Chapter Text
O celestial LIGHT of everlasting joy.
Weave in your divine radiance a sea of beautiful stars.
One that shall heal even the most broken of souls.
Never again shall plight corrupt our fragile hearts.
O suffocating shadows of CONFLICT.
In pain and suffering, let tears and blood stain this wretched land.
So that we may forever remember the torment we had once endured.
Never again shall we be crushed by the might of tyranny.
O sublime skies of LIGHT and DARKNESS
Cry out- This “blank canvas”- named Inpherno; lacks a champion- a god- to guide it.
Summon forth a deluge of divine fragments! Rain down upon those miserable fools.
Challenge them, break them, destroy them- blind them with your brightness, choke them with your darkness- obliterate them; completely and utterly.
Until they are deemed worthy of YOUR blessing.
…
In this living, blank canvas, two hues shone the brightest amongst the incomprehensible mess of colors:
Red and blue.
From these contrasting colors, a story was forged: a story of two to be foretold by the divine heavens:
Sword. Rocket.
What exactly do these two share in common, despite their numerous and countless differences between one another?
A life.
The similarities end there.
As there is no guide of living; it is impossible for either to follow or replicate exactly the other.
Rather, there is only life itself.
This, they share.
…
What is life? A question without answer. Though it is generally described as
gruesome
and gorgeous.
There is no doubt someone has cried over the unfairness of life.
There is no doubt someone has cried over the beauty of life.
But
If you cursed one with unending bliss and the other with trials of violence.
What would their answers be to this impossible question?
Would their answer remain so dichotomous?
Shades of light hit upon the Inpherno once more in the early hour of dawn.
It was a good day to focus on Crossroads's reconstruction ever since Venomshank's assault.
Though it was hardly an occasion to rejoice about the good weather- Indeed a more peculiar event caught the inphernals’ attention today:
The floating fragments that appeared suddenly overnight.
What peculiar items: why did they appear? And how? Most importantly… what were they?
When you looked inside them, you’d see either memories of bliss and happiness… or memories of sorrow and loss. To whom those memories belonged to? Who knows.
Of course, it was needless to say that visions of the latter was preferably avoided. For a sympathetic heart, there is no pleasure to be found in the grief of others, after all.
Like curious rodents, inphernals surrounded carefully those fragments at first before grabbing them greedily like voracious predators:
From the cramped streets of Craterdust City, where a demon carrying a skateboard glanced closely at a fragment while his friend, a known thief, snarled at the other, ordering vigilence…
...To a small café held by an inphernal from Thieves’ Den, a vigilante sweeping mindlessly the floor until he had called his siblings to know about the whereabouts of a peculiar glass-like fragment he was about to be dispose of.
...To an horde of expertely engineered machinery scouring the treacherous terrain of Blackrock in search of those shards of glass, at the request of a scientist who rapidly became obsessed in the potential these shards may hold.
Though among thousands upon thousands, two inphernals differed from the rest- Indeed, strangely enough, the memories seem to be attracted to them rather than the opposite, like magnets.
Unbeknownst to them, what awaits them would be far greater than anything they could ever imagine.
“Sword, please. Be careful. We don’t know what these fragments are. They may be... no, they are most likely dangerous. you musn't..."
“Don’t worry, I’ll be alright! It shows happy stuff- So they must be good for me! Anyway, I'm gonna explore around the city... I’ll be back tonight!”
"... Sword..."
Sword chirped and waved cheerfully at Venomshank before leaving happily under the concerned glare of his mentor, who decided as of late to allow Sword more freedom. His day was off to a good start, he believed so, and how could he not? When you wake to a myriad of shards of glass that reflected carefree laughters, family reunions, spawnday celebrations… a sight worthy to be mistaken as a glimpse of paradise, It was an arduous task to not feel gleeful at such a sight.
Leaving the abandoned and forgotten streets and buildings, Sword followed the shards and likewise the shards followed like affectionate birds, the fragments soared playfully around Sword; he had no idea why these fragments were so attracted to him, but Sword didn’t mind at all. In fact, he felt rather lucky. But that was not the subject at hand. Rather Sword was fixated on a more important matter of interest.
The massive tower near the streets of Crossroads, erected gloriously in water, near the bridge leading to Thieves’ Den.
It wasn’t hard to notice it: as it towered even the impressively grand Crossroads tower. Its shadow would surely obscure the entirerty of Crossroads at a later time of day.
Like the fragments, it suddenly appeared overnight. “Why and how?” were the questions that tortured Sword’s mind, and he was rather stubborn in finding the answer himself.
Perhaps Sword should’ve wondered why wasn't anyone but him intrigued by this tower or ponder about bringing others with him but alas, his eagerness took over.
Noticing a fractured wall on the tower’s facade, it didn’t take Sword long to impulsively decide on entering the tower through that opening.
However, accessing that opening to begin with was already a problem to be solved. Sword could, unfortunately, not jump that high.
But, fortunately, and curiously, the fragments surrounding Sword suddenly began to move swiftly- creating in little time a staircase leading to the tower.
Wonder and excitement showed through Sword’s eye, amazed by such a spectacle. With a light and unburdened heart, he carefreely made his way inside his tower.
“You’re alright, kiddo? You look off.”
“…Yeah, I just need some fresh air.”
“…Hm. Don’t do anything reckless, though. Especially with those stuff around."
"Got it."
With quick steps, Rocket hurriedly left Da Shop, his adoptive father remaining behind with a stoic expression that hid worry; only to find that those accursed fragments had followed him outside.
Since his awakening in this early hour, those fragments chased after him like a parasite.
All he saw through them were sights of sorrow, loss, emptiness and so forth.
What did he do to deserve such harassement? Did he anger a deity? Was his "karma" that terrible?
Though perhaps the more frustrating part of this phenomenon is the overwhelming presence of happiness surrounding him: the sight of other inphernals joyously sharing the memories they had seen through these floating glass shards filled Rocket with a torrent of sentiments: Unfairness, injustice, jealousy, that’s what the rocketeer currently felt. Were these shards taunting him? Did they want to imbue him with envy and fury? In that regard, they succeeeded.
Hence, he walked faster, and faster, and faster- until he began to run instead.
Escaping, that is what he was doing. Those fragments reminded Rocket too much of his past. Of his unglorious, wretched, sinful past he swore to leave behind since “that” incident.
Looking up, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he glared at the immense tower in front of him- its height seemingly limitless; it were as if it sundered the skies themselves.
Distracted by the mercilessly sorrowful memories, Rocket had failed to initially notice this tower. Though, evidently, he didn’t need any more second to know that the existence of this tower was an anomaly.
Nor was the bridge, which is evidently not artificially made, forged instead from the same fragments Rocket had tried to escape. It led to a small entrance to the outwardly impenetrable spire.
As dark shards of memories crossed Rocket’s gaze, his eye twitched. His composure is breaking, slowly and painfully. His rationality wavered against the horrible sight of these gut-wrenching memories.
So impulsively and without thought, he ran breathlessly across the bridge.
Perharps there, he would find salvation, or at least respite from these fragments.
As the chosen ones entered this infinite spire...
The gates closed behind them. The two potential "champions" were selected.
The beholder of LIGHT and the beholder of CONFLICT shall be tested, crushed, tortured.
Again, again, and again.
Until only one eventually remains.
Only then that THEY shall be finally satisfied.
Only then that this wretched world shall finally be granted a savior.
A one and only savior that shall succeed in what the Swords failed in.
A savior who shall actually understand the beauty and plight of this broken, complex world.