View source for Chiaroscuro (Dark Endymion)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2015/12/19
|Location=The Dark Kingdom
|Synopsis=“A candle can't cease the darkness, the fear that it may extinguish is itself dark. Adapt to darkness and there will be no darkness within.” 

― Tushar Chauhan
|Cast of Characters=38
|Tinyplot=Consign Me Not to Darkness
}}
<blockquote>"The study strengthens the evidence that dark energy is the cosmological constant. Although it is the leading candidate to explain dark energy, theoretical work suggests it should be about 10 raised to the power of 120 times larger than observed. Therefore, alternatives to general relativity, such as theories involving hidden dimensions, are being explored." (1)<blockquote>

Endymion frowned, placing his tablet on the annoyingly ornate desk he'd been provided. He turned to his whiteboard and shoved his hands in his pockets, surveying the equations he'd jotted down and the notes he'd been scribbling in the margins he'd created for some reason. Yes, darkness was the natural state; yes, the universe isn't at all static; yes, leading theories ran that dark energy was something like repulsive gravity, and that it actively hampered the development of superclusters by shoving bodies away from each other even as they were drawn to each other. And the expansion of the universe was accelerating. It ''had been'' slowing, but it seemed that the increase in distance from the expansion was matched by an increased ratio of vacuum to matter, and converted more and more of the energy inherent between bodies to dark energy, increasing the repulsion of those bodies...

And the Dark Kingdom's conversion of energy on Earth to dark energy was an active thing, no doubt slated to increase to more and more of the universe once Earth was wholly conquered, moving from Sol to nearby stars and swallowing them, and there on to larger and larger goals. 

But the more they caused acceleration in galactic expansion, the more energy expenditure it would take to reach those goals, as the goals would grow ever more distant the more they achieved. They'd be swimming in it even more than they did now, with the percentage of the universe that was already dark energy-- but Endymion's calculations proved that at a certain point, the distances involved would outstrip the amount of dark energy present, even if they both increased exponentially.

It seemed horribly inefficient in the long term. Perhaps his Queen was unaware of the problem, or perhaps infinite conquest was not the actual goal-- after all, she'd only instructed him to protect her, love her, and kill those who stood in her way, and had stated that their true victory would be over those that tried to stop their Kingdom. In the long run, it would be the Dark Kingdom itself that stood in the way of her acquisition of power, and the Dark Kingdom itself that tried to stop its advancement.

"When seeking power, its acquisition begets the need for more," he said to the stagnant air, voice troubled. Perhaps it was not Beryl-sama whose will ultimately directed their efforts.

Endymion pushed his glasses up on his face, frowning more deeply.

Deep within the darkness gripping his heart and keeping his soul in a chokehold, a light burned insistently, rent and scored by the battle that had buried it there. It was patient. It would wait. It would keep faith, unafraid of being extinguished, for it was not alone. As it slept it idly kept watch, noting down patterns and proclivities, observations and actions. When it awoke, it would be cloaked in darkness itself, able to seed camouflaged impulses that if followed, would invite more light. It would take time. It would wait. It was patient.

In the meantime, the calculations unsettled the servant of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl's prince, Endymion.

But perhaps he was wrong. He took the eraser to the board and began again.






'''(1)''' [http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/08_releases/press_121608.html]