20. The Pharaoh Sails to Orion – Nightwish
There are many varied and conflicting accounts of what existed at the start of all things. Each is right in its own way, but before that, in the very beginning, there was only the nothingness. Then came the not-nothing, which had no name. To distinguish itself it was a 'something'. Yet this something was lonely, and so from the nothingness it pulled its Other, and they called themselves the Light and the Darkness. They were the first somethings, before the universe, time, or life were born – Light and Darkness, equal but opposite and eternal because they were the first and so weren't governed by the rules of later somethings.
Each something that came after them was the most powerful of its kind simply because it was the first – the descendants of these were copies, pale imitations, never able to achieve the same great heights as their forebears. The first life, the first death, the first star, the first world – the lines diluted as time progressed, but the firsts remained the epitome that everything else strove to achieve.
Light and Darkness fought over many things, eternally in competition with each other because although they were both firsts of their kind, they were also the first equals.
The Darkness birthed many things – fear, nightmares, and the horrors that crept in them – but its favourite child was its image on the first planet to have the first life, and it named this child after itself. Thus, the darkness was born.
The darkness also birthed children of its own – the night, demons, and the tiny part of the first human that compelled it to act in ways resembling the Darkness. Thus, cruelty was born.
Light heard of cruelty and tussled with darkness, overcoming it and turning it to shadow, and then setting its own firstborn, light, to stand guard. Wherever light appeared, darkness turned to only shadow, and hissed helplessly against its natural enemy. Then Light attempted to wrestle with cruelty, but Darkness intervened and they fought inside the first human until they nearly destroyed it. In order to set a balance, Darkness allowed Light to insert its own creation as cruelty's equal opposite, just as they were equal opposites. Thus, compassion was born.
Light and Darkness agreed that balance was the key to maintaining their struggle, which they both enjoyed, without destroying everything they fought over. Yet Darkness was jealous of Light, for two of Darkness's descendants were jealousy and suspicion, and they whispered to Darkness until it believed light to be cheating in their goal, making itself more attractive to the first human and its offspring.
So the first true demon was a creature of pure evil, created in secret and then sealed away when Light discovered Darkness's plot. Light, distraught overt this betrayal by its Other, gathered its children and grandchildren, and all their descendants. They banded together and banished Darkness to the first pocket dimension, where it ruled supreme in its loneliness.
But unbeknownst to them, darkness stole the first demon while its parents was being punished, and hid the first demon away to be used when it could wreak revenge upon the family of Light and return Darkness to the world. Thus, Darkness and the first demon waited in their separate prisons, while darkness spread and fermented in the world, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
It came millennia later. Cruelty came to darkness, and brought with it greed and lust, both of whom told of a plan by humans to invoke some of the first magics. Cruelty had swelled inside the hearts of those who made this plan, and combined with these magics it saw a way for darkness to finally take its revenge.
Thus, the first demon was truly born, and such was the power in its evil heart that when it raked its claws across the sky, it opened a door to the Darkness's prison, and Darkness began to ooze back into the world.
But once again the family of Light intervened to repel them both. The first demon, unwilling to be imprisoned again, chose an unassuming vessel and hid inside it where it thought the Light couldn't find it, since Light was so preoccupied with its Other once more. However, one of Light's children saw the first demon hide and hid itself in another vessel, intending to unearth the creature before it could do any harm. But both vessels were removed from the mortal world soon after, and their hidden companions could not die with them, but became tied to their two chosen souls. Thus, the first waiting game was born.
And thousands of years later, when a lonely boy completed a puzzle and released the soul inside, and a grieving boy put on an ancient necklace, the next chapter of a story even greater than they knew was finally written.