That Which Came Before [FINISHED]

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Before there was the known universe, before there was creation, and even before there was simply light....there existed a darkness. Not just the absence of light, a true darkness that existed outside the universal laws that govern reality. Predating the original demon, the Soul King, and all life and unlife, That Which Came Before is truly the definition primordial. However, unlike the beings previously named this Original Darkness is not really a sentient creature capable of thought processes or willful action. No, it would be much more accurate to compare it to a virus for multiple reasons. That Which Came Before physically functions as a virus, not having mental thought or willfully doing anything besides surviving. Speaking of which, the only cause for any action or change involving this ancient thing is survival, just like a virus.

The living world can be extremely thankful for the creation of light, which was able to successfully cast away the darkness, for the universe as we know it not just in the typical sense but also because had this not occurred there likely wouldn't be anything left for the primordial blackness to consume. Had That Which Came Before been allowed to continue its existence in any of the known dimensions or universes or timelines, it very well could have reduced everything to nothingness simply by existing. Not on purpose, mind you, but that's just how the thing functions. Like a virus it infects anything living, or even nonliving, and uses it as a host until said being degrades to the point of death or absolute decay (meaning a person is infected by it long enough, currently being Stefan Soan, they will die), and then it moves on to whatever else it can latch onto (for RP purposes this requires permission from the character owner). However, like many viruses it seems to prioritize certain targets: The hungriest (not necessarily for food), the strong, and those susceptible to possession.

However, to call it evil or sinister would be a mistake. The Original Shade is best described as being above evil, good, or even neutrality. It is neither good nor bad, and even though it degrades and decays those it infects, it isn't truly destructive. Nay, it truly is survival given form. With no purpose other than not being eliminated and continuing on, the Darkness should never be underestimated as morality and emotion are as foreign as possible to it. What this means is attempting to take advantage of it or using it to further your own goals can never result in true benefits as it will only lead to the end of everything and everyone involved. This characteristic is perhaps what makes it so dangerous, as it has no biases or preferences and cannot actually be manipulated by others.

You may ask why this thing isn't still locked away in some other dimension or in between world. Well, for billions of years it was. The dimension it had been cast off to was like the pre-light universe it used to reside in: Completely empty and devoid of life. This meant it essentially sat still in a dormant state, in a sense frozen in time. If left untouched, this could potentially go on for billions of more years, or even forever. However, a certain Vizard named Stefan Soan unwittingly released the Darkness unto the world by repeatedly using his Zanpakutō's special abilities during training sessions. While usually these abilities involve a void dimension within his Zanpakutō, the over-usage of the ability resulted in a tear to another, hidden realm...the empty realm the Darkness resided in. This tear existed for a fraction of a second, but that was still plenty long enough for it to pass through and infect Stefan before he was even given a chance to react. This infection has quite a few positive and negative effects on the host: