Chapter 10: Descent
The village has changed.
Ever since the arrival of the Apostle and the Holy Spirit, the villagers have been letting their curiosity run wild after being taught to start fires and cook.
“Cooked rock, no good?”
“No good. Teeth, hurt.”
“Taste good. Eat, impossible.”
“Taste, good?!?”
Villagers began experimenting with various things.
What would happen if you set yourself on fire?
“HOT! HOT!”
“You stupid fucking ape! Someone, throw water on this guy! Don’t you guys have a bucket or something?! Oh, right…”
What would happen if you put several sticks together…
“Hard. Break, hard.”
“Many, sticks, harder, break?”
“Yes. Harder, break.”
And set them on fire?
“Fire, longer.”
“Oooh! Ball Mother! Esphera!”
“Fire, stronger. Very good.”
“Light, good. Night, see.”
What would happen if you stared into the fire for a long time?
“... Eye, hurts.”
“Me, see, Esphera!”
“Ringed lady! Ringed lady!”
What would happen if you threw a burning spear at their prey?
“Spear, tip, stronger! Fire blessing!”
“Oooh! Ball mother, power!”
“Power! Power!”
“Meat, burning! Stop! Stop!”
Sometimes, there were brilliant accidental discoveries.
Like when a villager had been playing with ash and water, only to discover lye, which helped get dirt off the skin.
“Dirt, gone. Skin, pretty.”
“Pretty! Pretty! Skin, like, Esphera!”
“Slippery, careful. Oh!”
“Fell! Fell! Stupid!”
Or when Egg was cooking more stones, only to discover quicklime, which the villagers used to reinforce their shelters.
“Weird, slimy, strong now.”
“Put, slimy slimy, corner, here.”
“Smart! Smart! Wall, stronger!”
Other times, some villagers would make dangerous mistakes.
Like when Rock and Stone were trying to use heated stones to keep them warm at night, only to almost burn the entire village down.
“It’s you two fucking bald apes again! Quit playing with fire, you dumbasses!”
“Apostle, scary!”
“Run! Run!”
“Oi! The hut is still on fire!”
While death was always waiting at their doorstep, the villagers began to take an interest in matters beyond mere survival.
A small spark of curiosity started growing into a roaring flame of discovery.
For the villagers, the last few weeks have been a “discovery rush” that was growing infectious.
So infectious that even the most uninterested among the villagers started trying new things.
“... Twine, long. Strong. Good.”
Sitting on a riverbank, a young woman was working with twine, looping primitive rope through a hole roughly bored at the bone spear’s end.
The spear once belonged to her departed lover, whose death was overshadowed by the arrival of the Apostle and the Holy Spirit.
She took what she had learned from the village women and her departed lover, and worked to improve his spear to take up his old pastime: fishing.
She recalled hearing from him that losing spears while fishing was pretty common, as the riverbanks were slippery and hard to maneuver, and the waters sometimes rushed by quickly.
For that reason, she tied a length of thick twine to the end of the spear, intending to pull it back after each throw.
However, after practicing a few throws on land, she realized she would need stronger bindings to prevent the rope from snapping. She didn’t want to lose this treasured spear, after all.
“Annoying… Apostle, Spirit.”
Looking at the spear, she felt a twinge of annoyance.
The village was in a somber mood when Fish died.
They buried him at the perimeter of the village, at an elevated spot where animals rarely frequented.
This was to ensure that he would be allowed a peaceful rest.
When the Apostle and Holy Spirit arrived, however, that atmosphere was flipped upside down.
The Apostle and the Holy Spirit… both said to have come from Esphera herself.
People grew excitable and curious. They started experimenting with whatever they could after the Apostle began teaching them new things.
It was as if… as if everybody had suddenly forgotten Fish overnight.
This was a feeling that the woman… that Agni despised.
“Hate.”
Chunk!
The bone spear pierced the flesh of a passing fish, then was clumsily pulled back to Agni.
She caught it with both hands, lacking the strength or finesse to snatch the heavy object mid-air with one.
At the tip of the spear, the fish writhed weakly.
Its blank gaze reflected the light of the ringed sun.
“Ugh!”
“Agni.”
Before she could rip the fish off the speartip and throw it at the ground, the young woman turned toward the familiar voice that called out to her.
It was her father, Bear. He had come to check on his daughter, whom he hadn’t seen since this morning. Knowing she was still in mourning, he swept through the places that Fish and Agni once frequented, finally finding her on the riverbanks.
Bear was worried. His daughter and Fish were inseparable as children. As they grew up, it took Fish a while to notice Agni’s advances. Unfortunately, not long after he had done so and reciprocated her feelings, tragedy struck. He lost his life to a young ‘dragon’ during a hunt.
His group, hoping to defeat it to feed the village for days with its plentiful meat, had underestimated the beast. The young hunter had been caught off guard by the monster’s speed and was fatally injured by its talons. The dragon retreated into the forest, unwilling to face numbers greater than itself despite its sheer strength.
Perhaps because she was taught extensively to revere Esphera while she was young, Agni was quick to blame the goddess for this tragedy.
Agni had been cursing Esphera ever since. Esphera was, after all, the Ringed Star Mother. A mother failing to protect her young is a failure of a mother, and to Agni, who was one of her more faithful followers, this was a great betrayal.
“Father, what?”
“Apostle, Spirit, respect.”
“Again?”
Agni flashed her own father a hateful glare.
Bear was a man of strong spiritual faith.
He was among the first of his people to witness the miracle of fire.
Lightning had struck one rainy night as he and his fellow hunters fled the forest and its beasts.
That lightning sparked flames even on wet wood and soaked leaves.
The alien sight struck fear in the hearts of beasts, causing them to flee in the opposite direction.
Had it not been for that miracle, Bear would not have lived long enough to become a man.
Bear would not have become the village chief, nor a proud father.
Bear’s faith in Esphera was deep.
For this reason, Bear was disappointed in his daughter for turning away from Esphera, having seen the disrespect she showed the Apostle and the Holy Spirit.
It was true that Fish’s death was tragic, but death had been common even long before Fish.
Humans were weak. Because they were weak, they relied on numbers. And relying on numbers meant some would have to die for others to live.
This was how Bear’s people have survived until now. It was the only way to live, as far as Bear knew. The only way they all knew.
However, Agni was still young. Her heart was still new to the pain of loss.
“Guidance, help, survive. Apostle, wise. Spirit, strong. Village, safe.”
“Stupid. Esphera, failure, mother. Cannot, protect.”
“You!”
Even Bear, devoted to his family, could not contain his anger at an insult to his most revered deity.
It mattered not to him that the words came from his daughter’s mouth. It mattered more that the words were uttered at all.
So, out of anger, he struck her.
THUD!
Bear was a powerful hunter—the strongest in the village. So naturally, his blows carried immense force.
Agni fell backward from the sudden strike to the face. The intense pain failed to register in her mind, overwhelmed by the shock of being struck.
This was the first time in her life that she had been hit by her own father.
“Ungrateful! Ungrateful! Esphera gives, and gives life! Life! Our life!”
Bear repeatedly stomped the ground, the reverberations reaching Agni as she lay sprawled in the grass. Absolutely livid, he roared and roared, his face a mask of intense anger.
“We, survive! Esphera, protect! You! Ungrateful! Ungrateful daughter!”
“... Father…”
“LEAVE! NOT RETURN!”
Dazed and weakened, Agni could only watch as her father stormed away, his disappointment unmistakable.
Leave. Do not return.
His message was clear and simple. But it took Agni a moment for it to finally register in her mind. And when it did, she could not help but cry.
“Ugh…”
She held herself in the fetal position, holding the treasured bone spear close to her chest. Tears blurred her vision as her sobs grew in intensity.
“Ugh…!”
Her face was slightly misshapen and bruised from being struck. With her face streaming tears, she looked like a complete mess.
“Ugggh!”
And there was no one there to console her. She was alone.
“Agggh!”
That night, she decided to sleep near the riverbank. Surely, the grass-eating beasts would not bother themselves with a crying woman. Or at least, that’s what she told herself.
She didn’t have many options, after all.
Before the Apostle and the Holy Spirit came, the villagers would return to their homes before sunset and sleep the night away.
At night, only the dim moonlight could light the way, and the light it shone simply wasn’t enough for scavenging and hunting.
So, men and beasts chose slumber to pass the long nights.
However, the arrival of the Apostle and the Holy Spirit gave men the ability to produce their own lights. Suddenly, men could buy time away from the quiet, long nights. People could be active past sundown with the aid of torchlight.
Women took this newly bought time to craft and talk amongst themselves, while the men spent the nights sparring as a form of entertainment that doubled as training. Nighttime was now the time for recreation among village folk.
“Egg, strong! Too strong!”
“Egg win! Egg win!”
“Rock, Stone, next!”
“Fight! Fight!”
It was another eventful night in the village.
The beasts were asleep, and the men and women were making merry with the peace the night brought. But this peace would not last for long.
Fwuosh.
Fwuosh.
Fwuosh.
“... Ha?”
An old pot-bellied man was suddenly awoken from his slumber by a strange noise.
While the younger villagers spent the nights doing as they pleased, the older folk in the village simply could not endure staying awake come nighttime.
The pot-bellied man was one such elder who went to sleep earlier than the rest of the village, hoping for a peaceful rest for his weary body.
Had he still the energy of the young man he once was, perhaps he would spar with the other men in the village. Show them how tough he was, and impress the village women.
Perhaps he would woo another man’s woman. Invite them into his embrace for a night.
He was one such sleazy old man.
Although in a world where options to entertain oneself were few, perhaps this was inevitable.
While the village had recently undergone many changes, the man had already grown too old to adapt. Not that he couldn’t, but simply that he wouldn’t. His ways were already set.
Such a sleazy old man found himself waking to a most unnatural scene.
“Fire? Fire!? Ball… Floating!”
Floating orbs of silver flames were circling his body in his panic.
“Esphera, careful not to burn him. We want to make a scene here, but we must not allow anyone to get hurt. That might just ruin your image.”
“Understood, Lord Yvell! I will be careful!”
“Careful! You singed his pelt!”
“Oh, you are right! Oh no!”
“Maybe watching them from the hill was a bad idea. It is harder to see from here than I first expected.”
“Perhaps we should have hidden closer to the village.”
The man rose to his feet and sprinted out of his hut, screaming in fear.
“Fire! Balls! Floating!”
The orbs followed after him, and soon all the eyes in the village were on the old man.
“Fire? Fire! What?!?”
“Balls! Fire! Where, Apostle? Where, Spirit?!?”
“Esphera! Esphera comes! Esphera!”
Several voices cried out into the night. Some cried in surprise, while others cried in fear.
Rather than choosing either option, the hunters of the village who were with Bear that night that Esphera saved them called out to their goddess in reverence.
The village was in complete chaos.
“Good. We have their attention. Now round them all up.”
“Yes, Lord Yvell!”
“Oh, and make some more lights. Have them descend from the sky. That should give them a hint that they are coming from their most revered deity somehow.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan.”
“It would be nicer if we could do this in the day, but nighttime is the only time when the whole village gets together. Gathering them up this way is far more efficient, but a little less impactful considering your station as the personification of the sun.”
“Indeed…”
“Unless… Say, Esphera. Can you move the sun by any chance?”
“Yes, of course I can. I am the sun, after all.”
“Can you make adjustments to how bright you can make yourself?”
“Certainly!”
“Perfect. Then, I have another plan for you.”
“Esphera! Esphera is here! Star Mother!”
The chaos in the village finally lulled as everyone turned their eyes to the sky.
It was still nighttime, that was for certain. The sky was still dark, and the moon was still up in the clouds along with the stars. Despite all this, however…
The ringed sun—Esphera—hovered far above the village.
Its light was dimmer than usual, so the sky could not turn as bright as it did during the day.
It was dim enough for the men and women in the village to stare at its glorious silver form without hurting their eyes.
While its appearance differed from its normally red, burning day form, everyone in the village instinctively knew that this was, in fact, the Esphera they so revered.
“Oooh! Star Mother! Rings!”
“Ball Lady! Ball Lady!”
“Goddess! Bow! Bow, everyone!”
Suddenly, everyone in the village was on their knees, bowing their head with their foreheads planted to the ground.
Although only seconds had passed, time felt like it was stretching as people kept still, and a deafening silence filled the world.
Then, a gentle voice entered their minds.
[[Children.]]
Shiver.
The sleazy old man’s body shook in place.
He did not believe in the Ringed Star Mother, unlike the younger men and women in the village. After all, to him, it was all hearsay coming from the mouths of excited hunters who escaped the jaws of death. Such crazed stories were common in people who were pushed to the brink.
While the Apostle and the Holy Spirit were interesting figures that could do things the villagers could not, they still appeared as a man and a woman. The sleazy old man simply thought they must have performed a most convincing trick that deceived everybody else.
But now.
Now he could tell.
He could feel her presence before her.
A being far above him that could smother him like an ant.
Such a powerful being spoke into his mind, her voice like a kind mother’s whisper.
“E-Esphera…”
He muttered with intense emotion. Was it fear of a higher being? Was it joy that such a creator, poised as a loving guardian to humans, did exist?
He could not know, for he was old and foolish.
But one thing was for certain. She came here for them.
Perhaps the arrival of the Apostle and the Holy Spirit had a greater purpose.
Guidance and Protection. The Apostle that guides, and the Holy Spirit that protects.
If both figures came with such missions in mind and perhaps even more, then what did the Ringed Star Mother herself come to do?
[[Raise your heads.]]
Just as commanded, all the villagers raised their bowed heads at once, only to be surprised.
Floating before each of them was one of those orbs of silver flames that had been chasing the old man.
When some of the braver villagers dared look up to the sky, they were met with a most mystical sight.
“D-Descending… Light!”
More of these silver flame orbs began descending from the sky as if emerging from the Ringed Star Mother’s body herself, like stars gently floating down to earth.
And each of these orbs settled itself before a villager of its choice.
[[Follow the spirits. They will guide the way.]]
