**This is due to be revised. there is some missing information! stay tuned.**
Before the Attack:
Despite being born several centuries before his brother, Yami is considered the elder Twin. Both were predestined to be Twins, therefore the age difference wasn’t significant, and they shared the same eye color, a trait which only marked Twins in their culture. While Yami waited for his brother to be born so they could share dual rulership, he mastered hand to hand combat, swordplay, and archery and became the Weapons Master. Constant training with these weapons led him to become the Leader of the Military.
Once his Twin was born, they spent all their time together. In the several decades before Tsukiyomi was mature enough to ascend the throne with Yami, they became close, nearly inseparable. And then there was the planning for their Ascension, which took many years to properly orchestrate.
Unknown to the Twins, their planet was being watched. For many years their beautiful world, lush with life and culture, had been watched and envied. A group simply known as The Family, living in a nearby system, we’re doomed to their sad excuse of a planet. Where Nightside was full of living things, animals and plants, covered in expanses of water with natural crystal formations, Derk was dark and sooty, living under a constant cloud of ash from the many volcanos that littered the planet. What water they had was often contaminated with sulfur, and required extensive treatment. Plants grew only in special greenhouses established for the purpose of feeding the people. The Family much desired Nightside, and when negotiations to acquire it failed, they grew angry, coming to the conclusion that if The Family could not own Nightside, then no one could. While Yami and Tsuki planed a massive party to celebrate their ascension, The Family planed an invasion and subsequent destruction, finding it perfect to plan it on the same night.
When the night of the Attack occurred, all of Nightside was in joy. Those that couldn’t fit into the Crystal Palace danced around it in the surrounding courtyards and crystal forests. No one was prepared for the horrors that would commence. It was just after Yami and Tsuki received their crowns, indeed the delicate quartz circlets had just been placed upon them, when the first ripplings of unease began. Yami immediately sent his brother to safety, while he himself went to organize his troops, still unaware of what awaited him outside.
Things moved very quickly for him after that. Once out the main doors, all he saw was fire and blood. Figures in white hoods were killing his people in the streets. In a rage, he lost all sense and threw himself into the fray, sword drawn, killing all his blade touched. Well into the battle, his troops nearly decimated, he regained the sense to send a messenger to his parents, bearing only the simple words, “All is lost. Save Tsuki. Run.”
He closed his eyes and envisioned his brother one last time, before he tore back into the battle, determined to kill as many of the white cloaked figures as he could before they took him down.
Back with his parents, Tsuki paced frantically. They were hidden safely deep inside the Palace, but he could clearly hear the torment and anguish outside the wall. He pleaded with his parents, but as they had already been replaced, they must listen to Yami’s orders, and as the Head of Military, Yami had complete control during war. When the messenger burst in, Tsuki was a first relieved, but his hopes were quickly dashed as the messenger gasped out his commands, and bled out at Tsuki’s feet. His parents acted quickly, calling on the last reserves of Magik they had in their old age. Even as the spell worked and Tsuki began to fade, he witnessed the white figures come pouring in, saw his father beheaded. His mother screamed, but managed to finish the spell. He never forgot his last words, “Go forth my son, survive!”, before he was transported and could see no more.
Back in the bloodstained streets, Yami stood alone. He had killed many, but he was the only of his people he could see standing. The figures had retreated suddenly, and he felt a horrible realization dawning. They didn’t mean to just destroy the royal family, they meant to destroy the entire world. He ran as swiftly as his feet could carry him, back into the Palace, to the safe room where his family should be safe. He knew immediately that something was wrong. The door was open. His steps slowed and he hesitated, before gathering his courage and ripping the door open. The messenger lay dead on the floor, and just a few steps inward were the bodies of his parents. His heart fell, and his mind shattered. He only dimly realized that his brother’s body was gone. A distant ringing told him that he must get further into the safe room into the vault that would protect him from explosives. Numbly he opened the door, and desperately dragged his parent’s lifeless forms in with him. Seconds after he slammed the heavy door, he was forced backward by an onslaught of heat from the door, and shockwave from some distant explosion threw him back into a wall. He faded from consciousness with his brother’s innocent young face burned into his broken mind.
When he finally awoke later, he had no perception of how much time had passed. He know only that he was alive, and everyone he knew was not. He forced the door open, his body weak, from what he did not know. A heavy wave of heat almost forced him back, but he had to see the damage. Stepping out of the vault, his eyes mere slits from the intense heat, he saw he was now in the burning remains of the palace. It had been so intense as to even melt the protective outer crystal walls, and even the magnificent pillars were reduced to liquid quartz upon the floor. He carefully avoided this puddles, knowing that they’re liquid state meant disaster if touched. Once he worked his way outside, he heart ached anew. There was no way anyone could have survived this. His world was in ruins. The only thing that had survived were the clothes on his back, the weapons he carried on his body, and ironically, the circlet upon his head. He knew he deperately needed water, and began a search of the houses, feeling the weight of the circlet as he searched the houses of his lost people. In a house he found a hidden basement, thought the family hadn’t made it to it’s safety. In this room he managed to locate water, hot enough to nearly burn, but water still. He took refuge in this house, finding food as well. When he was not resting, he worked on digging a grave for the only bodies not burned away to ash; his parents. As he worked, he thought of nothing but revenge for his world, his parents, and his brother. He thought of his Twin most of all. His body had been missing. He was alive, his soul told him. He would have felt it if he had died. He must find his brother.
While he fought with insanity and worry for his brother, it dawned on him he needed a way out. Surely all the portal rooms would have been destroyed to trap and survivors. He scoured the palace and many guardhouses where the portal gates were kept, finding only small parts of each that still worked. Amassing these, he eventually built a small device, about the size of his sword hilt. He tested it for, on transporting himself small distances around the burning world, which only served to further his insanity, seeing places he used to know and visit in their current state.
Finally, when his food ran out, he determined it was time to go, and chose the planet ___________ as his first destination. It was the center of trade and hub of politics for the system, as well as the location of the Dark Market, where he might be able to get information on his brother, and possibly on who ruined his world.
************* TIME SKIP *************
After weeks of searching, following leads and killing those he determined were a part of the Attack, he reached a realization. He wasn’t powerful enough. He could keep doing this, keeping to killing underlings and minions, but he would never be able to get the ones he really wanted, who could then lead him to his Twin. He had been hearing rumors lately that Lethe, the most powerful Shadow Demon in known history, had been coming back into the foreground after millennia in obscurity. And, if rumor had it true, his loyalty could be bought with your soul. Not many were willing to sell their soul, but for Yami, his Twin’s safety and revenge…well that was very much so worth his soul.
He began his search, finding that tracking down the Shadow was much harder than he thought it would be. After months of searching, he had nearly given up hope, but in the dead of night he was awoken by his own voice, though something about it was wrong. He was on his feet in an instant, sword drawn, only to stare into a black reflection of himself. Only, the reflection was smirking at him. It clicked.
“Lethe.” The reflection smiled, causing Yami to shudder. Rumors were true, he was a twisted creature.
“Yessss, I hear tell you are looking for me little kitten. How, flattering,” the demon hissed in reply, the grin spreading beyond its natural limits. “May I asssssk, why are you ssssearching for me?”
Yami shuddered again. It was his voice, that much was certain, but it was wrong. Something about it, it was nearly disgusting. He gave an irritated flick of his tail, watching the shadow mirror it.
“I…I want to make a deal with you.”
“A deal…? I love dealssss. What kind of deal, kitten?” The reflection wavered, briefly showing Lethe’s true form, something Yami felt he could have lived without. He fought with his revulsion, forcing his words out.
“I need to find my brother. To make sure he is safe. And…” he paused, wondering how much you should demand of a demon. Lethe stepped closer, the insane grin still in place.
“Andddd? And what young one?”
“And I need to kill them. I don’t know who they are. They…they killed my world. Nightside, I am…was..from Nightside.” The reflection wavered again, almost falling completely. Yami wondered if that boded for good or bad. The grin had faded, but as he stepped closer again, Yami could feel intrigue radiating from him.
“You know my price, little kitten.”
Lethe was close to him now, mere inches from his face. Yami shivered, the demon fairly reeked of blood and created a freezing aura.
“I know your price.” He said defiantly. Lethe grinned, wider than before. The reflection of Yami shattered, falling to the ground in little black pieces. Yami had followed them down, and found himself staring at a pair of humanoid feet, covered in blood, with black pulsing under the paper white skin. He looked up slowly, feeling terror rising in his chest before he met Lethe’s eyes. They were black, the deepest black, and blood dripped from them, and Yami stepped back at the things those eyes brought to mind, but Lethe had grabbed him, and pulled him close.
“No no little kitten. I like you, like your soul. I make a new deal. This host is dying, I need a new one. You are strong, my power won’t kill you. Accept me, to be carried inside of you always. In exchange, I won’t kill you, or eat your soul, and you can use my power for whatever you should like. Do you accept pretty kitten…?” Lethe leaned close at this, and Yami could smell the blood that stained his breath. Who knew if Lethe was lying or not, but he had to take the chance, for Tsuki.
“I accept.”
Lethe leaned closer, pressing a hand to the small of his back abruptly and dipping him back in a mockery of a waltz, leering down at him with those eyes. Yami shuddered again, but stared back defiantly, and this seemed to please Lethe. He grabbed Yami by the back of his head and kissed him roughly, and then the pain started. Lethe’s body dissolved and he seemed to turn into liquid Shadow, and he was choking Yami. He fell to the ground, screaming. The pain was too much. This was not a good idea. His last thought was that he would never save his brother now, and he knew darkness.
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