《Eternal Solitude》 Eternal Solitude Eternal Solitude The sun. The great ball of golden majesty that shines down upon the world, lighting day with its brilliant radiance. How many of you warm yourselves under its rays? How many of you take daylight for granted? How many of you idly waste time, ignoring the glorious gift of sunlight? I would do anything to see the sun again. To see the azure skies. To see the endless mountain ranges, great lakes and oceans, the world in all its beauty. That is my greatest wish. I¡¯m so cold. I¡¯m trembling all of the time. I am forever shut off from the warm sunlight. There is no luminous sun, no stars where I lie. No warmth. Nothing. My skin has gone pale from aeons of darkness. I can only ever make out what is directly in front of me, the light of my eyes the only source of illumination to be found, and it is grossly inadequate. My body has withered from disuse and neglect. My sickly skin pulls taught over my bones. My ribs and spine push against it, and would be clearly visible if my prison were not so dark. But I am alone. I¡¯ve been alone for so long now, I¡¯ve forgotten what it is to hear another¡¯s voice, the same way I¡¯ve forgotten what it is to feel the warm sun, to see the azure skies. I cannot move. I am bound so tightly in such a confined space that I have gone all but rigid to the point of stillness even if I were now unbound. My muscles, weak and malnourished, have locked into place. My bindings cut through my skin, down to the bone, exposing it to the chilling cold. My wings, clipped long ago, have withered also. The feathers falling over time, like the colorless petals of a dying rose, my wings are bound to my back so that they might not be spread ever again. The ability to stretch my wings their full span is perhaps what I miss most, second to the sun. They are broken now, useless, deadweight things. I spend my days in sorrow, weeping, cursing my fate, crying to myself. But no one can hear my silent screams. No one can wipe away my tears. Sometimes I shift and turn, but can move no more than a few inches. Even if I could, my enclosure is too small to allow much more movement than that. Sometimes I hum to myself to pass the time and forget my memories of freedom which can now only bring me further pain. But though I try to forget them, I still cannot help but dwell upon the days before this endless, exquisite misery. I remember when the world was young and steeped in chaos. Endless wars plagued the planet and countless lives were lost. The people¡¯s hearts were filled with hatred, and that bitter black emotion led to bloodshed and back again in an endless, vicious cycle. Life was but a sick joke, and there was very little good in the world, no reason to enjoy the sun. It was when things seemed their bleakest, when black clouds filled the skies, and the cries of war reached a symphonic peak, that a single ray of sun pierced through the clouds. I descended from the heavens, wreathed in golden light, wings shining purest white like pearls, golden bracelets and anklets adorning my wrists and ankles, a halo of solid sun atop my head. My countenance was soft, tender, then. With endless compassion, I stopped the pointless fighting and brought peace to the world. With infinite patience and wisdom, I taught them all the rules to live by within a perfect, utopian society, and all was well. A new age of tranquility had arrived, and I was hailed as a savior to all mankind.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Out of chaos, I brought order. Sometimes I forget my actions were in the name of love for everyone. I was an all-loving being once, so where did I go so wrong? Perhaps it was when I became frustrated with the shortcomings of mankind, and came to believe that they could not think properly for themselves. I imposed a harsher rule, my laws becoming stricter and stricter as time passed. Some began to call me a tyrant. When the first open rebellion against me occurred, it was a sign to me that free will was also chaos. I crushed the rebellion with my divine power, and imposed an even harsher rule. If my utopia was to endure, I could allow no one to defy my will. No dissenters would go unpunished. Eventually, I became paranoid. I feared that one day, beings strong enough to overthrow me would appear. I took preemptive action. I commanded that no man may be above the average strength. Those that were too powerful and posed a threat had to be purged. In a strange twist of fate, perhaps it was this that led to my inevitable defeat. Ten warriors appeared to challenge me, and destroy the utopia that I had created. Even with my divine, cosmic power, and status as ordained ruler over all mankind, I was overwhelmed and beaten, my power sealed away and I condemned to an eternity in darkness. Ironic for a being with dominion over light. A cruel ending indeed. Thus ends the reflection. *** My half-lidded eyes now focused on something that I had not seen in thousands of years ¨C light! The glow was so familiar, yet new at the same time as it came to me, it having been so long since I had beheld it that it was nearly blinding, yet I could not look away! As it grew closer to me, I beheld that nestled within the light was a young girl. One of theirs, from the world above that I had been forever denied. ¡°What is your name?¡± I ask. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Children who die before their time have no need for names, and so we forget them.¡± she said. ¡°How did you die, little one?¡± I ask, saddened by this young life cut short, yet delighted to have company after all this time. ¡°The grownups said that sacrifices have to be made so we can all be happy.¡± She said. How right those grownups are. Indeed, we all have a cross to bear. Sacrifices have to be made so that paradise can be born. Yet I pitied this poor soul. I felt the remnants of the endless compassion that I had once had, and somehow lost. ¡°Sadly, the truth of this world is despair. I weep for you having to understand this at so tender an age. But don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m here, now.¡± I tell her. ¡°Who are you, anyways?¡± she asks. ¡°An angel¡± I say. ¡°People once called me the ¡®Lord of Light¡¯¡±. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like a name to me. What¡¯s your real name?¡± she questions, her eyes full of innocence. I smile sadly. I haven¡¯t heard my own name in a long, long time, so much so that it sounds foreign to my ears as I whisper it to the curious girl. ¡°Lucifer¡­ my name is Lucifer¡­¡± Leviathan of Envy Leviathan of Envy Cold¡­ Black¡­ the dark abyss¡­ the infinite depths¡­ for untold aeons, the unexplored valleys of the sea between the material and astral planes had been home to the mighty Leviathan. And now, the sea had become its prison. The envious Leviathan lay at the bottom of the deepest trench in the entire ocean. After its last confrontation with the All-mighty - the foolish old man that most mortals called ¡°God¡± - the pitiable Leviathan had lost its ability to swim, and had sunken into the trench, to lie motionless for all of eternity. Leviathan had led an empty and miserable life, but now it seemed that it was condemned to eternal boredom as well. It wasn¡¯t fair. The mortals, the beings who had been one of the many preys of Leviathan - when a being was as colossal as Leviathan, all living things were prey - had something that Leviathan had not. The mortals could find happiness in life, when Leviathan knew none. They could find kinship and joy in others of their species. For as long as Leviathan had lived, it knew itself to be the only one of its kind in existence, and was eternally perplexed by the thing that mortals called ¡°love¡±. Leviathan wanted to know it for itself, wanted to be rid of its loneliness, of its self-pity. Leviathan hated its feelings, would have turned on them and eaten them if it could have, but it could not. The unhappy beast could only weep for itself, for being unable to fill the emptiness it felt. Humans had love. Humans had dreams. Humans had hope. Leviathan knew that it dared not feel hope for the future. What future was there for a monster such as itself? Humans had it so easy. They had the luxury of happiness. Leviathan envied them for that. It hated them for that. Since humans had first appeared, Leviathan had hated them all, had sworn to devour them all. It would have revenge against the selfish humans who dared to be happy. Leviathan was not one of ¡°God¡¯s¡± creatures. It knew not of its origins, but only of its emptiness, and its hate. Leviathan¡¯s thoughts were interrupted for a moment; a blue whale - for Leviathan, no larger than the length of its dorsal fin - had swum near it, where it lay in its trench. Leviathan¡¯s stadium-sized stomach growled. If it had had the strength, Leviathan would have reached for the whale, but it was far too weak to do anymore than glower at the whale. The whale stayed for a moment, then swam away, and as it swam away, it angered Leviathan even more. The whale had been within half a kilometer of Leviathan. If Leviathan had been able to lift its paralyzed arms, it could have easily snatched the whale. As Leviathan watched the whale swim off into the distance, it felt another pang of hunger, and another vicious streak of jealousy. The whale was in perfect health, oh yes, it could swim about along its merry way just fine. Leviathan¡¯s body was ruined, its fins no more than tattered, ripped sheets. Why must all living creatures taunt Leviathan with the things that they have? Why can none understand the serpent¡¯s pain? In the midst of its self-pity, the sullen Leviathan calmed itself and picked back up on its reflection of the events that had led up to its current situation. Leviathan remembered having been woken up from a deep slumber by a bright light that had penetrated its massive eyelids - a deep-sea submarine was what it had been. Leviathan, by its very nature, always woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and it was in a particularly foul mood. It easily destroyed the sub, and then rose to the surface of the ocean in a matter of two or so minutes. As it broke the surface, the sea roiled and boiled in its wake, creating great waves and whirlpools. Leviathan lifted its seemingly endless tail from the ocean, creating suction where it had been that would have been great enough to suck down no less than a floating city, then brought it back down with thousands of tons of force, smacking the surface of the ocean, which for Leviathan, was really no more than a mere pool. The force of its tail striking the water produced cataclysmic waves that traveled for thousands of miles. The waves traveled to the west, and all villages on the west coast had been completely erased after the first wave - Leviathan¡¯s splashing had actually caused the sea to reclaim a good portion of the continent. Villagers on the east coast actually witnessed Leviathan¡¯s loathsome form rise from the sea. They were unaffected by the waves, which had not traveled in their direction,, but they had lost several ships which had been near the harbor when Leviathan crushed them. Leviathan drew near the shore and exhaled a fiery stream of dragon¡¯s breath which had incinerated all of the village and forests. Those who had attempted to flee from the blaze, or seek shelter, were easy prey for Leviathan, who devoured them as easily as one would grapes. Suddenly, however, the skies overhead grew dark and ominous. This would be a fateful day for Leviathan, who had had no idea that its days of wasted freedom would end. Before the Almighty had appeared to strike down the titanic sea serpent, Leviathan had had no idea that anyone or anything could ever match its fearsome power, or even come close. It had no reason to suspect such a thing. It could cause waves hundreds of meters high by merely splashing around. Its breath could set fire to even the sea itself. Its roars of rage could be heard from across the world. If it were to bite the land, it could even shake the continents themselves. How could anything, anything, ever match such power? Leviathan soon found out. The old man appeared through the clouds, and the holy rays of light that fell down from the heavens shown upon Leviathan¡¯s scales, searing tis flesh, burning through into its lonely, bitter soul. Leviathan had never felt pain before. It tried to bite the holy light, to tear it apart. All Leviathan managed to do was burn its tongue. Leviathan felt incredible rage¡­ and fear. Fear was another thing that Leviathan had never felt, and had believed it should never have to feel. Leviathan was a being that was to be feared, not to feel fear for itself. It turned to flee, swam back out into the open ocean, but to no avail - the old man simply cast a bolt of lightning Leviathan¡¯s way. The bolt struck Leviathan with such force that it ripped its very muscles from its bones, rendering its arms useless, with such force that it set fire to its fins, that it turned the vision of one of its eyes permanently grey, that it blew off the upper portion of its tail, that it traveled through Leviathan and super-heated the ocean around it for miles, literally boiling it, as if the sea were a bubbling kettle. The ¡°unstoppable¡± Leviathan felt steam rise from its enormous body, and from out of its mouth, as if it had been fried down to its innards as well. Then, the hateful sea serpent sank below the sea, and disappeared for aeons to come¡­Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Leviathan finished the recollection of how it had come to be trapped and immovable a the bottom of this unbearable trench. By this point, how many thousands of years had gone by? Kelp and coral had grown over Leviathan, cementing it to the ocean floor. Sharks, squids, and other sea creatures picked at the dead and dying flesh at the tips of Leviathan¡¯s fins. Bothersome pests, thought Leviathan. All it could do to drive the scavengers away was to growl angrily at them. This only worked for a short time, however, and the pests always returned. If only Leviathan could move, it would devour them. Leviathan¡¯s dreams were always the same - it always guzzled the entire world out of spite, and then, oh yes, then it would almost be able to feel¡­ happiness¡­ But alas, Leviathan was always awakened by a bothersome customer that had come to dine on its tattered flesh. If it could, it would have chosen to stay asleep forever, so that it could dream forever, and maybe then it would be able to find some fulfillment. Leviathan¡¯s life had lost all meaning, if it had ever had any meaning to its life to begin with, a prospect that both it, and most others, would have vehemently disagreed with. One day, however, Leviathan would find a new reason to live. It had been awakened from its dream once again, but this time, not by the annoying scavengers, but by a bright shining light that penetrated its eyelids, an experience that felt all too familiar to the dammed submarine that had caused it to go on its ill-fated rampage to begin with. Go away, it wanted to say, but it had not the strength. It could only utter a low growl; after so long without any food, that was all it had the energy to do. But the light was not that of a submarine. It was that of a mysterious golden bubble, which encased a withered old man, bearing crimson wings on his back, and a golden staff in his hand. Whoever this man was, Leviathan guessed it probably had a better life than it did; even before it was struck down by ¡°God¡± Leviathan would have traded its life for any other. ¡°What a pathetic state you¡¯ve been left in, my friend¡­¡± What a laugh¡­ Leviathan had no friends in the world. It didn¡¯t want any either. It wanted only to be left alone, to have the irritating light taken out of its eyes, which had spent far too long in the darkness to tolerate any kind of light anymore. But the man within the bubble had an offer that caught Leviathan¡¯s attention. ¡°I can restore your power, take you out of this wretched trench which has become your prison cell¡­ And I can promise you revenge as well, if you¡¯ll only pledge yourself to our new lord¡­ the Bringer of Light¡­¡± Leviathan could not speak for lack of energy, but it didn¡¯t seem to matter. This man, or thing in the shape of a man, seemed to be able to communicate telepathically. ¡°...Yes¡­¡± thought Leviathan. For the first time in its entire life, the thing humans called ¡°hope¡± glittered in Leviathan¡¯s eyes...