Star Memory
Long ago, in a far distant land, there was a town that had just been created. It had one goal, and that goal was quite simple: To separate light from darkness in an organism.
_ People in the city worked extremely hard to achieve this goal. They brought numerous technologies and creations from around the world to separate light and dark. There were things of science: test tubes, microscopes, computers and such. They brought things of archaic design: books on Alchemy, magiks, runes, and even some from the darker arts. The town bustled constantly, day or night, with the work that soon their true goal would be in sight. Days, turned into months, months into years, goals turned into tradition, and tradition finally yielded fruit._
_ The people were dumbfounded when they discovered the methods, but they pressed on. They knew how to perform it on a creature, but they chose a small boy, a small human boy. A boy that was already deemed to weak to survive on his own and therefore, an acceptable loss should he perish._
_ For what felt to the boy like eternity itself, the people "cured" him, burned him, scarred him, and raped his mind of the very things he thought he knew about the world. The more experiments that occurred, the more he began to lose control. As he continued to change, the people's desire grew exponentially, they felt they were getting closer with each day. The boy began to lose his ideas of reality, the people performed more experiments with renewed vigor. Something had to give. So, one night, things finally changed. The boy had been split successfully. His darkness was separate from his light. The people began to rejoice, they had achieved what was thought to be impossible. But there was a reason this act was deemed impossible, and the people would soon learn the price that must be paid for such actions._
_ During the celebration, things changed abruptly for the town, and the world. The boy's darkness got free, and in its rage for the things done to it, annihilated the town. There are stories of people running from this black monster, people being shattered and burned alive. The whole town was wiped off the map within a matter of hours, engulfed in its own selfishness._
_ When the neighboring towns heard of the destruction, they fled to the scene and were horrified by the damage. The town, as well as the land around it for miles, was barren of any life. There was no sign of the boy, light or dark side. And so it was assumed that he had perished with the town. The people continued to live their lives as normal, and for a time things went back to peace._
_ Then the unthinkable happened._
_ The darkness of the boy had become a demonic creature, and its power had become all encompassing. It possessed a young maiden and as she got older, the demon's power grew more and more. The young maiden had become a witch and an extremely powerful sorceress. She engulfed the land in darkness and almost took over the world. Just when the people thought that they were helpless, something else happened._
_ The light from the boy had also gotten stronger, and so a man clothed in black, who had the ability to manipulate time, stepped forth. He was followed by four champions: a warrior clad in crimson with an aura that changed the very definition of power, a dragon male without a tail that held the power of an inner beast, a gray femme who held spectral powers and the ability to move like a ghost, and a young girl dressed in white that could bend reality to her very will._
_ The five warriors were incredibly powerful. They fought through hordes of dark dragons, warriors of many faces, and even the sorceress herself. The sorceress used much of her power to stop the champions, but she too was eventually struck down._
_ At the end, the darkness tried to escape, but the man sealed it inside of himself. Even after all that they had gone through, only two of the original champions remained, the man in black and the girl in white. Wanting to protect the land, the man in black ordered the girl in white to strike him down. Through much protest, she inevitably agreed and with a swift blow, cut him down where he stood. The world was saved, but at a great cost. Soon after, the girl disappeared and peace returned to the land once again. Many towns forgot of the struggle that took place as the years went by. But one town remembers the struggle to this very day. So, once a year, under light and darkness, the people celebrate the goodness of their nature and try to push back their darkness by cleansing themselves. Other towns have fallen over the years but this one has stood the test of time. Some say its from tradition, others say its because of trade, but a certain few say that its because the champions live on in this very town. Whether or not this is true, is not for me to say, but know this, there will always be evil and good. So fear the evils not of others, but of the ones from within yourself._
"That was great grandpa!" shouted a young snow leopard boy, "You have to tell us another!"
The old reptile sat in his wooden chair surrounded by four cubs, two boys and two girls. The boys were in front of the chair listening intently while one girl, who was the oldest, sat near them. The younger one, sat upon the reptile's lap, slowly succumbing to the effects of exhaustion. The stone fireplace behind the group crackled and sputtered as it licked away at the wood.
"Well, I would but it seems as though it is past your bedtimes." The reptile mused,
"Mom doesn't have to know, we can be really quiet." was the boy's rebuttal,
"I am sure that she will know and in fact, I am sure she does know."
"So what?" piped the other boy, "She can't catch us."
"You're sure of that are you?" said a female voice
The cubs' mother had come in and swept up both boys, one in each arm, as both boys put up a fuss about being taken to bed
"To bed with you!" the mother said as she turned and dragged the boys to their bedroom, "Sylvia, you too."
"Alright." Sylvia said in a defeated tone. For her there was just no winning when her mother was around. She got up and turned to follow, leaving only the youngest cub to begin to curl up next to her grandfather.
A few minutes later, the female came back in, her silver hair glowed almost orange in the firelight and her blue eyes glowed with an aura all their own.
"I believe that this one belongs to you as well." motioned the reptile as he scooped up the tired cub and handed her to her mother. Now cradled in her mother's arms, she reflexively curled almost into a ball and buried herself in her mother's chest.
"The children always love to hear your stories, though I don't quite understand why they are fascinated by that particular story." Stated the mother
"Your guess is as good as mine." The reptile shrugged, "But the story does have a good moral."
"Until they can begin to grasp more of the world without your stories at least," the femme looked at the cub and back at the reptile, "no offense."
"None taken." the reptile smiled, "but if I recall correctly, it's also past your bedtime."
"Har, har." replied the femme sarcastically. "just make sure to put out the flames when you go to bed."
"Will do."
The femme left and quietly closed the door, leaving the reptile alone. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an orb that was cloudy with both white and black colors swirling about in it. He got out of his chair and walked to the window where night had already covered the land. Despite the time, it was still bright as the stars and moon shown down casting a beautiful glow on the land. When the light hit the orb, the cloudy colors went away and it became clear. The reptile looked into the sky to see a white beam shoot across the sky.
"The star memory is always beautiful," the reptile said to himself, "I wonder what you'd think of this world now, my love."
The reptile set the orb down on the window sill and put out the flames. Just as he was closing the door, the room looked as if divinity itself had peered through the window. He chuckled and mumbled,
"Yeah, I figured."
He closed the door and the stars began to glow brighter, as if in acknowledgement.