Tainted Love

Prologue

There is a fine line between light and dark. The sides are so different, so obviously separate. Light is pristine and clean and safe, while the dark is dirty and hides things that follow you into your sleep and haunt your dreams. One must make the decision of which to believe in and follow. Letting the choice fall into the hands of another may result in a wrong turn.

Yet...smearing the line is possible, inevitable—the path to Hell is paved with good intent, isn't it? There are in-between areas, aren't there? There are exceptions where the two sides have faded and slushed into a dense, chalky gray—there must be.

I have never strayed from the light, never thought of myself as anything but. However there are dark places in my heart, never letting my mind rest, making me question every choice I make. I try and walk the lightest path, but sometimes I struggle to keep the darkness in check—could I be one of the exceptions?

A part of me belongs to twin brothers, godly in nature—although if that's not what they are then there can't be a name for it. And a more literal and perfect illustration of good and evil there never has been. Aetius for good, Xhalius for evil. One holds my heart, the other yearns to destroy it—could I be the defining line between the two?

The power held and wielded by both—no matter what the intentions—is immense. A quick blink of an eye, a twitch of the lips, and a star can be born or an entire civilization can collapse.

Only one can possess my heart, and I'm sure somewhere in him Xhalius has the same gilded heart his brother knows. It's there, I'm assure, buried beneath years of being told his future held nothing but darkness and fear and hatred, hidden for fear of being broken.

Each one deserves love in his own right; one a prince of the sun and the other a ruler of the night, his kingdom a refuge of things so wretched. Your preference is just a matter of which taints your heart the quickest. So...which side will you choose?