Eclipsed

It all began with darkness.

The sound of chains dragging against the obsidian floors were accompanied by that of dripping blood. The gilded liquid dotted, then smeared across the dark glass as the body it fell from was drug through it.

Then she appeared and adorned him and his realm with light.

Footsteps echoed through the vast dark room, small orbs of soft silvery-blue light illuminated the space sparingly, as he could not stand the sight of warmth.

For a time, he watched her quietly, basking in her beauty.

Tapestries of the endless night billowed as the two clad in ebony armor pulled the incandescent being towards the towering throne of night.

Then another emerged, gilded in garish radiance that devoured his shadows and dimmed her gentle light.

At the base of the dais, the guards forced the glowing body upright onto its knees. The sound of metal against stone crashed through the room for a moment, then all was met with nothing but utter silence.

Yet in this newfound light, life in the lower realm blossomed and his gentle lady of light became enthralled.

“What do we have here?” His deep unenthused voice hummed through the room, causing those of the night court to emerge from the shadows and take their places before their King.

He tried to reason with it, hoping he could forge a truce and share the lower realm so that the lower life could remain.

“A servant of the light, Your Majesty.” The guard bowed his head, “It seems he came to take your life.”

But the light was far too greedy, too arrogant to simply share.

What little light in the room flickered as something in the air shifted. The glowing man, who’s golden blood spilled down his swollen face coughed up a laugh. Until tendrils of darkness coiled around his neck and snatched him from the floor.

Then everything in the lower realm began to burn under the endless light, charring the world beyond recognition.

“The King of Light knows he cannot kill me.” The figure, once encased in shadow, that was perched upon the Night throne scoffed. His glowing white eyes held the prisoner’s uneasy gaze as he struggled to breathe. “Lest he wish fo the lower realm to once again cease to exist.”

Without the darkness, life in the lower realm could not survive. And the King of the Endless Night proposed a deal.

“He-” The bloody man croaked, then the shadows lessened their grip just enough to let him speak, “He. . . wished me to tell you. . . just how sweet the Moon’s lips taste.” A horrid grin twisted the lesser God’s face as he made it very clear he had already accepted his fate.

The two Kings would share control of the lower realm, splitting it into a two-part cycle: Day where the Light reigned, and Night where the Darkness devoured.

A loud crack reverberated through the Night Hall, followed by the sound of a body hitting the cold floor.

Truly, Darkness cared not about the fate of the lower realm as it was of no consequence to him.

Without a word the night court disappeared, knowing all too well what horrors awaited them if they were to stay. The Night King, Primordial God of Darkness and devourer of light, sat in his throne so still and quiet one would have thought him dead.

However, it mattered to her and she meant everything to him.

The hall was consumed by his shadows, as the King of Light’s provocation hit its mark.

To tip the scales in his favor, the Light stole away the Moon and tossed her in a tower so high it was visible to all of those who resided in the realm of Endless night to serve as a warning as well as a reminder.

“Diana. . .” His deep voice quivered, “What has he done to you?” He ran his large pale hands, no longer encased in shadow, through his ebony locks and tugged at their roots in an attempt to ground himself in reason.

Light promised to kill her, if Darkness ever dared leave his realm of shadow. As he knew the King of Night could not live in a world devoid of her soft light.

He was trapped in his own shadows, unable to save the woman he loved while forced to look upon her from afar.

She once pulled him from his sea of darkness, illuminated his realm and freed him from nothingness. Yet, in the end, he could not devour the light that held her prisoner in the sky, lest he risk losing her forever.