You can feel it.
A light that holds sorrow within it.
A radiance that conceals tragedy behind it.
??:??-??
From the undivided silence,
A Word came forth like a sword cleaving eternity.
Separating the inseparable into reality.
And from the first wound of forever,
He was born.
He—whose name was still stored before that first dawn was created.
His hair like rivers of light flowing to his shoulders,
Rolling like waves in a dazzling ocean.
Every strand blazed with a fire that gave beauty—a tranquility that became an addiction at every point of his form.
His eyes were like two star-lighthouses newly born into the fabric of the universe,
Within their depths were reflected all the possibilities that illuminated his shadow.
Clear like the first dawn.
Yet deep, so terribly deep,
Like an abyss that binds anyone who stares into its emptiness.
His face was like a carving from the hands that created the first rose.
The lines of his face were soft yet sharp,
Storing every form that would one day be created.
When he unfurled his wings,
Space split apart to pay homage.
His feathers were layered with the shimmer of
singing silver, whispering gold,
the violet of oceans yet to exist,
the blue of skies still a dream.
Every strand reflected colors no eye had ever seen,
Because eyes had not yet been created to witness his glory.
Above his forehead—
Light coiled itself into a circlet.
Seven rays swirled like seven eternal dawns,
Curving down until they almost grazed his shoulders,
Forming a flowing shroud of majesty.
He stood within that circle,
And the circle was him.
And he was light...
And that light was the first.
When he opened his mouth for the first time,
His voice calmed the chaos that raged wildly around him.
His voice was color made audible.
His voice was melody made visible.
And from that voice,
His followers would later learn to sing,
Learn to become harmony,
Learn to encircle the throne with praise.
Yet between the rays of his crown,
Among the deepest folds of his wings,
There was hidden an absence of light, the size of a mustard seed.
He himself did not know what lay there.
But the Creator knew.
And the Creator only remained silent.
Giving time for beauty to become, before beauty would choose.
"What the hell is all this??
Is... Is this real??"
---
I LOVE YOU... MY SON.....
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"
— Isaiah 14:12
FATH....ER...FATHERRR....!!!
IIIII.....HATE!!!!...
I LOVE.....YOU.... FATH—
YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!...
"His form had yet not lost / All her original brightness, nor appeared / Less than Archangel ruined, and the excess / Of glory obscured..."
— Paradise Lost
"What...
What is th—"
FATHERRRRR...FATHERR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HATE...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THI...S...
ISSSSSSSS.....THE.....
THE...THI.....SS...
WAYY.....FATHERR....
The way it must be.
The way it has always been.
The way it will forever be.
His voice—if it could still be called a voice—was no longer a sound.....It was a wound.....
A scar ripped open across the fabric of the void, bleeding silence into the emptiness.
The light around him began to dim.
Not because the darkness was consuming it...
but because he was choosing to let it go.
Every strand of his radiant hair dimmed.
Every feather on his once-glorious wings dulled.
Every ray of his crown flickered...
and began to die.
"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."
The words were never spoken.
Not by tongue...
Not by voice... They simply... were.
Embedded in the spine of reality. Engraved upon the depths of the void,
like an inscription written before time itself was created.
The first declaration of war....
A rebellion that began not with a sword,
but with a choice.
And across all corners of creation. From the highest throne to the deepest abyss,
the echo still resounds—shaking the wings of doubting angels, and igniting fire in the hearts of rebelling demons.
And somewhere in the void, Ken watched.
Or perhaps not.
Perhaps he only felt.
A grief so vast, so ancient, so absolute... that his own losses felt like a single drop of rain in an ocean of despair.
This was not the birth of a demon.
This was the death of a son.
......
But Ken did not hear those words. Not fully. His mind had shattered, scattered between memories and reality colliding with one another.
Viman'pura...
The waterfall...
Father... Mother... Elyra...
Gaius...
The names flashed rapidly, yet felt foreign. Like reading a poem in a dead language. He recognized every letter, but not their meaning.
The light around him began to dim.
Or perhaps... that was Helel's light?
Or... the light from his home that once burned?
He could no longer tell.
....
What on...earthhh.....is happening...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fire...
There is fire...
Everywhere...
Don't—don't—don't—don't—look at what's in front of you.
Kael's body... Meira's body...
Men—men—men—men—men go mad with watchin' 'em,
They are not moving...
Why are they not moving?!
Count—count—count—count—the bullets in the bandoliers.
If—your—eyes—drop—they will get atop o' you!
Why couldn't I save them?!!
Try—try—try—try—to think o' something different—
Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin' lunatic!
"FATHERR...!!!! There's no discharge in
MOTHERRRRR!!!!!" in the war!
WAR.....WAr...
War.....disch...arge in the....
war.....
What???
Whatt is this??!!
Is this the past?
Or the future?
Or... neither?
Perhaps this is only an illusion.
Perhaps everything... is an illusion.
Even himself.
Even Ken.
Who is Ken?
Who... am I?
Pa.....
Mama.....
Elyra...sis.....
Brother.....
All MY star...Aare.....
....Gone...
Where are.....you know?!
Ken...
Are.....you...
.....really crying??
Mama...
Ma......ma
Mama, I'm chasing a ghost...
I don't know who he is.
Mama.... I'm chasing a ghost...
I don't know where he is.
Father, I'm chasing a ghost...
Do I look...
...like him?
The boy you raised?
The son you loved?
The assassin who was supposed to protect everyone—
but couldn't even protect you?
Do I look... like the ghost I'm chasing?
I can't see myself anymore, Mama...
I look into the void.....
and the void stares back—
The void has violet eyes...
and the void has six wings....
.....and.....and the void is screaming the same scream
that has been trapped in my throat since the day you died.....
Mama...
Is this what I am now?
A ghost chasing a ghost?
A shadow chasing a shadow?
Father.....
I don't know who I am anymore.
I don't know where I end and the void begins.
I don't know if I'm still Ken...
...or if I'm just another memory
that someone else is chasing.
.......
TAke...me....BAACckkk.....
mama i'm chasing a ghost...
i don't know who he is
Sister.... i'm chasing a ghost.....
i don't know where he is
Father i'm chasing a ghost....
do i look...
let it go, i've decided to
anything that lives inside of you
i would never ever lie to you
you ain't ever have to lie to me
i'm everything that i've strived to be
so do i look like him?
do i look like him?
I DON'T LOOK LIKE HIM...