Stories in the Skies

"For example, even if I accept that you're right about Night, Day, Dusk and Dawn, what about the others? Why would Natural Light be deemed as above Heavenly Bodies? And why would a Constellation be beyond a Cosmos?"

"Are you doubting me? If I can give you an explanation for one of them, what makes you think I don't have explanations for the others?

"Much like the Four Seasons, Heavenly Bodies come in a lot of shapes and forms. There is nothing inherently special about them. Technically, the only difference between an asteroid, a moon, a planet and a star is in their mass, they all have the same beginnings, give or take a few differences.

"The Heavenly Bodies you're in awe of are an extraordinarily small portion of them. Most are useless hunks of rock with nothing special about them in the slightest. The fact their name is so grandiose and fantastical is almost a slap in the face of things that would truly be worthy of such names.

"Even a step further, just how easy is it to bend so-called Heavenly Bodies to your own whim? Your people of Earth could already terraform your planet and your moon, you could already excavate asteroids and strip them of their resources. And, though you couldn't form Dyson Spheres of your own yet, you've seen for yourself how possible such a thing is.

"There's nothing more special about it than Natural Light."

Leonel's brow furrowed. "But aren't concepts of night and day, not to mention the seasons, anchored to the existence of heavenly bodies? Aren't they contingent on their existence?"

"That right there is your main problem. You're conflating the Artistic Conception of something with its logical existence in the real world. That isn't the purpose of Universal Cycle comprehension."

"But aren't you doing the same thing to prove me wrong?"

"There's a subtle difference between what you and I are doing. I'm trying to frame things in a way you can understand, but my foundation is still the Artistic Conception. Your foundation, however, is whatever scientific understanding you have of these things.

"When I say the Four Seasons Realm is weak is because it's so fleeting and can appear in a myriad of different ways depending, you see it from the frame of science… The location of the planet, how far it is away from its star, its tilt, etc… However, I'm speaking of its Artistic Conception.

"Winter, to a myriad of people, represents different things. Many have never even seen snow before. Some have never seen anything but snow. Many more don't understand the mild transition of Spring or the slow death of Fall either.

"Because so many don't understand, the Artistic Conception lacks umph and ubiquitousness. However, there isn't a single person who doesn't understand what night and day is. Do you see the difference?"

Leonel's gaze flickered.

So this concept of Artistic Conception was far broader than he originally understood. It wasn't just about how he viewed things, but it was also important to grasp how others viewed it as well.

What gave the Universal Cycles power was the universe itself. Leonel's own perspective wasn't the most important here even though he became the conduit by which it took root and flourished. He had to look at things from the perspective of the whole.

Sparks flew within Leonel's Dreamscape. A vague line connecting Dream Force, Artistic Conception, his own thoughts and that of those around him threatened to erupt.

It felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, but he just didn't have enough information to grasp it. A small part of Leonel told him that had it not been for the vast increase in his computational power, the spark wouldn't have barely lit like this at all.

'This is actually so far beyond me…? I need more, more information…'

"Okay, I can see where you're coming from. It also makes sense that the Cosmos is beyond Natural Light. But what is it about Constellations? How could they be beyond the Cosmos? You said yourself that that stars are only different from planets in their mass, so how is an array of stars any different?"

Wise Star Order sighed.

"I think I preferred the silence more than I thought… I don't know what's so difficult to understand after I laid it all out."

Leonel had already deduced the answer, but that wasn't the point. He had deduced it but his spark didn't light and finish its loop, so he still had no idea what his Dreamscape was trying to tell him. The connection was still vague and sparking, but he just didn't have enough information. He was hoping that something Wise Star Order said could trigger the final jump.

"Just explain it."

Wise Star Order shook his head.

"For as long as life has existed, people have looked up at the skies. It didn't matter what stage of evolution they were at, reaching up was something everyone, regardless of race, gender or culture, strove after.

"Whether it was the most primitive of races all the way up to the most advanced, they all looked up.

"In the infancy of a world, they marked out their gods in the skies. They told tales about what they represented and drew their figures, bowing to them in worship.

"As a world grew, those tales would grow and evolve, often becoming related to a person's sense of self.

"Regardless of the world, the prevalence of religion would fade and right there to replace it would be a Spirituality no Race could seem to escape. Everyone wants to believe in something, even if it sometimes doesn't make sense to.

"Whenever people reach their end of their ropes, the stories in the skies would be there.

"A constellation is no longer about the stars that make them up, they represent something beyond that, the greatest of Universal Cycles, one that relied on a willingness to look up and go beyond."

Leonel's brows furrowed hard, but it had nothing to do with Wise Star Order's words… Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

'Those words were nice and poetic, old man. Unfortunately, they were absolutely useless.'

Leonel sighed, watching his Dreamscape spark fade away.