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The Crying Darkness has fallen, and peace is once again restored to the Kingdom of the Crescent Sail. The crowd cheers, celebrating their victory after months of preparation.
Ilunas stood near one end of the quad, wearing a shadowy cape and a boffer lightning bolt in hand. It had been another amazing LARP event thrown by the local community. For the past few months, the group has been organizing mini quests where the players fought enemies and collected resources in the shadow of the nebulous Crying Darkness, but now, they finally had the power to face them head on and end their terrifying reign. However, despite all the fun they had, something felt… off. There is a thought at the back of Ilunas’s mind that he just couldn’t dismiss.
“Ilunas!” A voice shouted from across the quad. Ilunas raised his head to see who called him. Surely enough, it was Soleil, the liege of the eclipse castle a distant relative of Ilunas. Many centuries ago, Ilunas’s ancestor Luno and Soleil’s ancestor Sorin were brothers. However, on the day Sorin was to be crowned liege of the Eclipse Castle, Luno ambushed him, attempting to overthrow Sorin to establish himself as the liege. This coup attempt failed, and Luno retreated to a self-imposed exile out of shame. Soleil bounded towards Ilunas excitedly, her boffer sword in hand and her Espeon and Umbreon following close behind.
“Soleil,” Ilunas replied softly as he slowly made his way toward her.
“This event was so much fun! Can you believe it? We finally won!” Soleil rapid-fired ecstatically.
“Yeah… we won…” Ilunas replied absentmindedly, still fixated on the inkling from earlier.
“What’s wrong?” Soleil inquired upon noticing something off with Ilunas’s demeanor.
“I… This… I…” Ilunas stammered as he tensed up. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and regained his composure. “Let’s go home. It has been a long day.”
“That sounds like a plan. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow as liege and advisor.”
As the two walked back to the castle, Ilunas tried his best to forget about those thoughts. He wanted to tell Soleil, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring up the topic at mind and risk the forgiveness that Soleil had graciously offered him after he attempted to follow his ancestor’s footprints and overthrow Soleil to avenge Luno.
Ilunas stood in the middle of a desolate field. Above him was a pitch-black sky, the moon and stars that usually illuminated it missing, but despite the darkness, he still could see perfectly. The ground was covered in a layer of ash, and charred tree stumps dotted the environment. He looked down, and to his horror, his body is now an amorphous shadow, and his hands are now sharp shadowy claws.
“Crying Darkness!” A voice shouted from the distance. Despite it not being his name, he instinctively raised his head to identify its source. In the distance, there was a bright light slowly approaching him. He instinctively recoiled from the light, slashing a shadowy claw at it to make it go away, but to no avail. As the light continued to draw closer, distinct figures began to emerge from it – warriors with swords and shining armor as well as mages with powerful magic crackling at their fingertips. Ilunas instinctively leapt at one of the warriors, their body dissolving into shadows on contact with his claws. He swiped at another, only for a mage to block the attack with a powerful burst of magic, before knocking him over with another. As he tried to get back up, the warrior leading the party planted their boot on his body, immobilizing him. The warrior then took off their helmet, and locked eyes with Ilunas.
“Soleil?” Ilunas replied confusedly, struggling to escape but to no avail.
“Crying Darkness, you have been terrorizing our kingdom for ages, burning down its forests, blasting its villages, and slaughtering its people,” Soleil announced sternly, her eyes filled with righteous fury. She takes out a sword made from pure light and aims its tip at Ilunas’s head.
“NO! DON’T DO THIS! I PROMISE I’LL STOP! I PROMISE I’LL BE GOOD! I-” Ilunas pleaded as a torrent of terror submerged his very being, his life flashing before his eyes. But Soleil remained resolute.
“I, Ser Solyn of the Crescent Sail, will strike you down!” Soleil said before she plunged the sword into Ilunas’s head, and a brilliant burst of light erupted from the wound and enveloped Ilunas, blinding him in the process. Eventually the light faded, and Ilunas opened his eyes.
Darkness surrounded Ilunas. He frantically reached around with his hands and felt his blankets and his body – his actual body, not the shadowy mess that belonged to the Crying Darkness. He calmed down upon realizing that it was all just a dream and none of it was real, but the sense of dread from earlier still lingered. In a way, he was the Crying Darkness: a broken being who hurt others not because they wanted to, but because they did not know of any other way. The only way to save the Kingdom of the Crescent Sail was to confront the Crying Darkness head-on and obliterate their very essence. And the only way to save the Eclipse Castle was to confront Ilunas head-on and–
Suddenly, the door to Ilunas’s room creaked open. Against the light from the hallway, Ilunas saw an imposing hooded humanoid figure with a blazing red light on their chest. Surely judgement has come, and it was time for Ilunas to pay for his sins. He took a deep breath and put his hands up, ready to accept any punishment meted out to him.
“Ilunas– are you okay?”
The figure turned on the lights. It was none other than Soleil, with the “hood” being her untied hair and the red light coming from her Espeon that she was holding.
“Espeon sensed that you were struggling with something, so I came over to check in on you. From what I just saw, you were clearly having a terrible time. Do you mind sharing what has been troubling you?”
Soleil slowly made her way to Ilunas’s bed and sat down next to him, her Espeon jumping out of her hands and lying down near Ilunas. Still in shock, Ilunas did not react.
“You don’t have to tell me the details if you’re uncomfortable. Just let me know how I can help.”
“It’s just… that… I’m…” Ilunas stammered, tensing up once again.
“Take your time. I’ll wait.”
Ilunas took a deep breath and looked right into Soleil’s eyes. “I don’t know if this is too much to ask for, but… if I tell you the truth… can you promise that… you…”
“Promise that I won’t judge?”
“No… I just don’t want to… ruin…”
“Ruin what?”
“The…” Ilunas steels himself, “Do you remember the lore behind the Crying Darkness that we fought yesterday?”
“Of course! They were created by the Dark Sun, the god of balance, to spread darkness to balance out the light we create to illuminate the night. Unfortunately, things went awry, and they decided that the best solution is to eradicate all life so nobody could illuminate the night ever again, so here we are.”
Ilunas takes a deep breath. “Do you think… they knew any better?”
“No? That’s why we had to go and deal with them,” Soleil answered confusedly. “Is that what was troubling you?”
“No,” Ilunas takes another deep breath, “Have you wondered what would happen if we forgave the Crying Darkness instead, and… shown them the love and kindness that the Dark Sun never shown them?”
Soleil shook her head, surprised by Ilunas’s question. “Is there something that I’m missing here?”
“Do you… remember what happened on the day you were crowned liege of the Eclipse Castle?”
“Hmm… A few people that I’ve never met before visited. One of them looked exactly like me and was here to learn about the Eeveelutions. Another was trying to join Project Mew. And I’m pretty sure another later became the World Coronation Series Monarch. I don’t see how any of this relates to the LARP?”
“I tried to overthrow you that day.”
The air in the room froze. Soleil’s expression did not change, but Ilunas could tell that behind her fiery gaze she is re-evaluating everything, thinking of the best way to punish and dispose of him.
Soleil thought for a moment and continued. “And we forgave you, since you didn’t know any better and spent your life overshadowed by generational trauma.”
Ilunas averts his gaze as he began to tear up. “I… I just wanted to belong somewhere, somewhere that I would finally be seen and appreciated by people. Somewhere that I would not have to hide out of shame.”
“And you have found that place. You have been my advisor for nearly half a year now, and together we are doing much better than me had I taken up the mantle alone. The people also think of you as a cool person. Genuinely.”
Ilunas bursts into tears. “I… I could never forgive Luno for what he had done, and I don’t know if I could… forgive myself either.”
“Even if you couldn’t forgive yourself, Helia forgives you and I forgive you. You will always be welcome here at Eclipse Castle. Would you like a hug?”
Ilunas accepts the hug silently. For the next few minutes, the two held onto each other, not in a stranglehold born from vengeance and retribution, but from an embrace born from forgiveness and redemption.
“Thank… you…” Ilunas stammered between tears, “I appreciate everything you all have done for me. Genuinely.”
After the two let go of each other, Soleil slowly stood up and prepared to head out, her Espeon following suit.
“See you tomorrow morning Ilunas! We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
“Wait!”
Soleil stops in her tracks and turns her head around. “What is it?”
“Why did you choose to forgive me after everything I’ve done, but we didn’t forgive the Crying Darkness after everything they’ve done, even though both of our motives stem from the same pain?”
Soleil thinks for a bit. “I’m not sure, but I think it might have to do with the fact that you saw the error in your ways and was willing to change for the better, while they didn’t and was unwilling to change?”
“Had Helia and you not shown me kindness that day, I doubt I would’ve changed my ways either.”
Soleil pauses, carefully considering Ilunas’s words. “You do have a point here. And while I don’t have a definitive answer to that, I can tell you that the Crying Darkness’s choices was written by the marshals long ago, while you are the only one who could write yours. Unlike you, the Crying Darkness is not a real person, and they are meant to serve the story rather than say anything about you.”
Ilunas remains silent, now deep in thought.
“I’m not sure if this is an apt comparison, but think of it as a book you’re reading, or a movie you’re watching.”
“It… still feels different when you actively helped bring down a reflection of yourself, as compared to seeing a reflection of yourself being brought down on a page or on a screen.”
Soleil nods understandingly.
“Regardless, I shouldn’t keep you up all night just so I can vent. You already did so much for me, and once again, thank you for everything.”
“Anytime, brother. And I hope you can get some actual rest before tomorrow.”
As Soleil headed back to her own room with Espeon, Ilunas contemplated the conversation they just had. In a way, he is the Crying Darkness, but unlike the Crying Darkness, he is a real person, and his actions don’t have to serve some greater story. And most of all, he is loved.