Unknown to the two realms a third realm had recently come into existence, a realm that was not made of darkness or light, but rather a blend of the two. The single inhabitant could experience emotions from both spectrums, the only being ever to have been able to do so. Rather than being made of shadow or light the inhabitant was a gray color, barely able to be differentiated from the surroundings.

 

---

 

Gasping for breath she looked around frantically, searching for somebody else, searching for answers. She was lost and confused, unaware of what was going on or where she was. However, there was nobody in sight. Not giving up she continued to search for somebody who could explain what was going on, some one who would explain who she was and where she was.

 

Looking around at her surroundings all she saw was gray. She glanced down at her hands and saw that she was a slightly darker shade of gray, just barely distinguishable from her surroundings. No matter which direction she looked in there was an endless expanse of gray. The monotonous surroundings caused her panic to rise, and she started looking around more frantically than before, hoping to find something. Anything. 

 

“What is going on?”

 

The only response she received was silence. Only her heavy breathing could be heard, other than that there was not a single sound to penetrate the deafening silence that threatened to engulf her entire being. She found the silence unnerving and quickly resumed her search for a companion, anything to disturb the silence and explain what exactly was going on.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Is anyone here?”

 

“Where am I?”

 

“Who am I?”

 

“Please, if you’re there can you explain to me what’s going on?”

 

The silence was finally broken as she collapsed to the ground, screams of pain constantly streaming from , the only sound that could be heard throughout this mysterious realm. The two spectrums of feelings had never before been present in the same body, and were therefore battling with each other, causing her immense pain.

 

For days she layed there alone and in pain while the emotions fought for dominance within her body. During this time she experienced a large range of emotions from joy to sadness, contentment to despair, and peacefulness to loneliness.

 

Eventually the battle died down, neither side of the emotions really winning. Once this happened the pain subsided and she was left gasping for breath. A few minutes passed before she stood up on shaky legs, tremors running through her body. Without anything else to do, she resumed her search, not calling out to the realm this time for fear of what would happen. Suddenly, voices started to drift through the air, but they only confused her more.

 

“I just want to reiterate how lucky we all are to have the light inside of us.”

 

“What’s life without a little chaos?”

 

“The assemblies are always held at the same time.”

 

“There is no such thing as love.”

 

“You know what will happen if you’re late.”

 

“Suzerain Erebus.”

 

“If someone else overhears you referring to him so comfortably they might report you!”

 

“We’re never happy.”

 

“One mistake and we could fade into the darkness.”

 

“Sadistic bastard.”

 

“Without the shadow, there can be no light.”

 

“Without the light there can be no shadow.”

 

Once the voices stopped she tried to make sense of what she had heard. However, none of it made any sense.

 

What is this about light and shadows? All I see is gray. Who were those people talking? Where did the voices even come from? This is so confusing.

 

Before she could get carried away with her thoughts, another voice broke through the silence.

 

“The eve of the end is approaching. You are the only one who can change the course of events. Best of luck to you.”

 

The eve of the end? What does that even mean? How am I supposed to change the course of events, I’m the only one here. This is getting more and more confusing.

 

Her thoughts were once again interrupted, not by a voice, but by the return of the immobilizing pain that resulted from the conflict occurring within her. She once again fell to the ground, screams of pain ripping from , disrupting the silence once more.

 

This pain reappeared and disappeared frequently over the next few months, neither set of emotions ever defeating the other. Each time the pain subsided she was left weaker than she was before, her strength slowly ebbing away until there was almost none left.

 

These bouts of pain were fundamentally the same each time, only the intensity of the pain changing from one session to the other, increasing steadily from one occurrence to the next. Other than that everything always happened the same way, neither set of emotions ever gaining the upper hand within her body, but also not finding a way to peacefully coexist. Each time it was the same, and the girl eventually became used to it, no longer surprised when the pain would seize her, causing her to drop to the ground. She had accepted the fact that this was all that awaited her; pain and relief were the only things she knew. She was stuck in the middle of a vicious cycle with no end in sight.

 

This time however, it was different. Not only was the pain excruciating, feeling worse than all the other occurrences combined, but it lasted much longer than it usually did as well. Rather than subsiding the pain seemed to intensify the longer it lasted. Eventually the pain became too much and she slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

 

When she finally woke up she was even more confused than she was previously. She looked around at her surroundings with confusion, lost once again.

 

It seemed as though one set of emotions finally managed to subdue the other.

---

 

So, this isn't as long as I would normally want it to be, but considering the fact that I have had to rewrite it four times this is as good as it's going to get. I swear my laptop is out to get me these days... Anyways, Eve of the End was actually one of the things I was considering as a title, as well as something else that I felt gave the ending away, but I ended up going with The Broken and the Blessed because, well I actually don't know why.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it, although it's pretty much over at this point if my calculations are correct. Don't forget to point out any mistakes you see, it really helps me out a lot! 

One more thing, not that it matters, I am currently in the middle of eating four bags of cotton candy and drinking cream soda. I feel like once my metabolism starts to decline my life will be be a steady fall into obesity. 

I lied, last thing though, I promise, this is the last of the introductory prologue things, so the actual story will be starting, and those chapters should be more frequently updated, so yeah.

Thanks for reading!

~K