Much today is spoken of the War of Twilight, the first strife between the gods. Many beings have heard the story from the Book of Light, regaling how Solonos the Golden burst fully-formed from the right eye of the Demon Chelonian. How he tore out the left, and cast it into the sky to create the sun, thereby bringing illumination into the world. In doing so, he banished darkness to the furthest fringes of the world. Wicked Borog, the Shadow of Afaja, rose from his abyssal pit to do battle with Solonos. The Black God bore a terrible strength, a vast cape of fear and shadows, but the stalwart Sun-God held his ground. They waged their storied war, and in the end, Borog was vanquished. Darkness retreated from the face of the earth, hiding itself from the direct view of the sun, and the Age of Light could begin at last.
So tells the Book of Light. I recall matters differently.
Solonos. My third sibling. My lost brother. Oh how briefly I knew him!
I first became aware of his existence mere moments after my departure from the Realm of Curator. I felt for the first time the presence of a new being, someone bound to me by ties of kinship, a being of great strength and intensity. I could feel his soul; noble, compassionate, dutiful. He bore none of the giddy madness of Thwapp, nor the stoic blankness of Curator. I immediately sensed that he was a kindred spirit.
I set out at once, racing across the surface of the world, in the hunt for my new brother. In the time before time, such a transit would have passed without perception. Caught, as I was, in a world now bound to the will of Ceradus, I felt... impatience, for the first time. Fortunately, I had much to occupy my mind as my body crossed the vast open spaces of the world. What would my sibling be like? Would he be like me? Why had he waited until the Age of Time to emerge?
These questions, and many others, circulated through my mind as I searched... and searched. Long did I tread across the face of the earth, but my brother did not appear. The burning sun seared my very being, but my resolve did not waver. I merely gave the light a loathing snarl- and in that moment I saw Solonos. There he hovered, at a great distance, on the very edge of the sun itself. At once my mind shifted, as grave fear for my brother's wellbeing replaced the weariness, anxiousness and anticipation brought on by my lengthy travails. Bracing myself for the pain to come, I cast myself away from the fabric of the earth, and flew towards the blazing orb.
There he was. My brother, a half-formed being, a god in potentia. Tenderly, I pulled my shadowy raiment away from my body, and drew nigh.
"Solonos! My brother! I am here!"
The figure began to stir, as if waking from a reverie. My thousand arms reached out, embracing him, blanketing and protecting his body. My flesh screamed at the proximity to the flames, but I endured the pain as I drew him away to safety. I felt the godling in my hands stir, and for the first time I heard his voice, like the clear ringing of a bell.
"Borog... I am cold."
"You are hurt, brother, I am bringing you to safety."
"No, Borog, you are hurting me! Please! Let me go!
Solonos shook more vigorously this time. My mind shot back to the previous eon- I recalled holding Thwapp tightly in my grasp, as I attempted to purify his essence through baptism in the Abyssal Font. He had struggled, crying out, gasping, fighting for his life. I remembered the look on his face, the pain, the betrayal...
In shock, I released Solonos, fearful of what I had done, and might do.
"Forgive me, brother, I am only trying to do what is best. The sun will hurt you."
Solonos looked at me, his eyes wide and innocent.
"I do not understand, Borog."
I was shocked for a second, taken aback by his ignorance. However, I did not begrudge it- he had existed for only the briefest of times. He did not know what I knew.
"What do you know of the sun, brother Solonos?"
"It was born from the left eye of our father, as I was born from the right."
My belly lurched, as alarm began to boil up from deep in my mind.
"No, Solonos..." I began, suppressing my concerns, "The sun murdered our father. It scoured the earth, broke his body and sundered the unity of the universe. The sun is a cruel, wicked thing."
Solonos looked crestfallen. "Why would it do that?" he asked, "It is neither harsh, nor callous."
I was dumbfounded. My brother continued.
"The sun is warm, and giving. It brought light into a world that had none."
The bubbling panic within me began to spill out, and I began to grow angry.
"It is an invader! It is a murderer! The sun ripped its way into our world and slew our only parent!"
Now was Solonos' turn to be taken aback. He was silent, his eyes bore an element of fear and confusion. I seethed, confused and infuriated by my brother's responses. Slowly, and cautiously, Solonos began to speak again.
"Borog... I do not know if the sun murdered our father, or if it is his creation, just like you or I, or the earth beneath us. But one way or another... our father is dead, Borog. He is dead. Nothing that we can do will ever bring him back."
I calmed myself, and spoke with a level voice to my brother once more. "What then is your point, Solonos?"
"What has happened cannot be undone, Borog."
"So you would accept the death of our father, and the defilement of his legacy by the sun?"
Solonos looked hurt, though I still did not yet fully comprehend why.
"The world has been broken. But we can make it better... we can do it together, Borog!"
"Yes!" I cried, elated, "And we must start by snuffing out this... this vile lamp, this murderous light... this horrid, scarring orb they call the sun! We can avenge our father Solonos, together!"
I looked to Solonos, and my face slowly fell. He looked apologetic.
"What?" I asked.
"I can't do that, Borog."
"Then I must do it alone."
There was silence. Solonos' face had changed. He looked at me now, his face turning grim.
"I can't let you do that, Borog."
I was stunned. The silence continued for a long while, until I broke it, disbelieving his words.
"No! No! You couldn't."
He looked at me, his eyes piercing, his face steeled.
"..you wouldn't." I finished, weakly.
"Borog... the stuff that makes up the sun... is the same matter of which I am composed"
"No!" I cried, my voice strangled, "It can't be! You can't be! It's a murderer! It is a destroyer! It is our enemy!"
"Maybe it is your enemy, brother, but to me it is no different than the blinding shadows which follow you."
Once more, I found myself unable to speak. Solonos turned away from me, and moved towards the sun. Blinding light flowed forth from it, and into him, and from him back into the sun. I felt him grow in strength, and the sun grew ever-brighter.
"No..." I weakly pleaded, "Don't. Please, please, don't."
"I'm sorry Borog."
At that moment, rage at last overtook me in full, and the cloak of darkness fell over me once more.
"Then you side with the usurper! You would aid the very instrument that murdered your own father!"
"Borog!"
"Shut up! You would betray your own flesh and blood!"
"This is my flesh and blood!"
"And you would betray the legacy of Afaja as well! You would see all that once was be swept away!
"Borog! You'll drive yourself to self-destruction if you fail to accept the past."
"The past?" I roared, incredulously, "You know nothing of the past! You know nothing of the time before time!"
"And do you know any more?"
"I know that which has value! I know that which must be protected, and preserved, against the onslaught of the light!"
Solonos' face now joined mine in anger. "You are a fool Borog! You are a small, petty fool absorbed in self-loathing, just a bitter memory of the tiniest sliver of our father's shadow! You fail to comprehend that there was more to Afaja than darkness! Your whole existence is due to what has happened, yet you conspire to undo all of it, and end all that has been created!"
"And you are a betrayer, Solonos! You are an ignorant, spiteful little neophyte, blind to the destruction that your adopted mantle has already wrought! You would abandon our birthright and spit upon our heritage! You would set yourself amongst the company of murderers, and rebuild your father's corpse in their image!"
"Lunatic!"
"Traitor!"
Solonos resembled a child no longer, but a god at the zenith of his powers. His body was transfigured into a blazing inferno, filled to the brim with flame after suckling from the powers of the sun. I too had gathered the fullness of my strength. My limbs flexed with power, my jaws gnashed, and my cloak of shadows billowed out to tremendous dimensions, obscuring all from view. Thus did we fall upon one another. We exchanged vicious, maiming blows as we tumbled downwards. We struck the earth with terrific force, and rose again to continue our battle. Mountains broke, plains shattered, lands burned and shuddered as each of us strove to become the second being in existence to commit murder. Though time had already begun, it mattered little to us. We fought for years as if they were hours. We grew weary, but so evenly matched were we that neither could outmatch the other. We wrestled, writhed and grappled against one another, our attacks impaired by growing exhaustion. We collapsed by each others' sides, still fighting. He jabbed, I strangled, he burned, I crushed, he struck, I smothered, he kicked, I bit...
In time, we came to recognize that neither of us could defeat the other. No other god dared involve themselves in our strife to break our deadlock. Thus, at long last, we came to the end of our bitterly-fought war. The world was split between us. To Solonos, was ceded all that he surveyed, from his high vantage. The rest fell to me. I would begrudge him nothing, ensuring that everything out of his sight fell into my own realm. Thus did all material come to cast a shadow, wherever the sun could not see.
Time, that irksome creation of Ceradus, was also split between us. The sun, far brighter than it had ever been in the past, reigned over one half. Thus did Solonos become master of the day. And as the sun departed, darkness would fall with the beginning of each night.
With our pact completed, Solonos departed skywards, back to his new master. I returned alone to my deep fastnesses in the heart of the world, and sank into the Abyssal Font, to begin the salving of my grievous wounds. And in this black pool, I wept for the loss of my brother. The font ran salty with tears.
