A Short Story Collection

A Myth

This myth is not in the least bit true. None of the gods were the gods of an ancient civilization, and none of the events are real. I made it up. Enjoy!

Long ago, what we now call Earth was a barren desert that was lit up by the sun by day was a black void by night. There was no life, at least, not until humankind came to the lonely world looking for a new home. When they got there, however, they found that what the new world had was not enough for them to live by.

To solve the problem the humans' monarch, Inith, sent out his best warrior, who went by the name of Firn, the next day to find anything that could help their race before it died out.

So Firn left Earth and set off through the black void. There's so much space here, Firn thought, I'll name this void space. Thus the void around Earth is called space.

Firn was a tall man with red hair with grey eyes bordering on hazel. He wore loose pants and a belt with a brown tunic to match, for they had no metal to smelt into armour.

A fortnight later, he came across a man drifting around in the void–-no, space–-but the man was no ordinary man. His legs were that of a chicken, but otherwise he had the body of a man. The only other thing abnormal about him was his head. It was bald, so nothing new there, but on either side of the head was a face. Both faces grinned unnervingly. Behind the man two doors floated. The right one was black, while the left was white.

Suddenly the faces (both were identical) spoke, "We are Lacitnedi. God of truth and lies, choice, and fate. One of us speaks the truth and the other speaks naught but lies. Choose a door, ask us what you wish, but only one door shall lead to victory."

"Well then, whichever face that speaks naught but truth, answer this question: Which door leads my victory?" Firn asks, thinking only the truthful will answer.

"The black one!" shouted the right face.

"The white one!" shouted the left face.

Of course they both answer, the face that lies speaks so as to lie that he is truthful. Well, what about that old saying that I've heard about? "Left is right, and right is left." Since this is my only resource, I shall choose to believe the left face.

"I wish to choose the white door," the warrior says aloud.

"Suit yourself!" both faces exclaim as the black door disappears and the white door opens, "don't blame us for the consequences!"

"So you're saying I should have chosen the black door?" he asks doubtfully.

"We won't say! We won't say. We only say that to make you doubt yourself, so you may have chosen right, or you may have chosen wrong."

"If what you say is true, then why have you told me not to blame you for the consequences?"

"Despite our explanation, you are no longer sure your choice is right! Let this be a lesson! There is always room for error."

They were right, the warrior wasn't sure if he was right anymore, but to feign confidence he scoffed and walked through the doorway without hesitation. Just before the white door slammed shut behind him Lacitnedi began chuckling, as if he had seen right through Firn's disguise the whole time.

What Firn saw before him was cold, hard stone for the ground and the surrounding space was as black as night. The only light source came from a beast–-a sun beast, the holiest of creatures that lived. Shining, silvery-white scales covered its body from head to tail. Its limbs were that of a sturdy horse, its tail that of a lion, the head was that of a viper, and its torso was quite short. Clear saliva dripped from its teeth. Red eyes glared. Altogether it looked malnourished.

"Stand still and I will make your death quick and painless. You will make and good snack," it rasped.

"No, but–"

"You have made your choice."

It pounced, jaws gaping, ready to snap Firn up. Just in time he jumped out of the way, drawing his sword in the process. So they fought. Sword against claws, dagger against tooth, shield against scale. Eventually the two fell into a nearby hole, both landing in the sand dunes of Earth. In the end Firn managed to slay the sun beast. Next he cast its scales into the sky to become stars. Then he took the beast's head and cast that into the sky to become the moon. The clear, blue-green blood that poured out of the dead creature's wounds became the water that sustained life.

The rest of the human race watched him do all of this, as the fight had attracted them. Ha! Lacitnedi was just trying to scare me. Nothing went wrong.

Firn then limped, strutted, and partially swam pridefully over to Inith, ready to receive his praise, and he got it, but not in the way he had expected.

Inith was of moderate height and build and looked fairly young, but his graying blond hair and the spectacles for his brown eyes betrayed his age.

"Warrior. You have succeeded in bringing what our race desired, but now you must die with that sun beast. This is what becomes of the slayer of the sun goddess, Solya. Did you not see the soft glow that emanated from her as she died? This is the price of your pride. The lives of her children depended on her staying alive, so now they are all dead. All that remains of her are the stars, moon, sun, and water. What's worse: without her eventually the stars and sun will die out and the moon will become a lightless rock that drifts through space. Then the water will freeze over without the sun to melt it. Our time on Earth is now limited," the monarch said sadly.

"But she had gone mad with starvation and isolation! I-I tried to speak with her, but she tried to eat me."

"You ignorant boy; you've grown lax in your studies. If she tries to kill someone it means that they deserve it! All the more reason to have you executed," Inith stated, his voice hardening, "Asteri."

Then my best friend came forward, holding a long spear. He was short and slightly overweight. He looked like he was in his twenties, had clear blue eyes, and a head of shaggy brown hair. He wore a green tunic and brown, baggy pants.

"Asteri!"

"You have condemned us all, but I shall pray that Vien, god of the afterlife, sees fit to allow you a home in his domain so that I may see you when my time comes," Asteri pauses and raises his spear, regret in his eyes, "farewell, my friend."

Lacitnedi was right when he said there would be consequences. He had said it indirectly, and I didn't listen.

Lacitnedi knew. He knew what would happen. The last thing Firn felt was shock, fury, disappointment, betrayal, pride, and a multitude of other emotions before he knew no more.