a tale of old

Instructions

Hm? What is it? You want to hear a story? Oh, but I’ve already told you all of them… Oh! I don’t believe I have told you this one yet. It’s actually from an old legend that was passed on, woven from many a travelers’ tales. It starts like this… * * * Once, before the Spirits had life, before the starfoxes lost their light, before the first of many of us creatures were created, the night sky was dark and empty, void of the glimmering lights we call stars and the luminous moon. And, well, no one quite liked that. The night was eerie, full of shadows waiting at every corner for the perfect moment to snatch you away, never to see the light of day again. So one day, a brave warrior, or a lonely traveler, chose to climb the peaks of the world, standing at the top in the night to scatter lights across the sky as shadows clawed at them, trying to drag them down. * * * I did say it was an old story. Many stories like these have been warped by time and modified to suit others needs, creating a divergence in many versions of the stories. Now, moving on… * * * But when they scattered the lights to the best of their ability, the lights grouped at the peaks of the mountains, making it too radiant at the peaks and leaving dark patches of night at the bottom. Seeing this, they despaired at their inability to bring light to the world at its darkest hour. Then, a crystal zoomed across the sky. They were instantly captivated by its beauty, wishing that the lights they had scattered make the nighttime sky just as gorgeous as the crystal. The crystal shot towards them, landing in front of the star-maker. Now, this is where the legend gets murky. Some say that when they picked up the crystal, winds burst out of it, ripping open their sack of lights and swirling out into the night sky, scattering the starlights into the vast space. Others say that starfoxes, drawn by the call of the crystal, gathered at the peaks of each mountain, making it a game to see who could toss the lights the farthest, dispersing the cloud of lights at each peak into the dark skies. There have been versions of the tale where the crystal was said to have pinged off of every light they had hung, sending the glowing orbs spinning off in every direction. But the one I first heard said that the crystal was a gift made from the world, the earth itself forming its structure, the sea giving it its luster, the wind giving it color, fire giving it light, and the skyline blessing it with power. It burst into radiant streaks of color, sending the stars off in every direction, and filling the night sky with tiny dots of light as the one who had wished upon it was blinded by its brilliance. They opened their eyes just in time to see the crystal float up, spin once, then shoot away, a streak in the sky that soon disappeared. * * * Haha, yes! You are correct. This was one of the ways the tradition of wishing on shooting stars were made. But of course, the story isn’t finished yet. Why would it be, when the moon had not yet been hung in the sky? Now, this comes from a tale that is told by the snowfoxes that my mentor happened across, weaving it into the story they had already learned. * * * Once, the snowfoxes and moonfoxes were one under NixFern, as the starfoxes. But NixFern did not have enough light to give to the starfoxes, did not make enough for them to be satisfied. Back then, starfoxes each had a star, which then, if shattered, would turn them into a regular fox. The powers of the five foxes today were all crafted by their founders. LunaDale, another starfox, aware of the restlessness, took matters into her own paws. She stole the throne of Amenytia from NixFern, shattering her star to create the moon, which the starfoxes loved. This caused many of them to turn their back on NixFern, causing her to grow cold and vengeful. But that is a different story. When the moon suddenly appeared, many creatures were frightened. But the moon provided more light, helping reach the places the glow of the stars could not. And such, many creatures were slowly lured back out of hiding by the promise of the combined light of the stars and the moon bright enough to make it almost seem like the day. Slowly, the rumors of moonlight being a poison turned into moonlight being a balm on their soul, soothing their wounds. And then came a long forgotten night, the night the stars and moon flickered and the world stood still. And well, after that, the glow of the stars dimmed, but the number of stars grew in size, reaching every corner of the night sky. The moon, however, shone brighter than ever, although the moonlight could not make up for the lost light of the stars. And every so often, the crystal would make its appearance once again, streaking across the sky and granting a wish to those lucky enough to see it and pure of heart. * * * And that concludes this story of mine. What did you think, O’ Great Listener?