THE FALL OF RHEA
“Lady Rhea! Can you hear me?”
She fell and fell.
Despite being identical to a human, a Bringling is not such a fragile thing for they are protected by the technologies of their ancestors. Forgotten technology that still serves them. And it is for this reason that the perils of mortal man mean nothing to a Bringling. They can, for instance, survive in the vacuum of space.
And a Bringling would have nothing to fear if not for the same technology that can also take life. That and the technology of the Gudites.
Rhea's wish stone hovered mere centimeters from her chest and gave a distressing glow prompting Minah to continue her petition: "...Our people... We need you, Lady Rhea!..."
Falling with the Bringlings was every type of object that you would expect to be produced from a massive space war and destruction of two planets. Everything plus Minah – Rhea’s bound Whysan companion. Minah attempted to wake her Rhea:
“Lady Rhea! Wake! Lady Rhea! You Must Awake!”
Rhea was roused by her pleas. She opened her eyes.
“Minah…” She reached for her bloody temple which Minah was already soothing.
“I failed to kill him. And I am spent.”, Rhea lamented with tears
“No, Milady, he is dead for sure. Khaedus confirmed it!”
“Then... why are we still here?” Rhea's eye’s widened.
“I cannot say. But look! Our world has ended! Look at the plight of our people! Even now they sail into oblivion!”
Rhea took stock of the situation. Screaming Bringlings tumbling through the aether, fiery mountains smashing into each other, hot dust clouds and rocky spray and above all the dead… billions and billions of the dead formed a maelstrom of tragedy.
“I can’t save them as I am now. I haven’t the power.”
“Your wish stone Lady Rhea!”
Rhea: "I cannot release that power by command, the stone itself must do so at the moment of resolution, which despite all I believed is NOT this moment."
More pause and facing the immensity of the situation…
“It has to be ‘consumption’”
“Lady Rhea, no, it will end you in this universe!”
“It must be done, Minah. For I am not the destroyer of the Gud but the savior of the Bringlings… it must be done.”
With that she spoke the words to disable all safety from her spells:
“Eee a noh shee a no nine nin” (see my plight , oh spectre)
“Tay u nigh veh a zo hine nin” (know my need, oh spectre)
“Kree za are tey o fa rine nin” (respect my right, oh spectre)
“Aug usk do fee a zo zine nin!” (release my power, oh spectre)
“CON-SUMP-TION!”
Power surged through Rhea’s body. From her an aura shown--not a light any mortal had seen--its color could not be described. It was called the ‘hue of light’. To all who saw it hope returned and yet the saying “that which burns twice as bright…”
Rhea was no longer injured and sluggish but full of power and vigour for the moment.
Her first command transferred a small portion of her power to all the living Bringlings: “RE-STORE!”
She shouted through the void of space itself “Summon they who follow!”
Tossing and tumbling Bringlings suddenly became righted in orientation and direction. They were quickly attracted to Rhea’s position. Only a few thousand still lived.
“We have lost so many, Lady Rhea! So Many”
Minah’s laments did not break Rhea’s focus. She commanded: “I call upon you Maezir!” in a flash of light her spear ‘Maezir’ appeared. She took it into her hands and flung it into the largest asteroid burying it deep inside.
Rhea commanded “Scorch my Maezir!” – the spell was the strongest she had cast and seemed to drain her aura.
To the boulder nothing happened for a while. Slowly little rumbles grew. Cracks started to form on the surface and then a huge lava plume exploded, then another and another… lava started to pour all over the surface and the mountainous regions sank until the entire body was a hot ball of molten lava.
Rhea slowed her Bringling followers and came to orbit the tiny planetoid of lava.
Rhea unsheathed her rapier ‘Zaphier’ which fired many tiny energy bolts from its point hitting nearby asteroids. The asteroids became attracted to Maezir, and eventually they fell into the lava core. She then commanded the capable to assist and bring more material to the growing hot sphere.
Hours passed and the little core wasn’t so little anymore. Rhea signaled to all to stop the bombardment. She adopted a meditative stance. The surface cooled and aged millions of years in mere minutes as Rhea's aura drained and drained.
She bade her people be patient and descended to the surface of the new planet. Striking the rocky surface with gret force she slid many meters. Her unprotected bare feet left a bloody trail as her aura was now beginning to show obvious signs of weakness.
“I call upon you Maezir!”
Maezir rent itself from the earth with great force unsettling stone and soil. Rhea regarded the massive exit wound of Maezir which formed a large rocky embankment and a cavernous ravine; to herself she said: "A happy accident in this day of unfortuned calamity..."
Rhea walked to the top of an embankment leaving bloody footprints. By some sorcery in her blood the steps left red impressions in the stone like she walked on damp clay. “The last steps of Rhea” she said. "It will now be for others to bleed for our People"
She took into her hand the wish stone that hovered at her breast.
She held the wish stone to her clenched forehead trembling with energy she spoke to it, “I have grown tired and can no longer be your hero. I would give you, but I have no heirs. Restore to us our ability to reproduce and flourish and in reciprocity I will surrender our immortality... And I will surrender my time on this plane. Do this and a successor will be born one day and your wish will have a new and stronger hero.”
Some time passed.
The ground in front of her trembled and cracked and a great ark pushed through. The ark was ornate with a transparent triangle on the top where from a higher view one could see the contents: clay. Then the wish stone lit the entire planet and sky with great energy. Plumes of steam started to vent from everywhere… Clouds formed, rain fell, rock turned to soil, the air became warm and the wind gave way from a smell of sterile minerals to an aroma of rich soil. Plants burst from the earth at a fantastic speed filling every nook and cranny with flora. And within the flora sounds could be heard of animals playing, fighting, mating and dying. The ark now sat overlooking a large lake (formerly a dusty ravine).
Rhea swung Maezir upon the ark, splitting it down a diagonal. The clay oozed from the broken artifact and flowed into the lake below.
She addressed her many Bringling followers who still rested in orbit looking down on the deeds of their beloved leader Rhea.
“These now are the spawning grounds for our bringling people for the immortals of this world are now gone forever. Live on through your children.”
Rhea struggled to stand. She pushed Maezir's tip into one of her bloody footprints and held Maezir's shaft for stability.
“I give new celestial bodies to light this planet, signal the time of our spawning and preserve the core tenants of our Bringling heritage.”
A volcanic moon formed from orbital debris. Seas of lava heaved on his surface and lit the sky like a pseudo-sun.
“Observe Marshalstra, Moon of the body and preserver of our martial heritage.”
A second moon twice as large formed in another hemisphere of the heavens. Upon the moon many fantastic radioactive crystals bathed the night sky in an eerie green light.
“Observe Madjikstra– the moon of the mind. Preserver of our magical arts”
And finally a 3rd much smaller moon formed. Dark and reddish and too small to maintain a spherical shape. Rhea pondered this moon the longest
"Behold Kardia. The moon of the heart. That which we–", her voice broke in sorrow,"failed to preserve… our ignorance... sent us into this hell." She pondered again. "Any words on this are lost to you, you will just have to find the purpose of this moon yourselves."
“I give you my worthy Kastron cousins to rule as regents of the universe. For you have no need of a successor today, but when that day comes – for our tasks as Bringlings are not satisfied – she will be foretold by a light shone down from the great conjunction of the three moons.”
Then Rhea said without projecting: "And YOU. Don't think I don't know you are there, Khaedus."
A puff of smoke erupted and a Whysan stood atop Maezir. He leapt to Rheas side and gave aide as she transferred her weight from Maezir.
"Edus dead? You are sure of this?", Rhea asked dwindling
"I saw to it myself, milady. I pushed him towards the crucible. He grabbed me and attempted to pull me into the inferno with him. Then came your final attack, he released me laughing like the crazed man he was. I know not why. I teleported to safety the moment before he was obliterated. I have no doubt he is gone.", Khaedus confessed.
"You are a most worthy Whysan, my Khaedus. It pains me to make another great ask of you."
"No ask from you will ever dampen my Whysan enthusiasm to serve you! Especially at this moment of need."
"Very well then. Watch first:",
She consumed the last bits of her strength and balanced back to her own feet, pulled Maezir from the ground and held him in a throwing stance at a forty-five-degree angle. The spear tip dripped with clay and blood.
"I release you from my summon, my Maezir. Sleep in the earth and one day accommodate the one who will bring my successor", She flung Maezir over the horizon with the last bit of her aura.
"Find where Maezir lands, Khaedus, I know you have the magic to do so. Watch over and protect that spot. You and your heirs. Someday one in your line will see the creation of my successor. Make them Bring her to the Kastron's so they may guide her in her ascension... I pray it is her choice to destroy the Gud as I could not."
Khaedus bowed deeply and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Rhea took a moment to regard her work and lament her life. She watched as Bringlings were beginning to make planetfall like thousands of shooting stars.
"My heir, I have given you a heart to follow without condition. It is YOU who must choose to be my successor or leave that task for another. This universe be damned. I give no condition because it is wrong to yolk a child with the ambitions of her parent as was done to me by my father. With your heart choose, and you will choose wisely."
She turned to stone.
Minah softly landed from the sky and wept at her former master's feet.
The Bringling people later named their new homeworld 'Rheashan.'