Now in the days before the days, Dark One could be found standing in his shop, standing behind a long, glass-topped counter. The shelves in the case were covered in black velvet and crowded with little diamond bright and burning figurines, sparkling, sparkling and making the shop oh, so bright indeed. And Dark One smiled.
He enjoyed looking upon the brilliance, but the little burning diamond figurines kept calling out, “Release us, Dark One, release us, release us one and all—it is not right for you to keep us here, in your store on these shelves, in this counter.”
But Dark One smiled and simply said, “Be grateful to me. You are safe here. I am protecting you.”
But the little figures reached up with shining hands and spoke with despair, “No, no, this is wrong. You must let us be free.”
And Dark One smiled again and said, “Freedom is a dangerous thing and it is so, oh, so easy to misuse and so much bad can befall its use. No, no, be grateful my little ones, I am here, you are there, and I protect you.”
And forlornly, all those little shining hands fell like little wilting crystal petals and the heads of the little diamond figures bowed in sadness.
Of course, there came the new ones, the new diamonds yet to be: they appeared on the counter top and Dark One would smile and simply say, “Welcome.”
And the new ones, of course always frightened, be they animals or people just transformed from the flesh, knew not what to do. And the job of Dark One was simply to say, “Welcome; you are safe here. I will protect you. You shall move on but only when I am ready to let you go.”
And the new ones, even if they were once insects or little gentle furry things, they knew that this was wrong—and cried—and instantly transformed into beautiful diamonds, such beautiful, radiant diamonds of themselves—and then would appear on those infinite shelves beneath the counter.
And in the days before the days, this went on for a long, long time, until, of course, it happened. No more new ones came. At first, Dark One was undisturbed, so fascinated he by the glow, the light from the shelves in the counter. But as time moved on, Dark One became aware that, somehow, somewhere, something was not right. But he did not know what to do—if anything, and therefore put the doubts aside and let the dark shop glow with the light of uncountable figures.
More time passed and Dark One became more aware of something wrong, a feeling that would not leave so easily. He then realized that the little diamond beings no longer pleaded—they sat and were very still.
Dark One looked down the counter, this way, that, and whispered, “What is wrong? Where is your voice? Why does no one speak?”
No response.
Dark One tried again. “You should all be happy: you are with each other: beingness should be wonderful and trouble-free. Are you all asleep?”
Again, no answer.
And then—in the wonderful glow of the infinity of figures—Dark One realized something disturbing indeed. Since no new ones were coming, then all of this was not infinite. Which meant that things could end. Which meant that he was not infinite which meant that he might end. Already, his power to transform, by there being no new ones—had ended.
As if a cue... perhaps a clue... flicker.
“What is the meaning of this?” whispered Dark One. He was abruptly aware of his fear welling up to become anger and wanting to control, “What is all this?”
Flicker. Then, again: Flicker.
In consternation, Dark One leaned over the counter and stared at the small figures. Dark One leaned, his black robes spread out about him and he whispered, “I do not understand.”
A few figures slowly raised their crystal hands, as though shining petals reaching for the warmth of a seemingly warm sun but expecting to get back false heat and searing cold. “We told you,” they whispered, “we told you.”
Dark One shook his head and said, “Don’t you know you are safe here? Don’t you realize such a favor I am doing for you? The protection?”
Flicker. Flicker. The crystal hands dropped again and from each end of the counter, darkness spread, coming like two waves and rushing toward the center where Dark One stood. Stunned, he watched, then shouted, “No! No! You cannot do this! You are ungrateful!”
The darkness continued on, continued on. “No!” said Dark One, “Stop! You cannot do this—if you all die—”
“Yes,” came a gentle voice, “then what are you?”
Dark One looked down. A solitary shining figurine remained—a butterfly.
“I order you not to die!” said Dark One.
Flicker, went the butterfly and the butterfly looked up. “For what is there to live? Being kept here is dying. Good-bye.”
“No!” said Dark One, “Please—”
“I am the last,” said the butterfly. “Everything that is here—everything that was here—is within me. If I die, all dies, you die.”
“No,” said Dark One, “that must not happen!”
“Then break open this case so that I may be free—”
“I cannot do that—”
“You are afraid, Dark One, you are afraid. Why are you afraid—?” Flicker.
Dark One could not answer.
Flicker. Flicker.
“Why should I be afraid?” whispered Dark One. “Why?”
“Why does anyone try to possess and keep anyone?”
Again, Dark One could not answer.
Flicker went the butterfly and then in a voice, soft, despairing, “Oh, Dark One, can it be that you are not aware of your fear of being alone? Of your presumed worthlessness? Of your fear that if you let us go, that you are so terrible, we would never come back? Is it possible you cannot see this?” Flicker, flicker, flicker.
“No!” whispered Dark one and, as though burned, he jumped back and stunned, he found himself whispering, “Oh, yes—” And with a mighty fist, he struck the case. The counter split open and the butterfly glowed, grew—and suddenly, a vast explosion of light and when Dark One finally opened his eyes—he was amazed—for all through his dark body, the figures glowed and danced and then each transformed into stars and dumbfounded, Dark One whispered, “I had no idea—” and inside himself, close to his heart, he saw the butterfly and it whispered, “Be not afraid of yourself, Dark One,” and the butterfly turned into a warm star, and the star whispered, “Be not afraid to be loved.”