This is a mega-chapter. I’ve worked a little over a month on this chapter. This chapter is split into 3 parts. Comments are turned off on Parts 1 and 2. Please wait until you’ve read the whole thing and comment at the end of part 3.

Darian Heavy Crane Ship, The Aurora Cirres silently slipped through the human shanty town of storage crates, pallets, environment survival tents, and anything else the humans could carry from their ship to build the miniature town. The huge cargo hold of the Aurora Crane ship was ample large enough for the three-hundred humans, but only just, and they would be here for a long time. The attack on him had delayed the rescue beyond the ability of the Crane ship to ever catch-up with the Morning Star. He moved into the shadows as he spotted his prey foolishly sleeping on a cot in the open. A stray human walking past sensed the danger hiding and hurried away without a sound. Cirres edged forward until he was crouched over the helpless sleeping victim. He opened his mouth, saliva dripping over his fangs as his eyes glowed in the dimmed light. He took a deep breath, and roared out his best blood curdling imitation of a dinosaur. “RAAAWWRRR!” James, the human’s chief maintenance technician, jumped at least five feet in the air before seeing the vicious descendant of a velociraptor slashing wildly at him. James landed awkwardly and stumbled back through a stack of crates and into the sleeping tent of his neighbors. Screams erupted from the hapless occupants of the tent, followed by lights snapping on all over the shanty town. Cirres fell to the floor laughing until he could barely breathe. The human they called ‘The Judge’ pushed through the growing crowd, and stopped with his hands on his hips to stare down at the small Darian. Cirres climbed to his feet, still laughing. “That was a childish and dangerous stunt,” scolded the Judge. “Someone could have been hurt.” Cirres’ wings bristled as he let lose the flood of emotions and frustrations he’d been holding in since he’d met the humans. “James start it. James call Cirres dinosaur, monster, killer, say Cirres eat humans. James make humans say Cirres bad. Cirres come. Rescue. Only Cirres. Cirres hurt. No reason. Cirres give food, water, air, gravity. Cirres never see brother again. Cirres not bad. Humans bad. Captain bad. James bad.” The Judge knew all of it was true. Even after Cirres had been shot, and endured the whispered name calling, he still continued to provide. Especially impressive had been the gravity. The Judge had seen the calculations to perform the complex maneuver, but only Dave had been able to understand the true complexity of aligning the ship for a constant 1G burn at 32.2 f/sec to provide a linear acceleration thrust and simulate Earth gravity. “You have been wronged, I agree,” said the Judge. “And for it I apologize, we have acted poorly, and that will change, but you cannot…” Cirres spread his wings and leapt into the air. He didn’t want to talk, it hurt his throat to make human words. He did a few lazy circles around the cargo bay, then headed up to the cupola on the roof where the controls for the crane were. He had initially made his personal area on the flight deck, but there were stairs up to the flight deck, which the humans took as an invitation to barge in whenever they felt like it. So, he’d locked the flight controls and moved up to the cupola where there were no stairs to use and invade his personal space. There was a ladder, but he wasn’t going to let the humans find out where it was. He pulled himself up into the cupola and sealed the hatch shut behind himself. The crane was intended to be operated by three crew members, so there was ample room to stretch out. He already had one of the chairs reclined back and stacked with blankets to make it more comfortable. He settled onto his bed and stared out at the stars. He was coming to dislike the humans, they were stupid, irrational, and worst of all, filthy. It was a crime what they had done to the ship’s toilets; it was like they had no concept of cleanliness. He watched the blackness of space beyond the ship. The Morning Star was out there, getting further and further away with each passing moment. He would never see it or his brother again. The rescue hadn’t been worth the effort, all he’d done was postpone the inevitable. The Crane ship wasn’t a long distance ship, they would run out of food and water in eight months, and that was only if they rationed carefully. He closed his eyes and slept to the gentle sound of the engines. The Immortals, First of the Origin Species He felt that something was wrong more than an actual event happening. He opened his eyes and… the ship was gone… the stars were gone… there was nothing, not darkness, nor light, nor any sensation of anything. It was… nothing. There was nothing, not even his own body. He was just a thought in all the vast nothing. There wasn’t even the passage of time, other than perhaps that there had never been anything. And then in an infinite moment, there was light. And with the light a wrenching inside him, and he knew time had begun. He saw figures appear from the light, giants taller than five lengths of the Morning Star, and each carrying a sun on their shoulders. And he knew they were the Titans by whom the entire universe would rest upon like pillars standing silently for the rest of eternity. He watched the sky as the Titans lifted each star into the proper place. And so the first eternal moment of creation had passed. In the second moment of time the Elemental Beings of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water emerged from the light, and so began the creation of all the primordial worlds from which life would be born. In the third moment of creation came the immortal gods in whom was given the task of bringing order from the chaos of creation. And he knew each of them as they approached, and he welcomed each of them as they arrived. The first was the Goddess of the Night, beautiful and wearing gowns woven of the very night she commanded. She laid a hand on his head and spoke in a voice as eternal as the very night that surrounded her. “Thou whom has greeted our arrival shall be the Children of the Night, and most beautiful among the mortals. Thou shalt have the face and wings of angels and be as the morning star that rises each day to separate the night from the day.” The next of the gods he greeted was the Lord of Chaos, a god with such a sparkle of mirth in his eyes that Cirres couldn’t help but grin at him. The Lord of Chaos dropped a hand down to run across his forehead. “To you I shall give the vision of creation – for everything you create will be of such beauty that mortals will travel the width and breadth of the universe to witness.” The next to pass filled Cirres with such dread, he nearly fled. The God of Death glared at him for a moment before placing a hand on top of his head, and in a voice like the wind blowing from the frozen north whispered, “From the Children of the Night I take the fear of death, your kind shall never fear me.” The Lord of Death then knelt and put a hand on Cirres’ face. Cirres tried to pull away as Death forced his jaw open, but one cannot escape Death’s grip. Death placed a finger to Cirres lips, and then pressed down on one of Cirres’ fangs until he felt the salty taste of blood on his tongue. “And to you alone I give of myself. I grant life to you for so long as you still cherish the gift.” Cirres felt a dark weight he hadn’t even known was there lift away. Death stood, and without another word continued his journey with the other gods. Cirres continued to greet the immortal gods and receive from each their blessing, until at last a final figure emerged from the light. She wore a gown that flowed behind her and shimmered like diamonds on a moonlit sea. Tears filled his eyes as he recognized the Moon Goddess. “I know you.” The Goddess of the Rositites stopped and smiled down on him. “Hello, dearest child, I too have a gift for you.” The Goddess lifted her hands, and in each was a golden goblet filled with a liquid so clear in color that he could barely see it. “In my left hand is the Cup of Wisdom, and in my right hand is the Cup of Knowledge. You may drink from one of them.” Cirres look back and forth between the two cups. His mother would tell him to drink from the Cup of Wisdom, but his father would tell him to drink from the Cup of Knowledge. He reached out, his hand hovering near the Cup of Wisdom, but at the last moment he changed his mind and took the Cup of Knowledge. He lifted the cup and drank deeply. When he had finished, he handed the cup back, but noticed the contents of the Cup of Wisdom were gone. “What happened, did I take the wrong one?” he asked. “Was it a test, did I fail?” “You tell me what happened, dearest one,” replied the Goddess. Cirres squinted one eye shut and pursed his lips, thinking. He stared into the empty cup he had drank from, then at the empty cup he hadn’t drank from. The answer was… he gave the Goddess a half-grin and replied. “If you have knowledge, then you would know you have to have wisdom for it to be true knowledge. And if you had wisdom, you would know you have to have knowledge to make it true wisdom. So, to drink from one is to drink from both.” “You are a treasure of the Rositite Temple, dearest one,” said the Goddess. Cirres smiled weakly. “There’s not much of a Temple left. There was an accident and… and all the Priests and Priestesses are dead, the Temple is just an empty building now.” “Then someone must bring life back to it.” The Goddess took the cup from Cirres, then laid a hand on his head. “If you chose to don the robes of a priest, you may consider yourself anointed and blessed by my own hand.” “Are you commanding me to serve?” asked Cirres. “I will, I love you with all my heart.” The Goddess shook her head. “No, dearest, I do not command, nor take free-will from you. You must follow your heart in all things.” “But… the Corvus Corax says if you command, I must serve,” replied Cirres. “Oh, dearest, the Corvus Corax has been corrupted by those that would use it to serve their own purposes.” “I’m confused,” said Cirres. “I’m seeing the beginning of everything, right? So, you haven’t written the Corvus Corax yet?” “You are correct, in this moment I have not yet written the Corvus Corax, but know that time does not flow only in one direction.” The Goddess waved a hand towards a door that had not been there before. “Beyond that door in a different age, you will find the original Corvus Corax written in my hand. Go now, it is time for you to continue your journey.” Cirres reluctantly moved towards the door. He was torn between curiosity, and wanting to continue talking with the Goddess. “Cirres, dearest,” the Goddess called out as he reached the door. “Yes, Goddess?” “Be wary, they will tempt you from your path with something you must not accept.” Cirres stepped through the door. The Eroden, Fifth of the Origin Species Cirres stared up at the largest tree, in the largest room, of the largest building he’d ever seen. He could see trains at both ground level and up on a platform. This must be a train station like in the old movies he and Kallae watched sometimes. And people! There were so many people, and not just Daria people, but every possible shape and size of people. There were people that looked a little like a fish, and others with horns on their head, and even some that looked like the humans on his ship, but different, probably from other planets, so of course they would look a little different. Some of them were short, almost as short as he was, and some were tall, and some were very very tall. He startled and jumped aside for two creatures that looked like giant spiders. His wings dipped in shock when one of the spiders stopped and spoke to him, its eight dark eyes swirling in every direction. The spider had chittered a sound and a box attached to a red belt wrapped around the spider spoke in Darian. “Are you lost?” asked the spider. Cirres replied. “I…umm…I’m looking for a book.” “Assistance has been requested,” chittered the spider. “Where am I?” asked Cirres. The spider reached a leg out to Cirres. The leg looked like a lethal sharp sword capable of cutting him in half, but none of the people around him seemed concerned, so he held his ground. The spider caressed his arm gently. “We are very busy here today, I have just been told that assistance will be delayed until a librarian is available,” chittered the spider. “Do not be afraid, I will help you find your parents.” Cirres heard a voice over a loud speaker echoing out an announcement. “There is a lost Darian child in the Main Foyer, please contact any Security Kiosk for assistance.” “If that announcement was for me, there’s nobody coming,” said Cirres. “I’m an orphan.” The spider studied the Darian boy carefully. “Ah, I see. You are with one of the visiting orphanage groups and wandered away. Runaways usually hide-out in the Storybook Forest wanting to join one of the stories. My sons wanted to join Gurtha’tha and her adventure to the Great Web.” The spider held a leg out. “Climb up, you should stay with me until a librarian is available to help you get back to your group.” Cirres put a foot on the offered leg and jumped up to the spider’s back. The Storybook Forest definitely sounded like a place he wanted to go. “What are you?” asked Cirres. “I am a library security guard,” said the spider. “No, I mean what species are you?” “Have you never seen an Eroden before?” Cirres shook his head. “I’ve never seen any species before, except humans.” The spider’s eyes swiveled around to look at the little Darai. “And yet you have no fear.” “My mother used to say you shouldn’t judge someone by how they look.” “Your mother was very wise.” From his vantage point, Cirres got a good tour of the Great Library as the Eroden continued about his duties – breaking up arguments, directing lost patrons, and finding lost children, but always staying close to the area Cirres had arrived. “How are you getting instructions where to go?” asked Cirres. “The Eroden are a hive mind, my Hive is assigned to the North Entrance, and our Hive Queen is at a communications center taking calls and directing us.” “Oh, I almost forgot, I’m supposed to be looking for a book.” “I’m being told a librarian is now available.” The Eroden made his way back to the main foyer and to a counter that stretched along one wall with patrons lined up waiting for assistance. A sign on the wall behind the counter read: Basic Membership, and at the end of the counter was a section with a sign that read: VIP Services. A man wearing a tan tweed suit with an orange bow tie and holding a clipboard stood under the VIP sign. The man had distinct lizard-like features, but instead of a lizard tail, he had a tail that looked more like it belonged to a monkey. Cirres jumped down from the Eroden, and noticed the man had two pin-on buttons, one on each lapel. The first read: Hug a Librarian, and the second read: Ask about our VIP Membership. Cirres gave the big Eroden a hug and thanked him, then turned to face the man. “Hi, I’m looking for a book.” The Zilinth, Second of the Origin Species “We are the Zilinth.” The tweed suited lizard-man bowed slightly. “Tothu says you seemed interested in the Storybook Forest.” “I am, but I’ve been asleep too long. I just need to find the Corvus Corax so I can end this dream.” Cirres took a step back as the lizard-man actually did a little dance with his fists clenched the way an excited toddler might over a bowl of ice cream. “A dream, oh my, what a delightful way of seeing things. Come along now, so much to do and all the time in the Universe to do it, we must hurry.” The lizard-man stepped out at a brisk pace without so much as glancing back to check if Cirres was following. Cirres sighed and set out after the man, but trying to keep up with his long legs was proving difficult. Cirres spread his wings and lifted up off the ground to glide after the unusually fast man. Cirres followed the lizard-man out into the Greater Library where the shelves of books towered like the cliffs of a mountain range. The Eroden had told Cirres that nobody knew how big the Great Library was, as the outer borders were continuously being built by automated robots, and had been since the beginning of time. The Zilinth lizard-man led Cirres along an avenue as wide as a city boulevard. The books were always the main theme, but there were many other things happening also. There were shops, cafes, bakeries, restaurants with tables set outside filled with patrons reading, tapping on computers, listening to music on headphones, or just staring up at the books towering over them; it was as a city with countless thousands of people of every possible species in residence. Cirres got tired of following the lizard-man along the endless avenues of the book city. The lizard-man’s path was erratic, often doubling back, circling around the same block several times, and once crossing the street back and forth in the span of only a hundred feet – to which Cirres only crossed three times before stopping in the middle of the street and watching the man. He decided the lizard-man was either insane, or intentionally trying to anger him. He spread his wings and in one powerful thrust shot into the air between the shelves containing more books than could possibly have been written in a million lifetimes. He continued to climb, his wings straining under the effort. On the Morning Star, there was limited room to fly and hadn’t prepared him for the exertion needed for such a vertical climb in full gravity. His muscles quivered under the strain of the climb and were threatening to cramp when he suddenly emerged into open sky. He immediately settled into a glide and stared out at the endless vista of bookshelves; there was no end. How could the Zilinth build something like this, it was at least ten miles to the ground. Far above him he could just make out the arched dome of a glass ceiling. He found a warm current rising from the ground and let it lift him until at last he reached the top of the Great Library. The entire structure should have collapsed under its own weight, yet stood as steady as if it had been carved from a mountain. He saw openings between the steel support beams of the ceiling and headed for one of them. He flew up and out into the open air beyond, and immediately regretted it. There was no air, no gravity, and it was freezing. He tapped his breast plate and deployed his armor; he was in a low orbit around the largest planet he’d ever seen. He fired his emergency air jets to stop his forward momentum and settle into an orbit. The Great Library below seemed to cover much of the planet. But, there was an area beyond that looked like a desert with a road so long that it was visible from orbit, and beyond that was a forest. He watched the Great Library slide past under him. He didn’t have much velocity built up at this point and could easily return to the library, but he had no interest in going back and following that lizard-man around. But, he also had no place else to go, he wasn’t trained in making a space jump, and without the re-entry shell that fits over the armor for a space jump, he would burn-up during descent. He was about to fire his emergency air jets to go back down to the roof of The Great Library when an arched door appeared in front of him. He could see an island and an ocean beyond the door, and then he was through the door and tumbling onto the ground. End of Part 1. Part 2 continued at: https://www.renderosity.com/gallery/items/3084344/children-of-the-morning-star-chapter-15-part-2