Okasus

Along with the many great and terrible things that rushed into the Grid at the end of the Golden Times came many daemons. And like the griefers, the Lindens, avatars, and the Ony, they clamoured for supremacy across the land. Most were harmless, indeed, even friendly. Some, however, were true nightmares.

Perhaps none were greater than the one who came to be known as Okasus. Okasus, the Blue Devil.

Okasus was its name. Sheathed in deep metallic azure armor (or perhaps that is its skin?) and coated in sharp spikes and plates, it spits yellow fire in all directions while it flies across the world silently for purposes unknown, but likely evil. And all the while, it gazes upon the world and its victims with a single piercing cycloptic blood eye. Poor souls caught in its path are frozen at the sight of it, rooted as Okasus soundlessly glides towards them.

It wanders the land feeding upon the spirits and souls of those unfortunate to cross paths with this loathsome devil. It lurks in the shadows and out of sight. Only the ominous and unyielding red glow of its gaze is warning of its presence. For some it is the last sight they see before they leave this plane of existence, driven into oblivion as their enternal soul is forever devoured by the Blue Devil itself. Few have been lucky enough to witness it and survive, and those usually only because a dear friend was taken, occupying it long enough to allow escape.

In those days, Okasus ran with abandon and fed as it pleased and it became a scourge so much that towns became deserted for fear of the daemon swooping upon them. A swath of death and terror swept across the land and people wailed to Nunchuck, pleading Nhim to intervene and destroy this meance and fulfill his promise that that Nher people, the grievers, would prosper and never die out. They prayed seventy thousand two hundred and nine nights and seventy thousand two hundred and eighteen days for Nhis intercession.

It came to be that Nunchuck could not bear to bear witness to this sadness any longer and so from the heavens Nhe struggled with what to do with Okasus. Okasus was a progeny of his own creation, made from the code Nhe had conquered and made Nher own and so Nunchuck did not want to obliterate Okasus from the Grid. However, it could not be allowed to run unchecked upon the land for to do so was to invite a dead grid. In the end, he decided to bless one of Nhis people with inspiration, with which to bring downfall upon Okasus and relieve the land and the inhabitants.

There came to be that upon the grid an avatar. His name was Kaabon. Kaabon lived in a small village in the middle of somewhere, and he was a complete and utter coward. Kaabon had never ever left his village before and was terrified when merchants came into town and sold their wares. He did not mind this existence, because he did not care for anything outside his village and thus his fright of the unknown acted as reinforcement. He was content to live his existence in his quiet house surrounded by his fellow neighbors.

Kaabon lived a very unfulfilling life and he was always sad, but he never knew why. At night he would kneel on the floor and implore Nunchuck, “Why hath thou ignored thy plea? What is the cause beneath my sorrow??” Only he wished he could say that, because he was too timid to challenge Nunchuck in such a prayer. He was afraid his entire life was a waste and a blot upon the earth. His only reason for existence as he reckoned it to be was to continue to serve as the box pusher. Pushing a box from here to there, all day long, was his job. It was hard, thankless, and meaningless labour. He only wished he had some higher purpose.

One fine July day, Kaabon sighed and looked forlornly up at the pure blue sky. Not a single cloud marred it, and Kaabon grew sorrowful that such a nice day should be marred by his sadness. He was so deep in thought that he never saw the bus coming, and before he knew it, he was dragged for a mile and his entrails squished across the asphalt, blood flowing viscously into the sewer drains. It was very sad. The warehouse where he had worked was especially sad because now no one was there to push the boxes and no one wanted to do it. They all cursed Kaabon for getting himself squashed and inconveniencing everyone. Thanks a lot, they would sneer.

Anyway, back to Okasus. Nunchuck heard Nhis peoples cries and finally came upon a plan. “NI shall send upon them a power, and that power shall be the ability to control the day and the night, the sun and the moon, so that they may set the times as they will and escape from the long nights where Okasus lurks.” And so it was done.

The avatars turned the night into the day when Okasus was thought to be upon them and so the vile creature was thwarted for a some time. However, like all evil it evolved in a fashion and soon attacks and deaths once again piled on the grid and people shook with fright. Once again Nher people begged for mercy and comfort and once again Nunchuck contemplated what to do with Okasus.

This time, Nhe decided to send a sign to King Farbun and that sign would show the way to defeat Okasus. In this dream, Farbun saw himself approaching a wall, and as he came closer to this wall it duplicated his very image. For many days Farbun pondered what could the strange reflecting wall was. Then one of his best scientists discovered what the crazed king was talking about.

“Oh, so you are talking about a mirror?” said the doctor.

“Oh, the things that are being discovered these days!” exclaimed the king. “Now we shall rejoice for I will be able to bask and admire my own image for ever and a day! A feast is in order.”

And so Okasus stalked on as Farbun proceeded to never leave his castle ever again.

Nunchuck then tried to gather the courage of Nher people so that they would band together and defeat and destroy (however unlikely that last one might be) Okasus. And so Nhe breathed into their lungs the powder which restored their bravery and caused hearts to become passionate. For a time, the avatars stirred with anger and justice and some called for hunting and killing the Blue Devil. For if it had the strength of one thousand men, surely one thousand and one men could overwhelm it and free the land from its scourge.

But talk is idle and their fright was too great. And as their hearts and souls stirred, too quickly did their minds reassert and they were just too scared. They were too scared and like Kaabon they were waiting in fear and sorrow even though any day the bus in the form of the Blue Daemon might run and devour them. They were paralyzed by fear and it was only a matter of time before everything was to collapse and panic and rioting to begin.s

Nunchuck was at Nhis wits end.

“If My People shall not defend themselves against this threat, and my intercessions are to no avail, then perhaps only My True Mightliness can hope to quell this monster,” Nhe said as Nhe stretched Nher playtisimuss (check muscle).

Nhe rocketed off and quickly found Okasus as it was hovering over a baby carriage whose mother had left it while she went to buy another pack of cigarettes. The baby slept soundly as Okasus drifted lazily towards it, prey that was too easy to capture yet simple nature drove it to take the innocent soul. Just as Okasus was about to ensare the soul of the infant, Nunchuck came in Nhis Glory came and pushed the carriage away from there, saving the newborn’s life. On a side tangent, that simple act led to the mother being unable to locate her child and the baby was picked up and placed in a foster home where it grew up a delinquent, having never known his parents. But then, he saw a late night television show on the merits of oncology and he cleaned up, graduated from Med school, and devised a cure for pancreatic cancer. But someone stole his research and he died nameless and poor. Well, poor for a doctor.

Nunchuck gazed upon Okasus, and at once he pondered why Nher people were so frozen with terror and fear. But then in Nhis heart Nhe remembered that they were just poor creations of Nhis, and would never possess the power and omnipotence of Nher Mightliness. They were Nher wards.

“Foul demon! Azure Devil! The One Who Lurks The Shadows! Come forth to Me and take account of thyself!” Nunchuck thundered. “Whence ye came, thou shall return to it and trouble Us no longer!” Nher voice bellowed across the land, and those in terror from Okasus and its presence were drawn to the spectacle. A crowd gathered and for once people saw the face of Okasus. Those who tried to see The Face of Nunchuck were blinded by Nhis Holy Light and they never saw anything ever again. Needless to say, there was a sudden rash of blindness in this village that year.

Okasus merely stared, and did not reply. It stood there eerily, never blinking, never waivering in any perceivable manner. To the people nearby, who could not perceive Nunchuck in their midst, and blindness striking those who could, it appeared as if Okasus were frozen into place. And yet they played a part in Nunchuck’s plan, for the presence of so many meals around it calmed Okasus and made it reasonable.

“Answer me, Crimson Eye! Or be destroyed without mercy!” Nunchuck grew ready to intervene in the highest way to save Nhis Grid. Nhis patience had run thin and out.

“Saintly and Mightly God, I only do what I must to survive. No more and no less. For if I stop feeding upon these spirits, I will surely die. Surely Thy All-Knowing knows this. I only wish for life in this grid of ours,” replied the monster, surely lying in the presence of Nunchuck so as to save its life.

“Then what place spawned you, such a creature? I must destroy such a nest before your friends and family overrun and destroy Nmy Work.”

“I am sorry, Lord, but I have no thoughts from my birth. Where I came is a question which eludes me. If it pleases Thyself, know that I believe myself to be the last and only of my kind, for I have roamed far and wide these past few years and yet never saw any comrade or mate.” And yet this beast did not shed a tear, stating everything mechanically and in even tones. Its stare remained fixed upon Our Most High King without Blindness striking it. It did not know of the Mercy being bestowed upon it, or if it did it showed no caring.

Nunchuck thought long and hard, for a very long time, although to us mortals it seemed as if a blink of an eye. And so Nhe rendered this decision.

“Oh Okasus, bastard of this world, your sins are numerous and yet I will show you mercy for you know not what pain and suffering you cause. Therefore, I shall make you ward over those avatars who souls are wicked and vile. I shall give you the fair judgement and authority as My Gift, and you shall cull those who, after they have derezzed, have shown to have lived a life contrary to My Teachings. And you shall take them and cause them much suffering for their spirits shall be as eternal as those in Vivenshia, and you shall never know hunger again. Doth this seem like a fair offer?”

“Indeed, My Lord, it does sound more than fair,” replied it, and so Nunchuck gave it authority to take those deceased avatars who have disobeyed Nhis Will into itself and never let them know respite. They never knew peace and joy ever again. And on occasion Okasus did indeed forget its promise, yet usually those it has taken have become a soul purer than white and sent to the highest towers of Vivenshia. Let it be known that as Nher Mercy is infinite even upon what is evil, Nhis Wrath upon those who hear but do not listen is equally without end, and when thy soul derezzes into the great afterlife, a Blue Demon waits for thee.