Mythology of Staros [6/6]
 

The Creation
Before the people and before time could be measured, there existed a great darkness. This darkness was named Starath and is the father of all things. For a great time, Starath was alone in his vastness and power. All was dark and hopeless, personifying his loneliness until he created his mate, Roseth; she became the light in the darkness. Within the void of space, Roseth shinned with the beauty and light that would spark the imaginations of people for eons to come. Even today, these two lovers are seen in the sky, always together, as the night and the stars.

It was not long before Starath and Roseth produced children. Their first was a passionate and powerful son with fire for blood and hair as red as the lava that flows from the most volatile of volcanoes. This first son was named Crimox. From the very beginning he sought nothing more than the affection of his parents. Their second child, another son, came shortly after and was named Climox. Unlike his brother, Climox was always calm and calculating, as cold as ice, with hair the color of the sea and eyes like the clouds. Climox always sought to increase the knowledge and power he possessed. He never seemed to understand the emotions his brother or parents experienced and thus began to feel distant and separate from the others.

Crimox was afraid of being replaced in his father's eyes by the intelligent Climox, and began to fight with his younger brother. Climox refused to lose to his emotional sibling and would shake the cosmos with his determination. He soon began to believe that in order to be accepted, he would have to defeat Crimox. Their squabbles shook the very void itself as brother fought brother to be accepted by their father.

Roseth, pained by how her children behaved, begged Starath to stop them, but while he was pained to see the chaos and destruction they were causing, he was also intrigued by his sons' powers. Both seemed to create starbursts and holes in the vastness of space, destruction was limitless and simple to them, nothing stopping or slowing them as they fought. Obviously, the two boys had the power to destroy, to kill, but neither had even attempted to create life, a power that Starath knew both possessed and a power that he cherished above all others. The universe was vast and still empty; it slightly troubled Starath that neither of his sons could see the potential. Starath agreed with Roseth that something must be done to settle the sibling dispute but he knew that nothing he did would appease both sons, so he decided to give them a challenge to pour their energies into.

Starath and Roseth created a third child, a girl named Staros. This child was calm as waters and yet could be as passionate in fury as fire-but she was loyal and never thought to disobey her parents. On Staros, Roseth planted the seeds of mankind, creatures that would work and toil to survive and granted them the blessing of creation, Roseth allowed these small children to create as they saw fit so that they could grow, just as any mother would want for her child. She gave them just enough intelligence to be curious and to engineer things but kept them na�ve enough to never reach Starath's realm of existence.
Staros swore to protect her children and provide for them. She cried tears of joy for their creation and made the rivers and oceans; she raised her arms to hold back the wind and created the mountains; she created the animals for them to hunt from her form; she did all she could to keep her children safe while they were with her.

The humans gathered in the central part of Staros's main continent and soon began to flourish. They had little to want for and created great music, poetry, and prose that Staros would listen to with great joy through the wind. They constructed beautiful temples in honor of their mothers Roseth and Staros as well as in honor of Starath, the Father. The humans' lives were short compared to the lives of Staros and her family due to the small amount of power Roseth originally granted them, but their lives were full and prosperous so that when they took the final journey, they would have no regrets. That early existence was the happiest the humans of Staros have everbeen, and like all true happiness, was fleeting.

Starath and Roseth's final child was then born. He was named Sethrath and was as bright as his father was dark. Sethrath became the guardian of his older sister, Staros; he would keep her warm in his presence and bring light to her people and lands. Unlike his brothers, Sethrath did not care for his parents, and swore to only appear after his father had gone from Staros's skies.

Once the humans were created and began to think on their own, Starath called forth his sons to view what was done. Starath knew that both sons could not be happy but decided that for there to be any kind of peace in the heavens, the rivalry must be cast down to a lower form. Starath explained that he would name his successor and grant great powers to the Champion based on which son could win Staros and her people. The challenge was that neither son could show himself to the humans directly.

Crimox was enraged with his father's decision and demanded to know how he could win humans without showing himself to them. It was apparent that with the intelligence that these humans were gifted with, they were also privy to doubt and, he believed, would need proof of power before submitting to him. Climox nodded his agreement, not seeing how the task could be accomplished and wondering how his father could expect such an impossible thing to be accomplished. Starath explained to them that his true and worthy son would be able to achieve the task and left them to ponder the puzzle as he watched the young humans grow with a sort of fatherly smile spread on his visage.

The Curse

Much time had passed since the challenge was set upon the brothers before the puzzle was solved. During that time, Crimox and Climox have given chase to Staros as she walked through the galaxy, orbiting her in the form of two moons, one red (Crimox) and one blue (Climox). Each continued to dance around her in hopes of wooing her but to no avail, both being forced to leave her as Sethrath crossed the horizon. Staros swore each night to keep her word and stay true to the challenge, refusing both.

"Only the one who can win my people may have me," she told Crimox when his fiery light burned bright in her skies and Climox slept. Crimox begged Staros to tell him how he could do such a thing and still keep true to the challenge. Staros merely teased him, saying he was obviously not intelligent or powerful enough to complete the task. She told him that it was useless to even try anymore since it was obvious that Crimox could not out think his brother, that soon she would be in Climox's embrace.

Crimox roared with an angry fury at her remarks and sent down balls of fire to pierce her sky. He demanded how she could be so sure that he would lose. He commanded her to tell him of a way to enter among her people without revealing himself. Using his powers, he forbid Sethrath from entering Staros's horizon for three days as he released fire rain to burn the sky, the people, and Staros herself.

The ground shook with pain as the flames fell from the sky. Fireballs crushed through mountains while more entered Staros's waters and sent steam into the heavens, killing the fish and other creatures within. Forests burst into flame, whole packs of animals lost in the blaze. Not even the humans were to escape his rage; in fact, they suffered the most of all. Once gathered in one large, central community, the people scattered to all the corners of Staros in an attempt to escape the fireballs. Once a thriving culture, fire ate away at their written texts and destroyed their monuments. Thousands of lives were lost and Staros cried in agony over their deaths and the horrible pain Crimox had brought upon her, but her tears were not enough to vanquish his flames.

It took three days before she submitted, but Staros did tell him. She told him that although he and Climox were powerful, they had yet to use their power of life, they had yet to create or bless. As Crimox listened, his concentration waned from his spell on Sethrath, allowing the guardian to rise over the horizon. Staros told the fiery brother that all he had to do was to place a part of himself, a part of his power, into a human infant. With that blessing, if the human were able to unite the people, she would submit. With that knowledge secured, Crimox ceased his attack and left her sky to ponder how to control this gift.

As soon as Sethrath was able to rise above Staros, he was appauled at the destruction he saw. As he held Staros in his embrace and listened to her tale through her tears, Sethrath's anger only grew. He did not care for the way their father was allowing Crimox and Climox's foolish fighting. Sethrath might not have known what it was like before the challenge, but destruction in an empty abyss should be much more desireable that the destruction and pain of one's own daughter.

Staros, however, knew what she did was wrong and had given Crimox an unfair advantage in the challenge, no matter what Sethrath said to comfort her. The next night, Crimox had failed to rise in her skies, still attempting to learn to master his powers. Staros used that time to teach Climox what she had been forced to tell their brother and then placed a curse on her land and people to forbid either brother from granting more than one human their gift. This would stop either one from creating an army or just overpowering every human and shaping them to their will. With that complete, she went to her mother, Roseth to ask for one more thing.

Staros asked Roseth to create a curse on the brothers, to protect Staros's people she asked her mother to ban either Crimox or Climox from leaving her night sky. Roseth agreed, the power that both brothers would need to follow this curse would limit the power they could grant to the human they graced, both worried that the humans could be enslaved rather than won over if either of the brothers granted too much power to their chosen human.

The First Challengers

A short while after Crimox had learned of his gift, he used it. The first challenger was born on that night, Crimox shining dark crimson as the boy was washed and clothed. The power that Crimox bestowed on the child was great, too great, and soon began to eat away at the child's sanity. The gifts granted to him were powers of the mind and thought, as well as flame. As Crimox watched from the night sky, his challenger grew cruel and unstable, his once brown eyes warped into a solid white as the power consumed him. Twelve years after the boy's birth, it was celebrated with war and death. The challenger slaughtered hundreds with his gifts, including the ruling people of his village, burning everything to the ground. He took control of the entire land of Staros by the age of twenty.

The years of his rule were dark and bloody, although Crimox granted the boy (now known as Emperor Crimonium) power and life; Crimox had no control of the human's actions. Crimonium, the First Emperor of Staros, was entirely consumed by the power he had been granted. No one could get close to him, he grew suspicious of all those around him and would execute any that he deemed treacherous; evidence was not needed in his courts, for he was the court. He knew the people feared him, he knew that some plotted against him; he could hear it in his mind and it drove him to more killings and persecutions.

The reign of Crimonium lasted forty years before it was threatened. Climox brought forth his own challenger, who named himself Climonarum. Like Crimonium, Climonarum was gifted; his powers were that of the mind, like his adversary, and also of ice, to balance Crimonium's fire.

The two challengers met for their first battle outside the capital of Staros (a city known as Valense) on a field surrounded by stones and forest at the base of a great mountain range. Their powers were equal in strength and ferocity. Like Crimox and Climox, they fought and yielded much destruction, never gaining the upper hand with their magic and gifts. After three days of battle, it was declared a stalemate, both humans too exhausted to continue.

Crimonium returned to his castle in Valense and Climonarum traveled into the forest surrounding their battlefield. It was agreed that both would return to that place to conclude their fight in three weeks time. The emperor was pleased to have found someone that could challenge him in battle, while Climonarum was determined to end the bloodbath Crimonium's reign represented.

To hasten the battle and the end of Crimox's challenger, Staros brought forth from herself two daggers. Both challengers had been evenly matched in their gifts and Staros saw, just as Sethrath had when he created the challenge, that the only way for one to defeat the other was to employ more barbaric means; these daggers would serve that purpose.

The dagger for Crimox's challenger was created with a curved blade with the symbol of fire engraved along its edge. Its handle was made from gold with bright red jewels ornamenting the edges of it. On the bottom was another red jewel, this one engraved with the symbol of fire and forever sparkling.

The dagger for Climox's challenger also had a curved blade, but was engraved with the symbol of water. It was cool to the touch and had a silver handle with light blue jewels, as well as a jewel on the bottom of the handle, engraved just as its brother.

Upon the agreed battlefield, Staros erected a large stone pillar in the center to house the daggers until the challengers arrived. To protect her weapons, Staros gained the help of Sethrath and Starath. They created a binding field around the pillar and battleground, marking its perimeter with smaller stones to form a perfect circle. Any that attempted to cross that circle, be it night or day, would be engulfed and destroyed if they did not posses the gifts of one of the two brothers. Each dagger was also attuned to the powers of their corresponding challenger. If one attempted to remove the wrong dagger from its housing, they too would be destroyed.

The next time the two challengers met in the battlefield (henceforth known as Valana), Emperor Crimonium was slain by Climonarum. From the emperor's blood, a new stone pillar arose; his powers, memory, and essence becoming trapped within, never to join the other dead human souls guarded by Sethrath and the gifted power never to return to Crimox. The dagger crafted for Crimonium was absorbed from the ground where it fell and cleansed of the blood it had shed and then returned to the stone alter for the next challenger to appear.

Climonarum ruled over Staros and her people for seventeen years after the first emperor's death. In that time, he applied all his gifts to healing the land from the burns of war. The people, although thankful to be free from the tyrannical rule of the first challenger, were now fearful of any possessing power. Climonarum ruled justly until Crimox's new challenger arrived, but the people never trusted him and never took him into their hearts. The people of Staros were not won with tyranny and oppression; they were not won by justice and peace; thus would be forced to repeat the cycle of war, imprisonment, rebellion, and repair until the final challenger came.

The Vision

Time continued to flow and challengers continued to be created. And as it was with the first challengers, they continued to battle and destroy each other with each passing generation. The people of Staros began to forget what true peace and prosperity was, as well as lose hope. The brothers continued to circle in the sky and as each of their creations killed each other.

Generations passed before Crimox and Climox understood what it was that Starath wanted them to learn. Their determination to be the Champion began to change into dismay and horror. They had learned to create life-to mold it and bless it with their will-but they still wished for destruction. For beings as powerful as them, for beings with the power of creation, they learned that destruction should never be sought after, for that would only lead to emptiness for both the destroyed and the destroyer.

They sought to teach their challengers this, they wished to abandon the challenge but it was too late to change what was already set into motion. The challenge had taken a life of its own and no deity had complete control of their challenger to change the outcome.

Both brothers approached Starath to stop the killing but their father refused to answer their pleas. He told them that as a price for their folly, they must continue with the challenge. Although pleased that his sons had finally learned the value of life, to end the challenge now would also be to end the purpose of the humans. Starath could not allow their existence to cease; he enjoyed their presence and antics as he watched them from the heavens. They were young and innocent in their hopes and dreams, and yet so fragile it fascinated him how such creatures could exist and thrive through the hardships they continued to face.

Also, in a way, they were his children, just as Crimox, Climox, Staros, Sethrath, and Roseth were. These humans that were created from his daughters were still of his power and he could never wish one of his children death or take away their reason to live. "No," he told his sons, "You understand why I choose to teach you creation, but to end the challenge before it is meant to end would lead only to more death and the humans would have existed for nothing."

Climox decided then that if Starath would not stop the fighting, he would have to try to stop it himself. He attempted to contact his challenger during one generation. While the challenger slept, Climox entered the man's thoughts to try to communicate. He found that the human mind was an odd place, a place of images and emotions he could not quite understand.
In the challenger's dreams, Climox brought forth images, rather than words, of destruction and horror, showing his challenger a possible future and trying to appeal to his emotions. The images slowly changed from battle and death to a vision of the daggers Staros created for the challengers, shattered upon the floor of Valana and then of peaceful valleys.

Unfortunately, Climox's vision was not seen as a message to stop the fighting but a way of encouraging. The challenger believed he had been blessed with a vision telling him that he would be victorious where he to meet his counterpart in Valana. This was not true, no sooner had he raised his dagger had he fallen to his enemy's blade. The name of this challenger has been forgotten as time continued to move. No one remembered who the twelfth stone in Valana belonged to, and no human will ever remember him until the final challenger appears victorious but by then it will not matter.

The End of Starath

One day, there will come a challenger that will win the hearts of the people of Staros, be it Challenger of Crimox or Challenger of Climox. When the people are won, Valana will release the powers it has captured of challengers past to the winner, the challenger, and the stones within it shall melt back into Staros.

The challenger will rule the people of Staros. Humans will live by their choice for the rest of time; if they choose Crimox, their lives will be consumed and ruled by passion; if they choose the Challenger of Climox, logic will be their guide and law. There will be no more challengers after this is complete, the winning brother will not bestow his gift upon another human. Instead, he will create with Staros other children to live with the humans, beings of fire or ice to live with them and prosper. The people will be provided for by the Champion and will no longer need to work, hunt, or worry about disease, death, or aging. Time, which was created by Starath to measure the lives of humans and their time of death, will stop.

Sethrath, once Staros's guardian, will cease to shine and night will rule over the land. He will travel through the void and create from himself others to shine brightly in the vast galaxy and leave Staros forever in the company of the Champion. The dead that were in Sethrath's care will return to Staros to guide and live as their children have chosen. With no sun in the sky, Staros will warm her people, who will call forth her fires to heat the land.

Starath will grant the Champion the acknowledgement and power he had promised when the challenge was first created and then leave, with Roseth, to a new portion of the heavens to create again, leaving the people to the Champion and Staros to care for and do with as they see fit. Starath and Roseth will continue to appear in Staros's sky from time to time but will also care for their future children and creations; the vastness of space calling them to create more and continue existence and giving their gift. As each child grows and matures, they will move on to another place and leave them to create their own beings and gifts. The Father and Mother will continue to watch all their children but, once the challenge is complete, will never interfere again, allowing each the chance to make mistakes and grow on their own.

The Afterlife

As guardian of Staros, Sethrath also is charged with protecting her people once they leave their bodies and Staros's land. When a human dies, their body is either burned in honor of Crimox or sent to the bottom of the sea in honor of Climox; this has been called the beginning of enlightenment or the journey. Once a human leaves the protection of Staros, their essence and their gift of life, or soul, is brought to Sethrath by the guiding hand of Roseth the night after their journey has begun.

Sethrath keeps the people in his light until the final challenger comes; at that time, he will release them back to Staros in a blaze of light. Between the time of their death and the time the people have chosen, the spirits will wander Sethrath's hot surface as ghosts of their previous selves, being ignored by time.

No judgment by Sethrath will be passed upon the deceased there. The humans are to judge themselves during this time, for all that is left for them to do after death is to contemplate their past life. Murderers will be lodged with their victims; thieves live with past priests; the rich wander with the poor; all will be together and learn of the other paths life can offer so that they may offer enlightenment once they return to Staros.

Sethrath quietly watches over the dead as they wander and wait to ensure a level of peace in his quiet realm if the heat is not enough to do so. He feels no hatred towards the humans, but neither does he feel love. Much like his frozen brother, Climox, he feels very little. His only desire is to protect his sister. He watches over his dead and Staros's living humans with bored curiosity as they continue with their small existence. He chuckles at their mistakes, frowns as some embrace a more sinister path, and smiles as they celebrate their dreams.