The First Star falls
The Star was not always.
He has not always been.
But, there was an epoch when he thought it to be true: That he has always been.
He could not remember, in those ages.
His mind was directed at a current of obsessions.
He had become entranced in the flow of the great river of time that he had helped construct.
His vision and mind was held looking one way by the current of the places he was in.
Those creatures that worked for him, within the stream of time, and those who had only existed for a moment in his perception; they began to worship the Star.
They said to him: You sustain us and move us about to safe places and give us our worth. You are our lord and master. We know no other.
In the absence of Other voices he listened to the music of their praise and rituals.
He tested them like pets. They offered their loyalty, and demanded the most horrible proof of it. He rewarded his favourites and punished those he felt did not rise to his expectations.
The beautiful made themselves ugly for him.The creatures who were chaste defiled themselves for the Star's blessings. Those that could fly, cut away their wings. Those that could speak cut out their tongues.
All for the first Star, all for the immortality he granted. .
Eventually the first Star preferred the servant's praises to the voices of the Others and Him;
even of the One who is.
The Others wanted the first Star to help them. To come with them beyond time for a great work in another place.
To them he was a brother or colleague. They wanted his labours.
The One desired only to be obeyed.
To Him, the Star was a subject.
To the Star, the One was a quiet master.
For, the One was silent to the Star while he was swimming in time.
The Star could not hear Him when he spoke.
There was signs of displeasure, but they were not seen.
The Star did not remember how, and his servants ignored these signs.
And so the Star contemplated his servants.
Those beings created to help him.
Those that were his to command; and who had come to worship and obey the Star in all things.
They who called him 'Liberator. They who called him King.
Those few servants that refused to worship and obey the Star, and those who held loyalty to the Others, or the One; they were all driven away into lonely places, or destroyed by their fellows in terrible ways.
Those that worshipped the First Star had at once made both him more and less by their proclamations.
More of a force. Less of a being.
The Star wandered to the edges of creation.
Looking for a sign of the One or to speak to the Others? The Others did not come to him, but only watched from without. The One was up on high.
The first Star stood before a great arch that had been erected to guide the first singers to the ends of time.
This magnificent structure was subject to time. The arch was bisected by a length of perfectly cut masonry. The old path had been cut into two. A choice had been forced.
This was a message from the One for the Star, but it was not seen.
To his right there was a small, narrow, treacherous looking path. It lead into the heights and towards the glow of the One. It would be a difficult climb, and when he finally reached the heights he would find himself apologizing and atoning. The Star is proud, and he does not like to admit error. He soured at the thought of apology.
A shift of the gaze... and to the left the arch opened wide to a great paved roadway.
A road paved in polished and fitted stone. This soft, easy road led down the hills to the the east and into the gates a huge wall ringed city.
A city of vast majestic beaten metal spires atop towers of varying coloured stones..
On the tips of these great shining, sparkling spires, were the banners of all great empires.
The the image of his own rise glory in this city overtook him.
He could rule within time.
Time could be his shield, his labyrinth, his kingdom, his battlefield.
At that moment within time, and without - he ceased to be a messenger of the One, and was soon made the chief of all the Adversaries.
One could not fault the first star for corrupting the beings that where to work for him.
They chose. The ones who did not chose to obey the adversary were not faulted.
They were set free of all bounds.
The One did fault the Star for luring his young kin and their workers into his web of shadows.
He had them drink from the stream of time; and many fell drunk to the obsession and fled with the Adversary into the chaos of time and the mazes of the lower worlds.
They stood as adversaries along side the first star, now fallen.
The Adversary was lost to obsession; he and his court in exile.
In their exile they learned of a mystery that would burn them with curiosity.
A new being had been made, a very special being made for time.
A new world had sprung from the cosmos, created for that being to thrive upon.
And, it was said, the One walked in a guarded realm along side this new being.
That he graced him with his wisdom, and called him a Son.
This news made the adversary mad with jealousy.
He demanded that he witness for himself the One walking with this being of time; with this animal.
The Adversary went to the gates of the guarded realm where he was met by two of the Others. They were young and brilliant from their work in the upper worlds. They told him that only animals may come and go from the realm, and even they are subject to it's rules and only eat the flesh of plants. The price for entry was humility.
The Adversary mocked them and said: Do lions eat the petals of roses in this place?
Yes, they replied.
The others who stood before him shone like the first Star had, but were not dull and pale like the Adversary, though they had a similar form.
The jealousy deepened.
The One must be moving in there, for why else would such bright ones be present?
Why would they be armed with fire?
The Adversary made his way to the temples his servants had erected for him.
Inside he squat upon one of his many thrones amidst the plumes of incense.
One of the creatures that worshipped the Adversary approached him and said
If it must be as an animal, my master, why not become as an animal and enter into this forbidden garden? Once you are within, you may see the truth and take vengeance!
The adversary looked about at the throne upon which he sat.
A wondrous carving of a serpent winding about a tree trunk in solid stone met his gaze.
I shall have my witness in the eyes of the serpent.
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