Disclaimer: Still don't own ToS and still not making money on any of this. Boy, I wish I was...

Note: This was part of an ABC challenge that was Tales of Symphonia themed. So I was given the word and went with it from then.

Decimate

"To reduce anything by one in ten, or ten percent."

In the beginning, when time first began, Light met Dark. The first was more than the brightness of stars or beams reflected off the moon; It was order, control, and restraint. The second was deeper than shadows and emptiness; It was chaos and freedom. Each had an army of agents dueling one another for domination the ultimate tug-of-war.

Mithos had been and such paragon of Light, striving to bring peace in a land torn apart by war. By the efforts of he and his companions the Light was able to overcome the Dark. Then tragedy struck. On the threshold of his victory, Mithos was thrown into madness by the murder of his sister, assassinated not by an agent of the Dark, but by one from their own inner circle. Instead of bringing a balance Mithos effused himself in the Light, creating too much order under too much control. Yet even he could not completely eradicate the Dark. It was weakened considerably, however, and while It nursed Its wounds, It waited patiently, waited for Its chance to rise and correct the balance.

Millenia passed. Slowly, ever so slowly, cracks began to appear. The two who were Yggdrasil's favorites began to chafe against their bonds. One began to plot and scheme- quietly, quietly- while the other hid away his growing horror. Which would crack first? The Dark watched with growing interest.

In an odd sort of paradox, it was the most adored angel of Cruxis that did the unthinkable: he turned his back on Yggdrasil in order to run off with one who had been a victim of a world he had helped create. Possibility was stirring. The angel strove to find a way to let a human wield the mighty Origin, but the Dark was far more interested in the child the angel and his mate had managed to produce. A hybrid child sired by a traitor to the Light and given the name of Gray...

However, the Light's hold was too strong and the little family came under attack. It was that very terrible night that the Dark made Its first direct intervention. His mate slain and cornered by enemies, the Dark knew the angel would return to the Light, stupidly choosing to take his son with him. The boy was too perfect a game piece to let slip into the Light's hold; so the Dark interfered and delivered the child into the safekeeping of a dwarf. The angel was taken back, back into the lair of the Light, but the Dark took no notice.

It was too excited.

The boy lived a lonely, but safe, life and the Dark took this time to search, to see what shards of its power remained, and to determine if there were any who could help his chosen champion. Two divided worlds were hardly an obstacle and in a few years time, the Dark found them.

And there were ten.

One was a Light's Chosen, a poor girl-child counting down her remaining years. Her life was to be a cycle that had been repeated countless times. Nothing lay ahead of her but emptiness. Born an enemy, her freedom would be the first boon to be given, the Dark's herald to signal Its return.

There were a brother and a sister, who would be given the chance to follow Mithos's original legacy if only to make different choices than their predecessor. They too were caught between two identities, just as the Gray was caught between black and white.

There would be another girl, this time from a diminished- but strong- people. She would have the skills necessary to tearing asunder the Light's chains. But not yet. She must wait until the time was right.

A woman-who-was-a-girl would be another example. She was trapped with little emotion and too many restraints put apart her. Those would have to go. As the Light's Chosen would receive freedom so too would this poor one be given some chaos for her heart. Life is change and it must be lived.

A strong one was needed, not only in mind but in body. Once a jewel of society, this man had exiled himself in guilt for a terrible deed. However, the Dark would raise him back up, more prominent than he had been held by the Light's standards. Justice or revenge- that would be for the man to choose.

This seventh made the Dark falter. A man who was the Light's other Chosen, but who was born with a most chaotic heart. Like Gray, his spirit was caught between; Light and Dark both had strong holds on him. He was like a coin tossed in the air and it was only when all came falling down that his farce- and fate- would be revealed.

Gray's sire, the fallen angel, was not totally forgotten. Yggdrasil had ordered him back to his side, but there was no heart in the service. The angel's wings had been clipped and his spirit crushed. To him there was nothing left. However, the Dark knew better. What would the Champion of Light think upon finding his long-lost son was an unknowing agent of the Dark? It didn't know. What It did know- in Its own, vague sort of way- was that parents went to extraordinary lengths for their child. Claimed by the Light as he was, the angel's actions might come to speak differently.

The ninth and last was of a different sort than any of the others. Most would consider him insignificant, but he would be the only one as aware of the Dark as It was of him. Nothing lasts forever and the struggle between Light and Dark was the same. Someday things would come to a head and it would all come down to the two last and greatest Champions. For now, though, both had yet to fully evolve. Dogs with intelligent eyes were as far as they had gotten. Once a fighter alongside angels, he now lived like a common pet, watching Gray grow up with an odd sort of protective, loving vigilence. Once more he would stand as witness to a battle between forces.

Ten. Ten shards were all the Dark had as its battalion. It took so little to cause chaos...

"Lloyd, Shadow sure seems to like you..."

"Huh? You think so?"