In the outer reaches of space, the sun shot out usually intense and harsh solar flares at the planets. Unbeknownst to those inside buildings, the daytime sky lit up in a colorful display from the fierce rays of the sun that collided with the planet’s magnetic field.
Deep within the Temple of Terra, a giant replica of the solar system floated in the expanse of the ceiling of the starry night sky. The exact giant stream of molten fire burst out from the sun at all the planets. The manifestation of the gods, hovering over their planet forms, flinched from a thunderous bellow.
“Shut up! All of you! Have I slept so long that you all forgotten my wrath?!”
The bulging pair of eyes glared furiously around at the gods. It stopped, especially at Goddess Vaikre and God Mestis, causing them to pull their heads into their body.
A molten aura bubbled, growing and expanding from the pair of angry eyes.
The duo of gods hurriedly attempted to soothe the Giver of Life’s anger.
“Please, Father! Mercy! Please! I was wrong!” Vaikre wailed, and Mestis followed suit. “Mercy, Father!”
They waived their hands, claiming innocence.
“Please, Father! It wasn’t my fault! Mestis started it!”
“I did not, you liar! Father! It was Vaikre! She yelled the loudest!”
The sun god's eyes narrowed, burning with more fury. His children gave him an endless headache. The ear-splitting voices still echoed in his mind.
He replied with a sharp booming voice, shaking the room of the temple. But only the other gods could hear the voice of the Giver of Life. However, Thane and the others in the temple shook in fear from witnessing the anger of the sun god, manifesting itself as an earthquake in the room.
“Mercy?! Are you all still immature children?! Shouting like exploding stars!? My ears still ring from your petty arguing!” The sun god lectured his cowering children.
Seeing his actions scared his children but also the mortals below, the Giver of Life attempted to control himself and pull back his rage. Still, his large pair of eyes glared sharply at his children.
“Why were all of you arguing? And why are we called before the mortals? I assume it’s the Gift of Blessings? Whose turn is it?”
Vaikre answered like the good child that she was, “We apologize for our unruly behavior, Father. Yes. Currently, Terra’s world is receiving its blessings. However, she also started this argument!”
“Terra did?” The sun god questioned, looking suspiciously at the other gods.
In the end, like little children in deep trouble, all the gods and goddesses nodded and pointed their fingers at Goddess Terra. The giant pair of eyes vanished and reappeared with a blink of an eye over the goddess.
“Is what your siblings saying true?” The sun god demanded, hovering and peering down at Terra with his daunting eyes.
Terra smiled, feigning to be unaffected by the fiery gaze, raining heavy pressure down on her.
“Yes, Father. It is my children’s turn for their blessings.”
“Ha!” The sun god scoffed, unamused by his child’s cunning response. “I will ask you again, Terra. Do not play your petty tricks with me, child. I am not in the mood.”
Terra pouted with a huff, trying to act cute. But her father’s eyes glared dangerously. She sighed, lifting her hands in defeat.
“Before you punish me, Father, you must hear my reasoning.”
The Giver of Life knew his children well. Terra was one of his more sensible children. Although she liked to tease the others, she would not start such a massive fight among her siblings. Her actions were out of character. The sun god knew this and decided to listen to Terra’s motives.
“You have but one chance, daughter. Your children will die to appease my wrath if you play around with me any further.”
Terra nodded her head. She knew well of her father, the giver of life and also the harbinger of death. He would do what he said he would do.
“As you know, Father, my children are many compared to some of my other siblings.”
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Her father nodded in agreement.
“Father, you slept longer than you did before. Because of this, only nine of the countless children between us siblings can have a secondary blessing every year. Your blessing is the most important, but since you’ve been asleep, none of our children have been able to receive it.”
“I can’t be bothered if I’m in need of sleep, Terra. Besides the point, every one of your own children is allowed to have your blessing.” The sun god sighed, thinking that the lack of blessings was the cause of the ridiculous feud.
“I know, father. I am thankful you allowed us to do so. Our children have grown and prospered with our aid.” Terra took a moment to inhale a deep breath. “But the darkness we fear is here. The general blessings given to the masses are not enough. They were designed to aid our children with their daily lives, not to fight against darkness. I predict that I will lose this fight.”
The sun god paused, needing a few seconds to digest the words he heard. The pair of large eyes stretched wide with shock, understanding the implications of his daughter’s statement. He nervously looked around with his large eyes at his other children, wanting to confirm Terra’s words.
The others nodded in confirmation. The sun god jerked back and looked intently at Terra.
“The darkness should not have been able to approach near, let alone, infiltrate our territory! How did this happen!?”
“We underestimated the darkness, Father. It looks small and harmless. However, it is far more powerful than any of us thought. After all, the darkness are remnants from the death of a powerful star.”
“The darkness is stationary, daughter! It does not move! Although nothing escapes from the darkness once entered, we have nothing to fear if we don’t approach it! We all know and understand that! That is why we constantly steered clear from any of the darknesses nearby!”
Terra shook her head.
“And yet, the darkness now defies all our understanding, Father. The nature of the darkness has changed since you last awakened. No one understands the darkness as nothing that goes in comes out. However, that is not completely the case anymore. The darkness now moves. Not only is it consuming anything in its path, but it now also releases unknown creatures never seen before into the universe.”
Terra looked at the wavering confidence in her father’s eyes and kept continuing.
“Although the darkness is slow and mostly avoidable, the creatures it releases are not. They act like envoys, similar to how the moons serve us planets. But there is a distinct difference between the two. The darkness’s envoys are smaller and more capable. The most concerning is their ability to establish themselves on us planets.”
Terra’s last words shook the Giver of Life’s mind.
“What do you mean, ‘establish’?”
Terra looked down at her planet form. Her siblings softened their eyes, looking at her with worry and remorse.
“It would be easier to show you, Father,” Terra replied with an uneasy voice.
Terra looked up at the sun god’s worried pair of large eyes and then looked down below to the planet she hovered over. The planet glowed with a vibrant blue hue. Large patches of green covered the land, changing to pure white as snow wrapped over the higher landscapes.
“Take a look here, Father,” Terra said, pointing to a thin dark mist swirling over a corner of a continent full of greenery.
The sun god trembled with anger and worry, seeing the darkness corroding his daughter.
“When did this happen, Terra?”
“Not too long ago. Decades. But the problem is that the darkness is growing. It is not yet too deep, but I feel the creature is trying to expand its influence. It intends to burrow its way into my planet’s core.”
Terra’s voice cracked, “I suspect it is trying to consume me. Not only that, it appears the creature is somehow in contact with the darkness from whence it came. I sensed some faint energy that came through my planet’s shields. I was able to deflect some of that energy signal, but it may be part of a greater scheme, Father. The disbursement of the energy leaves remnants like crumbles on a trail. I fear more are to come, and not only I will be its target. I don’t know what it is, but this scares me.”
The eyes of the sun god burned bright red with rage, shooting daggers at the swirling mass of darkness on his daughter. But he soon cooled at Terra’s next comments.
“I do have a plan, Father. The creature has a core that holds its sentience. I believe if we grab hold of it, My siblings and I can further try to understand not only the creature but the darkness itself.”
The sun god pondered momentarily before responding, “If you cannot safely capture it, destroy it.”
“Yes, Father!” She exclaimed before smiling widely at the sun god.
Terra did not stop smiling, and her father sensed the awkwardness. The sun god knew that odd patient smile from his daughter well.
“What is it? You have more tricks tucked under those long sleeves of yours.”
“Nothing of the sort, Dad.” Terra pouted. Seeing her father roll his eyes, she knew she had him hooked. “To give more probability of success, I need a couple of extra blessings from everyone, father also included.”
“Terra! Didn’t I say we have to think about everyone?!” Vaikre complained. She looked into her father’s eyes and demanded, “Father, I know Terra’s situation is bad, but we all likely will face something similar. We must not limit this to a one-time use for Terra. It must be allowed for all of us.”
The sun god sighed. Not out of reluctance, but from the endless chaos right after waking up.
What his daughter Vaikre said was correct.
Nodding his head, he replied, “Fine. Going forward, all Gifts of Blessings will include two extra candidates. It will drain us all more, but this is a needed precautionary measure. Therefore, be thrifty with your energy expenditures. I will also bless the candidates of first through the third siblings that already received theirs this year. The others will receive theirs when it is time.”
The others nodded in agreement.
Feeling the timing right, the ruler of the icy ninth planet, God Krone’s deep blue eyes flickered with hidden intentions before proposing his suggestion.
“Father, during these troubled times, I say we once again allow our different children to traverse freely amongst all of us planets.”
The sun god pondered, while a rebuttal from the second god, Sachel, disagreed.
“No! Absolutely not! I don’t want your ice golems turning my molten planet into a hard lump of stone. Father! You can’t allow this to happen! We banned interplanetary shifting due to backhanded corruption! Not only that, the balance of nature on the planets could be thrown into disarray!”
The sun god grunted from the endless complaints.
“Ugh! You all figure that out. Come up with your own agreements! If some of you allow it, then fine! If you ban it, I don’t care either! But know that we are all facing an unprecedented crisis. I don’t want to deal with any petty issues like this! If I have to step in, you all will be sorry!”
Terra glanced at the dodgy face of her ninth brother. He smiled pleasantly, hiding his nefarious intentions. She returned the favor, smiling a toothy grin while swearing under her breath at his convoluted two-faced personality.
“Now, where are your candidates, Terra?” Her father asked, getting back on track.
She pointed to the ten still kneeling before them in the temple, before grinning and pointing at the two still peeping from the crack between the doors.
“Alright. Let’s get this over with. I must send messages to the other nearby stars. I don’t know how many others know of the changes with the darkness. We need more information.”
The eyes of the sun god slowly glowed brighter with a metal rainbow. The other gods followed after their father and prepared to gift varying degrees of their blessings to the twelve Terra designated. A mesh of colorful light exploded from the sun and the other planets, touching the kneeling ten and the two peeping from the door.
Thane and Seth noticed the slowly brightening light. However, they were unprepared for the sudden flash of colorful lights. Blinded by the flash of lights, the peeping duo staggered back before tripping over each other and falling backward.