Chapter 21: The Sun is Too Bright!

Creation deities.

New or old, creation deities are the most powerful known class of divine beings. Within the hierarchical system of constellations, they are considered primal gods—not only because they embody the aspect of reality that is creation, but also because their powers often extend beyond it.

A sun god, for instance, can evolve to wield many powerful abilities. Aside from the power to wield fire and control the sun itself, a sun god can also wreak havoc across the world by bringing it into pure darkness upon withdrawing its light. This is just one of the many applications of their power.

One ability Yvell himself was unaware that Esphera could possess was the power to manipulate time.

The sun determines when day arrives and when day ends. While some cultures might attribute the latter half to the moon, some interpretations might claim that the sun, being a higher power than the moon, simply hands the responsibility to keep the sky lit over to the moon once it needs its rest. Of course, interpretations can differ from one person to the next.

What’s important is the shared belief held by many people.

The majority dictates what abilities such a sun god can possess. And if a certain goddess felt the need to persuade or trick the majority into believing an interpretation of her abilities in her favor, would it be a stretch to believe a sun god could wield the ability to manipulate time?

“I may feel sorry for fooling my followers, but I am simply too impatient to wait for the results of my labors to bear fruit.”

Esphera, having learned the art of manipulation from Yvell, appeared before her followers, both those who departed north and those who remained in the plains, as a wandering wisewoman.

Now skilled in the art of presentation, she presented herself as a mysterious and all-knowing figure to her followers. She earned their trust through various consultations.

“When the beasts migrate for the season of white sands, food becomes scarce. I fear that our tribe, now a hundred strong, will starve come the new season.”

“White sands? Are you perhaps referring to snow?”

“Snow? Is that what the white sands are called?”
“Yes, snow. Snow arrives during the winter season like rain, descending from the sky.”

“I see!”

“Certainly, it would be difficult to obtain meat during the winter season. That is why it is important to stockpile food.”
“Stockpile…?”

“Yes, stockpile. I understand that your people believe food quickly spoils, but some food can last longer than others. Am I right in understanding that your people have recently taken up agriculture?”
“Why, yes, wisewoman. That is correct. What a breadth of knowledge you must possess to be able to see through that! The old hunters of the village scoff at efforts at growing our own food, claiming only weak men would resort to such a measure. However, we believe that agriculture is key to the survival and growth of the village.”

“You are correct. Agriculture will surely sustain your people for generations to come. I suggest that, for the coming winter season, you must seek out plants that last longer than others. Experiment with ways to keep them fresh for longer, and store the excess produce somewhere safe, protected from the elements.”

“Oh, I have never thought that far ahead! What a brilliant mind you possess, wisewoman! We will be sure to do as you have suggested!”

Esphera did so in accordance with Yvell’s teachings. She avoided holding their hand all the way.

(... The Ringed Star Mother wishes for your people to be able to stand on your own feet without her intervention. After all, a child always holding their mother's hand will never learn to walk on their own.)

While Esphera’s Sun Form had already left at that time, Esphera reverted from her Holy Spirit form, hid somewhere close by, and paid close attention to every word that left her mentor’s mouth. His words, as always, stirred something deep within her and enlightened her to her naive ways.

“I had always believed that direct intervention was the key to guiding my followers to utopia, but that was naive thinking. If it were truly so simple to create a utopia in such a way, would there not be many other gods who had already accomplished such a feat? Truly, Lord Yvell is a constellation unlike any other.”

Once Esphera had built up enough trust with her followers in her Wisewoman Form, she enacted her plan to guide her followers into believing the Ringed Star Mother could control time. She did so by adding new pages to her mythology.

To draw their interest, she started with the topic of the afterlife–a common concern among all humans, especially hunters.

“Why is it that we carry warmth within our bodies and lose that warmth when we pass? This warmth is proof of our connection to the Goddess. When eternal slumber arrives, our warmth returns to the great star above. There, at the Goddess’s side, we will be reunited with old friends in eternity. That is why you must live with sincerity. For those who live sincerely will be welcomed with open arms, while those who live selfishly and with malice will only have enemies to greet them.”

By providing this sermon, she was, with calculated intent, laying a foundation for what lay beyond death. After all, she had a promise to fulfill with Agni, and Esphera herself believed in the value of sincerity, so she resolved to uphold her promise. Afterward, she would offer her followers further teachings, eventually reaching the point of explaining the concept of day and night.

“It is Esphera who determines day and night. Her dawn light signals the coming of day, granting strength to the living. When she withdraws from the sky to usher in dusk, it is to give all beings of the world their rest. Her light strengthens the body and gives life, but too much strength wearies the soul. That is why, when you run with all your might—putting all your strength into your legs—your body weakens, and so does your mind.”

Esphera had some worries about how her followers would interpret such mystical wording. She deliberately made things vague as specifics wouldn’t reach the minds of this fledgling civilization. Thankfully, it seemed they understood enough. Not only that, but her sermons were popular enough that some of the older men eagerly wished to learn more from her so that they could spread her teachings themselves.

“Would these people be considered my first priests?... No, perhaps calling them shamans would be more appropriate.”

These shamans became deeply devout. They began to eagerly teach others in hopes of enlightening them to the mysteries of the world. Blessed by brilliance from the Ringed Star Mother delivered by the Apostle, these early humans were strongly curious and were quick to absorb these new beliefs surrounding their revered Goddess. And as these new beliefs took hold, she finally earned herself the ability to manipulate time.

“Finally! Now, I can look forward to sharing my achievements with Lord Yvell much quicker!”

As Esphera raised her hand to the sky, the ringed sun set, bringing forth dusk. The moon rose in the sky before descending again, and the ringed sun returned, repeating the cycle.

Time sped forward in the blink of an eye. Populations grew, and groups splintered off from their tribes, spreading across the land.

The older tribes grew huge and began interacting with their neighbors more frequently. Esphera watched as this cycle of camaraderie developed into a burgeoning tribal confederacy. And technology developed to sustain these larger societies. This was the beginning of small nations.

Esphera stopped pushing time forward after a point, deciding that this point in time was ripe for exploring new developments. While she could have merely observed her followers from above as their ringed sun, she still kept her mentor’s words to heart and valued the act of emulation. So, she descended once more in disguise as a mere passing traveler. She decided to visit the village where she had last taught the concept of time.

“It should be right here… Oh!”

To her surprise, a large crowd of people surrounded a small stone stage where a shaman was delivering a sermon. They listened to him attentively as the man imparted his teachings to them with dramatic flair.

“We are the blessed of Esphera! Her beloved children! Listen not to the fools who say we have forsaken the motherland, for we were granted a great mission! To spread her brilliant light to the rest of this world! The light which shines within us, granting us warmth! This, we must share with the world!”

“Hear! Hear!”

“Hail Esphera! Hail!”

Was there perhaps a splintering in her belief?

Esphera, concerned about the direction her religion was taking, pulled out her phone to start recording the scene. She planned to share this recording with her mentor, Yvell, later to ask for his advice on this matter.

As she unlocked her phone screen, an image of the sleeping Yvell, mouth open wide as he snored, decorated the background as her wallpaper. At this scene, she couldn’t help but sigh in delight.

“Ah… Lord Yvell… How I miss you so already.”

Before she could start recording, however, she received a notification from Chaos. It was a new message from a fellow constellation. A name that was unfamiliar to her.

“GREENSPROUT…?”

GREENSPROUT:

Greetings, Ringed Star Mother. I am a junior constellation, newly born in the same world as you. As your neighbor and junior, I wanted to introduce myself and express my hope that we may get along as neighbors.

“Oh! Another new constellation already? Is this not too soon?... Did someone ascend or…?”

It was incredibly rare for one to ascend to the status of a constellation in a burgeoning world. This was because the world was not nearly populated enough to realistically pursue enough renown or infamy to ascend. It would take a miracle among miracles to achieve this feat.

For this reason, it was often deities that found themselves becoming constellations first in worlds that were just beginning to pick up in momentum. Esphera’s world was one such world that had yet to grow into a proper, busy one. So, the chances were high that another deity besides Esphera had been born.

“Did I miss their conceptualization phase while I was pushing time forward?”

Whatever the case, she would find out more about this new constellation soon, as this junior was still sending her new messages.

Ding.

GREENSPROUT:

I have read your previous messages in the #new-constellations-only-chat regarding a wise constellation who you studied under. I am excited to inform you that I, too, have been granted the opportunity to study under him! Sir Gorilla granted me this chance to meet him, and we will be discussing the details of this mentorship with him soon. From now on, we shall be fellow disciples under the same mentor!

“... What?”

Tsss…

“Hot! Hot! Why is Esphera suddenly growing brighter?!”
“The ground! It’s too hot! My feet are burning!”

“Goddess! Calm your anger, revered Star Mother!”

“The river is turning into steam! Oh no! Oh no!”

Ding.

GREENSPROUT:

Are you excited as well, Ringed Star Mother? I can see that you are shining ever so brightly this fine day! My leaves enjoy the great warmth of your light! I will tell you more about our meeting later. Sir Gorilla will be coming to pick me up soon. I hope that we can become great friends!

FWUUUOOOSH!

“Someone, help! That woman is on fire!”

“... Oh dear, it seems that I got a bit carried away with my emotions.” (Mutter)

Blink.

“Someone! Anyone! She’s–huh? Where did she go?”

Esphera disappeared from her spot, leaving the man who caught her on fire confused.

She decided she would pay her mentor a quick visit, just to see how he was doing. She was absolutely not at all angry that he was about to take in another disciple. Not at all.

Unfortunately for her, however, Yvell was not home. He was currently at a cafe, waiting alongside a reasonably concerned woman in a dark metal gothic lolita outfit.

An hour before the cafe meeting.

“Vell, this is a bad joke. There’s no way that furry was–”

“Gorilla. Not a furry.”

“... You’re full of shit.”

“Don’t you know me well enough by now that you can tell when I’m lying?”
“I’ve never met you in person until recently, so how can I be sure that the person I knew behind the screen has the same personality as the one I’m talking to right now?”

“... Good point.”

I had just finished explaining my story to Ori, who clearly wasn’t buying any of it. Not that I blame her, of course. The last two months of my life basically read like a comedy web novel, and Ori wasn’t exactly a fan of those. She much preferred BL over anything else.

Thankfully, whether she believed me or not wasn’t too important. Time would reveal the truth to her, after all, whether she liked it or not.

“You don’t have to take it from me. The gorilla constellation will be back soon with his junior constellation in tow. I’ll let reality do all the convincing.”

“... And why did you share all this with me? Even if it were true, wouldn’t it have been better for you to just keep this all a secret from me?”

“Well, I did consider doing that, at first. Until I thought about the positives.”

“The positives?... What positives?”

“Good question. Numero uno!”

I pointed at the air with dramatic flair.

“... Quit it.”

“Sorry. This has been a habit of mine recently. Anyways, as for the first positive: you’ve been struggling with money recently too, haven’t you?”
“That’s right. My recent cosplay gigs haven’t been paying well. And… I don’t want to get a proper job.”

“Fucking NEET.”
“Aren’t you one, too, asshole?”

“Touché, mademoiselle.”

I scratched the back of my head, thinking over my words before speaking.

“Well, this could be an opportunity for you to earn some money.”

“Earn money? How?”

“Esphera’s world.”

A foreign world full of all sorts of alien things, from dragons with udders to rabbits that ran rather than jumped. In a world so full of things unknown to Earth, we’re bound to find a few things to sell that could earn a respectable amount of cash.

“If you help me out with this mentoring gig, that’ll help split the burden. You can take some of the stuff from her world and sell it here. Just think about it. There must be a lot of valuable things there that you could make a profit out of here.”

“That’s assuming this grand tale of yours is true.”

“You’ll see whether I’m lying or not when the gorilla comes back. Now, numero dos.”

“What’s number two?”

“Recognition.”

Ori furrowed her eyebrows at the mention of the word.

“Don’t I already get enough of that online? I’m a pretty popular cosplayer, you know.”

“I’m not talking about getting recognition from your simps. I’m talking about getting recognition from constellations.”

A human getting recognition from constellations.

Looking at mythology and fiction, meetings with god-like beings were always a flip of the coin as to whether they’ll end in a miracle or a disaster. But if you play your cards right, you might gain benefits no other human on this Earth could receive.

“That does sound interesting, but that’s all B-tier manhwa bullshit, no?”

“You’ll change your mind later. I guarantee it.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Ding.

“Was that your phone?”
“No, it was yours.”

Oh.

I pull out my phone and find a notification for a new message on Chaos. It was from the gorilla constellation.

ChicksOut4Ramube:

Oog.

“It seems like he’s coming back with his junior soon.”

“... Are you sure you’re not shitting me right now? All he sent was ‘oog’ in his text.”

“... That’s probably what he meant.”

“Fucking dumbass.”