Science tells us that an eclipse is a moment where the sun and moon are perfectly aligned. However, many years ago, during a time of superstitions and “signs”, it was seen as a bad omen. The idea of one celestial somehow blocking the other was a sign of incoming Armageddon. Thankfully, this was just that: superstition, as the celestial gods had many rules which were put in place to prevent this from happening. Rules such as do not cross past your domain, or do not engage in another god’s business. But there was one that the celestials must never break:
Celestials must never come into contact with humanity. They are not to know of our presence.
It is unknown who exactly created these rules, but the Celestials simply put it down to “The Maker” and followed them. However, despite knowing this, Night found himself slowly break these rules over the span of two thousand years.
As a Celestial of Time, Night’s job was considered rather significant. Although Night saw it as too consistent – boringly repetitive. It was because of this, that on an evening like any other he controlled, he broke his first rule.
~ ~ ~ ~
Humanity fascinated Night, but his view was always only from the night sky, never up close. Not able to be present for any of the mortals’ arena fights, chariot racing (a particular favourite of his) or silly little wars. Celestials naturally do not have physical forms and are unable to reside within the human realm for this very reason. They are neither light, nor mass of any kind. Celestials simply exist.
It was unknown what exactly drove Night to his actions. Perhaps the stars were aligned differently that evening, or perhaps the lack of happening was a bit too much to bear this time. Maybe even both, but it was no matter, as on this night in particular, Night made himself a human body.
One which would allow him to walk upon the earth.
He’d observed them long enough, so copying the mortal’s basic shape was a simple task. However, Night didn’t want just any human body. He wanted one which could represent him. One of his own.
So, in an open, abandoned field sitting directly under the moon, a swarm of shadows slowly solidified into the form of a mortal male. Pale features, a reflection of the moon itself, long hair as black as the sky above him and sharp, cat-like eyes a shining silver, sharing a brightness with the stars. The remaining shadows formed a long black toga, which hung loosely off his lean form, a fashion that Night had noticed many of the human males adorn. Though, despite his best efforts, faint whisps of shadows still clung to the edge of his form, a sign of his Celestial position as a god.
It did not matter. Night had no intention of interacting with the mortals. Simply to observe and explore the world which he had spent millennia serving.
~ ~ ~ ~
A significant amount of time had passed before another celestial noticed Night’s frequent absence from the realm of the gods. Consequently, around the time he broke his second major rule.
When he’d stayed to watch the sunrise.
So far, while he’d been exploring the Earth, Night had kept his escapades to only during the night. His domain. But after a while, the celestial found himself staying later and later past his time of power to watch the sunrise, completely enamoured by the warmth and tranquillity that the element emitted. So different from his own. Night hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t alone at first, simply standing atop a hill overlooking a small town. The sun slowly emerged from behind the dwellings below.
‘What in The Maker’s name do you think you’re doing?’
A moment of panic took over the Celestial at the thought of being caught by a mortal, an unusual emotion from him, until he got the chance to take in the person who’d surprised him. ‘…Day?’
It was fitting, Night supposed, that her human form was practically his polar opposite. A flowing white chiton sat elegantly on Day’s curved form, with a set of golden bracelets on her wrists. Dark, sun-kissed skin and golden-brown locks contrasted her attire, and if it were not for her unnatural eye colour and the faded glow that surrounded her, Night would have assumed her as a young woman from a wealthy family, at first glance.
Only Day could have eyes that burned like the sun itself.
Unimpressed, she ignored his question. ‘What do you think you’re doing, Night? You know Celestials are forbidden from interfering with the mortal realm, let alone creating a body–’
‘And what of you? Are you not also trespassing on human lands, in a body too of all things?’
‘Do not play coy with me, Night. You know that I am only here to take you back to the realm of the gods. Before the other Celestials notice. We do not belong here.’
‘If you must. But tell me, Day, have you ever come to see one of your sunrises? Or sunsets? It’s quite beautiful work – unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.’
Day hesitated for a moment. ‘No, I haven’t.’
‘The moon or the stars? Any wonders of this realm?’
‘No, of course not. None of us have. What are you implying–’
‘Would you like to?’
~ ~ ~ ~
It would later be referred to by many names, some of the more notable ones being “Aurora Borealis”, or “The Northern Lights”. For now, though, before the mortals discovered it and only the gods of Night and Day could behold its magnificence, the two Celestials had called it “Night’s Waves”. A rather fitting name for the natural phenomenon, as it would appear as a green-blue mix of light, swirling as effortlessly and freely as river waves. Dancing with a beautiful unpredictability as it fades in and out amongst the night sky.
Out of all the world’s wonders under his power, this was certainly Night’s favourite spot to visit. Its cold and harsh terrain had no impact on the Celestial’s artificial body, which allowed him to simply sit by the surrounding lake and watch for hours. A sense of tranquillity always washed over him whenever he resided here – an emotion typically unfamiliar to the gods – which was why after their third meeting, Night had deemed it the right time to show Day this particular phenomenon.
At first, Day had voiced her complaints. Asking what could possibly be different about this sky as opposed to the one they saw only a few nights prior, when Night had shown her the moon and the stars on one of the clearest night skies he had made in quite some time. After telling her to be patient, they only had to wait a few more moments before the lights above them began to appear. Day was rendered speechless by the display. The emerald and blue hues cascaded above them, reflecting in her golden irises which couldn’t seem to be drawn away from the beautiful expanse. Night noticed her lift a tanned hand out to the sky, an unconscious attempt to reach up and touch the dancing tendrils of light, to feel it pass weightlessly through her fingers. Perhaps even to dance among them herself.
In a hushed whisper, as if afraid of disturbing the shifting waves above them, ‘I understand now…’
Night simply raised a brow, inviting her to elaborate, and for the first time in the last hour or so, she turned to regard him properly. ‘I never realised… None of us ever thought…’ Day almost looked apologetic at her mention of the other Celestials. ‘…We never thought something so beautiful could come from your power…’ There was no malice or cruelty in her words, only genuine wonder and astonishment.
There were many things Night could say of the other Celestials. Beings who, despite claiming to be above the mortals, could be just as cruel, and only saw him as a mistake by The Maker. His position that of an outcast with too much power amongst the gods. He could tell Day the injustice of it all, how it was her thoughts, as well as the other gods’, that drove him to break their rules in the first place.
But watching the serenity on her face, while the two of them sat side-by-side in his favourite place in the mortal realm, wasn’t something he was willing to break. So, he simply leaned back with a relaxed breath, another thing his celestial body didn’t require, but did out of habit from watching the mortals.
They could talk another time. For now, Night remained silent and watched his shadows and light dance along the river’s edge.
~ ~ ~ ~
Night would say that it was by an unfortunate hand of fate that himself and Day accidently broke rule three.
It was inevitable, of course, but Night would argue that it couldn’t possibly have been his fault, as the two Celestials were meeting for years before the incident happened. Their meetings had begun to go beyond just the night, with Day staying throughout the evening, and Night remaining close by for her sunrises and sunsets. Dusk was most definitely his favourite, as it was a gorgeous blend of their powers overlapping. A moment when the sky begins to darken, but still holds its hopeful warmth; an amnesty of sorts between their two contrasting elements.
On this particular evening, Night had invited Day to watch some of his best work, The Night of Falling Stars. It was once a year that the Celestial would return to a certain village and cause the stars themselves to shoot across the night sky above them. He had only attended the event in-person a handful of times since his decent to the mortal realm, but found a significant amount of enjoyment when he did, and decided it was only fair for Day to enjoy this experience too.
The two Celestials stood on the tree line of the surrounding forest, observing the display of flying lights, their brightness simulating falling diamonds above the village a few hundred feet away. A large crowd of its residents had formed to watch the stars.
‘Did you know, Day, that when I first began this centuries ago, that the mortals used to fear it?’ Night had so far been relatively quiet on this evening, his main words to the goddess beside him being a whispered warning to stay by the tree line, to shield them from the sight of mortals. Yet it seemed like this conversation was long overdue. ‘They used to believe that it was a sign of Armageddon, that the stars themselves were to fall and destroy their world.’
Day showed a look of disbelief at the idea, and shock over the sad chuckle Night had so casually made with his words. ‘No, I had no idea. Why would they possibly think such things?’
‘Why do you think?’ Night hadn’t meant for the bitterness in his tone. ‘The same reason why no mortal dares to leave their home after dark. Why they tell stories of monsters that lurk in the night. They, much like the rest of the gods, think that nothing good can come from my night. It’s different for you… Your element is seen as new beginnings and hope. You’re not feared, Day. Never have been. Whereas I have always been a cautionary tale amongst all beings.’
Heartbroken was the closest thing to describe her features. Over the last few years of their meetings and observing humanity, Night had noticed how Day had unintentionally begun to mimic their mannerisms and expressions. The two Celestials had somewhere along the way become more human. It would also seem that empathy and regret were things she had learned from them.
‘I’m sorry…’ The Celestial’s gaze shifted away from the sky for the first time that evening to meet his own. ‘You are right to think the way you do about the rest of us. We – myself included – have unfairly judged you for many millennia. They are ignorant and set in their ways, and because they don’t fully understand you, they fear your power. I feared you.’
‘And now? Do you still fear my power?’
‘All I can see now is the beauty within it. Your power is dark and serene, utterly consuming all at once… And I’m so sorry that I didn’t see that until now. There is nothing to fear of it, or you. All it took was for me to step away from our realm to this one and actually experience it.’
The god of night was momentarily stunned, having never experienced such sincerity before. He knew that the Celestials were stubborn, so he’d believed that once an outcast, always an outcast. Having an ally, a friend, wasn’t something he thought would be in the cards for him. ‘Perhaps,’ he frowned, ‘but I doubt the other gods would–’
A shout from close by had them both frozen. Tense and alert at how neither had noticed the small group of mortals who had slowly approached from the village. They had been so careful. For years Night and Day had met in secret, unbeknownst to both Celestial and mortal, yet on this particular evening it would seem the fates would play the hand of misfortune. Despite their well-crafted human forms, there was no mistaking the distinctive Celestial glow that surrounded them. Day with her wisps of sunlight and Night with his shadows, which reached out from his form to dance alongside them.
There was a reason why such rules were put into place, why man and the gods were meant to be kept separate. They would never know how humanity and the earth was meant to run its course, without the influence of one being over the other. It was on this evening that the mortals first met the gods who watched over them and when the entire course of humanity’s history would forever be changed. When Night and Day broke rule three…
‘It’s them! Don’t you see? The gods! They walk among us!’
…and took the earth – and its inhabitants – one step closer to war.
~ ~ ~ ~
It is rumoured that humanity was meant to develop slowly, evolving their agriculture, architecture and religion over time, with wars, sickness and devastation interwoven throughout their history. However, due to the knowledge of the Celestials’ existence, this changed.
Religions were reshaped to focus on them, and the two gods were worshipped. Although, it was not long before such a shift in the mortals’ lives drew the attention of the other Celestials. When they themselves created bodies of their own and descended to the earth.
Humanity had the helping hand of the Celestials to guide them. There were no more wars, or plagues. The gods watched over them and advised them, integrating themselves into the mortals’ lives. With more time spent amongst them, the Celestials picked up human habits and influence. They no longer resided within the realm of the gods and strayed from their duties. Instead, they indulged in the offerings and festivals held in their honour. Allowed themselves to become celebrities while the Earth slowly died. Many mortal groups begun to form, who questioned the gods position in their lives–
‘Alright, I know that frown. What’s on your mind?’
Night’s attention was shifted back to Day, as the two swayed on the dancefloor on The Solstice. The most extravagant and celebrated gala of the year that was hosted to honour the Celestials. To Night, the celebration was a waste of time, a glorified excuse for the Celestials to have their egos inflated by the mortals, the only reason he even attended being the insistent Day. Despite the drastic changes over the years between the gods and mortals, it seemed that the rift between himself and the other Celestials remained the same, judging by the disapproving stares on their faces. It was nice, though, to see that some things, like his friendship with Day, remained as they always had been. ‘There’s a surprising amount of media coverage this year. Why allow so many, when we can barely move around the room.’
‘It is The Solstice, Night. Tonight’s important to the mortals.’
He spun her to cover his slight hum of disapproval.
‘Okay, stop diverting. What is it?’
Night hesitated for a moment, before he lowered his voice, ‘Do you ever think we made a mistake? Integrating ourselves into the mortal’s lives?’
‘…Of course not. Where is this coming from, Night?’
‘I mean, have we truly benefitted them? At first, maybe. We guided them from war and self-destruction – that’s what we were made for. But now? It’s become about the fame and glamour that we shove in their faces every year with these gala events! When was the last time you went back to our realm? Or went to create one of your sunrises in person? The lack of our presence in our realm is affecting our abilities and you can clearly see it – tsunamis, global warming, ice-storms, natural disasters; they all started once we neglected our duties.’
Night would remember for the rest of his lifetime, the anguish which slowly formed on her face at his words. Filled with so much regret as she glanced around the room. ‘…We have strayed, haven’t we? What have we become, Night? How do we–’
The blast shook the building before they could even finish their dance. When mortal men with guns steeped in arrogance stepped over the rubble to surround them. The media’s cameras, still rolling, caught the act which labelled The Solstice as day one of the war between mankind and the gods.
‘Look upon them, fellow man! See that these are no gods of ours!’