The Goddess Selene, Book 1
The Goddess Selene: Entr'acte
Birth of the Goddess
“Do not leave this place.”
The voice was pleading, and the words hung heavily in the nothingness between the three beings standing on the edge of a headland. The rock perched precariously over a vast darkness teeming with brilliantly-colored crystals, glittering with the life they would soon become. The expansive stillness around them shone with distant stars, and the almost oppressive silence belied the roaring activity of the black hole below, less than an arm’s length away. The speaker stood opposite the two others, her long hair brushing the rock at her feet. Her fuku was white, with a long white cape, short gold sleeves and a small flap of rainbow-encrusted white at the front of the skirt. Her hair was brightest silver and her face kind; Cosmos was truly beautiful.
Facing Cosmos was another silver-haired beauty. Her hair, in odango similar to that of Cosmos, cascaded down her body to the tips of her slippered feet. Her white gown was gathered under her bosom and fell in soft folds to her ankles, shimmering with the incandescence of divinity. This terrifying creature’s visage was almost a mirror of Cosmos’ own, save for the eyes. While Cosmos' eyes were the brilliant silver of the sea as the moon shines upon it, the other woman’s were the harsh blue of that same sea on a winter’s morning; cold and hard, even cruel, like the shining frost that kills every living thing in its path. It was these eyes that Cosmos feared, for in them she saw the destruction of everything she had spent countless ages guarding.
The goddess Selene was clutching a crystal to her breast, a wondrous stone that glimmered with the beautiful silver of Cosmos’ eyes. In the nothing light of the Cauldron, that crystal sparkled with the shine of a thousand stars. Yet Cosmos could not look upon it with anything but terror. On Selene's right stood the third of this strange triumvirate ; Endymion, towering over Selene, with eyes of a deeper, richer blue than his counterpart's. Presently, those eyes held something that might have been concern, and seeing the doubt he did not dare voice, Cosmos felt hope flare in her chest and she turned to him with renewed vigor.
“Endymion, do not go,” she begged again, but a derisive laugh from the goddess stopped her from saying anything more.
“Do not go,” she mocked. “And why should we not? Were we not given these bodies in which to rule? Were we not meant to be the gods of this galaxy? Why should we not leave and take our proper place upon our throne?” she demanded haughtily.
“You will bring about your own destruction!” cried Cosmos, still addressing herself to the stoic, silent Endymion. The momentary flicker of fear that flashed through his eyes encouraged her; if she could only make him understand. “I have seen what becomes of you. You will be parted eternally; there is no hope for it. You will destroy us all!”
“Nonsense!” Selene declared contemptuously. She turned to her consort and held out her arm. “Endymion, come. Let us explore this kingdom of ours; let us sample all the riches it has to offer and leave this fool to her ravings.”
He reached for her arm without a backward glance and glided off the edge of the headland with the self-proclaimed Queen. Other beings, born from the glittering crystals inside the darkness, followed their leaders, until Cosmos was alone once more, the solitary guardian of the Galaxy Cauldron, kneeling on the rock. She sobbed in despair. Her body rocked in painful agony as she thought of what was to become of the Galaxy over which she was Guardian, until finally there were no tears left. Determined to face her Destiny, she stood and bowed her head in resignation.
It had begun.
I watched her creation in fear. From the first spark of light within the Cauldron, I knew what she was to become; a heartless being who cared for nothing save Endymion, and would go to any length to secure his presence at her side. I should have shattered the Great Crystal from the moment it appeared in the Cauldron, but I would have stopped the Galaxy from being born had I done so. And, though I am loathe to admit it, doing so would have destroyed Endymion as well; in my own way, I was as cold as she, for I couldn't bear to see him harmed.
Once the Great Crystal split, I knew that the time for arguing with myself over 'should haves' had passed. Any action I might have taken to halt her creation was futile. The Ginzuishou, a beautiful, flower-shaped stone that resembled nothing so much as an icicle – as did its Mistress – was formed first, its only redeeming quality the small sphere of warm gold at its center. The Kinzuishou was bright gold with a faint silver heart – further proof, as though proof were needed, that the two had come from one. From those two came the reason I was loathe to destroy the Ginzuishou: the Planet Seeds. The beautifully-glittering crystals would grow into the planets and moons and suns of the Galaxy. By shattering the Ginzuishou, I feared that I would prevent the birth of the very Galaxy itself. It was a risk I was not prepared to make unless I had no other option. Fortunately, I had many still open to me.
So I stood and did nothing as these Planet Seeds glided across the Galaxy, chasing after the Great Crystals to take their places in their systems, my eye fixed upon that system which would house the Earth, the planet which would grow from the Kinzuishou, and its moon, grown from the Ginzuishou, a perfect tribute to both the coldness of its mistress and her barrenness. I watched the other ten planets form and their one shining sun, all the while wishing for the strength to do what must be done.
The rapidity of the development frightened me, for where there is rapid growth, there is also rapid decay , and I feared, in the many ages that passed while the planets of the system grew, that the decay would be too swift for any intervention I could make to take effect. The Planet Seeds started to return, and I counted them as they did so, knowing that the furthest would return first. It was a pure, deep olive, the eleventh planet. The tenth followed, a deep garnet that would match its future bearer's eyes. The aqua of the ninth came, followed quickly by the navy of the eighth, for those Seeds were bound closely together in any form. Violet came next, the Seed from which the seventh planet had been born, and as it appeared, the others began to return more quickly; emerald for the sixth planet, vermilion for the fifth, crimson for the fourth, a deep yellow for the second and a rich royal blue for the first.
As a twinkle in the distance warned of the approach of the Great Crystals, I closed my eyes. When I opened them next, she stood before me in all her regal glory, a vision of silver and blue and I hated everything about her. I hated him as well, for always bowing to her will, for doing whatever she asked without a thought of the consequences. For the sake of the Galaxy, I begged her to stay, knowing it was futile, knowing that should She To Whom I Made My Vow discover my attempts, the punishment would be swift indeed. When my tears had dried, I stood alone once more as Selene landed softly upon the Moon to build her kingdom, the kingdom that would destroy the entire Galaxy.
She stood, a timeless being, upon the sands of the Moon, the globe that would protect her, and looked out upon what her Ginzuishou had wrought. A shimmering palace stood formed out of the very ground upon which she stood, its crescent moon-spired minarets proclaiming to the Galaxy that this sphere was the ruler of it all. The bearers of the Planet Seeds flocked to the palace, and in peaceful harmony began the millennia they would spend in one another's company.
And so it begins.
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Sailormoon and all related copyrighted materials belong to Naoko Takeuchi, and not me. I own nothing except the fanfiction itself and no profit is being made from this.
~Nephthys Moon
