Uploaded: 02 July 2013
Last Edited: 25 July 2013
The Star of Avalon, noted as being the brightest star in the sky, is visible from every world in every universe--so the scholars say. It is the thing that all worlds have in common. They also say that the goddess Avalon can look out from that star and see everything.
Before the creation of men and spirits and demons and all else that flits about the universes, there was only the goddess Chaos. Dark and formless, she contained everything and nothing, and from her came the twin gods Cyrus and Hyram. Light and Darkness. Soon after, The Mother, Chaos, gave birth to a third child, Avalon. Avalon's birth caused her mother's body to break and her spirit to shatter, and from those pieces came the creation of the worlds along with a host of lesser spirits.
It is said that Avalon was born laughing.
Now Cyrus saw the confusion that was caused by the death of his mother, and so decided to bring order to the worlds. He called together every creature and spirit with the purpose of finding them a place and a duty. But Avalon did not come. Cyrus and Hyram noticed her absence, so Cyrus said to his brother:
"Go find our sister, that she may be given her place amongst these."
Hyram left The Sorting to search for his sister.
He found her roaming the orchards of a distant world, quite unconcerned with any decree of her brother's. Hyram caught her and said:
"You know that our brother, Cyrus, has ordered all the spirits to assemble so that they may be sorted and given tasks according to their skills, and that it is also required of us, as gods, to be present."
Avalon gave no response but laughter, and pulled herself away from her brother. Hyram grew angry and demanded that Avalon return with him, but she only laughed again and ran from him, forcing Hyram to chase her.
They were worlds away when he caught her once more. And once more, Hyram demanded that she come to The Sorting. This time Avalon answered his demands:
"Cyrus is a fool is he thinks he can impose order. All things came from our mother, Chaos, and chaos cannot be held by any means. It may be held for a time, but not forever. They harder it is reigned in, the long it will take to arise, but it shall return stronger than before. Cyrus is a fool."
And she laughed again.
Hyram saw that he could not get his sister to return with him, so he went to Cyrus and reported what she said.
When Cyrus heard the words of his sister he grew worried. He thought, perhaps, his sister meant to rise against him. There were other spirits who shared her opinions--that refused their tasks or failed to attend their sorting.
"Exalted brother," He said. "It is a sad task, but we cannot allow our sister to carry on in this manner. She must submit herself to order or she must die."
Hyram agreed and the two set about searching for Avalon.
Avalon, however, had been warned of their plan, and fled across the universes, far from their reach, and locked herself within a star. There her brothers could not reach her, but neither could she escape of her own accord.
Cyrus, furious that his sister was out of reach, turned on those who followed her to ensure that she would never be set free. These were the demons, as Cyrus named them, lovers of chaos and discord.
Now the demons rose against the two gods, intent on setting Avalon in their place, but they were too few. The ones who were not slain in battle were taken by Hyram and tossed into the void--outside of time and space. Some returned to Cyrus and submitted themselves to his rule, but a few escaped and hid themselves amongst the worlds. Even fewer avoided capture.
It was this, along with a death and a painting that had Sewell in country of Novavöske, in the province of Odense, in the city Constanceburg, on a hilltop, in the temple of Cyrus with Sable, the artist.
Sewell could not have seen all of those events leading up to this moment, but it was something Sable had always seen. She beamed up at him, finally able to see the real version of the moment. Sewell kept turning the locket over in his hands--such a precious item. He ignored the tugging on his sleeve.
Sable stopped tugging and started rocking, hands behind her back, from her toes to her heels. Toes, heels. Toes, heels. Toes.
Sewell caught her wrist and held her still.
"What is it that you want?"
Sable blinked at him.
"What is it?"
Sewell pulled her forward. She tried to pull away, but she couldn't. She was too small and his grip was too tight. She continued to struggle even as Sewell yanked her forward again. He leaned toward her, almost snarling.
Humans were frail.
Sewell loosened his grasp but still held her firmly. Sable stopped squirming.
"Now," He tired forcing a gentler voice. "What do you want?"
She mouthed something. Sewell read it as:
To leave.
He let her go, but the artist didn't leave. He waited. She stood by him, cradling her wrist. He moved toward the exit. She followed. Sewell looked down at the locket, then pocketed it.
"You know when I'm leaving?" She nodded. "Then be there."
He turned and strode out and Sable smiled as he left.
