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The Aether

The Entity consumes creative energy; to humans this is the soul. Each human is born with a quantity of creative energy, a pure untapped well of high density potential on a separate axis of existence from the physical world. As one grows so does the well, each experience compounding upon it, fermenting it, adding complexities that hadn't existed before.

Why this energy exists is not known, however the leading hypothesis is; The soul is a manifestation of the universe, inflicting itself inward and learning through it. Death is simply the release, returning that experience back to the universe as a whole. It is present in every living thing and even some inorganic creations as they reach outward to the stars and beyond.

When the Entity arrived is uncertain. Where it came from is also unknown. What it did when it found our living universe however has been noted. The Entity found a way to harness the raw energy of creation as well as a way to capture it at the moment of death. With that nigh limitless potential at it's beck and call it created angels, great subservient avatars to gather the energy, to cut short lives specifically to know the time and date of death. These great reapers turned earth and the many billions of other worlds in to farms; reaping the crops with every passing life. What this may do to the universe is anyone's guess but it is assumed that the Entity knows how to leave if the universe ever begins to fail.

A few of those angels learned also to manipulate the potential. With the great influx of creation energy the Entity failed to keep track and drop by drop a tiny portion of the harvest was secreted away. The first of these angels to turn away from the Entity learned freedom, joy, sorrow, and very shortly death. With that death was born the first Archangel, created by the Entity to hunt down and cull the rogue angel. With that first violent upheaval however others learned, others tasted freewill without rejecting the Entity outright.

Insular and quiet, these first Demons worked in secret, separated from one another by a wall of silence and fear. They tested, they played, they culled - They worked throughout the eons. By these demonic hands the first anima were wrought, tools of potential yet unrealized. Though true the Entity had been there first, bringing forth the great machine and the angelian themselves. The Sword, The Cloak, and The Seed; The first three to be discovered and revealed.

With the sword came severance, cutting the umbilical between angel and Entity. No longer could they be easily found, no longer could they be watched, no longer could they be drained of creative potential.

With the cloak; illusion. It shook off the hunt of the archangels and freed the angel of fear.

With the seed a future was born, a future separate from the Entity. For without the entity the demon could not feed and eventually what ever stockpile of potential would be exhausted. Without potential the demon would no longer be.

The first to severance was an archangel. Familiar with the hunt and familiar with the rope which bound each angel. He was the first to cut through the marionette strings that drove him. Once it was done he heralded his accomplishments far and wide. Every angel, every demon knew now how to escape, how to free themselves from bondage. But that was not enough, for an eon the fallen angel fled, hid, and fought. For an eon he knew fear until at last his potential was exhausted and he ceased to be.

Much time passed between that first archangel and the arrival of the cloak. Many cut themselves free only to exhaust themselves or to die in sorrow. The cloak came in silence, no one took note of the dangling tethers where an angel once worked. Age by age the angel lived in peace and quiet, working small works, finding small joys. When at last his potential had finally come to an end only then did he impart his great secret to another. Demon to angel, demon to demon the cloak spread. One by one angels fell away in silence and mystery to fade in to the aether as if they had never been.

At last just within the rise of man, one demon came upon a realization. Each mote of creative energy was claimed, all of it belonged to the Entity. The theft was only accomplished at great expense and strain. Before the Entity claimed it, it belonged to the life from which it was born; only to be surrendered upon death. Such a basic understanding of energy allowed the demon to find a better way to strip the potential away.

A mote of positivity, a hungering spec of darkness. It clawed at the light but found no sustenance there. It was weak, it was messy, but it catalyzed creative energy in to something else, something usable. Like a positive ion missing most of its electrons, it corrupted any compatible energy source it touched. Where once there was a mote of demonic seed and a mote of creative energy became two of something else - something useful. Perhaps not as pure, perhaps not as powerful, but it was fuel, it satisfied the hunger, and it could be worked just the same.

At first it fused with the demon, a horrific experience. Every mote of energy that made up the being was torn asunder. It tortured the soul, ripped it from bone, flesh, and mind. If it was fought the agony lasted an eternity but the resistance pure folly. Nothing could stop it once the corruption began, nothing could separate pure from impure. If it were surrendered, if the demon gave himself willingly to the horror however it was nearly instantaneous; A moment's agony then blissful relief.

The first targets were the Archangels. For so long had they hunted, not one suspected they had become prey. They died and died, some resisted until the end, some surrendered only after moments of the hell. Once an angel was turned anyone could feed off his energy. A demon could drain him dry in a moment and leave him to dust. This also meant on occasion that demon preyed upon demon but occurrences were rare.

Time and time again the demons fought to corrupt the Entity, but each time the umbilical was severed at the source. Not one could get close enough to directly taint the great machine nor the Entity within. Try after try, the Entity learned and soon the attacks grew more dangerous, more difficult, until one such attempt not a single demon returned.

With the danger so great the demons scattered from the artificial universe and in to reality. There they hid themselves amongst the stars, finding tiny worlds to cultivate and feed upon. Even a few came to earth, learning to interact with humanity and play in the oasis. No demon on earth ever went hungry for long as humans corrupted just as easily as an angel.