And I'm Talking to Myself Again

V

I wake up in an old factory. It's cold, but there's fire burning near me. My head is propped up in Selena's lap.

"What time is it?" I groan.

"Half past noon. How are you feeling?" Appaullus sits with his eyes closed nearby.

I take a closer look at Selena. Her skin is almost white, her eyes are a pale pink, and her nose is small. Intelligence fills her large, alive eyes, and her short, silver hair flows to one side. She is wearing a dress with long sleeves that ends just above her knees, and leggings going up to her mid-thigh. She wears calf-length, high-heeled boots on her feet.

"I'm fine," I say, "Just a little cold."

I feel her hand run through my hair. Her skin is warm, but it feels different. Almost plastic, yet soft.

I think of something.

"Selena," I ask, "What are you here for?"

Selena locks her pale red eyes on mine. "Do you really want to know?"

I nod.

"There are different energies in this world. They can't be seen. People often talk about them, and dome can even feel them, or believe they can feel them."

"But what are they?"

"They are not matter, nor are they energy as defined by humans. White and dark energies are always conflicting. The coloration is quite different too, as the vast majority of humans see the difference between common human belief and the reality of it is..."

"What?"

"White energy is the force of order. Dark energies are change. Have you noticed how humans constantly attempt to unite and be peaceful? That is light energy, the energy of order."

"How is that bad?" I ask.

"While order seems to be a good thing at first, with peace, and unity, it ends badly. Because for true order to exist, every changing variable, every ounce of dark energy, must be erased. And that means stopping all change, and destroying everything that causes change."

"I'm not following you. What is so wrong about stopping all the bad things?"

She still stares at me. I realize she hasn't blinked ever since we started. She just stared at me, the entire time. Creepy.

"Humans create dark energy. It pours off of you. Now, two things will happen. Stagnation, if humans didn't have dark energy. And eradication, for humans do emit dark energies."

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean stagnation? And eradication?"

"Look at it this way. Before World War II, you humans flew in weak propeller planes, and had to rely on visual confirmation to find enemies, and you couldn't disinfect your wounds. Nobody had ever imagined how much energy there was to be harnessed in nuclear power! But, because of the destruction, and death of World War Two, you developed jet engines, rockets, penicillin, radar, and nuclear power! Now, the energies of order wouldn't have let that happen.

"If order energies were the only thing left, everything would be perfect, and nothing would change. And without change, humans would slowly stop evolving, and eventually you would become so inbred that the species would begin to devolve, until it dies out completely. And when the humans are gone, the dark energies would slowly be overpowered by light energy. But we also must be careful, because too much chaos could destroy the human gene pool beyond repair."

It's starting to make sense. I hear a grumble, and I sit up. Appaullus is up and walking around.

"Something to say, Appaullus?" Selena's voice is hard.

"Yeah," says Appaullus. "There are those, like the cults, who both use and help the white energy. They would kill and destroy everyone and everything on this earth. And with more people dead, and less dark energy, more white energy would be found. By collecting the white energy, they could begin erasing the differences in the earth itself. Starting with the major land formation. Imagine Mount Everest and it sister mountain, K2. Now imagine them leveled, and then the earth placed into the Mariana trench. The tectonic plates themselves would stop, and the land would become all one height; a flat surface. Wind and oceanic currents would stop. There would be nothing left to create movement. The water on earth would rise, until a perfectly smooth water surface covered a perfectly smooth land. And finally, earth would cool. It would be devoid of all movement, all regular energy, and all life. And, like a cancerous cell, the white energies would do the same to the rest of the universe. Even though all of the servants of the white energy will be dead, nothing can stop the spread.

"Although, on the flip side, too much dark energy would damage the balance too far, and put all life in a downward spiral."

I can feel cold fear grow in the pit of my stomach. I'm shivering, and the air seems to be colder. A shiver runs down Appaullus' spine.

"It's chilly in here." He says. I can see his body start to shimmer, and the air begins to steam around him. He returns to normal, but it is definitely warmer in the room.

"So what side of things are you guys on?"

Selena smiles at me. "We are aligned with dark energy,"

"Then why do you look so... White?"

"Everything is perception. For years and years, people have been convinced that order is the pursuit of perfection. Thus, they belive light colours, especially white, is good. And that's why we look white, because we are 'good.' Its incredibly hard to explain, so I'll leave it at that."

Her face grows more somber. "Sadly, we have been agents for a very long time. We had a hand in everything from the fall of Rome, to the Black Plague, to the American Civil war, World War I, and World War II."

"What?!"

"Gavrilo Princip, the Serbian who is usually said to be responsible with starting World War One, was an accomplice of ours. He, of course, had no idea that we were Angelloids, but after a three year undercover infiltration of the organization known as the Black Hand, we were able to coordinate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. That is the extent we will go to."

 Oh my god... These people- these Angelloids- have caused the death of... probably more than one hundred million people on their own.

"It's not like we do this for fun," says Appaullus, who apparently sees the look of horror on my face. "We have orders, and we carry out each task as we see fit."

"Who gives you orders?"

"It's an entity that we call...the Grey. It's an omnipotent entity, which is influenced by the levels of dark and white energy in your world. Whereas the white energy is brutal, unrelenting, and overpowering, the dark energy manifests itself in the form of Angelloids. The Grey is a sort of leader of the Angelloids. It gives us our orders, yet it must try to balance the energies within itself. I don't know what it is, personally. Only the Servitors can speak to it. They go through its unconscious areas, both white and dark, when they access information."

"How many Angelloids are there?"

Selena sighs. "Only Appaullus and myself. That we know of. There used to be more."

My god...