Prism Effect - The Beginning (Story)

I was making a game and wanted a storyline to it... Wrote it a few years back, may continue with it.

Itaienst - |it-eye-enst| = Supernova.

Energy as thier only priority, they drifted aimlessly, surviving off athi'ere. The mass housing this dark chunk of radiating mineral had been dislodged from a larger rock that had been thrown into space by a catastrophic itaienst. At first only within, the microbes now covered its entirety, converting the athi'ere into food. 

A mountainside on a desolate planet rumbled from the impact of the foreign object. Large chunks of rock were sent flying through the air, blindly crashing down at momentum's end. After the dust settled, nothing but dark silence remained. The gravitational pull of the planet buried the object deep into the mountain, breaking through a wall in a mineral rich cavern. The microbes that remained deep in the cracks and spaces of the athi'ere had survived the collision, seemingly unaffected. The rest were scattered among the collision sight, still attached to shards of their food source dislodged by the impact.

The fragments of athi'ere that coated the inside of the cavern reacted to the surrounding, cyan feliid crystals; the latter becoming an attractive force to the former's disrupted, airborne molecules. As the particles settled, there was an alteration in the minerals' properties that enhanced the microbes ability to consume and produce energy. This benefit allowed them to multiply at an exponential rate, clumping in vast numbers on the altered feliid crystals. The sack-like clusters had become seemingly whole, individual beings. 

There was a major difference in the way the microbes acted in their groupings. The heightened energy emission from the altered feliid had brought forth astonishing evolutionary effects. They started carrying out specific duties within their clusters, acting as a community, evolving to fit their role. Some developed the ability to work together contracting and relaxing particular parts of the body, slowly making their way along surfaces. Others centered their cluster, evolving as brain-like structures and extending strands of specialized microbes throughout the body. The latter advancement greatly heightening the efficiency of the groupings' internal communication.

The cavern was becoming too small for the microbes, forcing the need to expand. They began using dark molecules of a chemical found in the atmosphere for food, but the energy it provided was nothing compared to the now midnight cyan mineral. They began storing its energy for later use in sections within them, overcharging the microbes within those sections. The clusters then grouped into formations resembling their individual structures, easing the development of movement as a whole. But storing and slowly distributing the energy only sustained them for so long, so shards of the dark mineral were gathered and brought into the groupings. With a consistent and long lasting food source, they were no longer bound to the collision site, birthing the exploration of the desolate planet.

With constant mutation and evolution, the microbes had become aware; not as individual beings, but as one of many. They had become more productive together, carrying out their individual jobs with high efficiency to benefit the whole. Before long, the groupings had completely dispersed from the cavern, spreading across the surface of the planet; within them chunks of dark feliid.

Darkness always was, and nothing was other than. The blackened landscape was now home to the groupings of microbes, some claiming landmarks, others exploring far and wide. Then there was Light, and illuminating rays spread across the land, revealing the world and its features. Scattered about the planet were raised landscapes scarred with twisted memories of liquid erosion, and towering mountain ranges hollowed by dark caverns.

The mineral consuming microbes covering the planet's surface were disturbed by the illumination, for it starved the exposed groupings of dark energy. To hasten the search for darkness, the clusters shifted their forms, raising the main masses with two columns; feliid in the center. They shifted their 'brains' to the top of their formations, extending nerve like strands throughout. Light forced those exposed to push their way towards their group's stored mineral, the constriction turning those outermost microbes into a skin-like film, enhancing the groupings' maneuverability.

Through storing gathered tendrils of Darkness, the advancing microbes could expand the dark energy to envelop their entirety, a void light failed to fill. Though , while in this altered state, most of their bodies were engulfed in darkness, millions were working on keeping the shards of feliid in the same area they were originally held. With the mineral protected within the dark masses, returning back to their upright states proved effortless. This advancement allowed the Darks to travel extraordinarily fast while, and only while, out of Light's constricting reach.

        The transition from mainly instinct to intellect birthed a deep resentment for Light within the Darks. As the illumination's intensity heightened, the formations expanded their stored energy from the inside out, erupting into darkness.  The void forms of the groupings directed Light's surrounding energy into their shapes, neutralizing it. Light was becoming stronger, growing larger and more powerful. Intensity's peak was felt as a burning wave, detaching microbes from their bodies; with that, Light began to fade.

Seemingly distant, Light was no longer the dark microbes' main concern. With its final wave of energy, shadows were cast by the structured groupings, for Light was too powerful for them to fully neutralize. In that short amount of time, Light's heightened energy sparked massive alteration and hastened reproduction in the detatched, airborne microbes. The concentration of light forced them into the cast shadows, aggregating to become structured, Light enhanced beings. 

While living in complete darkness, the Darks developed the ability to communicate across the land using the minute tendrils of dark energy. While in Light's exhausting embrace, communication was next to impossible; for things were no longer connected. Eventually Light vanished from the sky, renewing the connection sought after. The microbes then expanded their stored dark energy, and traveled throughout the land gathering the locations of the Lights. 

Fear of the Light based clusters drawing Light's attention once again was the Darks' main concern. The Darks tested to see if the Lights could be devoured by their dark forms, as light was, with success. So traveling through darkness as darkness, they began absorbing the Lights. At first the kills were quick; a Dark would sneak up on a Light, and envelop its entirety, leaving no trail of its existence. Sadly, they were not shown the same mercy for long. Darks would throw them into the air, then during their descent, pummel and beat them severely while shifting in and out of darkness. Others would be chased; stressed and worn until they started breaking down, separating vast amounts of connections as the Lights fell apart. A sick pleasure in the Lights' pain was developed within the brains of the Darks, and they continued their unnecessary display of violence until Light reappeared. With Light's energy constricting their forms, the Darks focused on finding refuge.

The Lights traveled in groups, relentless in their search for safety. One of these groups, on one of the massive, elevated landscapes, had found a cave entrance nestled in to the side of a looming mountain. The group traveled deep into the cave, hitting into rock formations and mineral deposits as they progressed. The constant scraping against the cave's jagged rock walls caused thousands of the light enhanced organisms to be dislodged from their groupings, left forgotten in the narrow passages. They eventually arrived in a large opening. A clear mineral that claimed the opening, zi'ahsk, was felt as a warm vibration to the Lights. Near the back of this opening was one noticeably larger crystal; the Lights gathered by it and rested.

Their entire journey had been full of strain. The strain of an awoken sense of fear. Fear of being maimed and tortured before sucked into the void form of a Dark. This new and heightening feeling initialized a sense of anxiety, and when it became too overwhelming, the Lights uncontrollably expanded their stored light energy, freeing them of their physical form in a concussive current.

Unfortunately for them, this new ability had come too late. It only being discovered when that sense of anxiety suddenly arose within the Lights from realization of Darks in the opening with them. Light had fallen just after the Lights had entered the cave, and with the Darks connection to the land renewed, the group's location was easily discovered. With their anxiety taking hold, the Lights simultaneously exploded into light, shining through the zi'ahsk. The Darks scattered, each grouping searching for cover behind rock or crystal formations, only to have their outermost microbes detatched by the force of energy. Before realization could be communicated, they were surrounded by color enhanced Lights. The zi'ahsk magnified the energy released by the Lights to an extreme, having the same effect Light had at intensity's peak. The crystals refracted the white light into six distinct colors with shades of each; creating seven distinct types of groupings. The Darks instinctively expanded their stored dark energy and focused on eradicating the Colors, but to no avail. Force, both physical and otherwise, was released upon the attackers in retaliation, ravaging their bodies. Most of the physical force was avoided by the Darks changing parts of their bodies about to be hit in to Darkness, but foreign energies were being introduced that they could not counter. Dark microbes were dislodged from their groupings and sent flying through the air; changing forms before fatal collisions against rock and crystal formations.

The dark organisms detached by the Colors' retaliation fled, and soon every Dark within darkness knew what had happened. They had to process the event quickly, for Light was arriving, once again, to the location of the cave, and the Lights and Colors were beginning to clear out, leaving darkness... They arrived at a decision.

One by one, they exited the cave. Light embraced the Colors, and although they did not feed off its radiant energy, it allowed these mysterious beings to develop sight. Mass amounts of microbes mutated to be able to convert the light reflecting off surfaces into electrical signals the specialized inner microbes could process into imagery.

Once cleared out, they began climbing the towering mountain the cave rested in. With sight already becoming a natural process, the Colors were able to ascend without much effort. The Lights continued to sense the energy of their surroundings, slowing the entire groups progress. Although an inconvenience, the Lights forced those leading to pace themselves, reducing strain within groupings. 

        After the climb, they rested on a plateau with a large, crater shaped depression at the base of another high mountain wall. As they started making their way down the pit's rocky slope to begin another laborious climb, one of the leading Colors lost their footing. It slid legs first down the steep rocky slope, scraping off skin-like microbes in a trail of blue. The panicking microbes of the falling Blue desperately tried shifting upwards, but gravity had begun pulling them under the surface of the mountain. 

The Colors and Lights could do nothing but set about descending the slope with a renewed sense of caution, testing each footing with firm pressure before moving forward. By time they had all gathered at the bottom of the pit, dusk was upon them. Anxiety began to rise in the Lights; an unpleasantly familiar energy was felt encircling the group. Examining their lifeless, enclosed surroundings, they noticed the pit's uneven ridges darken as dusk fell upon them.

One after another the Darks began plunging head first down the jagged slopes, expanding their dark energy moments before hitting the ground. The light absorbing clouds swooped up from their low positions in a curling wave. The Colors surrounded the Lights. The Blues instinctively manipulated energy in the air, strengthening it to keep the living clouds at bay. With their momentum lost with each aerial strike, the Darks expanded their feliid's energy, returning to structured states once again. 

Every action seemed to slow for a moment, the vibrations felt by the engaged beings intensified in that sliver of time before the Colors and Darks erupted into a full blown, chaotic storm of combat. Reds swung at Darks with astounding strength, but no strike connected without fluke. The Darks changed forms too fast to be hit by the Red formations. Making up for the lack of speed were the Yellows, with their naturally heightened alacrity and fast reflexes. The Darks encountering Yellows had trouble keeping pace with the bright, color enhanced groupings, but were eventually able to capture their incoming swings. The Yellows' captured limbs were torn off with powerful kicks to their main bodies, painting the battle scene with yellow microbes. 

The Oranges were quick like Yellows, but when a Dark tried to grab an incoming swing, the microbes attempting the grab were seperated from their groupings. The detachment left the engaged Dark stunned for merely a fraction of time, but this was long enough to be eradicated by the proficient combatants. The only other Colors doing any noticable damage to the Darks were the Greens and Purples. The Greens manipulated energy around them to benefit their reflexes and speed. When a Dark attacked, the energy surrounding it would be shifted in the Green's favor, making way for magnificent combat maneuvers. Some of the Purples manipulated surrounding energy to strengthen and expand their structures, becoming giant solid masses of destructive force. The lighter in shades of Purples retaliated in a different way. When the Darks attempted to assail the lighter Purples, a high pressure force pushed them back, weakening their inner workings. An immense feeling of fatigue ran throughout the clusters affected by the debilitation. Light or dark, the Darks made an effort to stay clear of the Purples.

The pit's exposed ground was eventually a rainbow of death, shaded with the dead remains of trillions. Realization of defeat spread across the remaining clusters of dark microbes. Those that survived the unfortunate turn of events were able to retreat up the rocky slopes surrounding them. The few retreated Darks acted on their previous decision to, if defeated and the Light forces held strong, reverse their tactics. By admiting a loss and atoning for thier wrongs, they planned to bestow comfort upon their light based adversaries. Offering the land they've been traversing, the only elevated landscape the Lights and Colors were familiar with, was an attempt to ease tensions. By giving them the land and convincing them they no longer needed to hide, or defend themselves, in fear, the Darks would then be able to engage in an act of subterfuge where the advantage was theirs, in darkness.

The Darks needed to quickly achieve communication without an aggressive response, so they released millions of information holding microbes into the air. The microscopic specks of dark organisms floated to the painted battle scene, their progress being slowed by pulsating energy from the still threatened Colors. Landing as mist on the victorious group, the airborne microbes released their stored information in currents of energy that flowed through nerve-like strands for communication. After the energy was converted into an understanding, the Lights and Colors decided they could not pass up an opportunity for freedom. Even if the Colors had no trouble tearing the Darks apart, the Lights feared being wiped out in Light's absence, when the Colors could not anticipate their arrival. The offer was accepted, and the dark microbes were sent back to their clusters.

With communication complete, the Darks were not hesitant in leaving. The crater shaped depression at the base of the mountain wall that had hosted the onslaught of microorganisms was quiet. The stress and strain of two consecutive battles bore a heavy burden on the light enhanced organisms. Laying their bodies down horizontally, the Lights and the Colors took advantage of the sudden calm, and slowly began relieving the strain in their connections. Without the fear of an ambush in darkness, the brains and certain other specialized microbes within the groupings rested until Light's illumination.

Light's cherished radiance sparked consciousness in the resting microbes of the groupings. Shifting their weight on to their lower limbs and lifting their bodies with their upper limbs, the Lights rose to an upright position. They felt an absence in energy around them. Realizing their numbers had significantly decreased, the Lights felt the strain of anxiety once again. There were only three out of the six colors, short the Greens, Purples, and Oranges. After their rise, the remaining Colors set out in search of those that were missing. 

Light made it from bottom to top before the Colors returned to the awaiting Lights. Although they hadn't found the groupings of the other Colors, there were some microbes that had been scraped off their main mass by rough terrain. There were initially signs of their ascent up the mountain wall that shadowed the pit, then their eventual, seemingly disastrous descent. 

With the imminent possibility of disaster, and with their numbers almost halved, the group of Lights and remaining Colors chose not to ascend the mountainside, but to instead venture back towards the cave. 

The Darks' plan was working; next was to get the Lights away from the remaining Colors. First was to capture the Colors they noticed to be unique in combat. With their consciousness still young, they just needed a little convincing to allow them to accept the Darks. Second was to bring all of the Lights into their void forms when Light, nor the remaining Colors, could protect them. The remaining Colors would be put to use after they had laid the foundations of their societies, to allow them to reveal their potential openly. The last part of their plan was, after Light had been neutralized, for the Darks to command the Colors, controlling the entire population in an overcast of living shadows.

Once they arrived at the cave of the Colors' birth, the Lights and remaining Colors split up. There was no longer worry about the Darks hunting the Lights, so they were free to roam the land. The Reds, Blues, and Yellows all found comfort in the winding caverns of their initial spark of consciousness as Colors, so that is where they decided to settle. Seeing as they were more efficient in groups, they had no reason to seperate. Appreciation was communicated to the Colors, and with no particular destination, the Lights set off.

With darkness approaching, the Lights set up makeshift resting slabs of rock. The last Light to lay to rest sensed in wonder the free and open world surrounding it... This is home.

Anxiety arose... Then absolute darkness.