The Light

Overview

The Light is a material that acts as a powerful battery, storing and generating an effectively infinite amount of energy for use toward nearly any purpose so long as the energy can be effectively extracted.

The Light was destroyed prior to the onset of Era-2, but the shards it left behind still maintain the properties of the original planet-sized source, and are extraordinarily valuable. They are occasionally part of the origin myth of several worlds, and power those that have residual abilities of the Invictus .

History

Origins

In the penultimate iteration of the Protiun Civilization Cycle, the Protiun Empire began to span beyond their home world and into the rest of the solar system. Stretched so thin, they faced a crisis of energy that resulted from overharvesting their sun. To remedy this, they developed The Light to power their civilization indefinitely.

At the time of its creation, the Light was a planet-sized source of power that resembled a particularly bright star in the night sky of any planet in the empire. It sat within the system as a planet in synchronous orbit with the Protiun home world. The secret of its creation was lost in the cataclysm that destroyed the Protiun home world and led to the start of the final iteration of the Protiun Civilization Cycle.

Destruction

In the final iteration of the Protiun Civilization Cycle, the Light became a key advantage of the Protiun Empire against their opponents in the Empire Desimun. Making use of an effectively limitless power supply, the Protiun Empire purposefully stretched themselves as far as possible to force their opponent to do the same. In the final motions of the campaign, the Desim System moved as the source of an assault on the Earth in an attempt to bring it into their control from the clutches of the Protiun Empire. The assault was met with the full might of the Invictus, dispatched from all fronts to defend the crucial strategic point.

When the battle was clearly lost for the Protiun Empire, they used their most powerful tool - the Transit device - to separate the Empire Desimun from the Earth. The desperation of the move caused them to far overuse the power of the Light, fracturing space by pushing the Earth and the Empire Desimun into empty dimensions, and shattering the Light.

The power released from the destruction of the Light annihilated the entire Protiun home system, wiping the empire and all (save for very few) Invictus from the universe. It scalded every planet for lightyears, leaving planets under the control of either empire either reduced to rubble, wiped clean, or sufficiently damaged that no significant civilization remained. The planets that stayed intact are now known as Protiun or Desim Exoplanets. These exist only in certain parts of the Outerverse.

Current State

The Light was fractured in the Transit that ended the Protiun Empire, and many of these shards still exist in the universe. Most of them were fired out beyond the Outerverse. The highest concentration of them exist within the territory of the former Protiun empire. However, a significant number of these shards (typically no larger than 4 to 6 inches) can be found across the current universal civilization.

Even shards of the light can be used as a nearly infinite source of power, though they are significantly more fragile than the original source. These can be found scattered across the universe. The location of these shards are closely guarded secrets by their keepers, as these shards are extremely powerful and valuable. They are sometimes held as part of a creation/origin myth on certain planets, and there are system-spanning organizations dedicated to keeping them safe.

The original source of the Light, the planet-sized battery, was seemingly destroyed in the Transit that ended the Protiun Empire, but did, in fact, survive the cataclysm. It was pushed out of the wider universe alongside the Empire Desimun. For the time they remained in exile, what remained of the Light became the saving grace of the Empire. It was brought into the fold of the Empire as the home system developed in isolation. Eventually, it was directly used to support the quasi-immortality of the Emperor Desimun.

What remained of the Light was brought back into the wider universe when the Argan Empire misused the Transit device and accidentally brought the Empire Desimun back into its home universe. The Light was used as the major source of power to support the Empire Desimun as they continued their conquest of the Wider Universe. In the end, the original Light source was left desolate on the boundary of the Outerverse after Kris and her team pushed the Desim flagship beyond the bounds of the Wider Universe to be destroyed.

Properties and Whereabouts

The Light (Era-1)

The Light was originally a bluish-white, planet sized orb that appeared as though it was a particularly bright star in the night sky of any planet close enough to see. On the Protiun home world, prior to its destruction, it could be seen with the apparent size as our moon in the sky. The Light held a seemingly endless amount of energy within, taking the place of the system's star as the major power source of the entire Empire.

The Light (Era-4)

The Light sits within the ruins of the Desim Flagship on the boundary between the Wider Universe and the Outerverse. A significant portion remains intact, but a large chunk has been destroyed. As a result, the Light appears to be decayed around the damaged portion. It still emits light, but is noticeably dimmer around the cracked edges on the surface, with the exposed portion shining a pure and blinding white from within. The Light sits dilapidated as a monument to the failed missions of the Protiun Empire and the Empire Desimun.

Light Shards

After the apparent destruction of the Light, a large portion of it was shattered into small pieces. Typically, these pieces are no larger than 4 to 6 inches in size, but there have been rumors of shards the size of a meteorite landing within certain planets. These shards, though much more fragile than the original Light source, are still incredibly durable. It takes an immense force to damage one, and doing so will yield similar results to damaging the original. A fracture in a relatively large shard of the light was responsible for the loss of the planet Rrauxashi and most of its population.

Where present, these shards are typically kept under lock and key, as they are incredibly powerful and valuable Era-1 Artifacts. On many planets they form the foundation of a civilization's creation/origin myth, and on others they play a key role in the rise and fall of rulers. Light Shards, similar to the original Light source, have the power to enhance the abilities of anyone with the powers of an Invictus, though they must be in extremely close proximity due to their much lower output.

One notable shard is the one possessed by the capitol city of Corot, which was passed onto Kris after its capture. This shard was then passed over to the Argan Empire by Emi after he and Ateim steal it from Kris, Emzel, and Ren. This shard is stolen back by Kris after its use in the second multiversal Transit, but is soon-after destroyed in her next encounter with Emi. Once reunited, Emi and Kris get their hands on another shard from Maia after they discover her home on an Exoplanet. This shard is then used as a power source for Kris' power through-to and after the final fall of the Empire Desimun.