Part I - Before the World Learnt to Kneel

Have A Seat My Dear Friends and Noble Disciples

Let me borrow some of your time for a while, and Tell you the tale of a man who one conquered kingdoms and empires alike, outlived the wrath of his enemies, and became so beloved that the world stopped wondering if it had ever been free to begin with.

His name was Ryuk,

but before he was a legend, before he became a myth, before kings feared his name and children sang their prayers in his memory, he was a man living in a world that had mistaken living in suffering for its destiny.

I wonder, have you ever noticed how quickly humanity embraces its chains when they are made of its own fear, but defends them to the death when they are clothed in bright gold?

Ryuk had and he had watched as kingdoms crumbled beneath the impulsiveness of their own rulers, as innocent people died for the sake of foreign lands, and as the rich called their greedy ambitions destiny while the poor were told to call their suffering fate.

And somewhere between witnessing the world's cruelty and understanding its cowardice, Ryuk reached a conclusion that would shape the fate of the masses.

Humans did not lack the power to change their world, they simply lacked the courage to leave the world they knew so far.

So Ryuk set out to give them something new to believe in, something new to live for.

His first conquest was of people who had forgotten how to hope, a nation who had lost its will to even live, for Ryuk brought them food, justice, and peace to the lands that had known nothing but war. He did not ask their love, but he gave them reasons to offer it in masses.

When the neighbouring kings threatened his people, Ryuk cut their armies down and left their children alive. When his council called for blood, he offered his gracious mercy. And when his people asked why he had not slaughtered those who would have seen them all die, he said

"Because a man who can defeat his enemies has proven his power, but a man who can hold their lives in the palm of his hand and still resist the temptation to play God has proven himself stronger than his own darkness."

And so the words travelled farther than his armies ever did, until it seemed as if the whole world itself had turned to face him.

Villages carved his face into statues of gold, soldiers shouted his words into battle as if it were the bible itself, and mothers told their children to believe in a better world because one man had made it possible to dream of it.

But every coin has two sides,

and the more people were willing to place their faith and trust in him, the more they begin to think of themselves as unworthy of either.

They gave up thinking, believing that thinking was a privilage, and in doing so they gave up something far more valuable than even their own lifes, they gave up...freedom

They became servants of a doctrine that had enslaved them all under the banner of making their life easier. And Ryuk, who had set out to free them from living in a world of cruelty and suffering, found himself fascinated by something far more dangerous. He found that people were far more willing to hand over their freedom to those who convinced them that they had no need of it.

Years went by, and Ryuk's kingdom prospered. There was no war to drain his treasury, no famine to waste the grain, and no king to rob the people of their hard earned gold. By every metric the world knew, Ryuk had done what he had set out to do.

But the peace had made his people blind to the sacrifices that had been made in order to achieve it, and they no longer wondered if what they had was enough for them.

They only remembered the years before Ryuk and the endless suffering that had defined them, but they failed to remember that none of it would have been without him.

So, they made the final mistake of making him unquestionable

Perhaps that is when Ryuk began to betray them, for I doubt that he saw it as such. After all, when the world praises every choice you make, how long must you remain arrogant before you confuse your devotion with your wisdom? When billions call you righteous, when does it start to blind you to the fact that you have the power to define what is right and wrong for all who live within your reach? And when your people begin to worship you, do you have a duty to remind them that you are by no means different from them, or do you let them build a world around your words that makes you invincible?

Ryuk had an answer,
but before we get to that, let me tell you more of the man

For, he did not become a tyrant overnight, but rather set out to change the world like any other hero, only to find that the world rarely changes unless it is given a reason to change.

Perhaps that is what makes the tale of Ryuk so frightening and fascinating at the same time.

The most dangerous monsters are not born form malice, but rather the belief that they know what is best for those less enlightened than themselves

To Be Continued.


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