[Hey Korven?]
[Yeah?]
[What is Darkness?]
The raccoon turned and gave me the most 'what the fuck?' expression I could ever picture on a raccoon, right down to the one perked ear while the other one was flicked to the side.
[...I don't think I understand.]
I sighed, my neck drooping over a branch as I had wound my now-serpentine body around the branches(and yeah, Korven has woken up, seen how I'd changed, muttered something about the unfairness of life, and chose to act like it hadn't happened).
[I mean... darkness would be defined as the absence of light. But it's also said to be the opposite, which would make darkness an equal force, which makes no sense. You can't have the absence of something be an element can you?]
My eyes flashed as I looked at the elementary particles of the 6 elements around us, and I grabbed all the light ones with my will to pull them away from a spot, creating a globe of darkness from the absence of light.
A thought occurred to me, and I released the light elements, making the spot of black disappear.
[Korven... could you try pulling all the darkness away from a spot? Like over here, in the shadow of the tree?]
Korven sat up a bit. [Can you explain what on earth you're thinking about now?]
[Well, the absence of light creates shadows, and we say that the darkness element is the magic of these shadows, but what if those elements are just a force that is repelled by light so it gathers where light isn't?]
Korven went silent, thinking.
Korven has fused with both light and dark, bit by bit, and is actually further along with the darkness element than light.
[Of this were true, I'd make a breakthrough in my fusing of both light and darkness due to the correlations and hints to their nature this experiment could reveal...]
Korven slowly went slack-jawed as he thought about it.
What is darkness? How do you define it?
It's easy to point at a shadow and say "that's darkness".
But is that a true definition?
Korven grabbed some darkness, clearly concentrating a lot harder than I'd had to.
What happened next had both of us staring in absolute shock.
If darkness were an actual particle and force, and not just the absence of light, what would an absence of darkness create?
Light.
We stared as a soft yellow-edged white globe formed with a gentle light radiating from it.
[Darkness is the absence of light... so where darkness isn't, light is. Light is the absence of darkness.] Korven's mental communication sped up as he continued, the discovery and learning guiding his passion.
[Is defining darkness by light wrong? Should we define light by darkness? Which came first? Or are they equal in opposition?]
I interrupted. [More importantly...]
He looked at me, wondering what I could possibly be thinking and about to say.
[What happens when you remove both?]
You could've heard a pin drop, as even the wind and rustling leaves seemed to just die in silence for that moment.
It ended with a sharp intake of breath form the both of us as we both focused our will on the globe of light, Korven taking darkness, and light for myself!
I pulled the light, and a globe of darkness appeared once more.
We both frowned, and Korven twitched a little before grunting as he closed his eyes in focus.
The globe of darkness remained, stubborn and annoying.
I could feel how much fire his will was exerting, but as I removed light elements, the darkness element just got even more dense.
Suddenly I let go of some of the light element, not all, but some, meaning the vacuum of light I was creating became half is original diameter.
And instantly the darkness in that area I released was able to be dawn out by Korven, while the part I was still preventing light from entering was still stuck, causing a globe of darkness to be surrounded by another globe of light.
We glanced at each other, shock mirrored in each other's eyes.
What is this? The... amount of light elements and dark elements collectively... is always the same?
As we remove light or dark, the number of the opposite element moves to fill in the numbers.
You CAN'T have no light or darkness.
Darkness is an actual particle in this world?!
I know the laws of physics and science and all that aren't necessarily the same as Earth, but to find out that in this world, darkness is an actual elementary particle just like how photons are light?
[...you must have a certain amount?] Korven finally said in shock.
[It would seem that light and dark... are NOT opposites!] I exclaimed, my brain racing in my dragon head as my tail handing from the branches began to twist and spin in excitement.
[If they were opposites, or conflicting in nature, then they would repel one another, but instead it seems more like an even force field is holding them all in place as a form of attraction?]
Korven looked at me. [What the BLOODY FUCK? Does ANY of that MEAN?!]
Okay well, sorry Korven in advance.
I sent a mental message with a LARGE amount of info about gravity, magnetic fields, and strong-weak forces.
I was a very, very enthusiastic physics student.
Also a bit of chemistry, but nowhere near as much. Mostly physics. Lot of time to read textbooks in a hospital.
Korven reeled back, clutching his head with his paws as a sad mewling noise was released from the headache he undoubtedly was suffering from overload.
Light magic wrapped around his head, and I watched as he spent at least 10 minutes to stop twitching and finally have his ears perk up again.
He shakily stood up, noting the water tendrils around him preventing his twitching body from falling off the tree.
[...how the hell can you know that? All of that? I can't even remember anything more than the general gist of it!]
My neck rumbled in an amused tone as my slimmer-yet longer ears flicked.
[The same reason I can use more elements and can awaken others.]
Korven sighed, but didn't ask further.
We all had our secrets.
A baby having so DAMN MANY was probably very surprising, but still. Demanding answers from a friend about something they clearly aren't ready or willing to speak on is just a shitty and selfish thing to do.
...oh wow.
I honk I just had it click: me and Korven are actually friends. Not just curious guide and wandering hatchling. We are genuinely friends.
Kire and Bast... I dunno how to describe my relationship with them, but I know it isn't that of equals.
I don't treat them badly, but they clearly hold me higher than themselves, and to a certain degree the beast inside me agrees with them.
I am the superior predator, and therefore I deserve to be respected.
But Korven wasn't an individual I even thought of comparing with. He was just my friend without needing anything else.
I shook that aside as I refocused. [So now I'm wondering is light and dark are spread evenly or if different areas have a different amount?]
If the amount of the two together is always the same for a specific volume, then is that amount per that volume always constant throughout this world?
[Is the field holding these elements in such a way generated by the elements themselves, or is it from the planet, the Star we orbit, or is it a force of the universe itself, like how space exists everywhere and is bent by mass to make gravity?]
Korven nodded. [If it's the first or the last it would generally be constant everywhere, but if it's the second...?]
[If it's the second, the density would change the further from the center of the planet's gravity we are, just light air and moisture.]
Korven nodded, before freezing.
'???' I looked at him in confusion as every bit of fur stood on end.
[We... are standing on a planet... which spins in a vacuum and flies around with NO GROUND?!]
Ah. Yeah I didn't really realize how shocking that info might be.
Whoops.