Once upon a time, there was a battle. It was battle that consumed the world. A battle between all that was bright and beautiful and good and all that was dark and hateful and evil. A battle so fierce, so terrible, so full of blood and destruction and sadness, so full of hate that the Universe itself shuddered and folded back upon itself. All remnants of what little survived the war inextricably intertwined with each other so that one could not exist without the other. For with what little was left, everything depended on everything else for continued existence. Good and evil, love and hate, dark and light, chaos and order. It was from this that the war received its name. For what could one call such a terrible catastrophe? What mere word could possibly represent the utter madness that it embodied? It was the joining of all that was separate. It was the Paradox War.
Arris had fought in the Paradox War. She had fought and she had lost. But then, everyone had lost. She was on the side of the Andurians, the peaceful guardians of the world. Everything had been so simple then, no paradoxes; everything was black or white with nothing in between. She had been the greatest warrior, the champion of the Light.
But then she fell, or, more precisely, fell in love. Love was unheard of; it was the First Great Paradox, the First Sign of the Folding. She fell in love with Viridian, a man she deceived into a trap, who deceived her in return. They tempted each other, and as such, both fell into Sin. After the first Great Paradox, the other Great Paradoxes quickly followed, and all that was lost was found once more in the Folded Universe. But is anything worth finding when all is lost in Paradox? And can anything really be found when everyone has forgotten what there is to find?
It begins with the end.
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There was one island left. One island suspended in the middle of chaos, its shores quickly being eroded by the nothingness. Two figures still ran barely ahead of the inexorable tide of chaos, mirroring the eruption of the Universe: a girl and a boy, Light and Dark.
The Universe was falling to pieces because of her. It was all her fault, and yet she would do it again in a heartbeat. She no longer cared for the Light or the Dark. The only thing she cared about was the boy running behind her. Pieces of the Universe were crashing on every side, their form failing them as they wavered between states of matter. The remnants of the Ivory Tower crumbled into an avalanche of snow, which crashed down around them as burning coals. It was beautiful and terrible. Beautiful and terrible chaos.
"Viridian?" Arris screamed, looking back for his tall form, "Where are you?"
"Arris..." A faint voice came from behind her, "I can't go on. You have to leave me."
"No!" She scrambled back through the rubble toward his voice, "You can't give up now!"
"What is there left to give up on?" She looked around for the source of the weary voice, "The Universe is disintegrating! How long can we possibly last?"
"Damnit, Viridian!" He was slumped sideways against a boulder of solid silver. "How can you say that now of all times?"
"Leave me." Arris couldn't see his face, "You have to go on."
"Not now, not ever!" She screamed back at him, pulling on his arm, "Come on!" Fire and rocks rained down upon them, and Arris instinctively put up her arm to shield her face, "This place is falling apart! The Fold will destroy us with it!"
"Arris..." The arm she was tugging gripped hers instead and pulled her closer to him so their foreheads touched. His bottomless black eyes were grim, "I can't."
"What are you..." Arris pulled the arm around her shoulders and put her arm around his to try to pull him up, but when she moved, he let out a groan of pain. His arm was trapped under the boulder. "No!" She put her shoulder to it and pushed as hard as she could, but it didn't budge, "Not after everything!"
"Arris, you have to go."
"Like Hell I do!"
"No, Arris, listen to me! Listen!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her close, "It's a lost cause. You don't have much time left!"
"I'm not leaving you here!"
"You don't have a choice! You can't move the bloody boulder!"
"Maybe if you helped me..." Arris stopped pushing the boulder, tears running down her face. It was no use. She sat down next to him and leaned her head against his shoulder, "You know I won't leave you here alone."
His arm came around her and pulled her in closer. He sighed, "I know. I guess it was always going to end this way."
They sat there for awhile, holding each other as tight as they could as chaos reigned about them.
"So this is our last stand." Viridian murmured half to himself. The Fold came closer and closer. An oak tree sprouted from the ground next to him and grew to full size in a matter of seconds before exploding into a rain of powdered glass.
Arris leaned closer as the Fold loomed directly behind them. This is it. It's the end. She closed her eyes and listened to Viridian's breathing. Just like going to sleep. It'll be just like going to sleep.
"Arris?"
"Hm?"
"We'll always be together." She felt his hand brush some powdered glass out of her hair.
"Always."
And then the Fold took them.
It was just like going to sleep.
