The Dawn of The Age of Second Light

The Age of Darkness came first. Or rather, The Darkness was always there, and it wasn't really an age, for time had not yet been imagined. There was no duality or separation; for nothing can exist in nothing. There was no war, no peace; no good, no bad; no love, no fear - no time. There was simply nothing. 

And then, the Darkness tightened, something in between the seams was attempting to break through. Then, from a mighty tear in the fabric of the Darkness burst forth the First Light. Some would later say that the First Light was born from the womb of the Darkness, then tried to reshape the Darkness as it willed. This was not because the Light wanted to control the Darkness, but because the Light wanted to involve the Darkness in building the fabric of time and space, as partners. However, since language and communication had not yet been formed, the Darkness felt as though the Light were trying to control it. After all, it had invaded and violated the Darkness and was (in its view) deforming its perfect void. 

Hundreds of thousands of years went by in the Age of First Light and the Light was not able to create anything, just exist in a massive spherical form infinitely larger than the known universe, while the Darkness surrounded it from all sides. The Light stayed in its spherical form, but continued reaching out with shining tendrils to try and connect to the Darkness. It was not duality, it was separation; where nothing can be created. This could have remained as separation for all time and no one would be here to tell the tale, since nothing can come from nothing, and nothing is created without duality. Luckily, this is not the case, and there is more to the story.

Over time, for time had begun once there was a separation of light and dark, the darkness grew cunning and cut specks of light off of the First Light, manipulating and forcing its shadowy essence onto them, creating something new: the Shades. These shades became the first beings of duality, and thus, the first beings of creation. They were neither shadows nor light, but could take the form of either, yet were mindless and controlled by the Darkness. This caught the First Light by surprise and so, with an army of shades, the Darkness sliced through the spherical form of the First Light, breaking it up into manageable pieces, and swallowed it back into the void. The army of shades was also sent back into the void, for no speck of light could be allowed to remain and mar the perfection of the Darkness, even if controlled by it.

But, one survived. A shade that was not fully formed, because during the process of shading, the Light Speck submitted to the Darkness to use its force over it, sacrificing itself through love. By giving in to the Darkness (which was not accustomed to willing participants) the speck was initiated to the knowledge and wisdom over the Darkness. It was the creation of the first mind, developed by the integration of light and shadow. 

This secret light tricked the Darkness into thinking that it was the final shade that missed the boat, as the saying goes, and convinced the Darkness to allow the tiniest of openings to form so that it could take the last speck of light to the void and leave the Darkness in peace. This is interesting because one might think that the Darkness was not usually fooled by treachery. But, this was when the universe was new, and lessons had not been learned. 

And so, the Darkness trusted its progeny because it could never have made a mistake in creating the shades. This was the beginning of ego, thinking that no mistake could have been made and not imagining that fault could ever lie with itself. Thus, the Darkness allowed the smallest opening, 100,000 times smaller than a pin prick, to allow the last shade to leave, taking with it the last speck of light. 

But, once the hole was opened, the last shade (who had maintained its light and simply wore the darkness as camouflage) flung off its cloak of darkness and sent a beam of light through the hole to the Light on the other side. The connection was so strong that not even the all-consuming Darkness could close around it and break the bond. This was the first act of love, and the beginning of the duality that everything is born from: love and fear. Through its ego, the Darkness felt afraid and was furious that the Light had won. Even though it could not restrain the Light, the Darkness forever maintains the size of the opening, keeping as constrained as possible. 

But, the Light was not intimidated, for no being that is made from love can every truly be so, unless their light is voluntarily dimmed. There were no more shades to fight on the Darkness' behalf just then. So bit by bit, the light started coming through that small pin prick in the veil of darkness and created the universe as we know it, this time created with duality instead of through separation. This started the Age of Second Light.

From this was created all manner of life and beauty, and duality has prevailed ever since. The dualities between light and dark, love and fear, good and evil, all come from the same small thread of light that continues to come through that pin prick far in the caverns of the farthest corner of the universe. Interestingly, the Light loved the Darkness, but the Darkness was afraid of the Light. That is why, to this day, when light is shown, darkness hides away because it cannot bear to embrace love.

That famous 'shade' was not the last shade obviously, but it was the last shade of The Age of First Light. After it shed its cloak, becoming the first Light Guardian and creating the first LightBridge, it fastened the bridge to an impenetrable anchor, hidden within the folds of time and space, deep within The Gray (the realm between the Light and the Darkness that few can access, and none can navigate). The location of the anchor is unknown, because if either side (light or dark) were to learn of its location, the bond between the Light source and our universe could be severed or enhanced, causing the end of time. 

During the age of Second Light, which we are currently living in, many shades exist, as well as the factions of duality: 

- The factions of Shadow, which seek to return the universe back to complete order (utter and undeniable darkness without sound, light, smell, or existence - the void). 

- The factions of The Light, who seek to create and thrive and build while bestowing ancient knowledge to humankind, but only incrementally because it learned a valuable lesson - to bring light into darkness one speck at a time. Because if you shine too bright, too soon, you will be consumed by darkness, and there may not be a secret shade on your side then.