Short Stories

Vaas, God of the Stars

I believe it was four years ago, he came to me. He told me his story and in exchange I told him mine. Although I'm not here to bore you with my story, I'm here to tell you his.

The gods of Olympus fear him, while they are bound to the realm of men, he travels the cosmos in search of its secrets, trading and bartering with beings even more powerful than our gods could have imagined. But his story didn't start out there, it started in a small town, with simple minded people.

Vaas used to stare at the stars. While the people in his village worshipped the sun god Apollo, he cursed him for banishing the stars each night. He hated the mornings, the people called him a monster for his pale skin and hair as black as night. Vaas had no mother, or grandmother, but he did have a father, who did not care for him. He also had an uncle, who was jealous of the attention Vaas got. Vaas, one night, while sitting under the stars, felt an itch on his head. White spots of lice started to appear. Though the doctor said that he should get it cleaned away, he didn't. He kept it, and he loved it. He thought his hair looked like the night sky. The village saught to end the parasite before it could spread, and paid his uncle to leave the door to their home unlocked. They burned his room, all of his belongings, and hung him by the neck over a fire, the smoke entering his lungs turned him black as his hair.

Suddenly, Vaas woke up. He couldn't feel anything, and his lungs now were empty. He had no need of oxygen anymore. He could see the Earth far, far below, but it didn't entice him, so he left. He floated trough the empty space to find other planets, and other life. Other gods as well, each planet had them. Godesses of the planets would look up and feel joy as he came to greet them, one in particular caught his eye. A goddess named Haumea, her planet was small and only had one other god and very few life forms, but her beauty was astonishing. Unfortunately, his love belonged to the open sky, and the god of her atmosphere, Varidos, kept her away from him, so he moved on, keeping her in his heart.

He had visited nearly every planet, but for some reason he simply hated earth. The things surrounding it were hideous, the air was thick as dirt, and he couldn't see any reason to go there, until there was nowhere else to go. He stepped onto the earth and found a child. The child gazed upon his magnificence and was driven to tears, bowing before him. He expressed that there was no need to do such things, but the child still bowed to him, fearing what a god might do if he didn't.

He rose to Olympus, wanting to find what the child was afraid of. The Olympians saw him as a threat, trying to fight back against him, but nothing on our planet could stand against a god of space. Warrior after warrior fought him and failed, while Vaas simply tried to explain himself. The last Olympian left standing was Zeus, king of the gods. He threw bolts of lightning at him trying desperately to defend his kingdom, but his bolts did nothing to Vaas.

Zeus gave up, surrendering to Vaas and allowing him to take the throne as long as he spared his life. Vaas didn't want the throne, but he saw behind Zeus' eyes was fear, but it wasn't his own. It was a titaness, the one known as Metis, she was afraid that Vaas was going to destroy Zeus and kill her in the process. Vaas grabbed either side of Zeus' head and slowly pulled him apart, setting Metis free and ending the reign of Zeus.

Metis was grateful towards her savior, and the throne fell to him. He denied the throne, returning the power to Hera, and travelling the world with his goddess Metis, searching for secrets.

He continues to search to this day, one of the only gods that chose to live among the mortals, to hear their stories, and learn their secrets. His bride travels with him, learning of powers unheard of by anyone in Olympus. He came to me for my secrets, and in return he told me this story.

Wanna know what I told him? Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be much of a secret, would it?