Fire Moons of Nyrcristos

Far across the galactic sphere the Fire Moons of Nyrcristos pulsated slow with a burning and violent heat, both encircling themselves in their singular and precarious rotatory orbit above the world of Seji. Yet below their strange momentum and beneath the surface of Seji itself there lay a vast and archaic chamber. Within this clandestine place dwelt the Council of Nyr, twelve gifted and holy children who by thought alone prevented the terrible Fire Moons spiralling cataclysmically into the vulnerable world below. Now the Godhead of the Council of Nyr was the Nyr himself, the most powerful and holy of the children and with the others he spent all time in waking thought continuously pushing against the Fire Moons' descent.

One day, however, a stirring rose amongst the children that were the Council of Nyr. One turned to the young Nyr and said, "The Moons have but become less forceful in their path. We need not us all to hold them from our world."

And the Nyr spoke; "I have become great in my time and am probably the one of the most powerful Nyr that ever there was. Images and dreams of the world above have encompassed my mind and I know much of boundless knowledge. I know of the incomparable beauty of the world through dreams that floated from above and I have heard great visions. I have heard the visions of a man by the name Oon-Tan who says that once in the great perihelion the moons lose their force for but a day and that time is now, I believe. Yet there is much I do not know and I should like to rise into the world and see this beautiful place that we are born to protect. I should wish to wander the high places and admire the glory that we all cherish and are born to serve."

One of the others spoke meekly; "Then you are to leave us, here this day?"

And softly the Nyr looked to them; "I shall leave for but one day and shall return with tales of all that we are curious of. But do not look with sadness. I shall return to you for are you not my true kin?"

And with that he moved from their sight.

He wandered for but only a short time for he had observed traces across the gulf of time from the makers who had fashioned the very walls he continued by. And at last with little hardship he found the doorway to the ascending world above. He moved through it and struggled through the thin soil that impeded until he broke the surface of Seji. And when that happened the Nyr was flushed with an indescribable strangeness of elation as the world bore upon him with an utterly alien breath.

Around him towered great crumbling monuments and pillars of weathered grey stone, a bleak wind pushing tentatively against his body. 'Here is not the beauty I felt in dreams,' thought the Nyr with a slight disappointment, 'Yet I shall seek it'.

All at once he came across an old male who lay quietly over the body of a female, all in the shadow of a dead monolith.

"Who and what are you?" the Nyr asked.

"I am deprived of my love in death," spoke the male.

"That is indeed a sad thing," the Nyr lamented.

"It is indeed. I had heard deceiving whispers that spoke of her treason to my pride and honour and that is why I killed her," the male replied.

"You killed her?" the Nyr repeated.

"Yes."

"What shall you do now?" the Nyr asked after.

"Shall do? I could find myself another mate, but I am weary of the world. I have felt much pain and caused more to others. I will end my ongoing misery with a burning shard to my breast and I shall do it now," he declared. And the male found such a shard and held it to his breast.

"Wait!" cried the Nyr, "I have seen the beauty of dreams that have filtered from this world into mine own. Is your pain not reconciled with such glory?"

And the male shook his head and spoke with melancholy, "In dreams I have bedded my love in an orchestra of flowers that held us in bright gentleness. Yet, alack, I have found no such place in the world for flowers are no more."

The male said a farewell, and so the Nyr wandered on. His mind was pained by the male's words and his vision was held in awe of the oppressing grey buildings that towered mightily above. These were new things to him and he wondered much as to their disturbing presence when he had expected myriads of laughing colours.

At a place between two fallen statues sat a woman leaning over the body of a young girl, weeping.

"Woman, why do you weep so?" the Nyr asked.

"Alas!" spoke the woman; "I weep for my daughter for she has taken her own life."

"That must be a terrible loss," the Nyr lamented; "Why did it happen so?"

"Ah, me!" she cried; "She was to run away with a boy from a family we owe vengeance. She defied us to be with him for lust and now she is dead by her own hand."

"That is indeed sad," said the Nyr.

"That is not why I weep! I weep because it was my duty to kill my daughter. I wished the right of Seji to kill her to amend her wrongs and the shame she has brought upon myself and my family. I weep because it was not my own poison that deprived her of life!" the woman declared.

There was a solemn pause and the Nyr spoke; "I have felt the beauty of dreams that have filtered from this world into mine own. Is your pain not reconciled with such glory?"

But the woman shook her head sadly. "In dreams I have walked happily with my daughter through iridescent forests, though forests exist no more," she said as she then looked down to her dead kin.

And so the Nyr left and travelled long through the limitless cold greys of Seji that he found. 'Where are the beautiful places that touched me from the dreams of happy Seji?' he thought, for the only colours he could find were the haunting dead greys that surrounded. He found an unsteady tower that rose highly above and he resolved to climb its pinnacle to look for the beauty he sought. He climbed slowly as ruins of rock from gaping walls slowed his path until he had ascended as fully as he dared. Peering out through a great portal he looked across Seji. But he saw only the now all too familiar greys stretching out for an immeasurable distance wherever he looked. And sadly he climbed his way down until he reached the cold stone ground. As he left from the broken tower he saw a young male crouched amongst rubble. The Nyr spoke; "Who and what are you?"

The male laughed an empty laugh that echoed around the hollow landscape. "I lie here in wait for people I do not like and when I see them I kill them."

"Why is that?" the Nyr asked.

"Why?" the male repeated, almost surprised.

"Yes," said the Nyr.

The man looked confused. "Why? Because I am Seji and because I must."

The Nyr frowned and then spoke hopefully of dreams he had felt and asked the man where he would find the beautiful places.

The man shook his head. "There are no such places on Seji. Not anymore. In dreams I have wished for them and once I heard the great Worm Mother tell me of the great secrets of the universe, for I am Oon- Tan and I looked to the skies for answers. But I found none."

"Oon-Tan!" exclaimed the Nyr; "I have seen your dreams and you have told of the great perihelion! I saw it in your dreams!"

The man hung his head with sorrow as this was stated.

The Nyr observed this and asked, "Yet is there truly nothing of beauty left?"

The man sadly shook his head. "There is truly nothing of beauty left. I once hoped, dreamed that some remained and that kept me peaceful. But I have found none of it and that is why I kill."

The Nyr looked solemn. Was there truly nothing of beauty left? Then the man spoke; "I ... know of you, for are you not the Nyr? I have heard of you and I know that you are a great being. Look to the grey sky a moment. Do you not see those two glowing red bodies that slowly circle each other far above in the distance? They are the Fire Moons of Nyrcristos. Yet few know of them or even look at them. Less even have heard of the Nyr. You keep the moons from us do you not?".

The Nyr nodded.

"They are the only beauty that is left. The only beauty that is left and shall be our death. Indeed, there is no beauty left on Seji except death and that is why I kill so. That is why we all do. Ah, but you have distracted me. I hear voices and must move to kill them. Farewell."

"Farewell," whispered the Nyr but the man was gone. "There is no beauty left. Only in wanting dreams for life is empty. It is that and only that I have felt before. The beauty of dreams," the Nyr sighed. And slowly, with a defeating sadness he began to return to the place that kept the Council of Nyr. He moved slowly past the dead and leering buildings that stood in horrid, lonely silence, and as he almost reached the portal to the chamber he knew so well he heard something so totally unexpected that it made him cry true tears. Someone was singing. And it was the most beautiful song that he ever had heard. With a sudden determination and meaningful purpose he ran to its source, a giant antiquarian structure not yet as decayed as all that surrounded. He ran through deserted, lifeless corridors with a desperate need to find its source. And all at once he came into a vast and ancient room. In the middle of the room filling a great space lay a huge white worm. And it was the great white worm that was the source of the singing.

It stopped and moved a painfully bloated head towards the Nyr. "Ah, it is my little Nyr," spoke the worm.

And then the Nyr began to cry again.

"Why do you cry, my little Nyr?" asked the great white worm.

So the Nyr began to tell of the beautiful and glorious dreams that had touched him in the chamber that held the Council of Nyr. And he spoke of how he had come into the true world of Seji and found nothing but desolation and death.

The great white worm was understanding, "I am the Worm Mother and I have birthed the great in the past including all of the Nyr and their Councils. I have birthed many but you are the most ... different. No other Nyr in the past has used the event of the great perihelion as you have. There is no true beauty on Seji. There is no love but of death. The world was different once, long, long ago. Even I find it hard to remember and I have lived for a long and ancient time. Too long. And I am soon to die and I know it, and no one on Seji will know save a few blind priests who maintain the Council of Nyr."

And these were the revelations of the great Worm Mother.

"Yet why do you sing so?" asked the Nyr, sad and confused.

"I remember the past and remember that the dreams were once true of the world. It is my parting song to this life so that I may be happy again before I die," answered the Worm Mother.

There followed an utter silence.

Then the Nyr spoke; "Should I go now, great Worm Mother?"

"Yes," she whispered softly.

And so the Nyr left and as he did so he did not see the sweet tears of the Worm Mother as she watched him move away.

Back on the cold streets, the Nyr moved directly to the close portal that lead to the Council of Nyr and did not look at the emptiness around him. He found the doorway, entered and returned to his kin.

The children that were the Council of Nyr had waited expectantly for him and greeted him with burning interest and smiles. They asked of the world of Seji and the Nyr told them. He told of the decaying greys that covered the world and of his meeting with the old man, the woman, the young male Oon-Tan, and of the great Worm Mother. And when he had finished his tale the chamber was filled with the melancholy of a thousand dying stars.

"So, we live for a dead world," spoke one and there was silence.

"What of the beauty of dreams?" asked another, and the Nyr thought long and hard.

"What do you advise? Surely you are the greatest Nyr?" added a third and all were in agreement.

"Do you wish to know what I would advise?" the Nyr pondered aloud to them.

"We will follow you, whatever your decision," they all answered.

He paused awhile, then finally he spoke; "I have wandered long and hard and I have found that there is no greater life and beauty than that of dreams. Seji has no life and neither have we. Therefore I would wish to sleep and dream awhile so that I may live awhile and I would wish you all to join me."

Silence.

"The Fire Moons would descend and destroy us but there is nothing else to destroy. We would die, but most of all we would live. Will you join me in dreams my beloved brothers and sisters?" the Nyr asked.

With slow and heavy hearts they answered; "Yes."

And with that the Nyr lay down and for the first time he slept. He dreamed beautiful dreams and as he did so so did the others of the Council.

And as the world of Seji moved away from the great perihelion the Fire Moons of Nyrcristos descended with a terrible force. But now the minds of the children that were the Council of Nyr did not stop them. All the while the fire moons moved closer and closer with a threatening and heated violence. The people began to see and feel the descending horror as the ground warmed and then burned and they all cried; "Save us!".

But the Council of Nyr slept on. The Nyr dreamt of pastures of warm beauty stretch out to the sky and he thought he saw the man and his mate laughing intimately in the flowers. And he saw the woman dancing with her daughter through fields of colour as they always should have. He turned and saw Oon-Tan sat on a great mossy rock while strange animals played below. Oon-Tan saw the Nyr, smiled and then shouted a greeting.

And all the while the Fire Moons came down with a vengeance as they sheared and crushed the grey towers with the flames of maelstrom. They touched the surface of Seji and everything rended and seared as their intense liquid heat smeared itself everywhere and ate the bodies that littered Seji. In her ruined ancient chamber the great white Worm Mother sang with happy tears even though her skin blistered and popped until giant shards from the flaming moons pierced and crushed the piping song from her.

And the Nyr dreamed that he was with his kin that were the council of Nyr and even those that had been. They laughed and sang for joy within the colour of happiness and then he dreamed that he saw and played in worlds as beautiful as his own.

And the Fire Moons of Nycristos began to rip and crush Seji as they collided with a triplicate scream, and Seji heaved with immense violence as it writhed in its cataclysmic death throes.

And the Nyr saw the great white Worm Mother and she sang happy songs of the future and the children of Seji all gathered around and all was joyous and....

And then there was nothing.