Post by Monika on Aug 4, 2014 15:30:44 GMT -5
"Delmerith. Are we perfect?"
"What?" Delmerith had been absently staring outside one of the windows of the Celestial Palace, his and Seraphina's home away from Earth. The question was sudden, unprompted, and broke him away from his reverie.
"Are we perfect?" Seraphina repeated.
Delmerith turned to his sister, his expression one of both confusion and concern. "What brought on this question, Sera? Are you suffering from one of those mid-life crises the people down there go through?"
"You know we're both immortal." She sighed, not amused by the joke. "Please answer my question."
"I suppose you would have to define 'perfect'. If you mean 'flawless', then I am not sure I could give a proper answer. Flaws are a very human concept, and since we are not humans, we cannot really be subject to them, can we?" A chair materialized behind Delmerith and he sat down, resting his chin in his hands. "But what exactly is a flaw? Some people down there consider anger a flaw, but do we not become angry with each other sometimes? Some consider pride a flaw, but have there not been many instances in which we have been immensely proud of our many creations? By human definitions, we are indeed flawed, and therefore imperfect." He rose from the chair and, with a wave of his hand, it vanished. "But, as I said before, we are not human." He shrugged. "Now, if you could answer my question, Sera...What's going on?"
"It's just...the people of Super Land have been causing trouble as of late, and there is even fighting amongst the people of Awesome Land and the other territories. We created all of them to be like us, yet they are so...senseless. I wish there were something we could do about it."
"It's a side effect of free will, Seraphina," Delmerith said. "There's not much we can do, short of turning everyone into mindless slaves." He chuckled lightly, dismissing the idea with a wave.
Seraphina brightened considerably at the suggestion. "Oh, Delmerith, do you think we could-"
"No." Delmerith shook his head emphatically and gave his sister a disapproving glare. "You know our power is limitless except in regard to free will. We cannot destroy it. And why would you want to? What was our purpose in creating these beings who can act independently, if not to get rid of our own boredom? These 'flaws' of theirs. Their spontaneity. It makes them interesting."
"Their spontaneity will lead to their destruction!" Seraphina's voice echoed throughout the Celestial Palace and was carried out into the soundlessness of space. A few nearby stars exploded. "We are their creators, Delmerith! We are obligated to protect them! Or maybe you just don't care about them as much as I do." Her voice was bitter, her words laced with venom, but Delmerith kept his composure.
"There goes that flaw of anger again." With a slight smile, Delmerith casually strode over to his sister and booped her on the forehead. "You should calm down. Take a deep breath or two."
"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" At once, Seraphina and her brother were no longer inside their palace, but on its large, flat roof, the wide expanse of space around them in full view. "I'm not going to stand around as you willingly let those creatures destroy themselves just because it's interesting!" Her hands instinctively clenched into fists as she scowled at Delmerith, all too eager to make him see through her point of view.
"You're not actually about to fight me, are you?" Delmerith shook his head once more. "Weren't you just condemning the people of Earth for senseless violence just moments ago? We really are flawed, aren't we?"
Wordlessly, Seraphina advanced on her brother. Two nearby stars floated toward her, attaching themselves to her hands like boxing gloves. In one swift, fluid motion, she delivered a sharp jab to Delmerith, sending him flying toward the other end of the palace roof.
"Sera, you know that fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to solve anything." It wasn't too often that Delmerith considered himself lucky to be a god, but this happened to be one of those rare occasions. Being punched by a star would probably have killed a mortal, but he was able to rise from the blow without a scratch.
Seraphina pointed a star-cloaked hand at Delmerith; slowly, all of the stars in the galaxy gravitated toward his position. "One way or another, Delmerith," Seraphina growled. One star crashed down on the spot where Delmerith was standing, exploding on impact. "You're going to see things." Another star hit the palace roof, sending a wave of intense light and heat toward him. "My way!" Another star, another explosion.
With a huff, Delmerith effortlessly sidestepped the barrage of stars. As gods, he and Seraphina were evenly matched, so there would be no winner in this battle. The onslaught would continue until his sister had vented all of her frustrations. Not in any particular mood to wait that long, however, Delmerith snapped his fingers, stopping any remaining stars pre-collision.
"Have you finally started to see things my way, Delmerith?" Seraphina panted instinctively; she was immune to physical exhaustion, of course, but frequent visits to Earth saw her take on increasingly human-like attributes. Perhaps that is why she was fighting with her younger brother.
"Sort of. In your anger, I think I have found the solution to your problem."
"And what is that? You've already said we cannot destroy free will."
Delmerith stretched his arms out to the side. "Look around you, Sera. What do you see?"
Seraphina gave him an inquisitive stare. "I see my brother, who is perplexing me. And a bunch of stars that I'm tempted to send crashing into him again."
"Look at the floor we stand on. Do you see the way the stars you've summoned cast shadows upon it?"
Not quite sure what to make of Delmerith's question, Seraphina hesitantly moved her eyes downward. Indeed, there she saw the shadow of her brother, a long region of darkness in his image, created by the light unable to pass through his body. "I do. How do these shadows solve my problem?"
Delmerith flailed his arms wildly, kicked his legs, spun around, and made a bunch of other erratic motions. "Is it not interesting? How this shadow moves exactly as I do without question? Without hesitation?"
Seraphina continued staring at Delmerith's shadow as it mimicked his every movement. She smiled slightly, still unsure of how his antics solved anything. "I see the shadow, Delmerith, and while it is amusing seeing it dance as foolishly as you, I still do not see what problem it solves."
"The shadow does nothing without my consent. It does not walk unless I walk." He took a step forward, his shadow doing the same. "It does not jump unless I jump." Delmerith leapt into the (lack of) air, his shadow jumping in kind. "It is obedient without question. Could we not...make creatures of these shadows? Give them their own land and watch as they do nothing unless they are explicitly told? It won't help you protect the humans, but it will give you the opportunity to witness an ideal society." And show you just how boring it would be...
"Hmm..." Seraphina banished the star-gloves she wore around her hands and considered the proposal. "So you're saying we create some sort of...Shadow Land? Populated only by these creatures whose every action must be dictated to them?"
"Well, I was going to suggest a less generic name, but yes. That's the basic idea."
"That's a spectacular idea!" Seraphina gave Delmerith her brightest smile and clapped her hands excitedly. "Well, let's get to work!" She fixed her gaze on Delmerith's shadow and raised her hand, lifting the shadow from the ground into three-dimensional space. Delmerith did the same with Seraphina's shadow, and the two of them stared at the tall, dark, male and female creatures that stood before them.
Delmerith wiggled one of his fingers. The shadow creature in his image did the same.
Seraphina spun in place, and her own shadow creature did the same, disappearing from view when it had turned ninety degrees. "This is awesome!" She continued rotating for a while, laughing as she did.
"I had a feeling you'd like the idea," Delmerith remarked.
"Like? I love this shadowy woman! I wonder if..." Seraphina stopped spinning and closed her eyes in contemplation.
"What?" Delmerith asked. "Is the shadow not obedient enough for you?"
"Very funny. It's just...Do you remember how we grew tired of constantly creating things for the humans, and gifted them with magic so they could be self-sufficient?"
"Of course I remember. It was one of my better ideas. Far better than your silly idea of giving them limitless control over the four Forces." Delmerith scoffed, shaking his head. "You should leave the ideas to me, you know."
"Yeah, it's a good thing I didn't go and create the Orbs of Nature," Seraphina muttered under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. Anyway, we would eventually get tired of giving these shadow entities commands by moving, right? I wonder if we could just...tell them to do something." Seraphina looked at the two creatures and shouted "Sit!" Like well-trained puppies, the shadows returned to being two-dimensional images on the ground, the closest action to sitting that they could handle. "Interesting...Alright, let's try something a little harder. My shadow, I want you to give my brother a big hug for having such a great idea!" On cue, Seraphina's shadow rose from the ground and enveloped Delmerith to the full extent possible by a 2D being.
"Will you get this thing off of me?" Delmerith pleaded, his voice muffled by the shadow creature. "My shadow, will you please pull Seraphina's shadow away from me?" His own shadow obeyed, grabbing Seraphina's and dragging it to the floor.
"Marvelous. I'm going to have a lot of fun with these guys. Now we just have to make some more and give them some land. To Earth!" With little warning, Seraphina disappeared in a flash of golden light, leaving Delmerith and the two shadows on the palace roof.
Delmerith sighed. "Already I feel like this will not end well. Come, shadows. Let's go find a home for you and keep my sister in line." Delmerith grabbed a shadow with each hand and disappeared, following closely behind Seraphina.
"What?" Delmerith had been absently staring outside one of the windows of the Celestial Palace, his and Seraphina's home away from Earth. The question was sudden, unprompted, and broke him away from his reverie.
"Are we perfect?" Seraphina repeated.
Delmerith turned to his sister, his expression one of both confusion and concern. "What brought on this question, Sera? Are you suffering from one of those mid-life crises the people down there go through?"
"You know we're both immortal." She sighed, not amused by the joke. "Please answer my question."
"I suppose you would have to define 'perfect'. If you mean 'flawless', then I am not sure I could give a proper answer. Flaws are a very human concept, and since we are not humans, we cannot really be subject to them, can we?" A chair materialized behind Delmerith and he sat down, resting his chin in his hands. "But what exactly is a flaw? Some people down there consider anger a flaw, but do we not become angry with each other sometimes? Some consider pride a flaw, but have there not been many instances in which we have been immensely proud of our many creations? By human definitions, we are indeed flawed, and therefore imperfect." He rose from the chair and, with a wave of his hand, it vanished. "But, as I said before, we are not human." He shrugged. "Now, if you could answer my question, Sera...What's going on?"
"It's just...the people of Super Land have been causing trouble as of late, and there is even fighting amongst the people of Awesome Land and the other territories. We created all of them to be like us, yet they are so...senseless. I wish there were something we could do about it."
"It's a side effect of free will, Seraphina," Delmerith said. "There's not much we can do, short of turning everyone into mindless slaves." He chuckled lightly, dismissing the idea with a wave.
Seraphina brightened considerably at the suggestion. "Oh, Delmerith, do you think we could-"
"No." Delmerith shook his head emphatically and gave his sister a disapproving glare. "You know our power is limitless except in regard to free will. We cannot destroy it. And why would you want to? What was our purpose in creating these beings who can act independently, if not to get rid of our own boredom? These 'flaws' of theirs. Their spontaneity. It makes them interesting."
"Their spontaneity will lead to their destruction!" Seraphina's voice echoed throughout the Celestial Palace and was carried out into the soundlessness of space. A few nearby stars exploded. "We are their creators, Delmerith! We are obligated to protect them! Or maybe you just don't care about them as much as I do." Her voice was bitter, her words laced with venom, but Delmerith kept his composure.
"There goes that flaw of anger again." With a slight smile, Delmerith casually strode over to his sister and booped her on the forehead. "You should calm down. Take a deep breath or two."
"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" At once, Seraphina and her brother were no longer inside their palace, but on its large, flat roof, the wide expanse of space around them in full view. "I'm not going to stand around as you willingly let those creatures destroy themselves just because it's interesting!" Her hands instinctively clenched into fists as she scowled at Delmerith, all too eager to make him see through her point of view.
"You're not actually about to fight me, are you?" Delmerith shook his head once more. "Weren't you just condemning the people of Earth for senseless violence just moments ago? We really are flawed, aren't we?"
Wordlessly, Seraphina advanced on her brother. Two nearby stars floated toward her, attaching themselves to her hands like boxing gloves. In one swift, fluid motion, she delivered a sharp jab to Delmerith, sending him flying toward the other end of the palace roof.
"Sera, you know that fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to solve anything." It wasn't too often that Delmerith considered himself lucky to be a god, but this happened to be one of those rare occasions. Being punched by a star would probably have killed a mortal, but he was able to rise from the blow without a scratch.
Seraphina pointed a star-cloaked hand at Delmerith; slowly, all of the stars in the galaxy gravitated toward his position. "One way or another, Delmerith," Seraphina growled. One star crashed down on the spot where Delmerith was standing, exploding on impact. "You're going to see things." Another star hit the palace roof, sending a wave of intense light and heat toward him. "My way!" Another star, another explosion.
With a huff, Delmerith effortlessly sidestepped the barrage of stars. As gods, he and Seraphina were evenly matched, so there would be no winner in this battle. The onslaught would continue until his sister had vented all of her frustrations. Not in any particular mood to wait that long, however, Delmerith snapped his fingers, stopping any remaining stars pre-collision.
"Have you finally started to see things my way, Delmerith?" Seraphina panted instinctively; she was immune to physical exhaustion, of course, but frequent visits to Earth saw her take on increasingly human-like attributes. Perhaps that is why she was fighting with her younger brother.
"Sort of. In your anger, I think I have found the solution to your problem."
"And what is that? You've already said we cannot destroy free will."
Delmerith stretched his arms out to the side. "Look around you, Sera. What do you see?"
Seraphina gave him an inquisitive stare. "I see my brother, who is perplexing me. And a bunch of stars that I'm tempted to send crashing into him again."
"Look at the floor we stand on. Do you see the way the stars you've summoned cast shadows upon it?"
Not quite sure what to make of Delmerith's question, Seraphina hesitantly moved her eyes downward. Indeed, there she saw the shadow of her brother, a long region of darkness in his image, created by the light unable to pass through his body. "I do. How do these shadows solve my problem?"
Delmerith flailed his arms wildly, kicked his legs, spun around, and made a bunch of other erratic motions. "Is it not interesting? How this shadow moves exactly as I do without question? Without hesitation?"
Seraphina continued staring at Delmerith's shadow as it mimicked his every movement. She smiled slightly, still unsure of how his antics solved anything. "I see the shadow, Delmerith, and while it is amusing seeing it dance as foolishly as you, I still do not see what problem it solves."
"The shadow does nothing without my consent. It does not walk unless I walk." He took a step forward, his shadow doing the same. "It does not jump unless I jump." Delmerith leapt into the (lack of) air, his shadow jumping in kind. "It is obedient without question. Could we not...make creatures of these shadows? Give them their own land and watch as they do nothing unless they are explicitly told? It won't help you protect the humans, but it will give you the opportunity to witness an ideal society." And show you just how boring it would be...
"Hmm..." Seraphina banished the star-gloves she wore around her hands and considered the proposal. "So you're saying we create some sort of...Shadow Land? Populated only by these creatures whose every action must be dictated to them?"
"Well, I was going to suggest a less generic name, but yes. That's the basic idea."
"That's a spectacular idea!" Seraphina gave Delmerith her brightest smile and clapped her hands excitedly. "Well, let's get to work!" She fixed her gaze on Delmerith's shadow and raised her hand, lifting the shadow from the ground into three-dimensional space. Delmerith did the same with Seraphina's shadow, and the two of them stared at the tall, dark, male and female creatures that stood before them.
Delmerith wiggled one of his fingers. The shadow creature in his image did the same.
Seraphina spun in place, and her own shadow creature did the same, disappearing from view when it had turned ninety degrees. "This is awesome!" She continued rotating for a while, laughing as she did.
"I had a feeling you'd like the idea," Delmerith remarked.
"Like? I love this shadowy woman! I wonder if..." Seraphina stopped spinning and closed her eyes in contemplation.
"What?" Delmerith asked. "Is the shadow not obedient enough for you?"
"Very funny. It's just...Do you remember how we grew tired of constantly creating things for the humans, and gifted them with magic so they could be self-sufficient?"
"Of course I remember. It was one of my better ideas. Far better than your silly idea of giving them limitless control over the four Forces." Delmerith scoffed, shaking his head. "You should leave the ideas to me, you know."
"Yeah, it's a good thing I didn't go and create the Orbs of Nature," Seraphina muttered under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. Anyway, we would eventually get tired of giving these shadow entities commands by moving, right? I wonder if we could just...tell them to do something." Seraphina looked at the two creatures and shouted "Sit!" Like well-trained puppies, the shadows returned to being two-dimensional images on the ground, the closest action to sitting that they could handle. "Interesting...Alright, let's try something a little harder. My shadow, I want you to give my brother a big hug for having such a great idea!" On cue, Seraphina's shadow rose from the ground and enveloped Delmerith to the full extent possible by a 2D being.
"Will you get this thing off of me?" Delmerith pleaded, his voice muffled by the shadow creature. "My shadow, will you please pull Seraphina's shadow away from me?" His own shadow obeyed, grabbing Seraphina's and dragging it to the floor.
"Marvelous. I'm going to have a lot of fun with these guys. Now we just have to make some more and give them some land. To Earth!" With little warning, Seraphina disappeared in a flash of golden light, leaving Delmerith and the two shadows on the palace roof.
Delmerith sighed. "Already I feel like this will not end well. Come, shadows. Let's go find a home for you and keep my sister in line." Delmerith grabbed a shadow with each hand and disappeared, following closely behind Seraphina.