The crow perched on the branch of a dead tree and surveyed its surroundings: the animals grazing and the carnivores devouring them. It watched as the fruits fell from the trees onto the lush pastures, while observing the rest of the fruits that lay rotting on the ground, ready for their seeds to grow into strong trees. However, the number and proximity of the existing plants caused the lucky seeds that managed to absorb some nutrients from the soil to only grow to minuscule heights compared to a normal tree. The ancient trees had expanded their roots to such an extent that there was hardly any space left in the ground for the new plants that wished to reach the sun with their leaves.
A creak from the branch it was perched on jolted the crow from its thoughts, and reluctantly, it flew off. With its stomach demanding nutrients, it decided to head to a tribe of humans. It watched them with mocking eyes, for just like the day before; they continued to follow the same paths, performing the same activities in a constant battle with their fear of the unknown, preferring the security of routine.
It couldn’t help but feel pity for those limited creatures that used their food as work to keep themselves occupied and restrict their bubbles of reality to things they could manage. They minimized risks and denied the world with their labor, reducing it to their capacities so as not to collapse before the dizzying vastness of reality. They concerned themselves only with completing the infinite tasks that come with perpetuating their existence.
The crow felt sick watching them. Deciding it was better to ignore them, it headed to the place where they usually disposed of their dead. But when it arrived, the only corpse in sight was clean of flesh, while the worms, flies, and other parasites were leaving satisfied with their banquet consumed, having left nothing but meager remnants and their eggs. Meanwhile, the bones of the corpse were doomed to be used as fertilizer for the soil.
“Damn you, Kosmos!” the crow bellowed to the four winds.
Tired and irritated, for it wasn’t the first time nature had played a bad trick on it, the crow decided to fly off for a change of scenery, trying to ignore its hungry stomach. Thus began its journey in search of a place that offered true freedom. Like a rebellious child, it explored every place it went to, but all its inhabitants seemed to be tools content to follow the same flow that Kosmos dictated to all alike. And this continued in the same manner until the blue sky turned to darkness and the spectral lights of the stars shone over the Earth, proclaiming in their pale light the eternal dominion of death.
Illuminated by that spectral glow, the crow continued to soar through the skies in its search for that which can eternal lie. And when the green meadows turned into rocky mountains and these in turn into white dunes, a walled city from which great pillars of light emerged, piercing the skies, became visible on the horizon. The closer it got, the more prevalent it became the vision of aged and worn human bodies in their eternal torment, wandering the white sands aimlessly, with the desire for death etched on their faces.
Upon getting a better view of the city, it became apparent that within those titanic pillars of light, long silhouettes ascended toward the point where all the columns of light converged into an immense ethereal spiral: the moon, which seemed to be in a concave crescent. Observing the walls, the crow could see their monolithic structure made of polished stone, whose luster was not marred by the endless sea of filthy and noisy humans beating against the walls, hoping to be let in. The guards, from their towers, barely showed any interest in doing anything about it, only acting when someone managed to sneak into the city, as was the case with the poor wretch who was impaled by a javelin the moment he set foot inside.
Having seen the almost instantaneous reaction time of the guards, the crow decided not to risk it and opted to explore the surroundings, as the long journey had left it hungry. Fortunately, it didn’t have to search long to find its meal among the sea of wandering corpses. One in particular seemed on the verge of collapse at any moment due to dehydration, and fresh dead that still retained the soft warmth of their previous life were the crow’s favorite meal. Unable to fight its desires, it prepared for a feast. It twisted its neck completely backward, so its beak pointed toward its back; what once was its nape became its new face, adorned with a nacreous mask. The smooth and pure carving was only marred by three holes that revealed the darkness inhabiting the interior of that winged beast. Preparations complete, it dove down like a good scavenger and gorged itself on the freshly deceased corpse.
The joy, however, was short-lived as it was immediately interrupted by the sound of a sweet voice reverberating inside its head. The crow quickly moved the hole in the mask it used to absorb the man’s flesh and began to survey the entire perimeter around it. However, among the wandering bodies, it saw only one unusual thing in the white sands of death: a snow rabbit, whose tiny black eyes watched it intently.
“You have good taste,” exclaimed the voice in an insidious tone. “The body you are devouring in such a strange manner belonged to a failure, one who trusted so much in his innate abilities that he didn’t take life seriously enough. There is no better flavor than that brought by the potential wasted through arrogance and stupidity,” the voice added with marked sadism.
Silence returned to the crow's mind as the rabbit that had been staring at it began to hop, coming closer and closer. The crow noticed how the air around it was becoming increasingly heavy and remained steadfast, determined not to yield to that strange force. With furious eyes, it followed the rabbit, the only creature moving in that land frozen in time.
“Incredible!” expressed the voice that had returned to the bird's mind. “It’s the first time someone has resisted my power with such firmness and determination. But what intrigues me greatly is the fact that you came to this place voluntarily.”
The pressure around it was beginning to suffocate it; its body was faltering under such a force and threatened to collapse at any second. However, it resolutely refused to listen to its agonizing body and its warnings, opting instead to continue its resistance stubbornly, unwilling to submit to anyone.
The rabbit was now in front of it; its small body emitted such great power that the corpse the crow had been feasting on moments ago now lay reduced to a bloody pulp. Unfazed, the rabbit merely observed it with its tiny black eyes, which burned with a flame of an emotion it had never been exposed to in its entire life.
“Oh masked crow, what is your intention in this place? Do you merely wish to rob me of the food that rightfully belongs to me by divine right?”
The crow knew that, depending on its response, it would meet its fate at that very instant. Puffing out its chest in disdain for everything around it, and with a vociferous tone, it imposed its voice and objectives upon the world.
“I am in search of a place where I can escape the influence of Kosmos, but wherever I go I always see the same slaves governed by the instincts it created, and beings trapped in their routines for fear of dying. But the worst of its transgressions is the control it exerts over the food that takes me so much effort to obtain, sharing it among miserable vermin, insects, and with the earth itself!” Its tone was rising even more, becoming visibly more agitated and violent in its declarations. “¡Only I deserve to take absolute control over death and the food it provides! ¡It is a right that belongs to me by birth, and yet, Kosmos thinks differently, unfairly choosing to keep me from my dream amid jeers and laughter! This is why you find me here, stealing from your food supplies, like a common usurer.”
Having uttered the last of its daring and conceited words, the rabbit couldn’t help but ruminate over them with great interest. It understood how the crow felt, having to deal with the laws imposed by the gods was a common occurrence for every living being, but it had never occurred to it to express it in words. It felt as if that crow had unleashed millennia of emotions it had repressed, for that was the normality that no one questioned or thought could be changed. “Resignation”, that was the name of the first mask life had taught them to wear after all.
“I have heard and understood your desires, and I want to share a small discovery that may help you in your search. But first, I would like to know the name of the being who so fervently wishes to challenge Kosmos.”
With its body finally free from that oppressive sensation, the crow approached its interrogator with pompous confidence. Extending its wings to appear larger and more gallant, it introduced itself.
“My name is Arrogo, once a mere scavenger who sustained itself thanks to the weak and ignorant,” said the crow, presenting itself with pride.
“I am Agnis,” replied the rabbit, returning its greeting, “the ruler of these saline sands and the moon that illuminates the path of the wise and the fool. If you wish to fulfill your ambition, follow me to the moon; there I will show you the only thing that escapes the dominion of Kosmos.”
Agnis extended its small paw, waiting for Arrogo to take it; when he grasped it with one of its wings, a white flash enveloped them. Again, gravity became heavier, leaving the bird completely immobile. But this time, the pressure had a completely different power; this time, consciousness was failing to keep it in reality, until the light eventually engulfed it completely.
When it came to, the night sky stretched out before it, displaying its dead stars whose light barely reached it. The white sand felt harder and drier than in that desert, but also fragile like glass. Examining further, it was startled to see the immense blue and green sphere that, with its titanic size, majestically extended between the omnipresent void of space. But neither the Earth nor the imposing sun, which defied the darkness with its incandescence, could interest the crow. It regarded those celestial bodies with disdain, for those mighty titans submitted to the laws and whims of their creators without complaint; both helped create the insanely pathetic slaves it had to live with daily. Without diverting its gaze back to such wastes of power, it set off to continue its journey, never taking its eyes off its eccentric guide.
After walking for what felt like an eternity, the landscape showed no signs of wanting to change, and Arrogo could feel its patience abandoning him quickly. Until Agnis seemed to stop at a place not much different from the rest of the crater-filled dunes they had been seeing for so long. The only thing that didn’t seem similar in that location was that strange dark silhouette, similar in shape to a cauldron. Irritated at feeling it had wasted it's time, it was about to lose its temper. However, Agnis, who merely ignored it, signaled with her paw for him to come closer.
Upon seeing the contents of the cauldron, Arrogo was bewildered. Before him lay a beautiful display of brilliant colors: crimson red, the purest white he had ever seen, and small black and amber spots swirling in an infinite vortex.
Agnis took some time to study the expressions of the crow, and when she was satisfied, she dipped her paw into the cauldron and - to Arrogo’s eyes - retrieved one of the small amber spheres, which seemed to levitate above her paw. In his mind, Agnis’s voice resonated once more, instructing him to concentrate his energy in his eyes. Following the instructions, he observed how the bubble began to be enveloped in a white sphere, the size of Agnis’s head, and how five red tentacles began to emerge from its sides, sprawling on the ground.
“This is a soul,” said Agnis, pointing to the tentacled sphere that floated around her. “It’s the purest and densest form of energy any living being possesses. Look at how pure its white is,” she indicated the pulsating sphere that was radiating a white incandescent glow. “This indicates that it is a high-quality soul; the dark spots are barely noticeable.
“Did you make me endure that endless journey just to show me this stupidity?!” exclaimed Arrogo with vociferous squawks; his impatience seemed to be taking over him.
“This is one of the few, if not the only thing, that escapes the control imposed by Kosmos, as it has no jurisdiction over matters of eternal nature. That’s why the soul is the closest thing to an immutable term. Hence, it is the only thing that should matter to you, fool!”
The sudden brusqueness of her response did nothing to mitigate his bad mood, further aggravated by the disrespect shown by being called a ‘fool,’ but he swallowed his anger to see where she was going with all this nonsense.
“By consuming a soul, especially the purer ones, your energy could increase dramatically, consuming a good amount of souls could theoretically give you the power to challenge Kosmos.”
“Tell me what I need to do to acquire these souls then,” Arrogo vociferated, who seemed more interested in the subject.
“It is theorized that souls are attracted to great sources of energy, which is why you see them rising to the skies when the life flame of their former owners is extinguished. There may be a being beyond what we can perceive, calling them, attracting them with its immeasurable power. This can be confirmed by the method used to capture souls: overwhelming them with great power and then…”
Before she could finish her explanation, Arrogo released a great amount of energy, aiming directly at the soul that fluttered around him. He enveloped it with a whitish energy field, immobilizing it completely. Then, he compressed the space within it until it was reduced to the size of a grain of sand, leaving the soul perfectly prepared to be consumed.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Idiot!” shouted Agnis in bewilderment, having trouble believing what she had witnessed. “Souls cannot be consumed with such haste. You must ensure that their power is less than yours and then devour them piece by piece; otherwise…”
This time, she was interrupted by her own shock at hearing the terrible howls coming from the deepest parts of the tormented crow; not even the thin lunar atmosphere could completely muffle them. The crow’s power increased explosively, moving the lunar dust and leaving it floating adrift in space. “No one could withstand the sudden intrusion of a strange soul in their bodies. If this continues, he might… That’s why you must know your limits, fool.”
Agnis thought worriedly as she struggled to avoid being swept away by the powerful currents emanating from her reckless guest. The crow continued to emit monstrous shrieks of pain towards the dark and silent skies of space.
When Agnis managed to reach him, she enveloped him with her energy, trying to heal the parts of his body that were being destroyed. As she concentrated on her task, her ears were invaded by the sound of an otherworldly laughter. It was Arrogo, the deranged crow who seemed to be descending into madness due to the terrible pain; not physical pain, but spiritual, as his soul was being destroyed by that strange entity.
“Are you alright?” asked Agnis, visibly worried. “Did my emotions reach you or was your brain completely destroyed?”
She received no response until the laughter slowly subsided. She saw the crow’s body rise, still with wounds gaping all over his being, defying natural laws arrogantly, as only a scavenger can. But this gesture only caused his wounds to increase in number so rapidly that Agnis couldn’t heal one without three or more emerging to replace it.
“You should stay still; moving will make things worse!” Agnis warned exasperatedly. “If you can still hear me, you must limit your energy output; otherwise, you’ll die faster.”
But the crow, with his chest puffed out defiantly, continued to release his beastly power, much to the detriment of his tormented body, whose wounds only increased in number and frequency. Agnis’s healing power proved insufficient, but neither anemia nor the crimson ground beneath his claws could dissuade the crow, who still stubbornly fought for his life.
In response to this display of unfounded bravery in such a desperate situation, Agnis couldn’t help but respond to his efforts. She used all the remaining power she had to keep him alive long enough to ensure his success.
After that storm of blood and dust, peace returned to the moon. Arrogo lay in a pool of his own blood, with his feathers soaked and his flesh exposed, breathing with difficulty.
When his consciousness returned, Agnis couldn’t contain herself and exclaimed, “You’re… an idiot.”
“But it worked,” said Arrogo with a calmness that only irritated her more. “I managed to gain great power and feel as if I’ve rejuvenated a thousand years. I finally feel alive!”
“Don’t get too excited; this is just an insignificant act of rebellion. We haven’t escaped anything and we are still slaves to the will of Kosmos.”
With those words, the sky collapsed upon him, and impotence invaded him again with double the force, for he had already tasted the addictive flavor of hope. Desperation and helplessness bred anger, directed towards Kosmos and the rabbit who dared to remind him of the harsh truths of the world. He had so many things he wanted to scream at them, but he remained silent, remembering how much she had helped him and how indebted he was to her. He decided to simply leave.
Agnis’s voice resonated in the air, causing Arrogo to stop mid-flight.
“Wait!” she shouted, and the crow landed on the lunar ground again. Agnis approached him and continued speaking calmly, “You still don’t know how to properly consume souls; you’re only going to die uselessly that way. Why don’t you stay longer? That way, I can teach you the proper method to avoid accidents like this from happening again.”
“And what good would it do? After all, this is nothing more than an insignificant act of rebellion,” Arrogo responded cynically.
Agnis couldn’t help but feel a little bad, knowing she had a bad tendency to speak too much. However, usually, the beings she associated with were nothing but human trash, whose opinions were worth less than the ground they stood on. Moreover, considering the fact that she was going to kill them anyway, they didn’t matter at all. But this time it felt different.
“Forgive me for what I said before, I expressed myself poorly,” the words vibrated in Arrogo’s mind with a clear tone of regret. “But it’s worth clarifying that I don’t believe these actions are taken from the side of rebellion, but as a song to the freedoms of life that only a few can truly appreciate. For it’s not every day one finds someone to enjoy these moments with. So do you think you could come back and share another moment with me?” Agnis added sincerely.
The raven, as disdainful and irascible as he seemed, did not have a heart of stone, and the genuine tone of longing in Agnis's words tore him apart inside. Feeling ashamed of his outburst, he returned with his head bowed and the beak of his nape pointing to the sky.
The moon had changed to the first quarter. Arrogo and Agnis continued devouring the souls of prodigious humans, but limited themselves to one a day, on Agnis's recommendation, to avoid problems of corruption or overload in their souls. However, despite the cauldron continually filling with a fresh supply of gifted, wise, and chosen humans, it was still insufficient to satisfy the growing appetite for power that Arrogo was developing. Moreover, the restrictions imposed by Agnis caused great bitterness in the poor raven, who could not feel satisfied with his new life.
Ignoring Agnis's repeated warnings, Arrogo decided to descend to Earth without arousing suspicion in his friend. He was determined to find more souls and power to quench his insatiable thirst, regardless of the possible negative impacts on his body and soul, despite Agnis's clear concern. Thus, he left the moon behind and dove back into the terrestrial sphere in search of what he believed would be the key to his ultimate liberation.
To a mind like Arrogo's, these concerns were another tyrannical law that stood between him and his desires for freedom. For this reason, he planned to consume the souls of the failures that roamed the Earth, for his dissatisfaction was such that he was even willing to ignore the terrible state of those souls corrupted by despair, weakness, and loneliness. The raven was determined to pursue his ambition regardless of the consequences or warnings, blinded by his craving for power and liberation.
These sad souls barely possessed a fraction of the beautiful pearly glow of the souls on the moon, as the darkness growing within them had almost completely devoured them. When the raven devoured one of them, the discomfort in his chest was so intense that he felt as if he weighed ten times more, causing an unconscious desire to vomit his guts out. But for a reason he could not understand, those poisonous souls created by the most useless human trash were incredibly addictive. Arrogo could feel how the deepest parts of his soul screamed desperately for another bite of that forbidden nectar.
When the moon had changed again, now being a waxing gibbous, Arrogo continued his escapes to Earth, but no longer bothered to hide them from poor Agnis. The latter had noticed his strange behavior and his irritability, which had exponentially increased since he began consuming the souls of the failed and corrupt. Now, the slightest strange noise or the slight feeling of being questioned drove him crazy. His solitary and reserved habits had increased, making the few moments they spent together a routine obligation filled with uncomfortable silence.
His vacant eyes no longer shone with the same passionate glow she had seen when she met him. Now, every time she saw him, it felt like standing before an unfathomable abyss that only had one desire in its twisted and imposing depths: unrestrained hedonism, consuming as many corrupt souls as reached his mouth until merciful oblivion consumed him completely.
Agnis could not help but feel overwhelmed by this situation. Every time she saw him, a shiver ran down her spine as she perceived his increasingly dark and malevolent aura. She could barely hold a coherent conversation that lasted more than two sentences with him, and she no longer knew what to do, except wish that everything would return to the way it was before.
With the arrival of the full moon, the dark energy emanating from Arrogo had become so intense that it seemed to flow like waterfalls from every orifice of his mask and each of his black feathers. Agnis could not venture to guess how many corrupt souls he had consumed to reach that state. To her dismay, it seemed that nothing remained of that raven who only longed for absolute freedom, for he had preferred to submit to the yoke of another master who could only promise the eternal pursuit of degeneration.
Now she felt trapped in a great crossroads, between sharing the pain of her companion and trying to destroy him little by little, or fleeing to the farthest corners of the universe, never to see that face that caused her so much pain again.
In her search for answers, Agnis observed the starry sky, bathed in the golden glows of the sun, a view they had both enjoyed on numerous occasions. Then, her little eyes turned to her raven with pity, and taking small hops, she approached him, resting her head on his feathered chest. She was so close that she could hear the faint and maniacal murmurs coming from his nacreous mask. Raising her little paws, she wrapped them around her friend's body. Arrogo responded by raising his wings and covering her with them. Agnis could feel them trembling uncontrollably around her.
For a while, they remained immersed in that embrace, more aware of each other than of what was happening around them. Without realizing it, they stopped perceiving that the Earth had completely stopped its rotation and that the moon no longer orbited the great blue planet.
The moon quickly changed from being full to waning gibbous, and continued its cycle until it became a new moon, causing the gradual disappearance of its glow on Earth.
Agnis and Arrogo, now separated, floated in the air next to each other. The helplessness she felt at that moment only increased the terror brewing in her soul. But none of those emotions compared to what she felt when the entity that trapped them manifested in all its horrifying glory.
Agnis had lived for many eons, daring to call herself the Goddess of the Moon. Without having known Kosmos beyond his legend, she believed, thanks to her blessed ignorance, that she could not be so far from the rung that marked the beginning of the realm of the gods. But the moment that thing that had trapped them showed its abominable form, she finally took a peek behind the veil of reality, and what she saw there was enough for her sanity to completely shatter. In a manic delirium, she cursed her ignorance.
The bulbous figure levitated unperturbed, defying even one of the four fundamental forces. Its ethereal-liquid pulsating spheres possessed the same pearly glow of the souls they had so ravenously consumed, and at the center of each was a small amber core. Around it, hundreds of thick crimson tentacles extended from its body, giving it the appearance of a perverse sun.
"My name is Fas," the abominable creature engraved those words into the core of their minds. "I serve the master Apeiron, king of all souls that inhabit the sphere of the limited and changing."
Agnis felt terror take hold of her being, paralyzing her completely. Arrogo, on the other hand, was invaded by a mixture of fascination and fear. However, the addiction to corrupt souls had desensitized him greatly, preventing him from reacting with the same intensity as Agnis.
"You mere mortals have dared to consume what is beyond your understanding," Fas's voice resonated with overwhelming force, filling the void of space with its presence. "But your audacity will not go unpunished."
Arrogo, driven by his growing desperation for power and his recent rebellion, tried to raise his voice in defiance.
"We are not mere mortals!" he croaked with a voice that seemed to come from the depths of his internal torment. "I have tasted the power of souls and..."
Before he could finish his declaration, one of Fas's tentacles lunged at him, wrapping him with inhuman strength. The raven felt the dark energy he had accumulated begin to drain, while pain invaded every fiber of his being. Agnis, still paralyzed by terror, could only watch helplessly.
"You cannot defy what is beyond your comprehension," Fas sentenced. "Your attempts are futile, and your existence will be an example for all those who dare to challenge the will of Apeiron."
Agnis, finally regaining some of her composure, gathered all her strength and cried out in desperation:
"Please, forgive us! We didn't know what we were doing. Give us a chance to redeem ourselves!"
Fas, showing not the slightest sign of compassion, maintained his grip on Arrogo while directing his attention to Agnis.
"Your redemption is not in my hands," he said coldly.
Agnis, despite knowing all the legends about the deities of the universe, had never heard of Fas, let alone of a god who could govern the immaterial. Her black eyes widened in horror at the crumb of truth that had been given to her. They realized they had made a terrible mistake in believing they could outwit the universe; a feat as impossible as failures reaching the moon.
Upon understanding this unquestionable truth, an incalculable pain manifested in her mind and extended to her heart and limbs. Agnis could not scream, she could only helplessly watch the executioner of her misfortune while the pain mutilated her body. Trapped in that torturous eternity, Agnis felt her consciousness fade, yielding to the dark planes of non-existence. But just before that act of clemency manifested, she experienced the most terrible of pains, feeling her flesh contort, her limbs separating one by one, leaving behind copious amounts of blood. With her limbs gone and her sensitivity lost in the hemorrhage, the warm sensation in her belly as it opened, vomiting her entrails to the ground, felt like a slap in the face. With the dying light in her eyes, she could make out a blurry image of a white stain with crimson lines floating towards the sky, and the dark silhouette of a raven floating in the void. A joy surged in her mind: "Finally, the kindness of oblivion takes me."
Arrogo floated beside her, spilling darkness to the ground from the orifices of his mask; deprived of wings and claws, he was only a bleeding torso, but that didn’t seem to matter to him. In his world consumed by darkness, he found only a spark of connection with reality upon seeing her bleed out with his only eye. He then decided to close his eyes forever and dream of the little bunny with whom he once shared a wish that allowed their worlds to unite. He remained that way until consciousness left him completely.
The mutilated bodies, with feathers, fur, blood, and guts, lay on the ground like mere exhibition objects, while their souls rose above the remains. One of them, white-toned, had its core shining like the sun, though some dark spots interrupted its radiance. In contrast, the second soul was like a tar bubble, its core long trapped between the voracious claws of the shadows.
Fas made a gesture with two of his numerous crimson tentacles, and their cores emitted a blinding glow for a few seconds. As if obeying an order, the bodies, along with the remains that once formed them, moved, attracting each other, and what followed was an act of indescribable barbarity.
The bodies began to melt, merging their flesh in a ghastly demonstration of sadistic dominance over the physical realm. The flesh consumed the fur and feathers, expanding its mass and revitalizing itself with the lost organs and blood. That fleshy mass twisted and stretched like a snake, creating atrocious sanguine spirals.
The souls were next to follow his command, colliding with each other and merging the ethereal purity with the liquid depravity in a profane union. The cores of both beings emitted a ghastly scream as their walls were destroyed, and the amber liquid flowed freely in that ethereal sea. From that primordial liquid emerged hundreds of fine threads that, in that sea of impure-purity, sought to connect with the threads of their companion. When the act was completed, their united bonds caused their bodies to approach timidly.
"For your crimes against my lord, the merciful Apeiron," said Fas, his voice imposing over all existence, "from this moment, you shall bear the name Hubris, a permanent mark whose connotations will alert all creation of your terrible deeds. For the rest of your days, you will carry this shapeless body and twisted minds, as the ultimate demonstration of your deformed nature."
With the verdict concluded, the united souls, whose now completed core was repairing its walls with the scattered fragments in its body, emitted a faint glow among the shadows. The new core commanded its ten crimson tentacles to begin connecting to their new home. The process continued until the flesh molded like clay, revealing two faces on opposite sides of the upper extremity of the fleshy spiral.
They glanced sideways at the bulbous ethereal-liquid mass, which once again imparted its farewell.
"Until the moment our paths cross again, in the infinite sea of indefinition, slave of the night, where the gracious Apeiron awaits you," his last words echoed in the space.
With his departure, the planets along with their moons began to move as if nothing had happened. But that day held something that no being on Earth would forget, for it was the day when all its inhabitants could hear an overwhelming lament that seemed to come from the highest point of the sky.
Everyone considered that lament a bad omen from the Gods.