### -> [[Discuss]] "Who am I? Who am *I?*" Mystery started to laugh. Truly, the question was as mystifying as their own name. "I am similar to what you two understand to be The Mages' Council - I directly serve and answer to a higher being." "You mean The Knights?", Ika interrupted. "Flame, Materia--" "Pshaw! I answer not to the named horsemen. I simply answer to The King and The Queen." Mako chimed in this time. "The king and queen? I don't think I've heard of them." "They are often left out of the story of creation. If I may?" Mystery procured a chessboard, and a couple of pieces. They placed a white king and a black queen in the center of it. "These are the King and Queen, named War and Love, respectively. They are the driving force of not just The Plane, but the planet it inhabits, and the universe that everything is built in. Without War, there would be nothing to love, but without Love, there would be unending chaos, destroying it all." Ika nods. "I think I'm following. What does this have to do with The Knights?" "Ah, right. Of course." Mystery next pulled out two black and two white knights, pushing the King and Queen further along the board. They pointed at the two black knights. "These two are Materia and Life, and the white ones are Flame and Honor." Both sets are placed onto the board. "Though they have obvious allegiances to either the King or Queen, they serve them both equally, the four of them." "But then, where does this come into the whole creation... whatever?", questioned Mako. "So there's a royalty behind the Knights, big whoop." "Big whoop indeed, Mako." The next set of pieces procured were not chess pieces, but rather, a set of marbles, haphazardly dropped onto the board. Mystery ignored that a couple landed on the floor of the laboratory. "When the King and Queen got bored, they asked the Knights to procure them something to rule over. They thus created the universe, with all the planets and stars it has. For every planet that could host it, its life was given gifts by each member of the royalty." Mystery pulled out a list, and handed it to Ika. "Can you read this aloud?" ``` GIFTS OF THE ROYALTY FLAME: - The drive to keep living, the will to keep fighting - The concept and reaction that is Fire, itself MATERIA: - The ability to farm resources, the crops and gems in the world - The concept of currency, to exchange things for money LIFE: - The very life that inhabits the planet - The ability for that life to procreate via two or more partners HONOR: - The concept of communication, being able to converse - The ability to form relationships and friendships THE KING, WAR: - The desire for combat, the need to fight - The want to swear allegiance to a particular group, comradery THE QUEEN, LOVE: - The concept of feelings, to be able to experience a variety of emotions - The ability to empathize and sympathize with others ``` "Hm..." Ika was scratching her chin after all that. "This makes sense, but... I don't think I quite understand The King's gifts." Mystery nods. "That's the issue - we didn't *get* them. Not in the way you would think, anyways. Think about it - sure, we have weapons, mostly for that 'just in case' scenario, and while you two are a bit of an exception, most people don't really *need* them. The King did not get his gifts sent properly to our planet - instead, just before he could, one of the Knights, most likely Honor, cast aside out world, far, far away." With this, Mystery picked up a marble, and threw it across the room. "In response and in anger, the King cursed us - the Outburst phenomena, but I have my own opinions on that, ehe..."