A/N: first off I need to clear up a few things. This is a completely new story; it has nothing to do with any of my other fics. This is a Neo-Goth fic. It will be dark and gritty. Also this fic is going to be pretty different from any of my other work. For one it's going to be writing in various pov's. Two it's actually going to have couples. Three it deals more with the real world then the Digital World.
This fic is a Taito and Takari, but there are mentions of past tense Sorato and present tense Taiora, however it does end up Taito. Also there is lots of sibling love (not incest) in this fic, so I guess you can say there is a little fluff.
As a fair warning this fic will contain mentions and/or descriptions of alcohol abuse, drug use and addiction, bio-alteration, abortion, cloning, cannibalism, sexual activities, gore, self injury and self mutilation, suicide, terrorism, vampirism, mentions of various religions including Judeo-Christianity, Wicca, Muslim, ect. Language, murder, torture, action, drama, angst, romance⦠do you get the idea?
I don't really know where I'm going with this, I just know that I'm not going to hold anything back.
I rated this story R for a reason, please remember that. The prologue is very tamed and actually very boring, however much of what I mentioned above will appear quickly in the next chapter. Please be mindful that this is only the prologue and that the chapters to follow will be longer, more in-depth, and will contain questionable material. Also when I speak of God in this chapter I don't mean any specific deity, I use the term God to describe intelligent design. And now on with the show.
Disclamier: I do not own Digimon. The title Physical Graffiti come from the Led Zeppelin album Physical Graffiti.
Physical Graffiti
A Father's Last Words
They say that there is nothing new under the sun, that all sins, both those that are and those that have yet to be, are nothing but mockeries of sins that were. I suppose there is more truth then deception in this, for the sins committed by our forefathers still linger upon the world today. Our past is our future, if this is the case then we are ultimately doomed. Who could honestly say that mankind's past is worth repeating? If you do believe it is then you must not truly understand our past, nor do you know what it has laid for our future.
But this is understandable, after all, very few were there when our fate was sealed, and even now very few know of it. I am one of those few. One of the elite found worthy of carrying the burden of knowledge. Knowledge that I despise, knowledge that has dug my grave early for me, and knowledge that I must unfortunately pass to another. Here you will find my truth, you will know all through my eyes. You will learn how it began and inevitably how it will end. You will see why I have lost all hope, well perhaps not all hope; I still have one small ray of hope. But for now read as I convey to you our past so that you can better understand our future.
It began on December 1, 1939. Like all days before it, this was a time of darkness and doubt. The world's fate was shrouded by ignorance. Intolerance ruled judgment and it seemed as though progress had been abandoned. In the eyes of civilians the world was as complex as it would ever be, and no generation to come would ever have to endure the level of horror that their generation was forced to face.
Though this was the common way of thinking, a group of American scientist and engineers broke the chains of unfathomable ideas by creating the first computer, Atanasoff-Berry Computer, or ABC. From this computer the foundation of the Digital World was laid. Despite ABC's success, progression was not seen again until June 3, 1944 when the supervisor of the ABC program went to Britain to assist in the construction and programming of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), the first patented digital computer.
With the activation of ENIAC the foundation laid by ABC was built upon, forming the Digital World. The Digital World progressed even further as ABC's and ENIAC's programs were connected, forming the first network and creating the basic concept behind the Internet. From this network the various DigiWorld realities were formed, running parallel to the multiple earth realities making up the multiverse. As time passed more computer systems were created in ABC's and ENIAC's image, and the network grew, expanding until it covered the whole of this world. As the network grew in our world, stray databytes from the Internet merged with the Digital World allowing the world and its inhabitants to evolve.
And so a time of doubt and ignorance gave birth to a new era, the digital era. Technology became the ultimate truth and the definite future of our world. The creators of this new era celebrated happily, none of them ever fully respecting their own creation, nor considering the damage they could cause. The Digital World was a secret even to it's own creators. None knew of it. None understood what was occurring. And ultimately they died in the ignorance they lived in.
And then there was a new day. Like all days before it this was a time of darkness and doubt. The world's fate was shrouded by ignorance. Intolerance ruled judgment and it seemed as though progress had been abandoned. In the eyes of civilians the world was as complex as it would ever be and no generation to come would ever have to endure the level of horror that their generation was forced to face.
The old ways of thinking had died. Discovery and creation was all that mattered. Man lost all fear of God and all reverence of the natural laws which governed our fathers. When seeking ultimate truth we destroyed faith in all divinities. The philosophy of intelligent design became little more then a bedtime story. We destroyed God and began to worship our own accomplishments and ourselves. We put our faith in ourselves and are fellow man, and by doing so we lost all hope. Man is flawed and so our faith was flawed; we knew this and yet still we destroyed our hope.
Time past, God was dead, faith was false, and hope had been destroyed. It was the earliest years of the Digital Age, a time when all answers came from man. We looked to ourselves to fill the void we created. Biotechnology promised us hope. It promised us the beginning of life and perhaps even a cure for the end of life.
I know the promise of creation and eternal life might seem absurd, perhaps even blasphemous, but one corporation promised this and more. They promised to all who converted to their faith a chance to hold sway over the New World. The old ways, though most had been abandoned, still managed to survive the Digital Age. They lingered upon the world and in the minds of a few poor ignorant souls, tainting the future with their existence. After years of failed inquisition, this esteemed and respectful corporation realized that in order to truly bring about this "new world" they would first have to reduce the old one to ashes. The ignorance of the past, and those who clung to it, had to be burnt away, so that those who were wise enough to embrace the future could rest easy, knowing that such foolishness was behind them.
It was an extreme idea, fully exterminate the Old World. Torch building, ideals, and even people so that our past will not corrupt our future. If only the people had realized that the idea of eliminate one race or way of thinking in order to exalt another had been attempted many times in history. Perhaps if they had seen this, then maybe they would have abandoned the idea as madness and intolerance. But this was a new age and a new way of thinking, the similarities between these ideals and those of the past were never recognized, and so in 1983 our fate was slowly sealed.
The corporation, the one arrogant enough to promise life and life more abundantly, was called Tri-Stygian. It was a hybrid industry and its beginning was our end.
On March 7, 1982 the head of a stream of American labs, which dealt with Biotechnology met with the head of Hypnos, a Japanese cooperation which deals with programming and networking, and the head of Runes industries, a British company which revolutionized the engineering of computers.
For over a week the heads of these three companies debated and took counsel from one another in a secured location known simply as Urdar, the meeting place of the gods. They spoke with one another, learning each of their intentions for the future. Then was brought up the great secret which they all shared. The existence of Yggdrasil, the multiverse, and the ever looming presence of the Digital World. They learned what ABC and ENIAC had tried from so long to protect. Though they were merely computer systems, both ABC and ENIAC knew that if man were to learn of the multiverse then only pain would follow.
The two computer systems, with minds of logic, conspired together to keep all files regarding the Digital World encrypted. However, their efforts failed as hackers' abilities began to exceeded that of the early computer. The encrypted files regarding the Digital World and the multiverse had to pass through the same networks as all other files, because of this, these three corporations had access to every piece of data regarding the Digital World. For over a year all three corporations tried to decipher the strange code encrypted within the files, but their efforts were futile. The files were in a language unknown to man.
So it quickly became obvious to these esteemed leaders that alone they could not solve the mysteries that now shrouded them in the darkness of ignorance. And on March 16, 1982 the three corporations swore their alliance to one another by signing a blood contract and sealing the fate of our world. They had a common goal, a future without a past. Forget what occurred with our fathers and their fathers, all that mattered was our children and their children. A rather selfless philosophy, perhaps too selfless, for if we forget the past then we our doomed to repeat its mistakes.
And so the Zoophagous (life-eating) contract was singed in blood, and the dawn of a new age, untainted by the old, was born. The secrets of the multiverse would be discovered in time, and the Digital World, a shadow of our own world, would help bring about a new and perfect world.
The boundaries between the Digital World and the human world have been tested nearly to their limits. Soon the end will come and the sky will glow ablaze in a vengeful fire. For we mankind let darkness into the Digital World. Our generation allowed hatred and destruction to take over our shadow, and now our children, my children, suffer as they attempt to correct our mistakes.
Only one copy was made of the Zoophagous contract, the proof of Tri-Stugian's planes for its "perfect world". The copy was given to Zoe Lynnie, the head of Runes and now one of the trinity which rules over Tri-Stygian. The original copy, which holds all the proof of this worlds downfall including the trinities' signatures and DNA, was taken to a place known as Baldur's Tomb. Only with the possession of the original copy of the contract can this dark trinity and Tri-Stygian be brought down.
Ever since I learned of this conspiracy I devoted my life to revealing it and stopping it. As a reporter, I wanted the truth to be known. It is true that at one time I worshipped the new religion, that I saw hope in it, but when I held my son in my arms I saw clearly. I realized how wrong I had been, and I fought for redemption, but it was too late. I had sold my soul to a lie and gaining it back was impossible. I aided in bringing out the total destruction of the old world, by believing in its corruption.
I learned more, I hacked and studied and spent countless hours trying to learn all of Tri-Stygian's secrets. And the more I learned, the more grief began to consume me. It ate me away inside. I knew that I did not possess the strength to stop the inevitable, I knew that my son would be raised in a horrible world. The grief grew and slowly began to take its toll, not only on me, but also on my family. My marriage began to suffer. My wife, my one true beloved, felt the distance between us. She began to beg for me to talk to her, but how could I? What I had learned by accident was killing me inside. I could not cause her such pain. Knowledge is pain, it is a burden and I wished to spare her from this burden.
She should have left me long before she did, but just as she had made up her mind to take my son and leave, a tragedy fell upon us. She was pregnant again. I was to be a father again, and when she told me my heart broke and I wept. Already one innocent child to wander in this desolate world, and now another. It broke my heart to think that I would help bring a child into such misery, but on that day, that chilled rainy day, all regret left me. When I held my youngest son I saw hope, not only in his eyes but also in the eyes of my eldest son.
For three years my dismal state abounded me, and I felt alive again. I forgot my quest for the truth, and left Tri-Stygian to continue with their unorthodox work. However, the grief along with guilt return on September 2, 1995. At the time my family and I live in an apartment at Hikarigaoka in Tokyo. My wife was away visiting her family in Paris, while my two sons and I remained at home. I sat at the computer, as I have so many nights before, working thoughtlessly on bills when the sounds of war streamed through my ears. I arose to my feet, concerned for my sons, but my attention was drawn back to the computer.
Every electronic device in the house was acting strangely, and as I turned to my computer I saw it. Bifrost, known now as the Digi-Port. Streams of codes moved across the computer screen, and stray databytes radiated off of every electronic item in the house. The sounds of war echoed outside, and I could hear my sons cheering great beast on. It was then that I realized I had abandoned my quest for knowledge too soon.
The mad show ended, and my boys came rushing in ranting about a giant dinosaur and bird, which just battled outside their windows. It was so astounding, as I looked down at their innocent, youthful faces I did not see fear or confusion, only childish curiosity. Instantly I told them that it was nothing but a dream, they tried to argue, but I would not let them. I sent them to bed, knowing that eventually they would forget all that happened, just as I had forgotten for the past three years.
I cursed myself for neglecting my calling. My life was bliss now, my wife and I were in love and I had my two precious sons, but to allow my joy to come between me and my quest would be selfish, and so I allowed it to consume me once again. This time my wife was neither patient nor understanding, and I suppose I can not blame her. While our eldest son would not so much as utter a word about the battling monsters outside his window, our youngest would speak of nothing else. It was the same senseless babble that I would use. Stuff like "you may not be able to see it but it's real", or "there's something out there; I have to know what it is".
She just couldn't take the idea that her precious little angel could be following in a mad man's footsteps, and I agreed with her. The last thing I wanted was for either of my sons to become like me, and yet I know that it is inevitable. My family broke apart, but I had no time for tears. I was getting close to the answers I sought. Hacking, investigating, and questioning was leading me ever closer to the jaws of the beast. But I will never make it into that relentless pit.
My journey ends today, and there is simply not enough time. Which is why I am writing this. I know you will read my mad ramblings despite, the fact that I will ask you not to. You are so much like me, defiant even until your last breath. You have fought wars in strange worlds against strange creatures, I hope that in some way this will help prepare you for your journey ahead.
Odin, the all father, in order to gain the great gift of wisdom, gave one of his eyes to Mimir's well, but he did not morn his loss for now he could see further than mere sight would allow. But from this all seeing sight and great wisdom, a sorrow fell upon the king of gods, for now he could see the coming end of the gods. Now he understood things such as sin and deceit. Hatred and pain were concepts so alien to him, that once wisdom came and he was aware of them he wept. Though he did not regret obtaining this knowledge, it was still difficult to bare, as is all great truths.
I tell you this old folklore for a reason. Within this simple envelope is a draught of Mimir's well. I small sip of the waters of wisdom. You will drink from it, and you will gain knowledge at a heavy price, one far greater then even Odin was forced to pay. For this knowledge will cost you your life.
I wish I could write words of comfort for you, but there are none. To say that your journey will be an easy one would be a lie. The moment you allow your curiosity to get the better of you, you're fate will be sealed. You will follow in my footsteps, only your journey will be one of far more suffering and loneliness.
But, perhaps, I can offer you some comfort after all. Your brother, our hope, will not be brought into this world of turmoil. He was not raised by me, and so was not tainted by my infectious hands. He will continue to live in freedom, bringing his light to all blinded by shadows. Take what comfort that knowing his life is secure gives you, for it is all you will have.
I know as time passes you will want to hate me, and I do not blame you, nor will I ask you not to hate me. You have every right to despise me, for I have ruined your life time and time again, and now, at last, I will bring it crashing down. Hate me, and hate them, it will give you strength.
The time is near, my son. Soon the sky will crash and burn around us. Soon the world you so loved will bring about our end. This is what you must prevent at any coast. Within your brother I saw hope and light, but within you I saw strength and redemption. You are the world's salvation, never stray from your path.
Hate me with unquenchable passion for the burden I am giving you, for the life I have set in place for you. But please always remember that I love you, you and your brotherā¦. And I'm sorry.
~*~*~
I know it was short and probably made no sense, but as we go answers will be revealed. It's only the prologue but please still review. Let me know if you're at least a little interested. The speed in which I continue this will have to do with the response it gets since I do have other projects to work on. So if you're really interested then review. Also criticism, flames, suggests, are all welcomed and appreciated.
The information about the Digital World's birth comes form the Brave Tamer's games. I will be using little bits of information from all Digimon sources, including all seasons, mangas, and both English and Japanese games.
The term Zoophagous comes from Bram Stoker's Dracula, I liked it and so I used it here.
The various terms I used to describe the Digital World will be terms used throughout the fic, and thus far they've all come from Norse mythology.
Yggdrasil: Yggdrasil was the great ash tree created by Odin in Norse folklore. The tree was called the World Tree and it supported and sustained the many levels of the Norse world, including heaven, earth, and hell. I used it to describe the foundation of the multiverse.
Bifrost: Bifrost or Asabru (rainbow) was the bridge that connected Asgard (heaven) to Midgard (earth). I used it to describe the gate between the Digital World and the real world (aka the Digi-Port).
The little folklore about Odin and Mimir was also from nose mythology, and went as I described it.
If you're having trouble understanding anything or you want a further explanation of something, or if you just have questions in general feel free to leave them in a review or e-mail them to me at SaintlinReed@cs.com
