Born Into Evil
Chapter 1: Birth
He opened his eyes. Light flooded his vision as his eyelids drew back, giving him full view of whatever was in front of him. He was in a dark and damp place, but to him, it appeared full of light, for he was new to this world, and his senses were untainted, seeing, smelling and hearing everything in their naked selves. It was the senses of a newborn, senses that had not been influenced, dulled or damaged. They were pure, but not for long. The Shuppet looked up, and he saw two pairs of red eyes staring back at him. The evil in the eyes caused him to inhale sharply; that would trigger his breathing – the breath of life, and from then on, he could breathe freely. The next sight that greeted him was two zips, zips that bent upwards to form a curve, zips that were the mouths of his parents, and they were grinning at their newborn child. One of the Banettes opened their mouth, and cursed energies billowed forth from their foul breath. The vile energies immediately took effect, shrouding the Shuppet in an evil mist that quickly overcame the purity of the Shuppet and brought him into a world of evil.
Zen started to levitate, started to hover as the Shuppet's eyes glowed white, where it started to take on the tri-coloured shade it was supposed to be. Yellow, green and blue formed the spectrum of colours in all Shuppets' eyes, signifying that its birth ritual had been successfully performed, and the cursed energies from its parents had washed its purity away. This ritual could only be performed once, at birth, when the Shuppet had not begun to hover. It had to be performed in darkness, where no light except the glowing Night Shade Tower could illuminate. Zen's eyes never took on the three colours. Instead, it became purely yellow, leaning towards golden even. His parents, both Banette, reared backwards, stunned. They looked around to locate any exterior light source that had ruined the ritual's power. In their anger and frustration, they failed to locate it, and they stormed away, Zen's mother using Psychic to drag him along with his parents.
A lone Volbeat flew away.
And thus Zen had been born into the Anei house, the fourth house in the standings of the Banette and Shuppet community hidden in a cave near Mt. Pyre, known to them as Shado-ashi. His parents brought him to the council, where the leading Banette stared at him. Their aura of evil was stronger than anything Zen had ever experienced. It was suffocating, and it seemed to push in on Zen from all directions. He quivered on the spot, feeling the pressure from the eyes of the elders. Their eyes were hollow, but they also possessed an intensity that bore into Zen like nothing else could. Finally, Zen's mother, Shupe, activated her telekinetic powers to guide him back to their nest. Zen relaxed as he let the invisible hold pull him back home, and he closed his eyes and stopped hovering, coming to rest in the safety of his nest.
In the meantime, his parents looked to the elders, who had their eyes closed and were communicating through their minds. They did not appear too deeply concerned with Zen's eyes, and finally one of them opened their eyes, turning to Shupe and Kair, Zen's father, before telling them the verdict.
"Zen is of no threat," the rasping voice of the elder croaked. "It is only those whose eyes glow that have to be killed. Zen shall live." With that, Zen's parents nodded, solemnly taking their leave and heading back to the nest where Zen was now resting.
The Volbeat flew in confused circles. The cursed energies it had absorbed started to take effect.
Zen, meanwhile, sensed his parents' return. He looked up, not sure what to expect. Kair merely ignored him, while Shupe dumped a few blackened herbs beside him. They then drifted off to attend to whatever they had to attend to. Zen moved over to the herbs. Instinctively, his brain guided him to float over the herbs and then land over them, his cloth body billowing over the herbs and smothering them. The cloth drew itself inward as he inhaled experimentally, extracting the taste and essence of the herbs. Zen recoiled as he tasted the bitterness of the black herbs. To most Shuppets and Banettes, it was tasteless and gave them energy, but due to Zen not having completed the ritual, he felt it as bitter and unpleasant, but he could not deny the fact that it gave him energy.
Feeling bored and now revitalized by the herbs, Zen levitated off to ground, where the previously wet herbs were now shriveled and dry. Ignoring the remains of his meal, he floated out of his nest and into the world of Shado-ashi. He appeared to be in some sort of cave, although to Zen it seemed like nothing more than being in a dark place surrounded by rough walls all around it. He stared at his surroundings, observing the trickling water from the stalactites, as well as looking at the numerous rock structures. Zen was exploring his surroundings, although he did not know what the objects around him were.
He finally came across something unknown to him. When he first entered its presence, the first thing that struck Zen was the power and aura of the pillar. It was nothing more than a pillar of stone, but the pillar was being charged with a familiar energy. It was glowing a dim purple, as though blackness itself was being emitted from the purple glow around the pillar. Zen stared in awe at the pinnacle of Banettes' power, as he noticed the trio of Banettes levitating beside the pillar, circling it, their eyes glowing the same purple as the pillar. It was Night Shade, and the pillar was being charged with that same energy he had been washed in at birth. The sight of the Night Shade pillar, and the aura of the vile energies, triggered a memory in Zen.
Zen remembered the purple light closing in on him, suffocating him and entering his very self, smothering all the purity inside and destroying his very core. He saw the destructive force of the foul energies completely imprisoning him, trapping him in an unknown hell and then drawing out the evil in him. Zen then remembered the next part to his memory; he saw the sliver of light, the remaining glimmer of hope that shone through his dark prison and saving a part of his purity, reflected in his yellow eyes.
Far away, the Volbeat collapsed, dead.