the messengers were not scared when they were first given a Muse. Each Muse was given its own name, but the messenger could alter the name to suit themselves; some decided on names of long lost loved ones, others chose whatever felt right to them. The Muses were often kind to their messengers; they knew the hardship of writing, and they knew how draining it can be if done too often. Other Muses were not so sympathetic; they tried hard to destroy weaker messengers, so that they could move onto the next messenger.10

In harmony they both lived; Darkness controlled half the world, whilst Light controlled the other half. Alas, this was not enough for Light. Like the power hungry creator He was, He desired more and more. He wanted to control Darkness, but She held her ground for as long as she could manage.