Rodentia Adventures

CHAPTER 20: DARKNESS AND LIGHT

"My son, what can you tell me about the thing called ethics?" the distant memory of his mother asked. She was beautiful, sleek, black and cruel. A creature that could inspire both intense love or intense fear, and absolutely nothing in between. 

"Ooh, ooh! I know!" Midnight chirped, looking up at the much larger feline, the kitten barely coming up to her chest. "That's stuff like being nice to folks and helpin' others!" 

"That's right." she smiled, her soft green eyes bathing him in a warm, luminous glow. "Now, why do people hold such principles?" 

"That's easy! Because they're all stupid!" 

"A good answer. Unfortunately, not a correct one." Twilight, mother of Midnight said. 

"Huh?" 

"That's an honest mistake, however. Most people make it. They believe that it is simply a misguided philosophy held by the weak. They are frightfully wrong. Ethics isn't simply a belief system. It is a disease." 

The dark grey kitten tilted it's head, its fur not taking on the full black of the family for some time later. He looked up to his mother, listening closely. 

"Have I ever told you about your father?" 

Midnight looked down at his paws. "No. Whenever I ask, you change the subject." 

"Yes. It's a difficult topic for me, but it's important that you know the truth. Your father, Dusk, was a great man. Strong, cunning, and a master of the dark element. He had no equal in combat, and no woman could resist his charms, myself included. I was honored to stand at his side, as he killed and terrorized and dominated as he pleased. 

"One day, however, on a day like any other, the strangest thing happened. He found himself injured in a fight against a neighboring cat. Nothing serious, just a few scratches, compared to the rival who was forced to limp home in defeat. He looked down at his scraped paw, and an odd expression came over him, and he said 'It hurts. I don't like this sensation'." 

Midnight listened, enraptured. 

"This was such an unusual thing to say. Of course, nobody likes pain! He said this as though it were some grand revelation on his part. He'd been hurt before, far worse than this, so what had changed? That's when he asked the question, that one horrible question which would one day destroy him: 'why am I doing to others, what I hate to have done to me?'." 

"No way..." 

"That isn't so bad in itself. There is a certain logic to it. Self preservation is everything, after all, and by not harming others, you encourage them to not harm you, and thus you keep yourself safe, right? It's ultimately a selfish belief, and it would have been fine had it simply ended there. Unfortunately, it never does. 

"Pragmatism turns quickly into empathy. Before you know it, it is no longer about simply making your own life easier, it's about wanting to actually alleviate the suffering of others, because in a strange and increasingly literal way, you now feel their suffering yourself. Then, it begins to work in reverse. You actively wish to make others happy, and derive joy from it. Simple acts of kindness and generosity at first, where you just give a little, but that is a slippery slope as well. Eventually, you cannot give enough, and you don't even require the thanks or appreciation of others. The very concept, the very idea of making someone, even a stranger happier, is all that it takes! Eventually anything that you have, no matter the value, is worthless compared to that addiction that you so urgently need to sate. 

"Then came that fateful day. There was a fire. One of those stupid human machines malfunctioned in the middle of the night, and next thing we knew, the entire house was filled with smoke. I carried you to safety, and waited outside for my husband to return. He lead one of the humans to safety, but then? Then he ran back inside. The flames were spreading, the black smoke covered everything, as he lead the humans out one by one, finishing with the youngest. Only then did he return to our side, where he collapsed.