Know this: the unperishable pervades all; the all enduring cannot be destroyed. It has given birth to all world. And this you must understand: I am both the world’s origin and its destruction. -- Anon Guest
Darkness, a great wise one said in years past, is the fastest force of reality. No matter how fast light may travel, the darkness is already there and waiting. It will be there long after the last photon dissipates into nothing.
Darkness... waits.
But there are times when it gets a little impatient. Whenever a light grows close to dying, it comes to attempt an acceleration of the process. It can't actually walk the surface of a world as an anthropomorphic personification. Instead, it filters into minds ready for it.
Encourage greed. Emphasise lust. Reduce common sense. Influence ignorance. Do it often enough and you get the kind of mind that will destroy the very world they live on just to make an imagined profit. Such little whispers can tip a being already halfway there.
Sometimes, it's harder than one might think.
Find a world standing next to a brink. Locate a mind in power, and then find what they want. There's always more a mind could want.
And yet... something had gone awry on this one. The mind was there. Under a crown and above so many others. Gaining close to absolute power. Belonging to a cursed bloodline.
You could have more, the Darkness whispered.
What would I want? answered the mind. I have enough to deal with.
The world is at your feet. You could make it grovel, offered the Darkness.
That's disgusting, said the mind.
Darkness tried another offer. You're only a King. You could be an Emperor.
I do not want the paperwork, answered the mind. Go away.
There were other ways to gain a foothold into a world. Just look for the destitute underdog. Give them power enough to take command and spend blood and lives in gaining everything they wanted and more. All the Darkness had to do was find the right seed of jealousy.
Darkness was still looking after centuries, when the world turned away from self-destruction and back towards the light.
There would be another time. There would be another age.
Darkness was patient. Darkness had to be patient.
All worlds end. In time.
[Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash]
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