Genesis Part Two: Birth of Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers, they belong to their respective copyright owners and are used here without permission. No money is being made from this fic.
Authors Note: This is an alternate universe with an alternate time line.

Birth of Darkness

Once existence had been an infinite void, the summation of two dimensions.
One dimension was composed of the building blocks of matter and the other an
ocean of limitless energy. For an age they remained completely separate, yet
somehow occupying the same space. Then some changed, a wall vanished for a
moment and the two touched. The result was a new void where the two dimensions
were still separated but were now woven together with a thin wall keeping them
distinct. And after another unknown period, there came a second change when a
part of the barrier keeping the two dimensions separate vanished. That change
led to the emergence of a planet of crystal, an inrush of the scattered
particles of matter and a large explosion that transformed the void into a
universe.

More time passed, the universe grew; life emerged and faded as the tide of
creation ebbed and flowed. And just as The Creator had taken steps to shape the
new universe to his grand design, unknown circumstances changed the nature of
existence. But this change was not like those that had come before. This change
was not part of a master plan. It was an accident that somehow defied attempts
to reverse it.

The universe fractured. Where before there had been one universe watched over
by The One and shaped by The Creator, now there were two universes. Of course
the universe had been infinite so the appearance of the second universe did not
subtract from the glory of the original.

The One’s planet somehow remained at the centre of both the old universe and
its twin. However, the planet was no longer visible or accessible to those
beyond the orbit of his planet. His realm had been cut off from the rest of
existence, allowing him to oversee both of his domains.

But the second universe was not the same as the first. Whereas the first
strived to come to life and take shape, the second seemed to defy attempts to
shape it. In fact it seemed that it wished to revert to the void it had once
been. Violent and chaotic storms crushed the seeds that The One had spread,
obliterating matter before it could form. And within that universe a being took
form, a creature that resembled The Creator, but was twisted and evil. And to
the shock of The One and The Creator, the new being took its place upon their
planet.

The Creator and The Destroyer found that they could only affect their own
universe, while The One had power over both. Since it seemed they were incapable
of harming each other, or influencing the other’s work. And so with great
reluctance, they chose instead to pretend the other did not exist and went back
watching over their own universe.

For a brief period, The One tried his hand at creation, but quickly learnt
that creation
was a demanding and ongoing task that required his complete focus to sustain. Until existence stabilised everything
he did was fluid and prone to reverting back to nothingness the moment he diverted his
attention. he was so busy holding his outline of existence together that he
could not divert his attention long enough to finalise his work. As The Creator,
he possessed the mindset needed for such work, but The One grew bored and chose
to allow his other self to finish what He had started.

Unlike The One, The Creator was not unaided in his efforts craft something out of the void. The
vast energies he had directed to the task were guided by his will and his
desires. And just as he had been born from the need to create, so the energy responded to HIS need
for assistance. As he devised the foundations upon which existence would be
anchored, the
energy created agents to follow his design and finish the construction.

The
agents were partially formed by the energy that had given form to The Creator,
but they were also physically a part of the material universe. They had real
substance unlike their creator who was just energy pretending to have a physical
form. Just as The Destroyer had his own agents, counterparts to The Creator’s
labourers.

The Creator’s forces laboured on his behalf to finish the dimensions and realms he had
conjured. While he had placed the foundations of reality, they filled them with matter and most importantly: life. For life drew upon the power and in doing so
furthered his
goals. And as they worked, The One watched. Meanwhile The Destroyer’s creatures
continued to tear apart and consume his universe. Once again The One watched,
but did not interfere. If anything, The One was intrigued.

Many races were created, beautiful creatures of every shape and form. Luminous beings, physical beings, some made of thought and others of spiritual mass. They lived within the many realms
and among the different planes of existence that had been crafted for them. Some travelled, making the
cosmos their home while they explored. Others loved their territory so much that they refused to leave it. It was beautiful and strange, but all was not perfect.

The problem was that while The Creator had accomplished great works, The One was still evolving and struggling to understand
its surroundings. For a long time it had looked upon the work of The Creator as a child, enjoying all the pretty lights and loud noises, but as it grew older its mindset also changed.
The One wanted to known more about the universe and the beings its other self had allowed to live there.

The One was aware that The Creator was worshipped by those beings his agents had
forged and that The One had also become a figure of worship; some considered The
One to rule above The Creator, some considered The Creator to be the dominant
being and The One his child. Some considered them to be equals and a few
enlightened souls saw them as facets of the same being.

The Creator simply accepted that he was worshipped and continued his work,
but The One needed to find the answer to the question: why they were worshipped?
But despite having power over the energy and existence as a whole, it seemed
that he was incapable of leaving the planet so long as The Creator continued his
work.

The anger and frustration of The One rippled through the universe and the
energy responded to his needs. Since The One in his current form was unable to
leave the planet without disrupting The Creator’s work, two new beings emerged
from the energy. They were not The One and were therefore not bound by the same
restrictions as The One. They were a part of him, but independent; subservient to his will, but
with free of the responsibilities that came with being The One or The Creator.

They would seek the answers The One desired with the freedom to investigate anything that caught their interest. And as they
learnt, so their knowledge would feed back to The One, giving him the insight he
needed. And all the while The Creator
pushed the universe to grow larger and more beautiful with each passing moment.

On inspection it was clear that the two new entities were not The One. There
was a resemblance, between them, but they were not simple clones. And even
though their features were the same, there was a key difference that allowed
them individuality: one of them was a being that shone with the luminous light
of the stars, while the other was the empty darkness of the void. And so
existence would know them as The Luminous One and The Dark One.

For a time all was well. The Luminous One and The Dark One set out to explore
the cosmos and answer The One’s questions. The Creator continued his work of
shaping existence directing his servants to continue his work when he was
finished. And The One looked out into the cosmos and relished the changes that
he saw around him, his own mind evolving as The Luminous One and The Dark One fed
him new knowledge.

There was a problem though. The Dark One had been given form as a result of
the angry tantrums of The One. The Luminous One had been born in answer to The
Creator’s need for balance. The Dark One had taken on the emotional turmoil of
The One. And while it did not show at first, as time passed those emotions
twisted his purpose.

The Dark One was unbalanced and prone to outbursts that could destroy large
areas of of his work. Despite the efforts of The Luminous One and The Creator to
correct the flaws, The Dark One grew erratic and unpredictable.

In the quest to learn while The One was worshipped differently from the The
Creator by some, The Dark One learned of the belief that the most powerful
entity should be revered above the lesser power. To some it appeared The Creator
was all powerful and The One a child. To others, The Creator toiled on behalf of
The One while the more powerful entity supervised.

That knowledge that the most powerful being should stand above all others
combined with an absolute belief that it could not make such a mistake, changed
The Dark One. He now believed that he was superior to all others and that all
should bow before him… even The One.

The One, The Creator, The Destroyer, The Luminous One and The Dark One were all aspects of
the same being. Yet, The Dark One’s attempt to position himself as being the
superior being shattered that unity. Now instead of five entities existing as
aspects of the same being, formed from the energy that cascaded through reality,
The Dark One had set himself apart. And since the Luminous One was the equal of
The Dark One, it also found itself altered.

The Dark One and The Luminous One were no longer a part of The One, but they
remained a part of the energy that had birthed them. And although they were
limited in their ability to do so, they were capable of manipulating the energy
and using it to create their own servants.

The Dark One fuelled by its desire to usurp The One in the cosmic hierarchy
came to embody everything dark and evil about existence. It was filled with the deep need to spread its wickedness and extinguish anything that opposed it.
The dark emotions of The One had made it the source of evil in the rapidly
changing universe. And as The Dark One grew increasingly evil, so The Luminous One felt the need to
stand against the darkness. The Dark One and The Luminous were the equal and
opposite of each other. As one grew stronger the other would find a way to grow
more powerful, creating a stalemate.

And so, The One’s emotions had accidentally created a being of darkness that
believed itself to be his superior and possessing a desire to replace him. And it was a being that was growing more
and more powerful the longer it was allowed to believe such a truth. Even with
The Luminous One opposing it, the darkness continued to grow more and more
oppressive.

The One was perfectly aware of this turn of events, but its attention span
meant that while it saw the threat, it lacked the focus to do anything about it.
And The Creator for all his power, was too busy building to care about such
insignificant things as good and evil. The Luminous One was left to take a
stance against his ‘brother’, joining the battle on the front line. To those
that fought alongside him, he became known as Paladin.

While Paladin often found himself playing catch up to the power The Dark One
possessed, he had the forethought to build his own army of light.
The Dark One was often stronger, but also outnumbered.

However, The Dark one was not foolish enough to engage in battles he was
likely to lose without first attempting to even the odds. He possessed the ability to detect the darkness in others and to turn it to his advantage. He
studied those Paladin had recruited, tested them and claimed those he believed belonged to him.
With his power he easily turned them to his side.

As they sensed The One’s attention shift away from them once more, the two sides
engaged in a battle in what would prove to be the start of an eternal war. The two
opponents were determined to erase each other from existence. It started with a war of words, but soon turned to violence. Their blows had little effect on each other for they had been created as equals, however their battle echoed through the rest of existence, drawing the attention of the cosmos.

---

The conflict between Paladin and The Dark One rapidly escalated beyond battles into all-out war. Both
possessed ability to create new things using the power. They changed their followers, giving them the tools needed for victory. And while
both sides found it impossible to influence The Creator’s servants, they were both capable of twisting
each other’s creations. Although Paladin found that his attempts to draw the
followers of The Dark One to his side.

As the battle between them raged, they recruited armies to fight for their cause,
encouraging them with promises of power and glory. Those that agreed were granted access to levels of power they had
previously believed to reside only in the realms of the gods.

But mere armies were not enough, they required weapons on a larger scale. To that end Paladin and his dark foe crafted giant beasts and filled them with the power to destroy the enemy. Larger than anything previously created, these creatures lacked sentience instead possessing only an overwhelming urge to destroy their enemies. They were bred to battle and to destroy anything in their path as they stormed through existence.

While Paladin at least thought to grant control of his monsters to those that followed him,
The Dark One allowed his beasts to run amok, not caring about those innocents that got caught up in the conflict.

Soon both sides tired of using their father’s creations to fight on their behalf and instead created their own warriors.
The Dark One sacrificed his followers and then used the remains to create his new elite.

Meanwhile Paladin sought out those followers that he felt reflected his beliefs and elevated them, granting them a place above the rest of his army to stand against
The Dark One’s chosen. They were intended to act not only as warriors, but as leaders and messengers to his forces. Warriors of body, mind and spirit, the fighting shifted between the many planes, realms and dimensions, spreading destruction wherever they appeared.

Unfortunately Paladin had failed to grasp how much influence The Dark One
could exert upon others. Many openly defected, but others remained seemingly loyal until the time came for them to strike. And
some of those traitors lurked within the ranks of Paladin’s most trusted
warriors. Paladin had gifted them with his power and elevated them in ways that
The Dark One could not. But their souls were vulnerable to corruption and when they eventually revealed their true colours,
they received the gifts
The Dark One bestowed; they were far more powerful than those they betrayed.

The commander of Paladin’s new group, which he called the Covenant of Light,
was Protos. Protos was a noble warrior and strikingly similar to Paladin. Protos carried a sword that glowed with the light of a newborn star,
which Paladin had placed within its hilt. There was little it could not cut.
Although he was a physical being, the energy matrix bound deep within his chest
allowed him to channel the energy that had given form to his creator. He was the equal of
The Dark One’s vilest servants.

The others had their own attributes that made them vital assets to Paladin’s forces.
Although they had their differences, they were united in purpose. They were all dedicated to ending the evil of Dark One and his army. Collectively the group was given a final gift: the ability to recruit others
and bestow upon them the gifts that Paladin had granted. This allowed them to create the next generation of guardians, the next line of defence against
The Dark One’s hordes.

However, nothing that Paladin did could prevent The Dark One from corrupting those lacking the will to fight his influence. They were vulnerable to
The Dark One’s twisted promises. He whispered in their minds, allowing them to experience the nature of darkness.
Few were capable of rejecting his offer to change sides and share his glory when
exposed to his influence for a prolonged period.

Those that The Dark One did not actively seek to corrupt could ignore him, dismissing his empty words for the lies they were. Others listened but did not accept his offerings; their failure to completely reject him though diminished their usefulness to Paladin’s cause and sewed mistrust through the Covenant.
All believed that their comrades would never truly betray them. They were wrong. One
of their comrades not only listened to The Dark One’s promises, but accepted
the offer before The Dark One had finished making it. He turned against the rest of the Covenant
and plotted with The Dark One to secure its destruction, seeking to replace
Paladin just as The Dark One wished to usurp The One.

And then The Dark One turned his attention to the greater that had been waiting to be recruited to his cause: the beings that had been created by
The Creator’s servants; the so-called lesser races of the cosmos. Although they would always be inferior to
The Dark One’s elite, every individual that followed him bolstered the power of the dark army, making them even stronger.

---

Though they were imperfect, the Covenant were powerful enough to take the fight to
The Dark One’s forces, slaying many of the creatures he spawned. And with their help, Paladin was able to drive
The Dark One back to an uninhabited plane of existence. There he used his power to hold the villain
away from the war. Without
The Dark One to lead them the army of darkness was weaker, but the beings he had corrupted
fought on, fearing the reprisals if they failed.

Meanwhile the Covenant’s chosen evolved into tribes watched over by one of Paladin’s chosen. Their numbers swelled as they prepared for the day when Paladin would be forced to release
The Dark One. But things did not go well and as time passed the tribes started to fight amongst themselves. The Covenant tried to calm the tensions, unaware that one of their members was secretly undermining their efforts.

The upheaval meant that the Covenant were distracted and failed to noticed when the traitor
left their ranks under the pretence of checking on Paladin. They were not at their lord’s side when he was stabbed in the back by the traitor, forcing him to release his hold on
The Dark One without warning. By the time they realised what had happened, The Dark One had already attacked a weakened Paladin and with the traitor’s help, had
driven him to his knees.

The news that Paladin had fallen put an end to the infighting as the reborn Army of Light mobilised to destroy
The Dark One and the traitors that followed him. But the traitor had built his
own tribe from those that were susceptible to The Dark One’s influence. And at his command they
turned upon the rest of the Covenant, sowing chaos in the ranks.

Without Paladin to lead them, Protos assumed command of the Covenant and its remaining armies. The traitor and his forces had taken them by surprise and
the attack severely diminished the Covenant’s numbers. The enemy outnumbered them and had been bolstered by the addition forces the traitor had provided. Still, inspired by the courage of the Covenant, the Army of Light fought on, preventing
The Dark One from claiming victory. To force a shift, both sides started to use the lesser beings of the universe as cannon fodder. For eons neither side was able to hold an advantage. For each warrior cut down on one side, so a member of the opposing army was slain.

In the end though it did not matter whose army had the most fighters; Protos was more powerful than most of those he met in single combat and was capable of fighting four or even five opponents at a time without problems; the rest of the Covenant were valiant fighters. Together the chosen warriors were almost equal to Paladin himself. Unfortunately without the traitor they were only able to fight
The Dark One to a draw and when the traitor was at his master’s side, the Covenant was always at a disadvantage.

One by one the Covenant fell to The Dark One’s power. For they had been so focussed on avenging Paladin that they had forgotten the others that had joined with
The Dark One. The Dark One’s forces used underhand methods to draw the Covenant into traps and isolated their leaders. The traitor would then lead the rest of
The Dark One’s warlords against the lone warrior, overpowering and dispatching him. And as the Covenant’s numbers dwindled, so their armies also found themselves routed on the many battlefields. It appeared that Dark One would triumph as he set his focus upon his original goal:
The One and the throne upon which he sat.

---

Paladin was not gone. Despite the wounds he had suffered, he had survived. In
all likelihood his survival was due to the need for something to balance The
Dark one’s power. Somehow he had clung to existence as The Dark One and his newest
general departed, but the wounds he had suffered were beyond his ability to
heal. In desperation he did the only thing he could think of in the circumstances, mustered his remaining strength
and sent a warning to The One, knowing that he was more powerful than any that
had emerged after.

---

The Covenant was finally broken. With The Dark One’s power at their command, the traitors had devastated Paladin’s warriors. Only Protos had survived and having been forced into a confrontation with
The Dark One himself, was on the brink of defeat.

The Army of Light had been reduced to only a few thousand soldiers, battling the Army of Darkness throughout existence. As the Dark One’s influence had grown, his armies had flourished. Those who followed
The Dark One and his wicked practices were taught to channel power through symbols and written words. Later they would discover the ability to trap power inside an inanimate object such as a wand or to use the conductive properties of some atoms as a means of directing energy. As the final and ultimately the most effective means of focussing the destructive powers at their command, some of the older and most loyal followers allowed the arcane energies to corrupt their bodies, twisting them into sinister forms that could channel the mystical powers
The Dark One offered his followers directly. Some could already direct such energy in their natural form and were rapidly incorporated into the Army of Darkness.

The forces led by Protos on the other hand lacked the ability to naturally draw on the power without a conduit. Those who could do so were limited in their strength. They were forced to find safe ways to channel the energies. Some copied the use of books and wands to contain magic whilst others discovered that gems and precious metals could also be used.

In the end though it did not matter whose army had the most fighters or which group could draw the most power. Once Paladin had fallen, the Covenant was the only thing that stood in
The Dark One’s way. With Protos destroyed, he would claim victory and then take his rightful place as
The One. The final battle had begun.

---

Protos, the last member of the Covenant, was injured. His body, made by the will of the Creator was failing. The once white plating was marred with dents and scorch marks; it no longer shone with light. It had been the traitor that had delivered the fatal blow, striking from behind when Protos had been focussed on
The Dark One. Tossed through the dimensions, he had landed in one of the lower planes, a primitive part of existence that had yet to evolve. As he gazed up at the blackened sky he knew there was a chance that should
The Dark One triumph, it would never have the chance to evolve.

He tried to reach out to the energy that had sustained him throughout the
war, but his injuries were such that he found it impossible to focus long enough
to use it. It was only stubbornness that allowed him to hold on as long as he
did. He refused to give The Dark One the satisfaction of seeing him give up. He would fight to the end to protect
The One from evil.

The tide of the war had turned against him and the bulk of his army had either been destroy or drawn away from the front lines. Protos had been trying to rally his forces, any forces at all, when out of the smog had emerged three of
The Dark One’s freakish followers. They were ugly brutes, powerful without question, but little more than fodder intended to tire Protos enough for
The Dark One to hold a real advantage.

They had circled around him, just beyond the reach of his sword, neither attacking nor parrying, laughing at the rewards they would reap for destroying their master’s most hated enemy. He had known that they were delaying, he had seen it in their movements. They appeared eager to attack and take the kill, but in reality they were just there to keep him caged in while they waited for their master to savour the glory.

Protos had raised his sword, allowing his energy to flow through the skilfully crafted blade. The hilt had glowed brightly as he and the weapon became a single entity, moving with precision and grace. The sword had shone and caused his opponents to back up, ready for the attack. Instead of pressing his attack, he had made to retreat, knowing that like a pack of wild beasts they would sense weakness and move in closer.

Three against one, with those odds there was no doubt that they would attack. His sword moved swiftly and slew the first two with a single swing. But that tremendous move had thrown Protos off balance. And though he quickly corrected his stance, the third attacker had ducked inside his guard and lashed out with his own sword. The creature had brought the blade in low and caught Protos on the right knee. Protos had stumbled, surprised that the blow had affected him, but his sword had swung itself around and cleaved off the attacker’s arm.

The burst of dark energy had caught him by surprise and had torn through his side.
The Dark One had been waiting for the opportunity to attack. The two warriors had clashed many times, but
The Dark One had always been stronger than individual members of the Covenant and Protos was injured. Still the leader of the Covenant had managed to frustrate his opponent with his skill. It had been a cowardly blow, but one that was undeniably effective. The traitor had appeared out of thin air and stabbed Protos in the shoulder.

The Dark One did not waste the opportunity to savage his opponent, striking him repeatedly until Protos had fallen. And then together
The Dark One and his warrior had loomed over over the fallen disciple, savouring the moment that had won the war. It was a moment’s delay that would cost them.

The Dark One like The Luminous One was a complex and powerful creature. But
as Paladin had proven, they were not completely indestructible. Their cores were
filled with the energy upon which existence fed, but their bodies were made of
matter and could be damaged, even destroyed when struck with a decisive blow. Paladin’s body had already been damaged beyond
his ability to heal, but The Dark One had overlooked that whatever weakness
Paladin possessed, could also affect The Dark One.

However, since defeating Paladin, The Dark One had grown stronger. The
balance between the two foes had shifted and in future encounters The Dark One
would always hold the upper hand. But just as Paladin was not as powerful as The Dark
One, the dark entity was never the equal of The One. For The One had been
created by the raw power of creation and was a part of that energy, while The
Dark One and Paladin were sustained by the energy but no longer a part of it.

Paladin had sent a plea for The One to pay attention and stop
The Dark One before he went too far. It was an earnest plea fuelled by desperation and devotion to
The One. It was so powerful that for a moment
The One turned his attention away from watching the universe expand and instead
focussed upon the areas that had already been completed.

And when he did so, he saw the growing darkness and the destruction it had caused. This was not
something he had anticipated. It was not a part of The Creator’s grand design.
It was not something the The One could accept. The Dark One believed that it was
his right to become the supreme power in existence, but The One knew that he sat
alone above all others. And The One was not prepared to allow The Dark One to
challenge him.

For the first time since he had emerged from the energy that had given him
form, The One left his planet behind, unwilling to accept that he could be
restricted. The One had evolved and matured. He was now ready to accept his
place as the supreme power in the universe. He travelled to the battlefield where Protos had fallen and once there he defeated The Dark One’s elite with a wave of his hand.
The were powerful, but he was without equal when unleashing
the raw power at his command.

The Dark One saw an opportunity to claim the throne
while it was unoccupied and attacked, only to find himself bound. He was
an entity created from the same energy as The One and had once been a part of
The One. But The Dark One had broken their connection and was no longer a part
of the supreme being. He was inferior and despite his protests, somewhere deep
inside he knew that he was inferior. By his own beliefs the most powerful being
should rule and the energy that had constructed would not allow him to break
that belief.

In desperation, The Dark One committed the ultimate crime, which would seal
his fate. With all the power at his command he breached the walls between the
two universes, allowing The Destroyer to leave the broken remnants of his
universe and to wreck havoc upon The Creator’s work. With The Destroyer absence,
the new universe entered a state of final collapse as it merged back into the
original. And The Destroyer found himself ejected from the supreme being as he
was transformed into an uncontrolled beast of destruction the lashed out at the
space around him.

The Dark One was powerful, but The
One was all-powerful and extremely angry. The battle lasted seconds before The
Dark One was forced to his knees, beaten down by the will of The One. His
twisted energy was nothing compared to the raw power of existence.

And it was then that The One faced the decision to end The Dark One or offer
mercy. He realised that The Dark One and Paladin represented the battle of good
and evil with the cosmos. Destroying either would upset the balance. And so he
offered The Dark One a choice: to be completely separated from the energy that
had sustained him and set free to wander the universe in a new form. Or to retain his power and identity,
but lose the freedom to move outside of a prison of
The One’s. In either scenario The One promised the punishment would end when The Dark One renounced his ambitions and admitted that
he was wrong.

Although he had been offered peace, The Dark One was unwilling to be seen to
submit to The One’s will. He had enjoyed his place in the cosmos and would never
accept a lower position. He refused to accept either offer, daring The One to
destroy him, but The One was in control and with The Dark One unwilling to
decide, opted to
to chose for him. The One chose to imprison The Dark One, hoping the one day The
Dark One would show remorse.

The Dark One however remained defiant. He promised that he would break free and claim
the
throne that was rightfully his. He tried to force an argument, to goad The One
into destroying him, but The One did not argue and turned away. 

The cosmos was no longer a simple construct. The Creator’s servants had taken
the raw material he had provided them and reshaped it to create layers of
existence descending from the planet where everything had started all the way down to the lowest depths of
reality.

It was there, at the lowest point in creation, where the Dark One had
breached the barriers between the universes that The One chose
a location to act as The Dark One’s prison. Inside the scar left when the walls
had broken, he crafted a dimension for the last particles of the second
universe. While still a part of
existence it was so far from the origin that The Dark One  could do no further harm. And as the Dark One screamed
defiantly and promised he would have his revenge as soon as he broke free, The
One crafted barriers to keep him from doing so, erecting seals to keep him
contained.

The Dark One’s most loyal generals tried to aid their master only to discover
that against The One, they were powerless. The One barely considered them as
they continued to defy him. He offered them a chance to renounce their master
and they refused. And so he decided they should share The Dark One’s fate. He
scattered them across the universe and sealed them in their own prisons just as
he has secured their master.

And then he turned his attention to The Dark One’s other servants and decided
that despite their crimes, without their master to order them, they were of no
further threat. He banished them back to where they belonged. He opted not to undo the corruption for it was now a part of them
and a sign of their treachery. Instead he allowed those followers of Paladin that remained to keep them in check
and gave permission to hunt and destroy those corrupted by The Dark One should
they cause problems.

There was one exception, a being that the One could not bring himself to show mercy. Even
though The Dark One had been to blame for the evil that had been unleashed, it
had been one of Paladin’s chosen that had been responsible Paladin’s defeat. It was that
traitor that The One chose to punish personally.

With a wave of his hand he tortured the
unfortunate being, showing him all the anger he possessed. He stripped him of
his physical form, forcing him to exist as a mere spirit of darkness. And then
he had banished him from the universe, trapping him in the void beyond where he would live out
his existence on a small rock, unable to interact with those around. He served
as an example of what happened
to those that drew the ire of The One.

And then finally he turned his thoughts to Paladin, Protos and the Army of Light that had fought to stop
The Dark One. He released them from their duties, allowing most to return to their homes
or if they desired: to live upon his planet where their desire to serve and worship him would be fulfilled.

Protos and the other leaders of the Covenant could not be saved. He had the
power to bring live where there was death, but he could not do so without
inflicting damage upon their minds. Instead he chose to
reward them for their service by making them a part of the energy that had
created him. He gave them new forms and released them to act as guardians of the
energy. In the future their wisdom, strength and spirit would help others in the fight against those that had followed
The Dark One’s path.

And finally, there was the matter of Paladin. Paladin had been on the brink of
non-existence when
The One had found him, yet his wounds had been healed and he would survive.
Still, with The Dark One imprisoned, there was a need to preserve the balance. The Dark One had damaged him in ways that
The One could not fix. The change was small,
hard to see by any that did not know of it, but Paladin was no longer The
Luminous One. There was a darkness within Paladin that had not been there before.
It was no longer perfect. Paladin had become a shadow of his former self.

And so it was with some degree of sadness that The One used his power to heal
Paladin and remove the heavy burdens placed upon him. He released him from his
original mission, giving him true freedom to go where he wanted and to do as he
wished.

With his business concluded, The One returned to his planet where he found that in his absence the
work had indeed continued only where it had previously been guided by his desire,
The Creator had become random and unpredictable. A part of him found that he liked
it that way and instead of undoing the work, he chose to sit back for a while
and simply observe as the universe continued to grow. Never again would his creations enjoy the freedom they had once held. But they would learn to live with the new status-quo or they would fade from existence. Either way in his mind, all was
as it should be well.

End of Part.