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"In the heart of the Crystal they had made a trap for light, a net of crystal and golden mirrors. They caught the light that had passed through the Great Crystal, the light that fell to the Lake of Fire deep within the World. They placed carved mirrors into the beam of light, they shone it into the Chamber of Life. For nine hundred and ninety-nine trine and one trine they had made ready, from the moment they arrived until the moment of the next Great Conjunction. The Three Suns moved over the Great Crystal, the Eye looked down, and the shining mirrors of the urSkeks sent a path of trapped light throught the chamber. Then one by one in a long procession, they walked into its brightness." "They entered the bright light each as a single being; but as they left the path of light, each had become two: to the left, the Skeksis; to the right, the urRu. The Great Division of the urSkeks had been achieved." "On that day, the Harmony of the World shattered. The Skeksis woke from the shock of division, and they woke full of violence and anger. They stormed into the Crystal Chamber staggering with the strain of their new bodies, grasping each other in order to stand yet hating each other's touch. There was a loud argument, they stuck blows, on hit the Crystal. A shard broke form the Crystal and flew up the shaft, out onto the mountainside. And the light left the Crystal."
"The Skeksis held the castle; the urRu fled when the Harmony was broken. They were filled with sadness, and made their way to the Valley of the Stones. There they could shelter and meditate concealed. They chose that twisting valley, home of mists, for that it resembled the world they had left to come to us; water flowed from abundant springs, caves filled the rocky slopes. They made it fit for their use. I helped, I chose stones and guided the stones to allow themselves to be shaped. There the urRu made stone circles of power, the framework of the valley, everlasting protection." "Within that protection I learned what the great design of the urSkeks had been, through woven knots, through chants of prayer. They had hoped that by submitting themselves to the light of the Crystal they would purify their divided selves, that everything in them that was less than perfect would be burned away. They had not understood the balance of their souls; they had thought there could be light without darkness, stillness without motion. Instead of perfection thay had achieved division, dark from light, force form virtue, Skeksis from urRu." "I learned in dreams that the urSkeks had been outcasts in their former world, where no evil was tolerated even when mixed with good. Their stars showed me their full name, the Fallen urSkeks, and I think they were driven out, they were hated so deeply; but to them I always spoke of their departure as if they had left freely." "But the Skeksis felt no grief, triumph rather, for in the castle they reigned in glory. The darkness of the Crystal seemed to them an eternal refreshment. And in their first days they still shone with a fire that could deceive the eye, dazzling like flame on sharp-edged swords, full of daring wit and bold experiment, but with ice at their hearts and a thirst for blood and darkness. Yet their speech was still like music, their ways enchantment. They knew the best of all arts the skill of flattery."
Text from The World of the Dark Crystal by Brian Froud,
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