ΤΗΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΗΙ: Rise of The Nephillim

~Artemis Blaine~

The shadows of the black sun shall bend light in their wake, consuming all that the naked eye can see and doing with it as they please. The black sun is the eater of worlds, the devourer of souls and sands alike, and it's shadows shall walk among us one day. They are illusions with life, deception with a heartbeat, and the great tragedy they will share is how they are a puff of smoke in the wind.

I read the words once more today, their meaning lost me as they were on everyone else. I had developed a habit of reading them and trying to divine their meaning, figuring the words of our beginnings might help us at our end. Eventually, they were nothing more than something to ponder each day, and I found new reasons for them, reasons like love and hatred, reasons like people lost and legends found. If I had known what those words would come to mean, I doubt much would've changed admittedly, considering all that they would bring, the war of the fallen and the risen, the expansion of the heavens. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
I read the words as I always do upon waking in my bed, their bold ink plastered to my ceiling as a reminder. I did not know why they were, nor did anyone else. We only knew that they were a part of this world we'd come to know, that with our journey into the digital horizon came testaments to our decision. Many of us could not remember making that choice, and few rumors of sound backing have flown about as to why we would or how we did, but the reality could not be denied, the laws of this world were too fantastical to be anything more than a fabricated one. Those doubtful have witnessed as previous hackers have bypassed system mechanics before their very eyes, giving them unique and powerful advantages. This was a fantasy, a game, a virtual reality we had come to live in without any idea as to what brought us here. And we were reminded of it each morning.
Distant with the overbearing weight of the matter, I left my bed and got dressed quickly in my skintight, leather, sandy camouflage coat and matching pants. I briefly stopped in my bathroom to fix my hair in the mirror, admiring the architecture of my home as I did. The entire building was expanded from what is known in Eden as an Infinity Tree, massive, towering trees with a glimmering, golden-brown bark of a smooth texture, their veins rich with the arcane forces of this land, and my mirror rested comfortably against a knot in a low-hanging branch. Most call me unreasonable, or careless, or even brave for living at such a height, the distance between my home and the ground being somewhere around five stories, but I found the climb down my ladder each morning to be relaxing as the sun's rays danced along the shimmering trunk.
Itching to leave my home, I decided my cerulean follicles could cover my contrasting apple-red eyes for the day, and practically bolted out my door. The climb down was slow, and the ladder was rather loose, but seeing my awkwardly shaped home in the distance, and the flourishing green fields beneath my feet coming ever closer, I still felt the energy of a new day coursing through me. I planted my feet to the ground with all the determination of an astronaut claiming a planet, ready to run through the valleys and hills surrounding the nearby village of Voltain, my home of many years. It was not the wealthiest village in all of Genesis, nor was it the poorest in all of Eden, but it sat somewhere in the middle, with two and one story buildings alike of various trade and value, with blacksmiths and taverns and churches to indulge in, even a school in the last year, from what I've heard. I felt responsible for it over the years, watchful of shadows in the sunrise, guarding it still after many hard fought battles for it's sake.
There was the war of the three valleys, in which we were invaded by our neighboring villages, Parthe and Nucop. There was the rebellion of Genesis, in which I served my village in it's neutrality, taking messages to and from other settlements and escorting goods to and from the village. I even stood as champion of Voltaine once, in a duel for the rights to the village with a usurper gone mad. My pets and I, we felt a sense of home for this place, a sense of duty to its preservation and perseverance.  I would be nothing without them, they would be nothing without me, we would be nothing without Voltaine, and Voltaine would be nothing without us. It brought about a sense of balance and peace in a person, composure in all circumstances.
I rushed quickly to my stables beneath the tree, deep in the rooted caverns below. I headed quickly for the stalls towards the central stem, where Albert, a Frostbite Tiger I rescued years ago from an avalanche in the northern glaciers of Genesis, nestled next to the heart of the tree, a large, wooden organ only Infinity Trees possessed, containing cores of refined arcane magic, purified into what one might call a 'magic star', for warmth.
Albert was of a majestic and rare breed, with snowy fur that crystalized along his sides in an ornate, interconnected pattern resembling a maze of descending snowflakes. His eyes shone a brilliant sapphire, and his claws and fangs were ice in appearance, but unmeltable by any means, and denser than most metals found along the continent. It would be unfair of me to let you believe our bond was forged simply by my compassion for him, Albert was more than a wounded animal or a pet in danger, he was my friend. He has stood beside my in battle many times, and dragged me from the ruins of the grounds of war many times, sometimes against my will.
I gave my usual whistle for him to rise, and he did, but with all the reluctance of his age. Many moons ago, he was a fierce and wild predator, roaming the frosty cliff faces, but those days had long since past. Now, he was simply the lumbering guard dog of my home, but that did not mean that his luster was lost on me. My hand brushed against his matted, jagged fur, and he was still as cool to the touch as the day we met. I took comfort in the chills that radiated from him, all too familiar to me, and I felt the childish urge to mount him once more, just for a brief walk through the town. I kissed his forehead, and climbed atop his back, carefully, hoping that my weight would not be too much for him, and though his youth was gone, he stood as steadfast as ever, carrying me onward as he always had.