Portals

Bella: Moonlight

"I never knew it would come to this," I say under my breath while smiling. I adjust my laurels and straighten my robe. I look out the window of my home at the setting sun. I vaguely have the impression that a small child and a woman are playing on the swing tied to my tree. I rub my eyes only to find it was a daydream. I wonder whom I was seeing. "Only thirty and I'm already about to do great things for my Dimension and the universe."

The golden box embellished with purple crystals catches my eye. I stare at the note on top of it. It reads: Open on Moonlight. Tonight is the night where I will depart The Alpha forever to spread goodness to two young girls and the entire Portal System. I know my fate, which is to die at the end, but that won't ever stop my Inherent morality. When the Elements from the entire universe converge into my being, I know that my Inherence will be emphasized. Empedocles said matter (or self) is made of the Elements, which represent many things, including Love, Strife, Virtue, Vice, Duality, and Individuality. The Elements' attributes are reflected in whoever possesses them, thus establishing their identity. At least, that's what Empedocles said and Plato supported.

I open the box to find a silver dodecahedron. I examine its twelve pentagonal faces. On one of them, the word "Aether" is inscribed in beautiful cursive. A piece of paper is the only thing left in the box. I open it:

Dear Bella,

This is Herodotus, Father of History and leader of many philosophers. This encasing which I give you is not important now, but it will be. Something is inside of it which was once held deep within your heart. Take this wherever you go, and never lose it. I shall see you at Moonlight tonight. May universal love be extended to you from all ends of planets everywhere.

I am quite confused by his message (philosophers like Herodotus sometimes make statements with a bit of figurative language), but I refold it and slip it into the box along with the polyhedron. I clutch the box and think for a minute about what I am about to do tonight. The reasons, the causes, the effects, the consequences...it all will add up to something greater, despite the history. It has been regurgitated to me for the past few months, but I think about it once again.

Long ago, the most important war which started a revolution in the questions of Virtue and the Elements was waged by philosophers, Dimensionals, and Portalians. Empedocles, Pythagoras and Euclid of Alexandria, Aristotle, and Herodotus all had ideas of Elements aligned with mathematics, ethics, existence, and the universe itself. Each Elemental has their own attributes, powers, morality, and personality. The Elements command the everyday actions of everyone in the Portal System, and most importantly, they shape everything we see. Beings are able to harness an Elemental power to use in defense of themselves and their beliefs.

Empedocles first proclaimed the notion of four Elements (often known as the "Classical Elements" or "Natural Elements") of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, which are bound by Love and pulled apart by Strife. He preached it to each of the Dimensions. The Alpha, my home Dimension of pure, perfect Goodness, embraced the idea, as did the Lacuna (of which the inhabitants are called "Flawed"), which is three quarters Good and one quarter Evil. The Prosaic, half Evil and half Good ("Mediocre"), could have cared less, but still paid attention to him. The Dark, the converse of the Lacuna (of which the inhabitants are called "Wicked"), barely listened and partially adopted the idea, but The Omega (a world of pure Evil) was infuriated by it. They couldn't deal with the mere traces of monarchy Empedocles represented. The Demons, inhabitants of The Omega, laid low for the time after, until more philosophers came along.

Euclid and Pythagoras preached everything about numbers, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, binary, and theorems. They were a dynamic duo who influenced Digital Worlds and started a new race of Elementals known as the Elektra. The Digital Worlds loved their ideas and dwelt inside other Terrestrial Worlds like Earth. With Euclid and Pythagoras as their allies, the Elektra and the Digital Worlds were powerful. Demons didn't like this, but there was more which irritated them.