The Edge of All Light

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[[[Canon Hub]]] >> [[[From 120's Archives Hub]]] / [[[Only Game In Town Hub]]] >> The Edge of All Light
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[[include :scp-wiki:component:author-label-source start=--
|name=Ralliston
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[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/ralliston-s-authorpage More by this author]
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When the world was born and time was still merely an infant, <a href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/only-game-in-town-hub">the beast</a> reigned supreme.

It was everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere, always and never. If there were people to have eyes, whenever they would reach, so existed the beast, lurking in every conceivable part of the universe that was still to be made. There was nothing and nobody that could look in its gaze and question its might. It was everything, because everything was nothing. And, for most of history, it rejoiced as the world's only monarch, grinning widely through its rotting teeth of despair.

<p>
<img src="https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/the-edge-of-all-light/monke.png" style="display: inline; float: right; width: 40%; margin-left: 1em;">But change came eventually.<br><br> From the highest mountain peaks to the lowest ocean deeps, the beast watched as stardust formed into logic and reason, abhorring every second of this torture. It groaned as the gifts of the stars turned into mortals, eventually splitting into the three kinds that would so dare to challenge its rule over the world. The folk of the sun, proclaiming themselves as equals to the dark of the unknown with their spears and fires. <a href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1000"> The folk of the Night</a>, wanting to fight back against that which was not with their metal and bonds. And the folk of the forest, trying to make use of their starlight and home to carve a place for themselves in the beast's unknowable domain.</p>

For ages, they all failed, their weapons breaking on its impenetrable hide. But then, when those that treaded the woods gave birth to <a href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/ralliston-s-proposal"> two God Queens</a> and <a href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/the-tale-of-the-library"> the first word was written down by both man and a child of the Night, forming the Library</a>, change came once again to knock at the beast's door. With a tinge of frustration it expected the world to now be even more hostile, fully ready for its victims to use their words to attempt to fight its chaos back. But, as the three turned against each other, the beast found this new reality an even more fitting lair.

As their three empires rose and fell and gods of unearthly magnitude broke themselves upon the shores of power, the beast looked, incomprehensibly ecstatic to see their cataloged world crumble to dust. And that it eventually did, leaving just the men of the sun to proclaim the world to be theirs as the other two kinds hid in the shadows, wanting not to be decimated again by the new kings of reality. Through the cracks in that which was, the beast watched curiously, ready again for them to form a cohesive world. But when they then forgot their words and unmade their genius, fearing their past and wanting to start anew, the beast knew luck gave it another chance to shine.

For nearly two hundred millennia it rejoiced as the stupid fragile little apes wandered the Earth and failed to make it theirs, again. It could once more be everything to everyone — from a moving shadow just beyond the campfire's light to a barely heard sound somewhere inside the jungle. It had its fist over everyone, for no one could see outside of their dim lights into the unknown of the night without embracing the beast and its domain — and, in those moments, the beast could not dare to ask for more.

But it was in man's nature to change.

It took long enough, but, in time, these things the beast thought of to be so small learned once more. They carved their words into stone and lit up their paths, forcing the beast to retreat before their logic. But now it was no longer just that which was not — it was now also that which <i>could</i> be. It learned to live among the words it so hated as it drifted between what was to yet to be said. It learned to exist not just as not what lurked beyond safety, but also as the uncontrollable instinct against the actions of another man. It learned to be something more than nonexistence — for the first time in history, the beast was to be both the things that were not there and those that could just as well <i>be</i>. It was strange, that was sure, but in its own twisted sense, the beast found it to be... exciting, almost. Perhaps change was not so bad after all, it thought, ready to embrace its new state of existence with its full might.

But time soon verified those expectations accordingly.

<img src="https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/the-edge-of-all-light/talks.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block; width: 100%;">

Man became a force of nature. To every corner of reality, to every single part of the world still uncharted, they departed. Sacrificing millions on the altars of progress, they refined their skills and studied their home, finding more and more about the planet they were now brave enough to call Earth. They formed kingdoms once more, this time without magic and gods, killing all the wonder their world had. They restricted what could be practiced for their world to have the reason they so desperately craved, ready to cast away the unknowable even if it meant casting away the truth. They fought wars over it, as they always did, but in the end, the rulers that wanted the world to be much less nonsensical than its reality succeeded, bringing more than ten centuries of relative peace.

More than ten centuries of relative peace from both themselves and the beast.

But the beast still could thrive, of course — even if the entire night was no longer a suitable domain, the woods beyond the village and the abandoned basements or a long-gone castle or even, in some twisted sense, their own places of worship were at times good enough for it to not disappear. Though it was not the same, it never could be. But even then, the beast could feel its reign fall piece by piece as the people told themselves there were no nymphs to kidnap their kids inside the forest and no vampire to suck their blood dry within that tower or no man inside the clouds to strike them for their misdeeds. Day by day it could feel itself wither and wither, even in this strange two-state it now lived in, so it did the only thing it thought could truly help. It thought it needed to change once more.

But, even in its incomprehensible infinity, the beast could simply not see <i>how</i> to change.

And so, it stagnated, slowly dying in the company of its own inhuman panic beyond reality. It watched as the people mapped every corner of their world, banishing the beast from the places it once thrived in. It observed as these rancid little creatures of reason mastered steam and transport, making themselves traverse the dark of the night the beast called home without as much as lifting a finger. And it looked as the first things to ever fight the beast back formed a world, firmly guarded against the irrational with nothing but cooperation and logic.

<p><img src="https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/the-edge-of-all-light/shoot.png" style="display: inline; float: left; width: 40%; margin-right: 1em;">But as the world changed for the penultimate time, reality gave the beast a final chance.<br><br>When the  Curtain of Steel and the Curtain of Normalcy fell upon the Earth, it was shafted into two parts — that which was to be and that which was not <i>allowed</i> to be. The Three-Arrowed Butchers and Worldwide Bookburners drafted their charter of society into what they thought it was supposed to be, giving the beast, just by pure chance, the best gift it could have ever received. The world was no longer even trying to be united, not anymore — now, it was those before the Veil and those that were wrong. Those that were unnatural. Those that were unexplainable. <i>Those that should be feared</i>.</p>

 The exact moment that happened, the beast smiled with insanity in its eyes. Now, it could be itself again — now, it could be what it was <i>meant</i> to be. No longer bound by nonsensical half-measures, the beast became the shadow in the eye's corner, the demon lurking in the night streets, the unknowable function of a freshly recovered magical trinket. To all those men and women that dedicated themselves to upkeeping their lie of normalcy, it could be itself all over again.

The ancient fear of beyond the shadow, the thought of the unknowable, the instinct of cowering before the incomprehensible — it was once more that, and so much more. It reveled in this state for what felt like infinite lifetimes, laughing over and over its nonexistent mind as the ecstasy of being what it was meant to be poisoned its soul.

But then, <a href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-6500"> as the world itself came to remind humans of their sins</a> and <a href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/hour-zero"> their Curtains shattered</a> the beast was forced to change for one final — and, this time, perhaps the most drastic — way.

It became them.

It had no other choice, really. The world was fully known, all secrets of the last were unveiled, and no truth of reality was hidden. There was nothing left to fear beyond the corners at night, because everything became... mundane, almost. It took a while for man to adjust, but, in just half a generation, they adapted. Now, they were not maggots living under conspiracies' fists anymore — they were brave wanderers, traversing the world, cataloging it, and embracing its magic, like in the old days. They rejoiced in their newly-found freedom worldwide, helping each other inadvertently banish the beast almost entirely from the Earth, both by accessing its infinitely hated Library worldwide and by the wisdom of their own world.

With a heavy heart that was not a heart, the beast made its decision. It found itself a new home within them.

For the last time in history, it changed. To not let the spreading disease of knowledge infect its entire body, it had to cut off the sick arm of fear beyond the shadows, leaving itself only as the fear of another man. Logically, there was no other way to survive; even if it hated the choice that it had made, it could not even be furious at the necessity. It simply took a deep breath, and embraced the new state of existence fully.

Now, it lives somewhere else. It dwells in a much less effective, but definitely more safe way. It lurks between unanswered phone calls, it hides within the opinions of the other side, it lives inside the look you give that strangely-dressed man. The beast might not be the force of nature it once had been, not anymore, but now it is something much, <i>much</i> more — it is the citizens of a different social class protesting, it is the small fight between two neighbors that come from different counties that will soon turn physical over their differences, and it is the fear of not understanding the words of another man's speech. It is not a king, not anymore, but it does not need to be anything else but the assassin it had changed into.

Because, at the end of the day, who is the more effective artist — the man that seats on a throne all day, hiding in the shadows, or the man bearing the knife among its victims, embracing the darkness?

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<img src="https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/the-edge-of-all-light/end.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block; width: 100%;" position="bottom">

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> **Filename:** monke.png
> **Name:** British Library digitised image from page 105 of "Der Mensch, die Krone der irdischen Schöpfung. Zeitgemässe Betrachtungen über Verbreitung, Einteilung, Abstammung und Alter des Menschengeschlechtes. Mit einer kritischen Beleuchtung der Affentheorie. Mit
> **Author:** British Library
> **License:** Public Domain
> **Source Link:** [https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11295281946/in/album-72157638792012173/ Flickr]

> **Filename:** talks.png
> **Name:** British Library digitised image from page 258 of "The Pictorial Sketch-Book of Pennsylvania ... Illustrated with over 200 engravings, and a colored map. Eighth edition, revised and greatly enlarged"
> **Author:** British Library
> **License:** Public Domain
> **Source Link:** [https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11019523424/in/album-72157638792012173/ Flickr]

> **Filename:** shoot.png
> **Name:** British Library digitised image from page 171 of "Rogues of the Fiery Cross. A fighting tale of fighting days, etc"
> **Author:** British Library
> **License:** Public Domain
> **Source Link:** [https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11243000735/in/album-72157638792012173/ Flickr]

> **Filename:** end.png
> **Name:** British Library digitised image from page 497 of "L'Italia geografica illustrata, etc"
> **Author:** British Library
> **License:** Public Domain
> **Source Link:** [https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11211860435/in/album-72157638792012173/ Flickr]
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The Edge of All Light

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