Alma 101 The Twilight Children

He was the original. The only survivor of his generation, the First. He would become the template of comparison for all subsequent generations hence. All who followed after were, in fact, created from his own image to a certain extent.

The First influenced the creation of the Second.

The Second influenced the creation of the Third.

The Third influenced the creation of the Fourth.

And so forth…

Although the First had the greatest potential of them all, being the purest of all generations, he was still an imperfect product. Still, he was the closest thing they had created to the original sample.

A mother without neither face nor name. Born out of purpose, not love.

A single lock of silver hair. When and where the Holy Pope had acquired such a thing was unknown even to the highest arch-priests of Holy Church. They assumed that he had presumably gotten before the Great Barrier War when the Gods still walked on the earth…

How he had come into possession of it was a mystery, though. Not one they could solve, nor ask the Pope about… They feared the consequences of digging too far into matters considered forbidden to the Methuselahian head of the Church.

We are faulty keys. Imperfect forgeries. Unable to fulfill the purpose we were born for. Therefore, we are without purpose.

He, who had been created directly from the original sample, still had not been enough to stir the object of their desire — the Divine Furnace.

The Elders stirred on by the failure of the First, pledged themselves to solve the problem. They would slowly weed out any imperfections and develop a perfect replica of the Goddess.

They would make their own deity. One that they could control.

Such was the will of the abomination that had tempted them. It would take for itself the source of its enemy's hope and crush it. Tempting the lesser creatures — exploiting their greed and ambition — was akin to child's play for it.

For millennia they had attempted to create a perfect vessel of from the sample, to no avail. The Elders had gathered the brightest minds from across the Four Empires by means of bribery, kidnapping, blackmail, and wedlock.

Funded by the Holy Church, which was in possession of enough wealth to contend against the likes of the Four Empires and in possession of an army of scientists, scholars and test subjects, the Elders pressed on for centuries on end.

In return for their efforts, seven successful prototypes of varying purity had been created.

As the oldest, he'd been given the responsibility of looking after his siblings — keeping them in check. He'd become the pillar of stability for his kin, an unshakable figure that would not falter, no matter the situation.

He and his siblings knew that they had been created to accomplish a singular purpose — it was what defined their existence. It was the reason they'd been born in the first place.

What were they to do without purpose?

They cared not for the designs that the Elders had about the world. In fact, they detested it to the bone.

As far as they were concerned, a world ruled by the Elders would be a hell on earth for everyone involved. One of tyrannical oppression and suffering. They had seen — experienced what they were capable of at their worst. They had not forgotten the deaths of all their siblings.

No — they would not obey, for they had their own grand plan for the world.

With the almighty power of the Divine Furnace, they create a world of true freedom. One where they would finally be free, no longer beholden to their doomed fate. They would patiently wait and hope.

That was what they wanted.

He'd given himself a job to do. But now, he'd been dismissed.

In the end, it was all for naught. We will never accomplish what we'd been created for. All the effort in the world spent for absolutely nothing to show.

The Twilight Children, created from the Light to serve the Darkness were, in the end, a failed project.

I had come to terms with this eons ago. Instead, I placed my hope on my successors — my precious siblings. They, who had suffered — endured the same unspeakable hardship — in order to survive the testing phase.

That one of them would be the one to do what I could not do.

By the time of the proposed eighth generation, the Elders had received word from the Ancestor that it would no longer be needed. That someone had arrived who could accomplish what they wanted — the real key.

But even that faint hope had been taken from us. We'd been disregarded in light of His arrival.

When Kanosis first laid eyes upon Reed, a part of him felt a strange connection to the boy. They all did. It was an indescribable feeling that they'd met someone special. Blood called for blood, unbeknownst to them.

They knew of Him and who he really was. Heard from the Ancestor of the what the boy had done in the distant past. What he had endured and lost.

It had inspired them. He and his siblings felt hope for the first time in ages. He could do it — save them all. Together with Him, they could create a paradise for the weak and oppressed. Drive out the evils of the world and usher in an everlasting era of peace and freedom.

But it had not turned out as they had imagined.

A disappointment. Half of a shadow, at best. He was not like the Ancestor had described him to be. How was someone like him supposed to save them all?

Kanosis felt in his bones. He sympathized with the boy's weary soul and what he had endured, but couldn't accept him as he currently was.

He was weak, unresolved, and incomplete. Even though Kanosis had anticipated this, he had not expected him to have been that different.

Nevertheless, he was the last, best hope they had. If Reed was to save them, let alone fulfill his duty, he would need to push past his weaknesses.

We did this not out of hatred, jealously, or spite. Never. But if he does not experience loss, how will he ever grow?

We love our dear sister and would never wish for her to be harmed, but the situation demanded that we give him a strong motivation.

We do this so that he will rise to the challenge — so that he may shine once again and drive away the Darkness from the land.

They'd gladly play the villainous role if it meant that it would foster development within the boy. Of course, they would have naturally preferred to side with him as family, but that was not what he needed.

Push him forward. Drive him to seek strength. Make him whole.

That was their ultimate goal, but they'd been robbed of the opportunity. The situation had developed so abruptly that all of the plans they'd created to stimulate the boy had been scrapped.

In the span of a single night, a half of year's worth of preparations had been tossed aside. The Ancestor had made its decision.

It, along with its newly created hordes, would assault the North and take the Divine Furnace for itself. It'd force Reed's hand, one way or another.

Either it'd destroy the continent to the best of its abilities or get Reed to submit to its plan.

They had been tasked to wait in the Divine Furnace's central core. There they would wait for Reed to arrive and force his hand to do what needed to be done.

He would come. Kanosis and his siblings knew that Reed wouldn't abandon their sister. They'd seen the raw fury in his eyes when he'd learned about the fate of the Extra — the one who was considered a reject.

Even now, a small glimmer of hope still burned inside of them. There was still time left to reverse the situation. Kanosis and his siblings would not let despair take hold, not now. They'd faced worse odds before.

In the end, Kanosis would do what he had to do for the sake of his family. He would not allow himself to lose another family again. They all felt the same.

They knew that they were no saints. If Hell existed, they'd one day be sent there for their crimes. That much was certain.

Helping the Infested was already enough to send them straight to the deepest layer of Hell. They were already beyond redemption in the eyes of the world. They'd accepted the fact that there was no going back from what they'd done. The world would never forgive them…

But it didn't matter to them. If it happened, they'd descend together and meet the devil himself with open arms.

They had resolved themselves to do what needed to be done.

They were determined.

They would not fail.

Chapter end