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The Music of the Spheres
The Tales of Lyra
Chapter 1: The Creation
In the beginning there was no sun to warm
the earth. There was no moon to dip her horns and pour the rain.
There was no ocean to stretch his arms along earth's shores, and
there was not even an earth at all. There was nothing but a mass
of elements fighting with each other. There was only Night and Chaos
and Darkness.
Black-winged Night floated through the emptiness of Chaos, carrying
an egg and planting it in the womb of Darkness. When the egg cracked
open, little golden-winged Eros emerged and flapped his wings to
dry them. As his wings moved they made a sound, which echoed as
it bounced against the walls of empty Chaos.
Eros flapped his wings faster and the sound his wings made grew
higher and mixed with the other sound like a duet. His wings moved
faster still, and the new sound joined the others like a trio. Faster
and faster he flapped his golden wings until Chaos was filled with
a symphony of sounds.
The ethers had been asleep for a long, long time. One by one, they
awoke to the music and began to dance. Dancing made them gasp for
air. They took a deep breath and when they exhaled, flames shot
from their noses. In fright, they jumped high into heaven, dancing
in circles as they went.
Eros watched the dancing lights. "This is wonderful," he thought.
Just then a large lump of brown clay floated past him. "What's this?"
he wondered as he grabbed it. It was warm and soft. "It's whatever
I want it to be," he decided as he shaped it into a smooth ball.
Using his thumbs, he dug crevices. "These are valleys," he said.
Then he took the handful of extra clay and sculpted it into a ridge.
"These are mountains," he said. He turned the ball around in his
palm and looked proudly at his work. "I will call this Earth," he
said. Then he spied some water and placed his beautiful ball in
it. The water embraced the Earth tenderly and filled it with life.
"How beautiful my Earth is," Eros said as the blue and brown ball
floated in the sky. "If there were something bright to light it,
it would be lovelier still." As he spoke, he noticed the dancing
ethers high in heaven. He made a mold of leftover clay and scooped
some of the fiery ethers into it, casting a flaming sun. He placed
it near his Earth and the bright sun lit Earth's oceans, as his
lovely ball became a shimmering globe, iridescent against the night.
"Now what else can I make?" Eros wondered as he reached his hands
into Earth's seas and pulled out a lump of wet clay. "I know; I'll
make a moon," he said as he formed a silver crescent, scooping water
with it and placing it in the air. Water dripped from the moon's
horns and Eros put the Earth beneath it to catch the rain. The moon
spun around the Earth and, as it moved, the oceans' waves beat against
Earth's shores like a drum. "How lovely," Eros said and he kissed
the Earth. No sooner had his lips touched it than forests began
to grow, reaching toward the sky with their limbs stretched wide
in the sunlight, waiting for the rain.
Eros placed his hands at the top and bottom of his Earth and ice
formed to cool his fingers. Then he turned to face the sun and a
glowing band of flame spread around the middle of his Earth. Eros
took a deep breath and blew across the Earth. As his breath passed
beneath the moon's stream of water, clouds formed. Eros' breaths
became winds and the sigh that they made when they blew across the
warm oceans was very different from the shrill whistle that sounded
when they blew against frozen mountains. "These are winds." Eros
said, and he gave them each names. He called the gentle western
wind Zephyrus. Zephyrus rose when the sky glowed pink with the setting
sun. The chill winds which bristled as they blew from the crystalline
far north he called Boreas. Then he named the lush and playful tropical
south wind Auster. When all three winds blew to the same point on
the Earth their territorial argument sounded, and thunder rolled.
Eros looked up and once again saw the ethers dancing happily, high
in the sky. He reached out to capture some in his palm. As he peeked
into the darkness of his cupped hands, he saw them flash and blink.
"You look alive," he said as he gave the ethers wings and released
them on the Earth. Blinking on and off, they flew through Earth's
gardens. Time passed and they evolved into many different creatures
until the land and the sea and the winds carried living, breathing
beings, each making its own sounds. All their chirps, whistles,
growls and coos became so loud that it woke Heaven and Earth.
Tales of
the Immortal Night ©2003, J.J. Kuhl
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