My people are not born with eyes.
Most of us never experience the heavy thralls of vision, spending instead our eternal existence in crushing darkness. Crushing despair. Crushing loneliness.
We can sense. Smell. Taste the empty space around us as we float aimlessly through the eternal void, nothing more than misshapen masses of fleshy, gooey essence. Only a select few have the patience, the strength, and the sheer willpower to learn how to see.
In my agonizing existence, the eons that I floated the freezing depths of nothingness, I had only heard whispers of this strange concept called sight. Such an idea was foreign and wholly terrifying to my infantile mind. It sounded like nothing more than another avenue for more burning pain to consume my soul, and as such, I avoided the thought as best I could.
No, I had once believed that sight was something only for the Void Lords, those among us whose endless age, boundless wisdom, and infinite power stretched far beyond our own. These were they who sought the ultimate power, spreading their dark tendrils into every corner of the universe and destroying all that could be destroyed.
I had never before encountered one of these great Lords, though I often wondered what would happen if I were to, one day. The things I would learn would be beyond anything I could have ever comprehended, and the power I would be granted would be truly overwhelming.
That is, if they bothered to take the time to notice my existence. Or didn't annihilate me for a quick spurt of amusement.
I had long given up on such a thought though. It usually took eons upon eons for my form to pass close by another of my kind, and even then those encounters would end in an instant. We would meet minds, share the knowledge we had gathered in our respective existences, revel for a moment in the cold grips of temporary companionship, and then part ways without another thought.
Once, when I was far younger, I wondered why none of my people ever formed a union with one another. In my naivety, I had the absurd idea that aimlessly wandering the empty cosmos alongside a companion would help to cure the stabbing pangs of loneliness we all experience every passing moment of our miserable existences.
I was a fool then.
No, I was alone. And for the greater part of my endless existence, I believed that was never going to change.
And even now, I wish it never did.
When I met him, I believed that it was simply another chance encounter, like the ones that had come before. I sensed his presence before all else, and though I could not yet tell where his form was in relation to my own, I could tell he was as aware of me as I was of him.
Almost instinctively, though cautiously, I sent a questioning thought to him, inquiring who he was and what he wanted. Time passed, and I received no answer, nor a question of his own. However, I sensed no hostility from his presence, so once again, I sent another simple question.
Again, it went unanswered.
I became confused. None of my people had ever before refused a hail after revealing their presence. This stranger was making no effort to hide, so why then was he not communicating with me?
Curiously, I began reaching out a bit farther, trying to see if I could find how far away he was from me, but to my surprise, I could not find him. Again, it was clear that he was making no attempt to hide, so the fact that I could not see where he was could mean only one thing; he was simply too far away. So far away in fact that I had no idea how we could sense one another. It should have been impossible.
Perplexed, I stopped searching and turned my gaze back inwards, only to receive a startling realization.
He was already inside me. Somehow, he had silently slipped past my defenses and infiltrated my thoughts, my memories, my very soul. He was browsing through them all as casually as though they were his own. He seemed to be methodically probing every inch of my mind, as if searching for something.
With a surge of anger at having been violated so, I harshly cast his gaze out and threw up a barrier, separating his inquisitive eye from my innermost secrets. I sensed a momentary touch of surprise coming from the stranger, which admittedly left me feeling somewhat satisfied.
However, not even a second later and long before I had had a chance to prepare, I was suddenly cascaded upon with the most terrible power I had ever experienced, the sheer magnitude and intensity of which caused my physical form to visibly recoil in shock. Within a moment, all of my internal defenses had been absolutely annihilated, and the deepest, most hidden secrets and thoughts in every corner of my mind were laid bare before this stranger.
Never before had I felt so insignificant. It was clear this stranger was far more powerful than I had first predicted. So powerful in fact, that terrifying suspicions began to form at the back of my mind, though I was still doubtful on whether they held any weight or not.
Who are you? I demanded, some part of me horrified what the answer would be.
At last, the stranger responded, though it wasn't to answer my question. Instead, all he uttered was a single word, a word so frightening, so mysterious, that it left me quivering in fear.
See. He commanded.
Immediately, I felt an tortuous shock of pain deep within me, as though some foreign object had subtly dug itself into the center of my black flesh and was now furiously struggling to emerge. Then, bit by bit, I felt the thing began to expand, slowly, but painfully. I felt the tendons of my essence tearing apart to make way as the thing pushed its way forward, growing, expanding, drawing closer and closer to the surface of my form.
Then, like the peel of an orange, the skin of my flesh flowered open to reveal an off-white, bloodshot orb with a dilated pupil, surrounded by a blood-red iris. For the first time in my eternal existence, I was met with the sight of the endless universe.
And it burned me to my soul.
GGGYYYAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHAAAAAA! I shrieked and writhed as the blazing heat of a thousand million suns bored into my newborn eyeball, scorching dots onto my tender retina with their abhorrent fury. Desperately, I swung myself around, trying to see if there was a patch of comfortable darkness to point my newfound vision: Somewhere where I wouldn't have to be subjected to that unimaginable agony.
But there were more. Every which way I turned, blazing dots of hateful light stabbed into me, finding passage through that abominable orb that was now my own. I couldn't escape them. They surrounded me on all sides.
I had never before imagined that sight could be so hellishly agonizing. In anguish, I began to plead with the mysterious stranger to take back his wicked gift.
TAKE IT AWAY! TAKE IT AWAY! I shrieked. NOW! I DON'T WANT IT! IT HURTS! THEY BURN!
It hurts. The stranger whispered to me.
NOW! DO IT NOW!
They burn us all.
I HATE THEM! I HATE THIS!
You want it to stop.
NOW NOW NOW!
Serve me. Help me destroy them.
I WILL! I SERVE!
You serve.
I SERVE!
As I found myself losing control over myself over the shock of being consumed by so much light, I felt another, far greater power seep into me, filling every last corner of my black form. Slowly, and not of my own command, I began to turn in place, flinching as I was forced to endure more rays of so many blazing stars. There were so many. So many. Why? Why? Why did there have to be so many? Why couldn't I stop seeing them?
I stopped, and suddenly, though my body did not move, my vision began traveling forward. Faster and faster and faster it went, flying past more of the hateful stars; circling around one another, spinning in place, spinning together, all around and around and around while clustered together in spirals and spheres and cones and amorphous blobs (much like myself.)
I hated them all. Every single last one. I would hate them forever.
My vision continued onward, shooting forward at speeds I had never before thought possible. It had already long passed the total distance I believed I had ever before traveled, and yet it continued even farther. Past even more stars. Even more swirling clusters of even more stars. Did they never end?
Very soon, I found myself before an enormous, pulsing mass of dark, writhing essence, floating in the middle of a gaping hole in between the endless cacophony of burning suns. A part of me instinctively tried to move forward to enter the mass in the hopes that it would shield my eyes from the hateful light on all sides, but I quickly remembered that my physical form was not there, and even if it was, I had no control of my movements. I was but a vision, being guided by some power that was of yet still unknown to me.
My sight began moving again, drawing closer to the mass until I finally pierced its skin and wriggled into it, sighing in a thankful relief as my newborn vision was finally shrouded from light in the soft blanket of beautiful blank blackness.
However, even as I reveled in the solace of darkness, I felt myself being pushed ever forward, even deeper into this strange, massive place. It was then that I began to realize I was not alone. There were other things there. Strange, black balls of gooey flesh, counting millions upon millions and each bearing their own bloodshot eyeballs. Swarming, pulsing and convulsing, together they made up that floating amalgamation.
It did not take me long to realize that these creatures were my own people. Even though my mind was a hundred million light years away, I could sense their thoughts, their memories, their fears, their pains, their agony. They were all like me. They too must have been found by whatever power had found me, and were too given an unwanted sight. They were servants, as I now was.
But to who?
I was answered as I came eye-to-eye with my master. At the center of it all, in a massive chamber of swirling blood and black, there was a great, pure-white sphere, a thousand times larger than myself and completely featureless except for a stark, vacant, blood-red eyeball peeking out from beneath the snowy flesh.
The mere sight of this mighty creature left me with no more doubts. I had been graced by the presence of one of the all-powerful Void Lords, and I would never be the same again.
Zero. It whispered into me. You serve Zero.
Why? I inquired, my essence quivering in fear and admiration.
You are stronger than some. You need purpose.
How?
Zero's eye shifted, and my vision shifted with it. I had no control over myself anymore, however, I felt no shame in being manipulated so. Even then, I had trust in Zero.
With his eye by my side, we exited the artificial black star and entered the burning light of the cosmos once more. I let out another shriek of agony as more starlight burned my baby eyeball, but Zero carried me onward, rightfully ignoring my pleas to return to the darkness.
See them. He commanded me.
I don't want to! Take it back! I don't want to see!
See them.
My sight flew ever forward as Zero pushed it on, closer and closer to one of the fiery balls. So close that my vision became completely consumed with a veritable inferno of pain, so very intense that I wished Zero would end my existence then and there.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! STOP!
See them.
I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM ANYMORE!
See them. Zero hissed, and thrust my vision closer to the blinding fire.
It was then that I saw it. A perfectly round, dark green rock, slowly hovering around the red star as though it were tied to it with an invisible, unbreakable rope. Bit by bit, I found the stabbing torture engulfing my being lessened a little with the growing confusion as to the existence of this strange, little ball. What was it Zero wanted me to see?
See them.
I was drawn closer to the ball. Together, Zero and I passed through its outer skin of noxious gas until we reached the rocky, solid surface below.
It was then that I saw them. Little, skittering, things. Crawling around on thin, gangly parts. Down on the... soil. Neither flesh nor solid. There were so many. They were unnatural. They disgusted me.
Look closer.
They were… intelligent. They communicated. They shared memories. They shared pain. They… what?
They shared… I didn't understand. I didn't understand.
I don't understand.
They play together.
They… worked. They worked together. They shared loneliness. They… stayed together. They… consumed… something. Matter.
They gorge it.
They… stopped moving. They made another. They were multiplying and disappearing.
They never stop. Yet they still end.
How? I inquired, almost begging Zero for an answer.
They exist. They exist without pain. They exist together. Look.
I looked, and I saw the things. They… laughed. They stayed with one another. They fought, but the fights ended quickly. They… they…
They aren't alone.
A surge of anger stabbed into my soul. They were not alone. They were… They had...
Joy.
The word was spoken with the most pure hatred I had ever heard, so much so that the word alone could not contain it all, and much of the hatred flowed out and poured into my own soul. I hated the word.
Joy? I asked.
They do not suffer. Zero whispered. They mock us.
They mock us.
I hated them. I hated them. I hated them. Why did they get to live among company? Why were their existences so wonderfully short? Even now, I saw a thousand more end. Why were they not burned by the light? Why were they not burdened with endless pain? Why did the universe hate me so?
I hate them.
End them.
In an instant, I felt Zero's influence leave me and I was taken back to my physical form. My eyeball shuddered as I suddenly remembered the trillion lights blazing into it, however, I realized that they weren't bothering me anymore.
No, my thoughts were consumed with images of that disgusting, living matter, scurrying around the colored spheres of rock. For the first time in a thousand eons, I realized that I had a purpose. Lord Zero had given me a purpose. A purpose.
Without hesitation, my eyeball began darting to and fro, searching for another one of these rocky balls that my master had shown me. It was then that I realized that Zero had bestowed upon me another gift: A ring of bright orange spheres jutting out of my flesh. With them orbiting in waves around the surface of my skin, I quickly found that I was no longer a slave to the cruel whims of empty space. I could move.
And so I did.
I quickly found one. Another giant ball, this one shining with an ugly, dark brown hue and orbiting a blinding yellow star. Even from there, I could see the matter things infesting every inch of the surface. More excited than I had ever before been, I sped towards the ugly rock, ready to prove to my Lord that he had not chosen wrong.
Though, despite my excitement, a nagging concern continued to pester the back of my mind. These beings of matter, mocking us with their joy and their companionship; surely they would not be easy to destroy?
Would they?
Author's Note: I love Kirby. A lot. So much so that I'm honestly surprised it's taken me so long to write a story based in his universe.
But despite that, here I am now, coming up with a crazy idea to try to "humanize" one of the least humanizable villains in Kirby's long past, Dark Matter. I definitely was playing around with a very different writing style than usual this time around (as well as testing my hand at a 1st person perspective again) so I hope it all ended up coming out decent.
Now, I would quickly like to mention that I've got a lot of different head-cannons concerning Kirby lore, and a lot of that will end up playing a major role in a few parts of this story. If anyone has any questions, or would just like to discuss anything related to it, send a PM my way, and I'd be more than glad to reciprocate.
As of now, I'm not planning on making this a ridiculously long fic, probably about 4-5 chapters at the most, so I should have it finished pretty soon. Though, "soon" does tend to be a very relative term when it comes to me.
Anyway, I do hope you all enjoyed this first chapter. Thanks for viewing and reviewing, and I hope to see you all soon.
Yours truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman.