Dark Matters

Zlo was wearing his gray robes as usual as he strode to where Chisty sat, cross-legged, on the snowy mountain peak. He stood beside Chisty for a moment, surveying the clouds around the summit, gnawing on his bottom lip. Chisty tried to ignore him, tried to savor the beauty around them, but then he started grunting. It would be quiet for a moment, then Zlo would grunt and pace behind her, eventually positioning himself opposite the side he had been on before.

After a while of this Chisty was fed up and blurted, “What could possibly be wrong, Zlo?”

Zlo finally stopped chewing on his lip and sighed as he kneeled next to her. “I’m bored.”

“Bored?” Chisty started, shaking her head. “How could you be bored? We created a whole planet! Oceans, creatures, trees, caverns, mountains, like the one we are on now! Hell, we even created a sun and a moon! We are close to having our own solar system.”

“Yes, but… there’s no… purpose.”

“Purpose?” She looked up at him. Even kneeling beside her Zlo was much taller. He always had been, since… well, she couldn’t quite remember since when. As far back as she could remember, into the depths of primordial haze, she and Zlo had always been together. Always and forever.

“Purpose,” he said firmly. “There is nothing like us down there, nothing to live an intelligent life. Nothing to make mistakes, complete challenges, and truly live. There is nothing down there with any… feeling.”

“You want to create something like us? Are you not scared that they may rebel when they learn they are nothing but figures molded from our imagination?”

“That is why we introduce ourselves to them, at least at first. Teach them how to survive and live, then let them do what they will. Accomplish what they will.”

“I don’t know, Zlo… this sounds like it could go very poorly.”

“I promise it won’t! I just…” Zlo stopped, looking down, pursing his lips. Then he turned to her and dropped to both knees, snatching her hands up in his own, much larger ones. He looked in her eyes with an intensity that almost made her shudder. “I just want to create something with purpose. It's own purpose, not mine. I want to see what it does. I can’t help but think that is how we came to be, and I have to see what it is like from the outside.”

Chisty bit her lip now, looking to the side as she thought. She could still feel the passion in Zlo’s stare. Well, she thought, if this is what he wants.

“So be it,” she finally said. His smile split his face open and she couldn’t help but smile as well as he beamed at her. “Let us create… in our image.”

And so they set to work. Chisty created beings in her image, forming them from stardust and light. Zlo created his from dark matter and the particles emitted from the enormous gaping wounds in the universe that swallowed all in their path. They worked tirelessly on their creations, instilling their values into them, giving them will, and implanting thoughts. Chisty and Zlo etched into them the need to explore, the need to create, and the need to overcome.

Finally, the day came, and they woke them up, legion upon legion of them. Zlo and Chisty built them their first home, a beautiful pavilion that covered an entire plateau, made of stone with hearths set into the floor in rows, warm fires burning, and animals cooking on spits. They spent weeks teaching them to hunt, fish, and farm. Zlo taught them to build and Chisty taught them to write and speak. Soon, they had given them the groundwork, and they said their farewells, floating into the sky above.

Little did they know that their Creators would be watching.

For weeks, all the people did was hunt and nurture their crops, working together to ensure each other’s survival. Years passed, and they built cities and states, some of them delegated to govern while others worked. Some groups focused on hunting, while others focused on farming, and still others on trade and commerce. Then the war started.

It was brutal and decimated the population. A leader of a group of hunters decided that another group had not been sharing their fair share of crops. Thousands died. Chisty watched from that tall, snowy peak as they used the minds she and Zlo had created to build weapons and develop tactics to better kill each other. She sighed and turned, walking down the slope to where Zlo was tinkering with his dark matter, crafting another creature. She looked over his shoulder and saw that it was another bird. A black bird with a long beak and a wide wingspan. She saw him crafting its mind. That was when Chisty observed values that animals do not normally have… greed, cleverness, problem-solving skills, the capacity for animosity and vengeance.

Chisty frowned and tapped on his shoulder, pointing at the creature. “Why would you make it like that?”

“Huh?” He turned towards her, furrowing his brow. “What do you mean?”

“The anger, the animosity. Why are you instilling that?”

Zlo gave her a quizzical look and quickly inspected his work. “I… I didn’t mean to. I must have made a mistake.”

“Well… we all make mistakes…” Chisty’s frown did not fade. “Let it be. What harm can a bird do?”

Zlo nodded absently then released the animal. He stood as it flew from the peak, gliding gracefully through the air before diving into the clouds below.

Chisty watched for a moment, then turned to him. “You need to see something.” She walked towards the peak, motioning Zlo to follow. He trudged behind her to the peak.

“What did you want to show me, Chisty?” he asked.

“They are killing each other,” she said, waving her hand to part the clouds below so that he could see their war on display.

Zlo stared in shock. “What… why?”

“You put that in them, didn’t you? Just like you did to the bird.”

He turned to her, angry now. “No! Why would I do that? I wanted to watch them grow and thrive!”

“You don’t have to lie anymore, Zlo. I just saw you create that bird, and you really think I will believe you didn’t do the same to them?”

Zlo held his hands in front of his face. They shook as he studied them, his mouth open as he searched their every crease and print. Chisty waited, crossing her arms.

Zlo looked back up at her, still trembling. “Chisty… I promise, I didn’t do this. I don’t know how it happened, but it wasn’t me, I promise.”

Chisty studied him. He meant it. He meant every word.

“Ugh, Zlo!” She threw her hands in the air and turned, stomping away a few steps before turning and leveling her forefinger at him, wagging it like a scolding parent. “Every time with you, Zlo! And you never learn!”

Zlo slowly lowered his hands, staring at her, his mouth still gaping. He closed it and gulped loudly. “What do you mean, Chisty?”

Chisty grimaced. She had done it again, every time. Gave herself away. “No point avoiding the topic… this has happened before. A test I give you every few centuries, and you always fail.”

“I don’t remember any tests…”

“Of course not! Why would I, your creator, give you the answer to a test?”

“Test?”

Chisty threw her hands up in the air again. “You are thick, Zlo! Yes, a test. I am trying to groom you until you can achieve true divinity. But every time you create something, you refuse to include the malicious components, the capacity for evil. I named you ‘evil’ and you still failed to apply it. Every time I have to inject the bad into your good and corrupt it.”

Zlo dropped to his knees. “Why don’t I remember?”

Chisty looked upon him with hate and stepped forward, reaching back to slap him across his face. She thought better of it, taking a deep breath and letting her hand fall back to her side. “You have to understand that evil is needed to have good.”

“I don’t want to create death or destruction…”

“You’re not, your creation is.”

“Then I am complicit, and I do not wish for that either. I want them to live with purpose, to create and live…”

Chisty sighed. “Time for another lesson, I suppose… until you pass this test.” With two fingers, she tapped his forehead.

Zlo’s world went black. He sank into that darkness like a rock drifting through water to the bottom of a well. Then he forgot.

Zlo was wearing his gray robes as usual as he strode to where Chisty sat, cross-legged, on the snowy mountain peak. He stood beside Chisty for a moment, surveying the clouds around the summit, gnawing on his bottom lip. Chisty tried to ignore him, tried to savor the beauty around them, but then he started grunting. It would be quiet for a moment, then Zlo would grunt and pace behind her, eventually positioning himself opposite the side he had been on before.

After a while of this Chisty was fed up and blurted, “What could possibly be wrong, Zlo?”

Zlo finally stopped chewing on his lip and sighed as he kneeled next to her. “I’m bored.”

Chisty smiled, hopeful. “Do you want to create something that can truly live? Something with purpose?”