Artillery of Blossoms- Mythology

1: The Smothering Cloak of Darkness

Once, a very long time ago, there was nothing but darkness, and monsters as vast and dark as worlds swam in it. Long creatures, dreadful and deadly. They swallowed everything in their path, all from stars glowing in all their splendor, to planets so strange and colored. They hated light, for it would show their giant, bulking hideousness. 

The beasts had no feelings besides hunger, and this feeling gnawed at their stomachs as large as the earth itself. It was consistent, this gnawing hunger, and by trying to dissipate it they destroyed everything in their path, though nothing would ever fulfill it. They were the only beings for hundreds to thousands of years, creatures of darkness and death.

Although, in the abyss of all those years, a simple event changed the world of darkness. A beast at the corners of the world, coiled and hissing, charged at a star with its jaw unhinged. It was in a state of anguish at the light, seeing all its gruesome parts revealed like the removal of a curtain. As the creature rushed towards the star, uncloaked by the heavy blanket of darkness, a peculiar thing happened. It was almost as if it was living, the star itself having survival instincts, and at that very moment it cracked. Its fire sprang up, heat intensing and getting so bright that for the first time in all eternity, the beast felt a new emotion. Something new, and it was painful. The monster's eyes felt like they were burning, the very world cracking, charring and destroying. Its white eyes, the only things on the beasts that weren't black in this world of forever-night, were charred and boiled, becoming one with the dark.

The beast, distracted by the burn—and oh, the pain—screamed a roar that could be heard throughout the corners of the world. It brushed the star with its coal-black side, and the momentum the beast built up caused the star to go flying. It was buried in a corner of the world, concealed by shadows, and its fire burning low. Other beasts never found it, and their destructive life continued. But not for long.

       Over the course of hundreds of years, the star grew and swelled into something almost as big as the beasts. By the time the star brushed off the shadows, the beasts noticed the great burning light. They roared at the pain of it; it was too big to swallow, so they had to endure it with tight shut eyes and angry snarls. Some even hid on the edges of the world, where only the true dark remained. The only one that didn't mind the light was the beast with the damaged eyes, its ruined and blinded face unable to see the star and realize- it was the star the beast failed to swallow.

        It was another day, another day of the star ripping away the shadows that cloaked this world. It was a different day, though, one that brought great change. Hah, it was nothing like the others. The creatures watched in amazement-they had gotten used to the glare of pain in the eyes-and shuddered as they saw their great bodies bathed in gentle light. It was then the star swelled and shaped into something completely new. It was, well, so humanlike- almost a child of the star. Limbs, torso, a pointed face, and a long mane of flames for hair. So beautiful, it was, made of flames and light so bright it could burn the darkness. And, it did.

        The light brightened, shredding and burning the blankets of shadow, gone. The creatures of forever night, always and always and always the hideous beasts of this shadowed world, screamed. It was the sound of death, the sound of destruction, the scream that ended this portion of the world. Then, they were beasts no longer. They were reserved to little shadows, cast only when the sun was present.

        And the star-person, cursed to live for hundreds and hundreds of years, beat on the earth mercilessly until night came; only then the star stopped, curling up to rest. Then, only then, did the beasts come out again, reduced and horse-sized. No longer forever beasts of darkness and death.