Chapter 29: The Night Before Pt.2

"The Lady of the Moon. The real goddess of the sky. She the Selfless. Her name is as many as the stars that shone in the heavens." The dwarf cleared his throat as the rest of them listened intently to the tale. "Her beauty was unrivaled by the sky, the sea and the heavens where she ruled along with her younger sister, the pale glowing moon Chandara." He glanced at them and modulated his voice to made them feel as if they're part of the story.

"Now, listen as I tell you her story! The story of the forgotten goddess, the one who ruled the aether!" The dwarf stood up from his seat and raised his arms into the sky. "Lady Oyue! Our Great Mother!" He proudly proclaimed.

The dwarf cracked a huge smile on his face. Absorbed by his joyous emotions of the forgotten tale. It was different for his comrades. Servus 132-X and the others looked dumbfounded and worried by the way he reacted to his own story.

"A-are you well, S—" the beastman tried to ask.

"W-what?! Of course, I am!" The dwarf interrupted the flustered beastman. "I am trying tah intensify the mood 'ere!" He spat before looking at Servus 132-X

Servus 132-X felt the awkwardness in the air. He tried his best to avert the dwarf's gaze, but the dwarf's persistence finally caught up to him. He forced himself to cough up a compliment.

"I-it's a…Yes! Well, i-it was uhm quiet enterta—" He fumbled for words to say.

The elf looked at him, annoyed by his unwanted acting. "Yeah! The acting is too much." She signed to him, "Just stick to the story-telling part." She added.

The dwarf's face went red. "B-but that's part of our story-telling—" he reasoned with the elf.

The elf sighed to him, "I've seen how you dwarves tell those types of story during one of those Aedas of yours. Believe me, they're spectacular compared to your attempt." She stung the jolly dwarf with her comment.

In truth, his acting was incomparable to the Aedetic Poets from his kingdom, whose acting skills and gracefulness is known throughout the land. They were so popular, that the noble elves would hire them. The dwarf felt some sting on the elf's comment, but at the same time, knew that he was as close to act like a dancing toddler than that of a Aedetic Poet.

"Fine! Yah squirts! I will just tell the story. Yah uncultured gnomes!" The dwarf mumbled back to his seat. At the corner of his eye was a single tear he wasn't willing to shed, but it was welling up already. He nonchalantly wiped it off with his forearm. It took him a moment to finally compose himself.

"Ahem!" He cleared his throat, "Lady Oyue and her sister Lady Chandara ruled the heavens as the two moons that shone across the massive sky. Lady Oyue ruled the Eastern skies as her sister Lady Chandara ruled the West." The dwarf glanced at his audience who anticipated the next part of his story.

"She was the brightest of the two moons. Her light overpowers that of her sister. It was said that during her reign, Lady Oyue's moon would shine throughout the world as bright as the sunrise. The people of the olden days never feared the night because of Lady Oyue's protection," The dwarf tried his best not to raise his arms and imitate the Aedetic poets of his land. It was hard for him, but he managed to spare himself from another embarrassment.

"Wait!" Servus 132-X interrupted. "So, you mean this wor—I mean our world has two moons?!" His tongue almost slipped.

"Oh! You don't that as well?" The beastman was surprised. "Yes. According to the olden times, there were two moons."

"That's right!" The dwarf seconded the beastman's statement. "Now, let me tell you that part. The reason why we only see one moon in the sky."

Servus 132-X nodded and smiled at them. He got interested with the lore the more he listened to it.

"Very well!" The dwarf smiled and continued, "Oh yes, I almost forgot! Oyue's moon is said to be made of a transparent stone. Me kin says 'twas like a looking glass. But I say it was a crystal."

The elf and beastman nodded in agreement.

The dwarf took a deep breath and modulated his voice to sound grim and terrifying. "Thus, she and her sister ruled the skies over the night. Nay, creatures can hide themselves in the dark. Nay darkness can lurk in the corners and crannies of the world. Her ever shining light made the night rival that of day! She became an envy among the deities because of her beauty and power," the dwarf's expression suddenly turned somber. "That was until a threat emerged. The Crawling Darkness from the bowels of nothingness and reached out its dark tendrils into our plane."

The dwarf shifted himself from his seat. "The Crawling Chaos along with its anomalies came along and into our world and devoured everything in sight."

"Crawling Darkness? Tendrils?" Servus 132-X muttered. He just remembered something, although blurry. There was something about those tendrils that he can't place his finger on it. It seemed like at some point he saw it, but he's not certain.

"Yes, lad!" The dwarf snapped his fingers in excitement. "The Crawling Darkness tried to devour the world. But Lady Oyue and Lady Chandara along with the sun god Apholak was not having it! Even as the other gods flee from fear into the parallel worlds, the three of them remained and fought the Dark Devourer with all of their might."

Servus 132-X felt the hair stood all over his body. He was quite sure he had something like this before, but his memory blurred everytime he tried to reminisce it.

The dwarf began climax of the story, "They've fought for endless days and endless nights, that time and space merged into a singular point—the infinitia. Finally, the pushed back the Crawling Darkness to its primordial void. But not before attempting to Lady Chandara along with it. Lady Oyue pleaded for Apholak's help, but the sun god was already weakened from the fight. With her remaining powers, Oyue absorbed the world's aether, it's life force and use it to cut the vile tendrils of the monster."

The dwarf paused and was about to conclude the story when Servus 132-X interrupted him again.

"That was it?" the baffled man asked.

The dwarf guffawed in amusement, "Lad, I wasn't done! Quit running yer flaps and lemme finish!" He smiled.

The elf and beastman snickered silently as Servus 132-X felt bashful about it, as if he shrunked to a size of an ant.

"Where we? Ah Yes!" The dwarf cleared his throat and continued with his story. "Finally, the Crawling Darkness was defeated and was sent back to wherever it came from. But Lady Chandara was still bound with the remaining tendrils and tried to drill its way into her. In her last ditched effort, she bit the tendrils off her beloved sister and spat the darkness below the land."

Servus 132-X observed the sadness in his comrade's face, as the dwarf told the final part of the lore.

"After spitting the darkness unto the land, it spread itself fast, defiling everything it touches. This also gave birth to Obscuros. The weakened deities watched in terror as their beloved world began to be blanketed by the remnants of the Crawling Darkness that they fought a few moments ago. In order to save the remainder of the living world, Oyue threw herself from the sky along with her moon." The dwarf looked up at the sky. His eyes seeking the fading glow of the single moon.

"The impact was strong enough to destroy most of the monstrosities she accidentally created. The one single land split into islands and continents and her crystal moon scattered itself into both the land and sea, releasing the aether to the creatures that survived. That's how the essence of exousia came into existence." The dwarf smiled at them, "In the end, Oyue was forgotten. The true mother of the living, whose sacrifice brought the world into the age of magic."

"But, she did caused the world to divide in the first place." Servus 132-X commented, "Although, I think I could've done the same if I was her."

"It was a cautionary tale for us." The elf relayed to the dwarf. "To never put your emotions over your objective."

"To us, it was a story of sacrifice and love." The beastman said.

"For use dwarven kind…" the dwarf trying to find the right words to say, "It was an epic story!"

Servus 132-X looked at the dwarf intently while trying not to laugh for the solemn moment he spoiled.

"What about you? W-what do you think about it.?" The beastman asked Servus 132-X.

"I-I don't know…" Servus 132-X sighed as he stared into the flames.

The story ended and everyone stared at the fire, contemplating on the story and its hidden morals.