Beginning

“Before Lux, the light goddess, and Tenebris, the darkness god, arrived, the planet Chiaroscuro was a barren, colorless wasteland."

“Despite being polar opposites, these two gods’ comparable divine natures make them inseparable. Light cannot exist without the darkness, so the darkness cannot exist without the light. Without one, the other’s divinity would be imbalanced, possibly leading to the world’s end. Therefore, these two gods are always together."

“No one knows their origin, but our beloved deity, Goddess Lux, created us, a blessing to human kind. Because of her loving-kindness and mercy, she created four species to fill up the barren planet: the ordinary, which is the human kind, the fire, earth, and wind beings.”

“As the fire, earth, and wind have elemental powers since their birth, goddess Lux took pity upon us as defenseless beings, and that is why she gifted the chosen ones that are capable with her light energy, or so what we called the holy powers.” Margaret, the sister running at Willowgrove church, foretold the age-old story toward the orphans.

They were inside the quaint drawing room. Margaret sat on the wooden chair near the crackling fireplace, while the children sat comfortably on the rug, paying attention to her.

The children looked at her with starry eyes while they ohhed and ahhed in unison.

‘They are such adorable, innocent children,’ Margaret thought in her musing.

Fortunately, the orphans never interrupted her, so Margaret continued her story.

“The saint or the saintess is the most powerful vessel to represent our goddess, and the pope has the highest religious order of our church.” Seeing that the children lose interest, she clapped her hands cheerfully, to which the orphans focused their eyes on Margaret.

“That’s why we have the duty to help them out when one of us has the potential of holy powers,” Margaret replied cheerfully.

One of the little boys raised his hand eagerly, and Margaret noticed him immediately.

“Yes, Jackson?” She called him out.

“What happens if we have a different affinity, or, or, we don’t have one?” asked the red-haired boy named Jackson curiously.

“Hmm…” Margaret pretended to think deeply while closing her eyes and crossing her arms underneath her chest.

She opened her green eyes and smiled at the little boy, tilting her head slightly while cupping her cheek.

“Well, since centuries ago, Chiaroscuro got populated and had some mixed races with fire, earth, wind, and the ordinary. If they have different elements thanks to our ancestors, you can either become a mage, knight, adventurer, and many more!” Margaret hyped up the children.

“Coool~” the orphans replied in unison and awe.

“If we don’t have special powers, we could still find a living like becoming a farmer, a cook, or even a knight if people train hard,” Margaret continued, not wanting to underestimate the ordinary people.

“Then, then!” Jackson’s voice turned louder in excitement, so all of them looked at him with curiosity.

“How about Lord Tenebris? Is he evil and also those dark creatures?” Jackson asked in pure curiosity. Margaret furrowed her ash-blonde eyebrows, brooding with a frown, taking that question seriously until she shook her head as her answer.

“We cannot say that he was pure evil. Throughout history, the Abyss Kings were born in the dark species, and they caused a lot of destruction, so we cannot put a blame on Lord Tenebris,” Margaret answered carefully.

“Ah! Did I forget to mention that Lord Tenebris created the water species? But they mostly live in the shadows of their territories, so their intentions remain unknown to us because mystery shrouds them." Margaret used both of her hands with a claw pose and a scary tone to scare the children, and she succeeded because some of the children shrieked in fear and other children giggled in laughter. A mix of reactions.

“Lord Tenebris contributed a lot to make the previously barren planet flourish, together with goddess Lux. Both of them used their divine powers to bring nature and beautiful colors into this world so that we can survive.” Margaret stopped her silly antics, and the children quickly behaved and returned to listen to her story.

“They also shared their last duty to spread the two energies so that Chiaroscuro could live or maintain the balance. The two energies are called Aether, the positive energy, and Nether, the negative energy. We used that energy to use our special powers as the rule of this world.”

“What happened to the deities?” Alice, one of the younger children with short brown hair and brown eyes, asked Margaret with wide eyes filled with wonder.

“Well, the deities exhausted their divine powers, so they went to the celestial realm to rest, but they still exist in the present time since the energies are still here,” Margaret answered her, and the children went, Ooh and Ahh again in understanding while others nodded in agreement silently.

“Okay!” The ash-blonde sister clapped her hands once more to gain the children’s attention.

“It is way past your bedtime, sweeties. Off you go, little ones,” Margaret announced and commanded them. Some orphans groaned in complaint while others yawned sleepily, but they went towards their room obediently, except for the seven-year-old Lucille.

Lucille was sitting gracefully on the floor, sliding her legs sideways. Her crimson eyes blinked at Margaret while she tilted her head slightly, making her blonde hair sway in her movement.

Lucille frowned adorably at Margaret, and the young nun noticed her immediately.

“What is it, Lucille? I know you wanted to ask some questions with me.” Margaret smiled at Lucille, waiting for her calmly.

“I think that Lord Tenebris is a nice deity,” Lucille said matter-of-factly in confidence, nodding her head in conviction. Margaret chuckled at her fondly, and she looked at her sadly.

Lucille didn’t know why Margaret looked at her that way. What Lucille or the orphans didn’t know was that the world is a complicated place, and Margaret hid the bitter truth of the prejudice between the light and the dark species.

With Margaret, she was one of the small percentage of being a neutral party about the stance between the light and dark, and she told tales of the goddess of light and the god of darkness with no prejudices so that Margaret hoped the children grew up with an open mind.

“How do you say so?” asked Margaret curiously, and she never felt offended by the child’s declaration and opinion.

“Because I know so,” Lucille said firmly.

“Okay.” Margaret humored her, and she stood up away from her seat and approached the little girl, and she reached out her hand to her, offering the blonde little girl help.

Lucille accepted Margaret’s help, taking her hand, and she stood up properly thanks to Margaret’s support.

“Let’s go to bed, shall we?” Margaret replied, and Lucille answered with a hum of agreement.

The little girl didn’t let go of Sister Margaret’s hand as Margaret led the little girl away toward her room.