13. The Evening Star | Beyond The Firmament: Tales From The Cosmos

Beyond The Firmament

Tales From The Cosmos

 13. The Evening Star

Da Vaada held out his left hand and Udamu went silent. There was a red stain on the beautiful cosmos that had once been a sister to Teyra, and he mourned it. A deep regret had filled his heart. Not regret as you and I understand it, but as it was once understood: A great sorrow for the loss or absence of something pleasant.

Once again, Onárstil stood before throne, shielding his face not from reverence but from shame.

"What have you to say?"

"Let me try again."

"That is all?"

"I can do better with a new world."

"You were given one."

"Then give me another."

"You have one. It is yours. Return to it."

"So I can gaze upon your perfect world?"

"You were the Morning Star, seen before the Sun rises. Mars will shine brightly as the Sun sets, so that it shall be seen before sleep and remembered in dreams."

Onárstil's hidden face no longer carried shame, but anger, "I do not want it!"

"It. Is. Yours."

Onárstil left the throne and returned to Mars. The planet's firmament had been all but destroyed, so he could see into the far reaches of spaces and the first thing he saw was Teyra, bright and blue and still full of life. 

His own light had dimmed from his festering rage, which only served to make Teyra all the brighter and for the first time, he was cast in shadow.