Let There Be Light

 

All the sun did was rise, until God and man called it day. The earth and sky were just apart, until men said from the ground up, distance. All the moon did was beam, until men called it moonlight.

 

1.Farkon Labari (A Story’s Beginning)

This is a story. And it’s about quite a few things, but it’s not about people, humans. And it’s also not a story with human dialogue either(or maybe it is).

 

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It moved. That’s all that is known, that it moved. And that’s how every story(from then on) with a beginning began, really. It, It just was. It just is. It just will be. And it is still not known what IT is. That was all It needed to do for everything to become. And there will be no mention of It from here on(at least in this much detail really,) because apparently all It needed to do, was move.

 

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The beginning before the beginning had begun. This is a story: of the beings in Az, of Love and Light. Of Pride, of the first Chaos, and of the birth of what men now call, Sin. Of the Essentials, and their Opposites.

 

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If you ask the Waters, one of the only things that wasn’t created again, it’d tell you that even the beings in Az didn’t know how they came to be. All they remembered, as far as they knew, even been they as superior as they were, are, to humans, is that they were clustered together. Not in a way that you can’t tell this one from that one, or red from blue on what you people call a rainbow. It was more of a cluster, in the way those birds you keep in that poultry place of yours come together to keep warm when it’s cold outside. They were paired, each of them, one to another; Wisdom to Knowledge, Time to Space, Charity to Compassion, Joy to Peace, Love, to Light. You still say that don’t you? Love and Light?

The only unlikely pair in that cluster were Death and Pride. And that wasn’t only because they were the only pair without light, far from it. The beings in AZ, were what you’d call offspring, from a single parent, IT. As for Death and Pride, they were sort of what was left from The Great Still, before IT Moved. But the beings didn’t share the petty sentiments that you people spread amongst yourselves now, that thing, what’s it called, Segregation? Racism? Or was it Differences? No bother, what’s trying to be said is that they didn’t believe that because you were different, you deserved to be ousted. So they welcomed them, because why not? What harm could that possibly cause, eh? Having Death and Pride in your cluster? Not like violence existed at this point either, maybe.

 

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This place was called Az largely owing to laziness on our part to handpick a better name, really. And also because A is the first letter of the English alphabet, and Z the last, in the most used language of your time. But it was also called Az because like every story, there was a beginning, and an end too.

Water could’ve told this story better, because the water saw it all, but men don’t speak Water, so it’s been running around in circles for the past (only Time knows) years, holding the first story. But again, people don’t speak gush, splashes and trickles, so in that colourless liquid still lies the first set of colours that the beginning witnessed. Probably in it’s purest form.

 

Death really could’ve told this story too, but well, people and Death don’t really see eye to eye either, he’s a sad old mean introvert. And not pride too, he won’t even get off his high horse to have tea with you. But this story’s being told either ways, you just listen, and maybe at the end, you’d know who’s telling it. Or what’s telling it. Also, there was Music and Dance in Az too! Or was there? You’d probably find out as the story unfolds.

 

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What would you like to know? Eh, well, what you would like to know about this story, is that they existed in pairs for two reasons. First was because one of the two knew a thing, and the other how to do that thing. You don’t understand, do you? Well, take Wisdom and Knowledge for instance. Knowledge knows stuff right? Like; “Oh, the sun is yellow, there’s an old lady,” and all that. But wisdom was the one that showed knowledge how to use what it knew: “Oh, the sun is yellow, and its bright, let’s try planting flowers. Or let’s help the old lady with her load shall we?” Or not. If that wasn’t simple enough, think about it like Music and Dance then. Music, you can’t see, but she’s there, you can hear her, almost feel her. So Dance comes along so you can see Music written through your bodies, through one of those many forms your people call ballet dancing, or break dancing, or even that popular Afro dance, Skelewu,? Well the point is, Music can talk, but she’s an illiterate, so Dance helps her write it down, it’s just not written in English, or any human coded language, really. You get it, right? That’s why it doesn’t make sense for one to be without the other. Not just with Music and Dance, but all of them, all the beings in Az and after Az. It’s why people get married too isn’t it? The concept of being all alone is chaotic. Which leads us to the second reason. That they also paired because they understood that singularity breeds abuse. That’s why a coin had two sides, because balance is pivotal to the existence of everything that there was, is. The avoidance of complete chaos, The Great Still.

 

You should also know, that nobody spoke, at least not in words. At this time there were no words, as you know them, just gestural actions, really. Actions were defined enough not to need words, at least that was the case until people came running along. But then again, because they didn’t talk in words didn’t mean they didn’t write. That wasn’t what you thought, was it? Or that they didn’t write, in English. You didn’t think that too did you?

Not only words can be written or drawings drawn with lines.

Or maybe you’re right, they may have written, and drawn. But definitely not in the way you’d imagine. Try having a picture of a baby’s writing in your head. One that’s not been to school yet but somehow got caught up with a pen and paper lying around by chance. Picture the colourful jargons drawn by that same baby. Now, elevate that, whatever it is you see, to a celestial level. You see it now don’t you? It isn’t still just writing and isn’t jargon now, abi? You really didn’t think Ogun and Zeus in their primal forms would write the same way you do in the office or that thing people call mails, did you?

Everything was perfect, you should know this too, all it needed to be, especially with Happiness and Harmony. Not just as virtuous essences that you know them now as, but as a pair too.

Maybe you should also  know that the beings had their essence, which was being what they represented, and consciousness that maintained the space and controlled the flow of that essence. Let’s just say it was more of a personality, so you’d understand, seeing as your brain is half taken thinking only for yourselves, kai.

 

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Well, we’re going to say that Wisdom and Knowledge are were the oldest beings in Az. The first. Going by the way we know it, when everyone showed up, they were really just clueless and wandering about with and in Time and Space. And from the inception, Wisdom and Knowledge already knew who, or what they were. They had to take charge, and form what you’d call a circle, the way you do in school during sport activities, or in a prayer band. They gave everyone, an identity. Knowledge did the naming (and no, it wasn’t in the gleeful traditional way you’d like to imagine it). There wasn’t any talking, and we’re saying names because that’s how you’d understand with brains the size of yours. The name giving in truth was showing them who they were, really were, in a way even a fly would understand that it was meant to be, well, a fly, flying around, et cetera. Sadly, a lot of people don’t ever unravel the path of being who they really were, we’ve observed. Wisdom however, showed them how to apply who they were to everything within and around them.

Time and Space were the first to catch on, and when they did, there was more than enough space and freedom for everyone to move about in. As for Time, well let’s say he was a background kind of being, swinging from left to the right, tick-tocking himself away. The only time he wasn’t swinging was when he was seated somewhere or grumbling about something. Apparently there’s some really old building in some country called ‘Big Ben’, a clock that swings in the exact same manner, he would’ve been proud. He moved so slow that everyone eventually came along and passed him by, but then again, by chance(another of his many essential expressions) he was always at the destination before everyone else! They all concluded that he had some hidden shortcut no one else could see. He also had some creature of some sort, apparently you lot call it a donkey now. They were in such perfect sync with each other, especially when you met them on the road.

And that’s how the naming ceremony(not in human traditions ) went. Identities were given. Purpose was made, given. Freedom too. And even Pride and Death got theirs.

 

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But maybe they shouldn’t have. Maybe Wisdom and Knowledge shouldn’t have even given anyone purpose. But they all affected each other in ways that they didn’t even know yet. Maybe it was Love that made them so, and Light gave them too much, well, light?

 

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To make this easier, think of this story as a story about a place and a people. A place with really divine beings, literally glowing people, but not just in one colour, but like different shades of a rainbow’s seven colours. Now, imagine they live in a place called Time and Space, even though those were the names of the two beings they resided in. Imagine Wisdom was a nice young woman with long flowing hair and a knowing look, and Knowledge a fair handsome man, that seemed to pierce you with his gaze. Knowing things nobody else in your life could ever figure out, and maybe he had green eyes, or caramel, or both. Knowledge was a man like many men nowadays, of one road, knowing. Wisdom was a woman like many women, of many roads, becoming. It was maybe why till now, men thought in straight lines and women thought in a spaghetti wavelength. A lot of mixed up lines. Now, imagine Time as a grumpy old man who means well, and hates the fact that he’s largely misunderstood. That he’s trying to explain a theory of what you people call Science, of how he’s there now and he’s in tomorrow too, but no one simply understood him. That can make one grumpy, especially when no one gets you. Now, picture a wife, his own, Space. A nice old lady who seems to be everywhere but also absent simultaneously. It doesn’t make you uncomfortable, in fact you want more of that watching absence than less of it, that it makes you feel, free. That she’s the only one who seems to understand Time’s theory or was willing to watch him, and listen in a way with her eyes that other people who weren’t his spouse were incapable of.  You remember Happiness and Harmony? Now think of two little cheerful kids that you’re always looking out for because they give you butterflies in your stomach. They make you want to throw away everything and just be with them. Now, you can wonder who their parents are. Imagine they lived in the last house at the end of a crescent street. A middle aged couple that seemed to have found the equilibrium of their prime. And they were doing well in spite a house full of kids, of which Happiness and Harmony were just one of many pairs. And somehow they were the only ones who wound up with kids on the street, that almost everyone adored. When you see the parents, you understand why you love those two adorable beings. It’s easy, their children of Love, and Light. It was like watching the sunrise with butterflies in your stomach, the feeling that family gave one.

 

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Welcome to Time and Space. Or let it be said like this so you’d understand. Definitely no need for exploded brains all over your screens. Time only started running when men were born. Before then, he took paces, so they measured him, in Pace.

 

It is written (In the broken English of West Africans): Di eye wey u get, no be onle to de looku looku. U suppose use an hear wetin dey happen too.

 

 

2- Tsekiyan Labari ( A Story’s Centre)

 

It’s ironic now, that when we recall the names in hierarchy as were given by Knowledge and Wisdom, Love and Light would come last. Light was what gave them sight, showed them where they were headed, where to go, literally. If not, Knowledge would’ve probably named Space Wisdom instead. And Love? Isn’t that what pushed anyone to do things that seemed to stem from their very core?

Everyone was with their pair at almost every pace. When Love was close, the brightness was usually tremendous, like looking at the sun at noon on a not so cloudy day, only you didn’t have to look up, that intensity was all around you. And when one felt like one had foresight, like you just knew things before they happened, Knowledge and Wisdom were probably not far off. In essence, what is being said is that Identity was really predicated on love and light, Wisdom and Knowledge just happened to be the first ones to realize it and help the others up. And that you couldn’t gossip about Love to Light, not like gossip existed then, or course not. So don’t be fooled, Wisdom and Knowledge sure looked like the oldest, but in terms of essence, Love and Light should be the ones who walked around with sticks, but for some strange reason we’ll never know, they never did.

Now that that’s all in place, the next thing on your mind would probably be what they did, right? Well, they had what you people would call, jobs, that’s what people say right? “You have a job, he has a job, she has a job. Everyone does. A part-time job, full-time job, things like that.” Those things you do, to earn a living, make money. An occupation. The only major difference would be(asides that they weren’t paid) that in Az, they all needed a “job” or an essence, if we’re being realistic, to keep the balance. They didn’t do it so they could feed the kids or buy cars, and all that humanity. That wasn’t needed. It didn’t even have anything to do with Wisdom and Knowledge’s abode being coloured green, and dark blue. Don’t picture a regular house, it wasn’t. It didn’t have windows or a door or any of that. You can think of a roof though, maybe that’ll make it easier to picture. But no doors, no windows. Time and space had a teal coloured house too. Space was an essence of transparency, so let’s just imagine that it was teal and a lot of crystal clear in between. You could literally see through them. Let’s just say they were quite the transparent pair, as most old people are, yes? That’s probably where Honesty was born.

As for Love and Light, you’d have loved to hear a red, because those funny looking hearts of yours are red, and white because light seems white? You’d be right about white, But what you call Blue now, was Love’s original colours, the first actually. How red came to be, well, that’s later on in the story. And as for Death and Pride, those two stayed well off everyone, almost at some sort of foggy horizon with some unknown aura and shapelessness about them. They never showed up for the meeting either.

 

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The meeting, it was majorly Wisdom and Light’s idea. It was their way of “keeping tabs”, as the women in your world put it, especially the ones that obsess over to-do lists, and household law and order. Thanks to Wisdom’s direction and Light’s guidance, everyone was reminded as to how and why they were. This supposed meeting, usually happened at the centre of everyone’s backyard. It is important to clarify that all the houses in Az were arranged in some sort of circle. It wasn’t just a pattern, it was a reminder, as Knowledge put it, not in words anyway. “You have me, I have you, whenever I need you, you’re never out of reach. Whenever you need me, I’m easier to reach than a wave.” That added it up. A touch of blue all around would be nice to add to what you have in your head, since almost all the houses had blue as the major colour. It literally overflowed into the backyard. Blue really was the first colour. It isn’t even a competition, God simply put white first to throw you people off the grid. But water knows, it’s been singing this song in all the blue oceans. Surely, someone must’ve seen this, abi?

At the centre of this communal backyard, was The Embodiment. This was what it looked like: a part of what you’d call elevated land, just a little bit higher than the rest. It wasn’t blue; more of moist brown, like it just rained. It smelled nicer then than it does now. This elevated part was surrounded by a ring of water, no wider in width than a rope, one as thick as your thumb. At the center of this center stood a tree, a tall green tree. It had the most beautiful white leaves, that was Light’s idea. There seemed to be an invisible shield around it, almost like it was made of the wind, the way it howled. All that sound; of the waters flowing, the wind howling softly, the tree creaking, and the leaves rustling, and the earth sifting, it was beautiful. They gathered around The Embodiment more to listen to the harmony of all that sound, than anything else. The first song. This harmony reminded them of how one was because the others were. We hear you call it Ubuntu now.

 

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Once they were at The Meeting, nothing but The Embodiment spoke, or sang really. And from the harmony in the sounds, each knew they were acting in line, being true to themselves, to each other. In the sparkle of each element, they reflected with wonder, the way a child looks up at you when you get them sweets or they tell you about their first day at school. The wonder you see now, was first born there.

 

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It was beautiful.

Until one meeting one of the elemental sounds didn’t sound quite as loud, shine quite as bright.

Chaos was there, and this was his first ever debut. And it was the loudest thing they remembered. Even now.

It is Written: A man shall become many things: Knowledge, and woman his Wisdom. Time, and woman his Space. Love, and woman the Light in which he sees himself. None stands above the other, and one without the other is utter and infinite Chaos.

 

3-Karshen Labari (A story’s End)

 

Define Chaos.

In it’s simplest forms, chaos would be when the a straight line started to zigzag, like a toddler loosing concentration in her Pre-nursery drawing classes. It could also be driving above the speed limit, or still moving when the traffic lights turn red, stop. You people do it a lot don’t you? And so far, all this sounds more like disobedience than chaos to you. Well, chaos and disobedience have more in common than people care to realize. When you eventually ram into another car after breaking the speed limit, Chaos. When that toddler keeps zigzagging her lines until she runs into her classmate’s drawing and ruins it, Chaos. Chaos majorly happens when there’s an intersection(an end result), when there’s more than one person involved. Or could chaos simply be when you’ve had just enough and storm out on everything; your parents, your loved ones, on life?

Define Chaos.

 

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Chaos has many names.

 

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Chaos happened, the day Pride met the Essentials of Az.

One pace, while Knowledge was working on a representation, of himself, he had unexpected visitors. Pride. This was rare because they seldom came into Az. The closest they came was barely beyond the horizon. On that faithful pace, Light burned too bright, from excitement certainly, and they were in a limelight, literally. A reaction they didn’t like because they ran off like rats that had been fished out on an almost successful attempt to steal from your kitchen store. They returned to their usual abode, the deep of the horizon. Everyone got the message. So seeing them again, Knowledge was taken aback, and remembering the past encounter, he played it calm, he knew after all, that’s what he did best. So he soared around slowly, dimming his glow. And seeing as they were awed by the collection in his shed, he started showing them, cautiously, what he was working on; a thing with four sharp and dark corners, with an inside so white it felt like anything not white was being swept down the edges. It could flip it’s insides too. One of his best creations. Apparently that particular creation survived and you people call it a Book now. One by one he unraveled all his creations, each more grand than the last, until he got to his first creation, the best. Words. Pride probably had what you people would call an ‘awwww’ reaction. Clapping(if he had hands that is), and nodding affirmatively, all at once. And in a gesture Knowledge had never seen, Pride seemed to suggest that Knowledge, stood above the rest, the best. The way Pride glid along his workshop, there was a certain aura to it. And because Knowledge needed Wisdom to put the pieces most of the time together, he only had the words, but they could not be written. So Knowledge swirled and swirled in what Pride had said. And by the end of that meeting, Knowledge started to believe that he really should’ve stood at the top. He named them after all, all of them. One of the first to move, the one who gave them Words. Pride left with what you could call a sly smile, he had finally gotten the chance to be who he really was. And as he left, his pair, Death, who had been hanging around largely unnoticed, had already dropped a pinch of himself into Knowledge’s latest creation. And it ate away at whatever purity, light, it had in it, slowly, and so much so that even Knowledge didn’t know when his creation stilled, because he was getting, well, proud. And this was the fist time that a sense of victory was ever tasted. Like that feeling you get when your team wins a match.

Another pace, a few paces to the meeting day, Pride showed up at Time’s. The grumpy old essential wondered what could’ve brought the lad, but knowing himself, he knew that this pace was inevitable. And being the Essentials that they were, none of them thought it to Wisdom as to what to anticipate. Wisdom gestured to them (in what would’ve been hands akimbo), shyness after that first encounter, and now that Knowledge had finally met them, she wasn’t there to have it written down, what he really was, that Pride. Maybe then chaos would’ve been avoided. But Knowledge never spoke about it when she got back, seeing as they needed to be together to define something new. And so far, nothing was. But a piece of Death now slept too, under the Knowledge’s book. Killing it. Killing him.

Time looked at them curiously, trying to understand what had brought them to him. He spun his wheel, as though it would suddenly speak up, revealing why Pride had visited. His overall fidgeted, so lightly you’d think it was part of its airflow. But it wasn’t. Pride looked at his wheel with admiration. And if they were to have a conversation, in your world, it would’ve gone like this:

“Oh Great one, you are the beginning, and the reason which we have our being, freedom.” Pride would have said, slyly.

Time would’ve scoffed, then grumbled “I merely did what I live to do. If knowledge hadn’t given me a name, I probably would not be as defined as my wheel.”

“But without YOU, none of us could’ve moved, talk less have a purpose. Don’t YOU see? Purpose, freedom, are the beginning of all. A reason. YOU are the beginning.”

It’s funny isn’t it? That most of the time when you people get proud, it usually starts with the Singularity Syndrome. ‘You’re such an amazing actor, God you’re the best! Wow! My guy omo you run dat tin well! Mad!’ It seems like it’s all about YOU, only YOU. And as Pride spoke, Time looked at him dryly and tried to see it from his angle, but because Knowledge had been corrupted, it slowly began to make sense to Time in what would be a new light. Before then, Time merely sensed freedom in his being.

“I suppose, but it doesn’t mean I stand above all,” Time finally said, “Without any of us, the very eseence of Az would seize to exist.”

“Perhaps, perhaps. But also remember that if you stopped being you, stopped in your paces, all of us would go back to the Great still. We NEED YOU, to keep on being. You have the largest fragment of IT. Freedom. I’m really just here to offer, gratitude.”

If Time hadn’t been as aged as he looked, he probably would’ve betrayed a smile, but he simply stared at the blue beneath him, trying to understand this unusual silence, and for a moment, it seemed like he actually stopped moving. Pride was gone before he raised his head again. But the goal was achieved. Time began to feel as though he was Freedom. And each pace that Time would take from that moment on, would be tainted with a pinch of Pride.

And that was all chaos needed to be born, to corrupt Time and Knowledge. None of the essentials had ever referred to themselves in singularity before this time. You couldn’t talk about Love without Light, Time without Space, Knowledge without Wisdom. But from that pace onwards, singularity was always going to have a say. Even now. Each would want to stand alone. Wisdom would find herself quite unusually, wanting to know on her own, understand by herself, take credit for giving the How a thing is done. Knowledge would have what you call a smug on his face whenever he discovered and named a thing, and insisted that he was responsible for it. Love and Light would find themselves subconsciously trying to outdo themselves in the way that couples do when one feels right and above, especially during a fight, in front of the kids, and even when the kids were out. Light would shine so bright on one pace that no one could see beyond their forms. Love would become so blurry, that all their houses started to become transparent, since blue was an extension of Love. Blue and transparent are related, like family. But it was the obsession he had with himself that spilled over and caused a thing seen as quite the vogue in your world now. Self love.

The only beings that weren’t corrupted were the children of Love and Light. And that was because you either had them or you didn’t. Have them or don’t. One either has Peace or not, Compassion or not, they couldn’t be altered from their original forms, the way their parents had. The way everyone had.

The next Meeting was two paces after.

 

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Pride finally moved in on the first curve of the street on the Meeting’s eve. A bright yellow colour that none of them had ever seen. A feeling of I am way bigger than all of you could ever hope to be. If a human had being there, she probably would’ve mistaken this yellow for fire, or the sun. Maybe it was one, maybe it was both.

What about Death? Death had been there lying beneath all this, literally eating away at them. Hiding, the way those funny looking men dressed black hide when they’re somewhere they’re not supposed to be. In fact he was at the meeting long before everyone came. And his colour was all over, a pinch of fade.

 

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Chaos has many names. It’s not just getting up at 8:30am when you’re suppose to be at the office by 9 that morning. Sounds like disobedience until you remember you’re supposed to give a presentation that just happens to hold your company’s fate and your boss expects much from you. Until you don’t eventually show up. Chaos runs on high speed disobedience fuel until it runs into another person’s car. Then it unravels., Chaos. But Chaos can also happens in one’s head. Nothing has one name.

 

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When they arrived on that pace, as was custom, the elements at The Embodiment representing each of them usually glowed a tad-bit brighter than the rest whenever an Essential just came along, just for a moment. But on this blessed pace it was a little bit too bright, not that anyone would notice really, they were all excited about meeting Pride. The same kind of excitement (not Joy, she was at home) that flushes you when you’re about to go take a special delivery, or pick up your newly adopted kid, or maybe just food. But all these things were pure, or not tainted in their true forms, they didn’t consume you, and that was the problem. It consumed them, that yearn, the crave. It wasn’t healthy, and this was because Love, who was the most excited to meet Pride, was already a ticking virus of what you now know as Lust. It made him flow so overwhelmingly, that if Knowledge and Wisdom were paying enough attention, they would’ve been able to tell that something was definitely wrong. Maybe meeting Chaos could’ve been avoided. But they disobeyed the nudge from their insides, the way you do too when that voice without a voice tells you to check on your kids, or your phone, a loved one. You refuse, and then something bad goes and happens.

When Pride stepped into the space created by the circle they had made, he stood out, like a red dot on a white paper in a black circle, almost lifted on high. It was a sort of welcoming ceremony, if that’s what you thought, you’re in line. He was almost some sort of deity, because he had called them out, made them see themselves individually, and separate from one another. He bowed, with the permanently smeared sly on what should’ve been a face. He stepped down, but didn’t join the circle. He stood beside his element, an orange-yellow burning sensation that ate away at the ground beneath, sucking in the wind. A sign of superiority no one took note of. He gestured for them to each show their element, because that’s what you do for the new guy, show him around the office. Teach him what he needs to know. That could’ve gone well too, if Knowledge hadn’t felt like Wisdom would take too much time and she won’t let him get enough. If Space wasn’t insecure that Time wouldn’t let her have enough freedom to be expressive, to be more, if Love, didn’t feel like Light would outshine him. And so, like a small breakout between friends at a get together, it began. Knowledge and Wisdom should’ve solved the squabble, they were the first of firsts after all. But Knowledge was ignorant of this situation and Wisdom was but a fool now, because even Knowledge didn’t know. Time would’ve helped with a purpose, a reason to stop, but he lost his sense of direction, and his paces were slowly stopping. Space, grew thinner and thinner, like an introvert closing up. She wanted them to see how important she was, so she was going to tighten, maybe then she could be seen. Light, well, she shone brighter than she ever did, she wanted to be seen too, and she became so bright that it was blinding. Maybe that’s why no one noticed on time when Love’s blue turned red, Lust. But for a moment, they all looked at Love in this new consuming attire, and then in a flash, they went back to their squabble. Their colours were fading, slowly, and all the elements began to collapse. The ground began to dull, growing darker than brown, because Death was getting ready to consume them all.

 

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It was Peace, with her terrified little sparking eyes that tugged at her father, Love. When he glared back with eyes that really just wanted to consume, she stared right back, calmly. He came to himself, slowly, like the sunset, then he held her tightly, because he knew he needed as much of her as she could spare from that small frame. And because he needed to protect her from all the impurity flying about. She broke free from his grip and pointed at Pride. And that was when Love started piecing the puzzles together. By some strange chance, as in a movie, it was only Pride who wasn’t being frantic or loosing himself. He seemed to be glowing brighter in fact. Love took Peace back to the house and locked the door. He looked each of them in the eye, his children, their own. Happiness, Joy, Peace, Patience, Compassion (and the rest of his children that were too many for any history book to contain). He placed what would’ve been hands on the window pane, as if seeking their strength, their purity. They placed their hands too, from the other side. They gave him all the strength he needed.

 

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It would’ve been enough, it really would’ve. But as you people say on earth, it was a little too late. And that’s worse than never.

 

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Time was slowly drifting away, the winds were blowing out of control, and Space was getting tighter. It was getting too bright, and Love was back to blue with pinches of red and a million different rainbows. He would’ve been the most beautiful Essential if not for the chaos. Pride ascended above them all and drew in all the light from the chaos, Death darkened the grounds and opened up Az to swallow. It was then that Love’s eyes grew desperate. What would’ve his body tensed up, the way you do when you’re late to the most important thing or person in your life, or an interview. When your spouse is waiting for you by the roadside in the rain and you got held back in traffic or the car broke down. The feeling you get when you’re in a rush and suddenly everything just feels so slow. You might even want to break the rules at that point, or just stop time. That’s what Love felt, but that’s what it was, late. So when he grabbed Light’s hands in all that bright chaos, and as she looked at him, he knew that this was the end. As Time and Space tightened, shrunk, he knew. As Wisdom and Knowledge faded away, and he began to think of what to do, he knew. The winds blew stronger, and he gasped, helplessly, red waters racing down his face(it wasn’t blood). Their Opposites were being born and he didn’t know what to do. The tighter he held onto Light, the more she regained herself. But by the time she was regained, she knew it too, late. And so she held him, and gave him the look you give one, when you know that not all of you will make it. The one you give when you know that at least one must survive to carry on. She closed his eyes and held him close. And in the midst of all that chaos, she took one long hard look at Pride. He did what would’ve been a scoff, but she smiled. In that smile, Pride would see what would be the first time it ever happened in any history, Defeat. And he would be the first to taste it. Like when your team looses at the world cup final.

She shone, brighter than every Sun there’ll ever be in all seven galaxies. Brighter than all the stars in every constellation that exist put together in one place. That sort of brightness wouldn’t just blind, it could burn. And oh, she hoped that it would burn. It did, because when she opened her eyes one last time, she could see Pride’s pain ridden face. She could feel Love trying to open his eyes, so she held him tighter. And just before she broke, she smiled one last time. Red looked good on Love; “If only the rest could see this,” she thought. She wished she could see that colour more often. If only.

She felt the crack in herself. First the sound, then the break.

Then the darkness followed.

 

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When he came to be, he was still. Back to how it all was. Engulfed in the void. It was so until he hit a wheel, Time! It set him free, gave him motion and he shook it rigorously, spun it in the dark, as gently as he could, but there was no answer, no grumpy old man bickering about being disturbed, just a wheel. He could feel his essence, but his consciousness was without, only his element remained. He felt a slight touch behind, when he turned, it was the wind, Wisdom. She ran through his fingers, but it was the same thing as Time. She wasn’t there. He hit something else, it felt like water, but it wasn’t. It had form, but it could pass through him, he tried to taste it to tell if it was water, since he couldn’t see. He scrambled until his mouth met with it and immediately, it went straight down his throat. He coughed. That was strange, because he had never made any sound beyond the voice without a voice. The one you hear but don’t hear, like when your spirit, or intuition talks to you. He didn’t pay much attention, he was fixed on finding Light. And as he was still spinning in this inky blackness, confused, floating aimlessly, he finally came across the waters. He floated above it, feeling his essence, himself. He remembered everything now. He bit his lip, and held all the pieces of their fallen essences together. That’s what they were now, just Essence. There was no better name for it, and they were all still intertwined. And everything they did from now on, would simply be them manifesting all that they once were, not who they were. All that they would never be again. He would never forget them. Never forget the birth of their Opposites. He looked around for Pride and Death, but it was dark, and for all he knew they could be right behind him. He decided to try something new. Since their essence still remained, maybe he could do more with them. He wanted to bring Light back first. He needed her to see anything at all. And so he spoke the first words that humanity will ever record, the name of his beloved:

 

“Let there be light.”

And there was Light. All the World’s power holding companies and NEPA, didn’t exist as at when the world was created, but there was light anyway.

But she’ll be like the rest, without consciousness. He nodded sadly, accepting that seeing her without her was enough. He looked far and wide, he didn’t see Pride, or Death. And he should’ve felt at peace, but that darkness that always lurked around from the beginning was still at the horizon. This was far from over. Death is the great still’s first born. Because when you die, you become what it all was before the beginning, still. Pride was the embodiment of the Great Still, it explains why he did what he did. Explains why Pride is the father of Sin. Love knew in himself that when they meet again, he wouldn’t be alone, they would be with him, as they were now. Trusting themselves to him to win the war they couldn’t. So he smiled when he remembered the first thing Knowledge did when they came to be. He called the light Day, because that was the first thing she was, and the dark Night, because after she was no more, he could see, nothing.

 

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Love will create another world, but they won’t be made up of only the essential elements. The Opposites will follow because they’re here now and can’t be undone. That’s why you have Day, and Night. Good, and Bad. Up, and Down. But once upon a Time, there was only Up, Good, Day. That Time has passed, because Pride brought Chaos, and Chaos brought darkness, and darkness housed Pride, so that Pride could father sin.

Tomorrow Love will smile, because he’ll remember that one pace when Knowledge told him during a meeting, that Silver was what Light would look like if she grew old and grey. And how beautiful she would’ve been. He will count Time, so that he won’t be forgotten, and so you remember that he’s still running. He will give you Space, so that you can move and freedom will accept you. He will give you Knowledge, so maybe one day you’d find out the truth, and Wisdom to know what to do with it. He will give you Light, so you can find your way, and then, he’ll give you Love, so you know why all this, all that, was worth it.

 

_____________

 

If this was written in mankind, it probably would’ve been such a wonderful story. But it’s a story written in understanding. And it’s told by someone, maybe? Or maybe by a cluster you really don’t need to know, maybe the stars? Don’t fuss about who we are, but you should know, we live in the last thing, from Light to Love:

It is Written in the heart of Love: Let me choose you, not because you’re the strongest or the best, but because even if you wake up one pace and you aren’t any of these things, I’d still choose you, hold you. It’s always been YOU I chose, not what YOU are.

 

 

 

All love did was be, until light gave him being. All was just, until all became all that there is. All I ever did was exist, until you came and we called it living.

 

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