Light in the dark

A bird's eye view was the perfect angle to truly understand the enormity of Cain's plan getting utilized. The tri-creator gods had formed a central hub at the base of the now-dead hanging tree. Walls forged from the aether and several outposts surrounded it. Here streams of three different entities flocked to and fro from the three creator's Monolith cities.

Angels, Dragons, and Demoni. The Dragons were peak end beings, created by Faora. Each had two wing pairs, moved on a hind limb while resting on one pair of wings, long reptilian necks, and two pairs of eyes. A pair of eyes were located at the spot right where the skull connected to the neck bone giving the dragons possible hindsight.

The Demoni were the weakest of the two races, Slim like the Elosas but with red skin, long knife-pointed ears, and reptilian eyes. Fangs could be seen from the gaps in their lips each time they gave off sultry smiles. Long reptilian-like tails wagged behind them while they floated in mid-air.

With each stream of beings flooding into the base, the crowd grew. Like blood thickening the masses swelled. Slowly the flood dropped to a trickle, then it halted. Like an overstretched rubber the masses tightened. The ongoings within this mass were unknown. But what came next was a sight that could terrify most creators and denizens of Mistrelon. Like the floodgates of hell poured upon the earth all the creatures spilled out. In all directions, they raced, like ants wriggling over the ground they moved.

Roars, laughter, and yells could be heard from the dispersing crowd. It created a din so large it spread all over the plains.

*

Hilde glanced up from her work, a loud sound racing past her like the waves of a tsunami. She looked left and right, then in the direction, the sound came from, and looked back to her work, back up obviously torn between investigating and leaving her work before shrugging as her desire to stay won.

"The False Lives can handle it" Her focus slipped back to her work.

"BASE FORM" the aura of a speaker spilled out affecting the soul she held in her grasp. The humanoid-shaped soul lost all shape and contour becoming nothing but a shapeless silhouette.

"EXPAND" the soul stretched outwards.

It was like getting thrown out of reality and dunked into the cosmos as a human. Little lights, large lights, stars and nebulas, shapes and symbols at every inch.

"It's..." she turned her head from side to side taking in the view. "...beautiful". It was all here as she had expected. Everything that she had thought and assumed, was tightly packed together in clusters, groups, and sectors.

The view suddenly moved on its own zooming farther into the soul. " Whaaa.." she exclaimed as the lights of the soul zoomed past at breakneck speed. "...aaat" the movement halted.

"Ohkay?" confused she looked around her. The area she was in now was dark as night with not a single shred of light or anything there.

"Where am I?" Feeling lost she tried moving about only to find that she was unable to control her activity very much in this part of the soul.

"A soul that can restrict my movements. No, not the soul, something else. Something more..."

WHOOSH!

Hilde turned sharply to find what had just moved past her. Her eyes moved freely but her neck and body remained frozen.

WHOOSH.

"The first of them" the voice echoed from the darkness all around her. Normally such a situation would, should have petrified the girl but her eyes gleamed with an excited curiosity.

"Where are you? Who are you?"

The darkness parted, and from within something moved fast. Too fast for her eyes to catch.

"Light? Can't be light. What moves faster than light?" her blue pupils twinkled as she followed the little movements she could spot. Then her nose twitched. Hilde's eyes narrowed and a click sounded in her head.

A vibration blasted out with her as the epicenter pushing the darkness away and revealing the creature right behind her with its black tendrils outstretched for her head and the environment now a white room.

"Darkness".her whisper made the creature shake a bit.

"Almost. Just a vestige. But not quite right". Its voice was cold and detached. Present yet absent. " What I am is of no use to you. Yet." the black shadow floated back and halted. Hilde watched it as it watched her.

"You drew me here?" she asked.

It stayed silent for a moment before turning and floating off.

"Not really. The truth brought you here." it paused looking back at an angle that revealed purple orbs locked on her. A creepy sight considering the featureless head it had. "It wonders what kind of life forger you would become?." With those words, the darkness that her vibration pushed to the edges rushed back inwards towards both at a swift pace.

"Wait! What truth?"

The darkness swallowed the shadow and then her returning the white room to the darkness of night. Hilde sighed as she looked around in the clear nothingness wondering what the next step was.

"The moon readily appears both by day and night. Yet it basks in the darkness of night. Find the light in the dark". The words traveled into her ears softly, like a whisper.

"The moon readily appears both by day and night. Yet it basks in the darkness of night. Find the light in the dark 'What does the moon have to do with all this?'

" Moon, moon. Darkness. Light. Off. On" Hilde could be heard muttering the words in repeat while looking around in the dark. It had been quite a while as she floated in the spot wondering why this area was dark compared to the other areas which had been lit up with lights. It was the longest time she had taken to solve a puzzle and it seemed to not be made easier even with Lies Bane in her repertoire.

"If only there was a light here then maybe I could....Light!." Hilde stopped her complaint as a light bulb went on in her head. Thinking back to the beautiful cosmos she'd just passed her mind tried to piece what it was that bothered her about what she saw. Trying to forget it she found her mind going back to it.

"Is this the effect of Lies Bane? Pushing me to the truth." Tapping her skull Hilde pouted as she tried harder to think.

"Okay. The moon.The darkness, Basks in the darkness. Light. The moon has no light. Reflects light. Light from where?." her head turned as she paused. "If those lights were moons then they're reflecting a light. Which is wrong since I'm pretty certain the light should be here. This doesn't make sense" She scratched her head tussling up the already scattered golden locks.

"Light reflects. But there is no light which means no reflection. Wrong since there were already lights within the soul. " her head snapped up her pupils quivering. "Or were there lights?".

Her fingers snapped as she tried to think back, this time she let her mind guide her to what it wanted to show. Lies Bane was obviously in effect as her mind showed her tbe same scene she took in earlier. This time though she saw her sight zoomed in on a cluster of lights.

"None" The lights from afar shone but the closer she got to them the dimmer they got till she was close enough to realize it had no light. "Because there was no light to reflect". Her eyes locked on the cluster for a moment before she realized it.

"Find the light in the dark?"Hilde's palms rose with rushed excitement. " The light in the dark dummy doesn't necessarily mean I have to find it." Culdre's metallic fist clenched and she exhaled. "I could just make the light myself".

Hilde pulled at the strings of divine fire within her, she could have chosen any of the several flames but the divine felt right for this. Yet just as the energy reached her fingertips it snuffed out trailing off as smoke from a dead flame off her fingertips.

Lies Bane tugged at her instincts, pulled her thoughts, and uncovered an idea.

" Why fire? Why not The Spark? The shard of my creations are filled with a bit of my spark, so why not it?" The full truth was hidden, only the edge put on view. Hilde knew not to doubt a Title like Lies Bane so she shut her eyes, ending her internal arguments she pulled at the feeling within her.

It was a scene where something as great as a large lightning bolt or thunderous clap would be expected. Or anything grand and theatrical at all. But it was nothing but a little flicker, tbe inconspicuous crackle in a wave of electricity, the overlooked spark in a volt. It appeared in her palm, like a weak child desiring nourishment. Yet it got none and asked for none.

Like an arrow, it flew up the skin of Lesaton and to the tip of her index finger. There it cooked and shrunk even further right before flashing off like an arrow, pointed straight for the hidden gem.

There in the vast darkness illuminated by the approaching spark was a ring. It was as inconspicuous as any, and also unblemished, beautiful without fault but plain. Yet Hilde was fast enough to note the one blemish on it. Hidden within the inner flat of the ring which would touch one's skin if it was worn. There like an etching, the crevice of a familiar shape was displayed.

A tiny lightning bolt.