For as long as there was the Twilight,the war between light and darkness has transpired between the two abstracts. This eternal war’s origin has been lost in history, with only the vision of victory and the innate hatred between the two left to fuel it. The participants in the war have changed after the eons, but the basic principle has remained the same, one of the two must reign supreme. The most dominant parties in this seemingly endless war in this era would be the Lux-Alas, beings of angelic light who take the skies, and the Tenebris, multi limbed shadows, who rule the lands. However, over the eons, while both light and darkness are constantly in battle. They have settled on one thing as mutual truth. The War will not be questioned, and any questions will result in ultimate removal and banishment, to never return to one’s land again.
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Screams of men and monsters could be heard across the eternal planes that were the Twilight realm. Golden blood and darkened shadow fragments scattered across the grey fields and skies, the bodies of these angels and shadows laid lifeless across the endless arena as their brethren clashed with one another. The Lux-Alas stayed in the skies, using a series of ranged weapons, (such as bows, guns and even rifles that fired streaks of violent light), as well as pole-arms and shields to strike from below. While the Tenebris used their own innate powers of darkness to reach out and grab them from the skies.
The bodies of each would disappear, returning to their relative posts to be resurrected again and readied for battle, making sure no soldier was lost to entropy. The battle continued to rage on as some of the Lux-Alas began to grow confident, and began to challenge the Tenebris on the ground, only to have been ripped to shreds by their tendrils and their own beams of darkness. Some of Tenebris grew restless at seeing this and grew wings to challenge them in the air, only for their chest to meet the warmth spear point of the Lux-Alas, as it pieces through them. Testaments to the two forces equality in power.
While the young men fought the wars, the older men and the women and children stayed at home and tended the economies of the Lux-Alas estate. A land of golden buildings upon thick platinum clouds underneath a golden sky. This was the Light Land of the Twilight realm, a place where the Lux-Alas call their home. Within one of their libraries, connected with the Akashic plane of Knowledge and Understanding, an angelic boy was putting away one of the articles of understanding, back to the shelf it belonged. As he did so, a group of young girls passed his shelf, giggling and pointing at him while he finished putting up the books.
He acted as if he hadn’t noticed them, until they passed. He sniffled quietly, not that the gesture of humiliation alone troubled him, but his entire existence. He has been deemed too weak, too pathetic, and too feminine to act as a soldier or as a leader in the Light Lands. So he was sent to be a collector and organizer of knowledge, not that part bothered him so much. Ohr continued his daily shift of putting away and arranging the articles, away from all the other maidens who were assigned the same tasks. Within the Planetary Isles among the Material World section, he had to place an Article within its place. The title read Earth, which seemed to be a funny little name, which differentiated from the normal letter and numeral system they used. So he decided to peek into it, their residence seemed much like his own, except without the wings, and they seemed to be free spirits, not bound by the laws of some fate that was given to them.
Just as he reached the section where it explained their cultures, a tall looming figure that stood several feet above him stood just outside the aisle. Her wings stretched out, preventing any light from touching him. “Clanless Ohr, why are you reading an Article during productive hours? You are already deemed worthless by the Council and now you dare defy the House of Knowledge? Is it that you can’t do things simple maidens can?” Her voice boomed throughout the halls, as if she was thunder herself. Her large stature and her authoritarian voice caused Ohr to start trembling in fear, but he remembered the last time he showed fear and the punishment of plucking his wings’ feathers that came after it.
He slowed the quaking in his legs, but not fully, and hoped she wouldn’t notice. “Sorry High Lumenness, I was simply reviewing the information that the Article contained, you see it has a very interesting tit-” Before he finished his sentence, The High Lumenness interrupted him with a dismissive wave. “I don’t care for your excuses, this is only your 2nd time betraying the rules of the land. Any further and we’ll have to start CLIPPING your wings” Ohr winced in the imagined pain of the metallic pinchers as they clipped against his wings and twisted them. After the High Lumenness left, Ohr would quickly paste a few of the texts to his own personal journal and placed it upon its shelf, before letting out a sigh of relief.
He returned to finish the rest of his work, returning books to shelves while leaving him to his own thoughts. His thoughts shifted from his usual emotions, and back towards that incident with the High Lumenness. They used shadows and darkness to portray their dominance, and to instill fear into those who they seemed inferior. Raising up the question of do they see the Tenebris they’re fighting against as inferiors, or better yet, as tools. Were they simply going to use them as devices if they were to win this war? Why were they even fighting in the first place?
He looked around for the High Lumenness, wanting to receive answers to his questions. After searching for a good while, he found her with the other Maidens talking around the Fountain of Understand, as it was their break. As Ohr approached, the High Lumenness addressed him with the usual scolding tone “The Clanless man-maiden has arrived, what do you wish for Clanless Ohr?” Ohr’s humiliation rose high when the rest of the maidens laughed at his title, but he continued to move forward with his question
“High Lumenness, I’ve been thinkin-”
“Oh so you can think now?” One of the Maidens chirped from the back, causing the rest to go into a frenzy of laughter, taking a shot at his confidence.
“Yes, yes I can.” He responded with his trembling confidence, hoping he could get his words in before they could say anything else. “I was wondering why we have-”
“Why we have to deal with such a pathetic excuse of a man like you?” Another of the maidens chipped in, reigniting the laughter of the other maidens, as it even brought a snicker from the High Lumenness herself.
Ohr was getting tired of this, and wanted to go back to his little corner, where he was alone with the shadows, but first he was going to get this answer. Because the High Lumenness rarely shows and no one else was going to answer his questions, so instead he yelled. At the top of his lungs, “WHY ARE WE AT CONSTANT WAR WITH THE TENEBRIS? WITH DARKNESS IN GENERAL?” The whole room fell silent at his question, confusing Ohr with the intensity ‘I was simply thinking...what’s the point of dying if we could jus-”
The High Lumenness shot up from her seat, anger beyond anything Ohr has seen. “You’ve said enough Clanless Man-Maiden. You challenge the Sacred War? You have reached your third strike AND you have betrayed our highest law. GUARDIANS.” At the call of their names, two angel-like figures with armor the size of buildings manifested from a flash of light. “This one broke our highest law, and will receive that ultimate punishment...expulsion” The two Gaurdians would grab hold of Ohr, who would try to fight back, but against the strength of the Guardians, it was futile.
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He woke up in a dungeon-esque location only lit by fire, stripped of his armor and clothing, with only a cloth wrapped around his waist to prevent him from being fully naked. His breathing was raspy and harsh; the reason, for him, was unknown. He was bent over a golden cylinder half his height, and his hands were chained to the cylinder. His wings seemed tattered and bruised, opposed to their usual flawless gleam. This area was silent. A deathly silence that instilled fear into his heart. He began to scream “HELP!” He cried, as he feared his life, but no one answered his call. He tried to fight the chains that held him, but only failed as they gripped on tight then before. “SOMEONE PLEASE”He cried once more, but instead of silence, he heard the rattle of boots and hushed talking approach him.
-His face lit up with happiness as he heard someone come his way, but his joy so turned to fear as he saw the two Guardians that apprehended him came near. One had a large metallic tool that had two hands and a sharp end to it. The sight of it sent an unholy terror throughout his body, as he squirmed, only to find his feet were chained as well. “SOM-”His mouth was held closed by a device that resembled a muzzle. Then, the beginning of immense pain began. One of the Guardians grabbed the bend of his wing and the base, twisting it in an unnatural angle.
“MMPPPH” He tried to scream, but the muzzle held his mouth shut and any further attempt at scream was met with spikes penetrating his lower jaw. His wing would be snapped, and the cracking of it sent indescribable suffering through his every being. The other Guardian used the tool that he held, and cut the base of the wing which was attached to his bone, sending agony that only made him wish they killed him. They moved on to the next wing, and instead of snapping it like the first one, they decided to pluck its feathers
Every feather that was picked felt as if someone twisted his fingers. Ohr scream, only to once again be silenced by the muzzle that stabbed his lower jaw. This went on for hours, hours of seemingly endless suffering and pain caused by the removing of his feathers. They finally finished their torture, but Ohr nearing unconsciousness. His body covered in blood and his legs were trembling under his weight, his arms were limb. They then snapped his other wing, and with that he finally fell unconscious.
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When he woke up, he was faced down in a field of green. His body covered with blood and felt weak with his hands numb. He used up the little strength he had to turn himself over, and when he did his watery eyes were met with a sight that can only be described as divine. The sky above him was dark but held small lights within the sky. Large puffy objects hovered over him and it felt as if he could touch them. The green beneath him felt as if he was on a bed only fit for those on the highest of rankings. He opened his journal, surprised they let him keep it, and began to take note
He placed his hands one his chest, and was glad that he had both his amulet and his clothing one. However, he still had no clue where he was, that was until he heard the sounds of a car move past him. The Driver stopped and got out of the car and stood in front of it, looking at the body on the grass. “You okay kid? You look kinda beat up over there.” The driver spoke in a southern accent.
“Yeah, I’m fine”Ohr responded back, trying to hide his pain in his voice. As the driver took off, Ohr turned to read the license plate, which seemed to be from Tennessee. This confirmed it, he was now on Earth, now relaxed. He drew a line in the night sky, and watched as one of the stars in the sky followed that line. He continued to stare at the night sky, not taking his eyes off of it, unknown to him, a second pair of wings began to sprout right above where his old ones were, representing a new era of flight upon this new planet.
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