CONJUNCTION'S EVE
On the eve of the great conjunction many things were already coming together.
For one thing all the various couples living in the various huts near the lake of spawning
performed the ancient love act prolifically. It was a vestigial act
but still fun.
A magical klaxon sounded signaling the start of things.
Then the night gave to first dawn when the marshal moon eclipsed the horizon
and ignited itself with volcanic activity. The crowd cheered as fire and rock
spewed forth from millions of kilometers away. The moon became even
brighter as the deserts and valleys of the planet slowly became oceans of lava
and lakes of fire.
The first sign that this was the day of fertility had presented itself
The ceremonies would soon begin. A large and excited crowd gathered on a
grassy knoll across the lake from Rhea's statue. Bringlings not present to
procreate per ce still enjoyed the party as they wined and dined on picnic
blãnkets. Whysan servants used their magic to fulfill every Bringling desire and
banish any scarcity of enjoyment.
Amongst the premium cabanas on the grassy knoll it seemed some had still
not completed the love act portion of the ceremony, or perhaps they were
being extra careful to follow the traditions.
Before Rhea's statue and behind the broken ark now laid a throne of marble--the successor's throne.
It had laid empty since the 2nd war of the Gud. And this chair was
what the actual highly contested prize any who attended fertility day with more ambition than simply having a child. If the moonlight of the three shone on a baby girl on
This day SHE would be the new ruler of the Bringlings... she would be destined
to inherit Rhea's power and become the hope to end this world
of Resolution so all may return to paradise.
In the long years Bringlings waited for a successor there was a little
conflict over those who sat on the flanking thrones those being for the king
and queen regents.... the ones who ruled as they waited for Rhea's heir. Presently Vallus and Regina Kastron assumed that power.
A new light pierced the skyline and that was the light of (2nd mood). Her light
was made from radioactive crystals that glowed a bright blue on this day alone.
The crowds cheered as this meant the ceremony could now begin. Maids cast off their clothes and gave their final affections to their lovers and then started to wade into the water
grasping for the clay of life. Most took a while for spells did not work in this
water.... one found it right away and shouted "Destiny" The others did not like
this and hastened their search.
The 3rd moon Kardia heaved from its slumber and began its fast
travel towards its destiny with her siblings. Her facade now just a glowing
ember of green during the time of the festival she actually emitted less light.
More cheering occurred as this meant the great conjunction was on hand.
All the maids had found adequate patches of clay. They worked furiously to
mold clay into baby figurines. Some fared better.... others had hands fall off and their
work sometimes just turned to mush.... if the process didn't flow the little one
usually simply reverted back to regular clay and fell into the lake to be molded
another day breaking the heart of the maid by in a way saying "Try again next
Year"
Then another klaxon from the heavens rang out and all molding stopped.
The maids held their creations to the sky and a great pulse of energy came
from the two moons bathing all in an additive light that is hard to understand. And when they brought their hands down from on high they no longer held clay but stone babies.
Trina fell to the ground. Terrified she reached for her treasure .... it was not soft anymore, but it was there.... hardened to stone just like the rest she witnessed. She now understood how Bringlings
reproduce for the first time. Or at least how little baby statues were made.
Maids left the waters and ran to their lovers and husbands. After sharing
affections the maid would gently hand the new statue to her mate, and he
would sit and ponder the little idol for some time. Often looking at the
Dawny sky for inspiration.
On the paradise of Rheashan much meaning came from the heavens. Because
Kardia was not fully lit and the other moons were not bright enough every
celestial body in the night sky was visible and to the Bringlings each star,
comet and constellation represented a different virtue.
Trina's attention darted from man to man. She listened at great distance
using a tele-auditory spell... technically not allowed but her curiosity was her master
at this moment.
In each case the father would wait for the stone baby’s eyes to open.
Then each would speak unique words.
"You will take from me my virtue of strength, and you will protect the things of
our family.... I tell you to follow Hagi the star of they honest, and you will serve
your fellow bringling ... Wander, my lad. for we are of Zathos the comet god and
are destined to discover all the wonders of this great universe and one day
perhaps also that of the previous life..."
Each man in turn told the stone baby what to take from him, which celestial
virtues to follow and how to live his life then the life giving moment would
Come.
Then the babies eyes would close and their mouths would open.
Each man would softly kiss the lips of his stone baby and gently exhale.
The object would change from the statue and the earthen tones would fade to flesh tones .... The stone would begin to soften and make little twitching
movements. Now soft and fleshy, the lungs would fill and the baby came to
life. he withdrew his kiss and then handed a crying, moving and living baby to his mate for soothing.
Wails of joy could be heard all over the ceremony grounds. A new generation
now made its way in this universe and the Bringlings continued themselves.
Trina panicked. She realized the stone likeness in her satchel would stay
that way if she didn't find a man to bring it to life. “Just when I finally thought they were useless” She thought.
In the stupidity of her panic she ran through the grounds looking for a man.... she fixated on one gentleman without a baby but was scared away by the painful looks of one of the woman
who had just experienced a disastrous clay miscarriage.
On she ran. feeling the hardened body of her baby bouncing in her satchel...
then... something felt wrong.... the shape was wrong... in full view of the festival
she withdrew it in a panic and all who saw gasped! It was not a
baby but a sphere three baby faces.
A silent unease passed.
Then one man rather deliberately said, "Abomination" And this one word
triggered the crowd into a frenzy. Women screamed and men approached
aggressively as if to take and smash her statue.
She put her stone thing back in her bag and turned to run but a stranger grabbed her by the
arm and more surrounded her. With a craze in their eyes men rummaged
through her bag and women began beating her and pulling her hair. One man
finally took the bag and he and others ripped it to shreds and there was
nothing inside.
"What sorcery is this?" "Give all Seek!" he proclaimed and he and all around were
given super human sight for a moment... the world they saw looked blue and
plain except for the thing they sought which to them shown as a blindingly red
light. It sat there on a persons hand ... being held quite gently by a Whysan
wearing a black coat with medium length flaxen hair squatting as if out of
danger.
"There! He has it! Give us the idol, Whysan!"
"I don't think I will. I don't think you people will make very good parents"
Bringlings didn't like being spoken to like that from a mere Whysan and his
words only served to increase their vile attitude.
"Now come here girl. I know just how to save your baby"
"I can't get away, he has my arm"
"but you have his hand", Trina and the arresting man both looked down where
he 'held' her and gasped. True he had her arm in his hand, but his hand was
now cleanly cut off. He wailed and backed into the angry bunch now only
concerned for his own health.
Trina made a run for it and the Whysan joined her.
"I was worried about this." They ran together as throngs of more Bringlings
joined the mob.
"The pit you fell into is a forbidden fertility pit of Rhea... usually it makes
things go wrong, but maybe I can help you. Will you let me help you?"
"But the crowd", they will kill us"
"I can handle them..." The Whysan stopped... they had about 5 seconds of lead over
the naked throngs trying to chew them up. "You want this?" He held the stone
heads as high as his arm allowed displaying it to the angry crowd... "HERE!"
He threw the stone heads up in the air with
full force. it flew so high that it had to have been magically assisted.
The mob surrounded but did not harass the escapees any further. Their
attention was focused completely in the air, waiting for the three head to fall so
they could destroy it.
“Close your eyes”, The Whysan said to Trina
Trina screamed and mashed her eyes shut.
The head exploded in such a bright combustion that the up looking crowd
became temporarily blinded and groped for counter spells to heal their eyes.
At that moment thousands of heads identical to Trina's stone baby began to
rain from the sky, rolling on the ground, plumping in the mud disappearing in
the tall grass and sometimes conking people in the head.
The crowd began to crawl on the ground seeking these decoys and destroying
as many as they could as soon as they could all while the Whysan took Trina's
hand and made a run for it down a beaten path.
Looking back the Whysan laughed as a still blinded man grabbed one of the spheres and attempted to smash it over another bald man’s head thinking it to be another stone
"You destroyed it!!" Trina said
"Destroyed what?" As he pulled her at top speed with his left hand The whysan
held out his right hand and without looking the stone baby head sailed right into his Palm.
He then tore part of Trina's dress from a place that would not compromise
modesty and wrapped the artifact in cloth and handed it back.
"I am Ghaedus descendent of Khaedus bound whysan of Rhea. It is my great honor to serve you, Lady Trinadon, for the light of worthiness has shone upon you. I will do all I can to save you and your baby."
He summoned a gondola and they zoomed to safety.