Harmonia Mundi (part 2)

Travelling non-stop for an undefinable time, he finally reached the planets, which seemed now naked with out their usual crown of bright stars surrounding them.

First he approached Mercury, the speedy planet, the winged messenger of the stellar world. “Who else except for him could know the secrets of the skies and what takes place in the heavens?” he thought as he was resting gently on his thin mantel that covered the once active volcanic craters of his surface.

“What brings you here my fair prince?” Mercury asked him as soon as he realised his presence.

“Please, wise and old messenger, you who see the invisible and know all the unknown of the cosmos, tell me, do you know where the divinest of all creatures, the purple quasar has drifted?  I am bound to find her and  restore the light to our now gloomy world.”

“I wish I had the answer to your question, but I lost touch with her a long time ago. All I know is that she has disappeared, floating in a place where no one can reach her. Mars, the warrior of the cosmos might have some idea though! He's fought so many battles, he must be wiser than me. Go to him,” he said and urged him to leave  his dominion as a new rain of asteroids was about to crash on his surface.

Guided by the presence of the two moons that ruled the red planets existence, Silverhair made his way to the palace of the strongest and most famous of all the planets.

“Mighty lord, eternal warrior, please allow me entrance to your kingdom,” he said and knelt in front of Mars.

“Raise my child, it is I who has to kneel, because never have I heard of such a noble presence as yourself requesting permission to enter my land. Tell me my child, what brings such a divine creature  to the gates of my kingdom?”

“Oh my King, thank you for your kind words. Mercury has sent me to you. You must have heard of the most talked about, the once brightest object in the heavens, the Principessa Quasar. The stars have joined the music of the spheres to spread the song that speaks of her death. I know, however, she is still alive and you with all the wisdom gained from the battles you have fought, you must have come across her or someone  who knows the hideout of her unearthly beauty.”

“Its been such a long time, since I have heard something about that celestial divinity. What a pity she is no more and our world has delved into eternal darkness. No one seems to have seen her after the day she transformed into a shiny diamond and floated away in the unknown of  space. You must have loved her a lot to leave the sun and your mission of orbiting around him to come looking for her so far away from your home.”

“I owe it to her kindness, her beauty, our world and to the Eldest who have entrusted me with  such a quest.”

“Venus might be able to help you. They say, Cupid, her son, travels to the depths of the skies practicing archery. He might have seen her somewhere.”

“Thank you for your most kind advice king warrior. I shall go to her,” Silverhair said.

Travelling with a speed he never knew he possessed, a newly acquired power, he yet hadn't learnt how to control, the silver comet entered forcefully the heavy clouds and the sulphuric atmosphere of  Earth's almost twin but far more beautiful and dazzling sister.

“My fair lady, Goddess of Love, please help me find her,” he said.

“Welcome to my kingdom Silverhair! And who is it that you are looking for, most famous and bravest of all the comets?”

“Once she was my beloved! She was my protective membrane, my light and darkness, the universe itself depicted in her luminosity. She was my eyes and my ears, she was the whole world, once, but I left her and now she is no more. I beg you my Queen, if you know, tell me where she is. The star that brightens our world, the legend that's integrated in every tiny molecule of our perfectly tuned creation.”

“Tell me something, as a mere satisfaction to my curiosity,” Venus said, not the least moved by what Silevrhair had just uttered, “do you love her so much as to travel to the depths of the universe and beyond in order to retrieve her from the tempting hands of forgetfulness where she now sleeps?”

“Please, torture me no more divine creature and reveal to me her hideout! I owe it to her.”

“So, this is what drives you, only an obligation to her and the world. An obligation that's pushing you so far and encourages you to keep on looking. You don't love her any more, do you?”

“Oh, I wish I could explain to you, but how can someone as small as me put down in words something as big and unique as the Principessa? How can someone describe beauty and purity when the means he possesses are so limited in front of the eternal, the immense and the infinite? She is something greater than myself, more luminous than the sun and the stars put together, deepest than the deepest unexplored oceans of the earth and hotter than the lava burning in your veins. But I beg you once more, if you know where I will find her, please tell me. We are running  out of time. The sun is dying and along with him my cloud is turning grey and bland, the universe itself is living an imminent death.”

At that very specific moment, it seemed to him Venus moved just a tiny bit from her fixed place, as if a small earthquake had shaken her guts. Her lava rivers flowing all their lives towards the same direction, became a turbulent fiery torrent moving restlessly towards the centre of her surface. Drawn by an invisible force, they concentrated in a hot boiling lake, where bubbles collided with each other, appeared and disappeared on that dangerous but at the same time bizarrely attractive hot trap.

Silverhair, scared once more, backtracked in order to protect himself. He wondered why everyone thought he was so brave. Going to the undiscovered edges of the world demanded guts but the real bravery was in the interaction with other creatures and in that respect he was certain he lacked.  From the safe distance he had acquired he saw the lava lake taking shape and form, resembling a fiery creature whose two hands reached out to him.

“It seems to me that you have spoken from your heart about the rare quasar and the love you once felt for her but I am not convinced about your causes yet. I have one task for you.”

“Tell me my queen, I would do anything for our world and her!”

“In the lava lake that lays beneath my feet, cupid my son, dropped his golden bow. Without it he can no more practice his favourite sport. No star, no planet and no heavenly creature has appeared brave enough so far as to dive in the burning waters and get it back for my only child. I dare you noblest of the stars to prove all that you claim by diving in its depths and bringing my child's golden bow back into his hands.”

Silverhair gulped. He didn't know how he could carry out such an impossible task. His light shone bright and then became dim and bright again. He gathered all his powers, all his strength and all the light he possessed and without saying another word, dived into the volcanic lake the same way he had dived in Principessa's nebula the first time he had met her. He felt his icy nature evaporating in the heat of the planet, he saw his silver tail becoming red and fiery like Venus herself, he feared he would never come out of the lake alive but didn't give up. All his powers worked towards the same cause and before realising  it he could see the heat turning into ice, the amorphous mass of lava, freezing into glistening paths, through which he made way to a shiny golden bow lying in the depths of the lake. He flew around it again and again until it was covered by an icy membrane and then wrapping it with his tail , he brought it to the surface and presented it to Venus.

She stretched out her hands and he moved backwards, forgetting his previous act of bravery. She held it in the fire she was made of and bowed in front of him.

“Fear not noble Silverhair, I have no intention of doing you harm. Come closer,” she told him.

“Please raise my queen, I'm not worthy of such an honour.”

“You're right, the honour you deserve is far greater. Your star is not dead, not yet at least, but she's sinking into forgetfulness deeper and deeper. You have to get there as soon as possible.”

“But where, where is it that I have to go?”Silverhair asked. His starry voice a desperate cry.

“She has drifted away among the self-luminous spheres of gas and the huge aggregations of stars. She travels a routeless route on the magellanic clouds of the celestial vault, in the far southern constellations Dorado and Tucana.”

“And do you know the way my lady?”

“No, my glorious knight, I do not.  But Neptune, the gas giant, can send you there. Only, though, if you appear brave enough to ride the strongest winds of the universe. Quickly, follow my son, hell show you the way.”

Silverhair grasped only a glimpse of what seemed to him a firefly of the universe, before it disappeared behind the lightless stars and out of Venus cloudy atmosphere.

“Go, go,” Venus urged him and then her fiery body melted into an amorphous yet sublime mass of flames.

Running after little Cupid, he finally reached his destination and stood in front of Neptune. Immediately he felt, what Venus words had meant as he was almost swiped away by the force of the winds that stirred the heavenly clouds of his part of the sky.

“So you have come for her,” Neptune said before Silverhair had the chance to address the windy planet. “The quasar who wished to die because you deserted her.”

“My lord, don't judge me so unjustly. I had a mission ahead of me. How could I have put her through such a test even if she wished to do so? What if she regretted it? What if she had ended up hating me?”

“What would have happened if none of it had happened?”

“Please, my lord, Venus said you can help me get to the southern constellations where she's floating in her purple impenetrable coffin.”

“Venus has spoken the truth, I can help you indeed, but I'm afraid, I'm not as generous as her. First, you need to do something for me to prove your worth and in return, I shall send you where the quasar sleeps.”

“Anything, name it my lord and I shall fly to the end of the world and back if you promise to help me.”

“You make bold statements fairest of all the starry creatures Silverhair!”

“I only speak the truth my king.”

“Very well then. Here's is what I ask of you. Like Venus I have my children too. Unlike her they are more than one. They are young and restless, like you were when young. They like playing with  the uranian clouds, shifting them around, enchanted by the images they can create with them.  Three of them have wandered away and no matter how many times I call them, they refuse to leave their games and return to their fathers kingdom. I have tried everything, sent their brothers to convince them to come back but to no avail. If you manage to return them to me then I promise to show you the way and help you get close to Principessa. My naughty children's names are Gregale, Levanter and Vardar. You will find them around the most glorious of the planets.”

“I will find them and return them to you my lord,” Silverhair said and soon he disappeared behind the rest of the winds that were blowing among the lifeless stars and the glorious planets.

Materialising all he had claimed, he headed for the king of the planets, the God of the Gods, mighty Jupiter.  The once bright and wandering star, stood on its spot helpless and confused watching Gregale playing with his four moons. Silverhair slowed down and watched from a safe distance the enchanting sight. Gregale was a small, cool  hurricane with magnificent powers, a uranian joggler whose most precious and bizarre equipment was Jupiter's four lovers. Io was raising up in the immensity of the skies whereas Ganemede, the cup bearer to the Gods, was falling to replace, Hera's greatest hatred, the beautiful Callisto, who in her turn was moving a little bit to the left to offer her place to Jupiter's abducted woman, the Europa. Their orbits non-existent, their fixed spots uprooted like wild weeds in a well looked after garden.  Gregale, laughed crazily and when bored by his joggling, he began a new game. A chess match with only four pawns was about to commence. Soldiers, Kings, Queens, horses and towers, roles performed by the same actors, whose place was constantly changing according to the wishes of the only player. Gregale,  assuming the role of the Crazy Bishop, was lifting them up and placing them on different spots of the celestial chessboard.

Silverhair no longer being able to sustain his anger at that spoilt child, who found pleasure in mistreating the harmony of his world rushed towards him and destroyed his heavenly playground, like a bowling ball hitting the pins on a starry lane.

“Who are you that you dare disturb me?” screamed Gregale and with an angry blow threw Io towards the noble comet.

Silverhair didn't reply. Flexible and swift as he'd always been, he managed easily to avoid Gregale's rocky attack. Soon all the moons became weapons in the windy giants hands but all his attacks were in vain since the comet was proving far more difficult to capture than what that naughty child thought.

“Who are you?” Gregale asked again and the coldest breath almost froze the comet.

“What's the matter Gregale? I thought you liked playing games. Come on, lets see how fast you are,” Silverhair challenged him.

“How do you know my name? Who are you?” Gregale ranted in anger.

“Catch me if you can and I shall be your new toy,” was Silverhair's answer as he had already started flying away from the angry child.

Gregale didn't waste any time and went after him. Stars crashed on each other, meteorites lost their way and other celestial bodies were scattered to the darkness of the cosmos as the winds force brushed their edges. Chasing the comet and blinded by his anger towards him, Gregale took no notice of where Silverhair was heading and failed to see the trap lying in front of him. It was too late when he realised how clever that annoying star was.

At the borders of the planets kingdom, the rest of his obedient sons had formed an airy prison, whose gates closed as soon as Gregale entered them, capturing him in the cold and hot, the east and west, the north and the south of the universe. Like a wild animal in captivity Gregale bounced from one windy wall to the other shouting at Silverhair, “you're going to pay for it. I will destroy you in just a single blow.”

“Don't pay attention to him. He's only young and angry. Thank you for bringing him back. But rest no more, you have to find my other two children,” Neptune reminded him of his still incomplete task.

Staying in the family tree of Jupiter which seemed to rule a large portion of the skies, our hero flew towards Saturn, the father of the Gods. Legend has it, he ate all his children but one, in fear of losing his throne in the kingdom of the stars and planets. The surviving son was no other than the planet whose peace Silverhair had just restored. And so now he had come to rescue his father from the torture to which Vardar had condemned him. The beautifully constructed thin rings comprising Saturn's crown had become a skating lane upon which little Vardar was practicing for the never-ending racing competitions of the skies. The icy particles and the rocky hills that created Saturn's rainbow, lost their shape under Vardar's force. Exhausted by running up and down on the skating lane, Vardar had taken a little break at that moment just to regain his strength and powers.

Silverhair thought that this was the perfect time to capture the spoilt brat. A few seconds later however, he was praising his good fortune he hadn't done anything as Vardar had no intention of getting any rest; quite on the contrary.

Blowing and raining he was chanelling a very well concealled creativity by moulding all sorts of creations, using parts of Saturn's ring as his modelling clay. And how magnificent were the personifications of his art. Complexities of stars flying in the skies, icy creations of an utmost beauty, prisms through which rainbows sprung. Nebulas of frozen ice into which he was first blowing life to let them later on float in the heavens like celestial jelly fish. Then the rocky lumps were moulded together to form the planets, the constellations, the innumerable moons, the galaxies, the sun and the comets. A miniature model of the cosmos turning around Saturn like a heavenly carousel. Silverhair was mesmerised by all these exhibits and thought that Saturn looked like a tree adorned with transparent glassy ornaments. He slowly approached Vardar who looked to Silverhair calmer than Gregale, and thought he might be able to actually convince him with words to return to his fathers land.

“Vardar, what great powers you have, what a wonderful creation you have rolling around Saturn. His rings resemble precious stones now.”

“Thank you, Silverhair.”

“I see you know my name.”

“Of course, I do. Who doesn't after all? You are the bravest, the brightest and the most well-travelled comet of all. But this is not the greatest thing about you or the most important either. I know my father has sent you here to talk me into returning to his kingdom.”

“So, you are not only the most talented but also the most clever of them all,” Silverhair mocked him.

“Not really. I'm just the one who likes to observe and read between the lines and the one who's not going to surrender without a fight,” he replied and with a strong blow turned his cosmic creation into a rain of rocks and ice that moved threateningly towards the comet.

What Vardar didn't know – no matter how clever he was – was that he was attacking Silverhair with exactly the same matter he was made of and hence he could not hurt him but only make him stronger.

Little pieces of precious stones and gems along with a torrent of icy rain were attracted by Silverhair as if he were a magnet unable to resist calling metal by his side. The comet grew bigger and bigger to Vardar's dismay, who had realised by that time the mistake he had made. Silverhair flew around Vardar in innumerable circles commanding the earth and the water to move to his liking. And they would obey because there wasn't a single object in the sky that could resist saying no to our noble comet. So with their aid the bright star built a glass window display around Vardar, like a caterpillar weaving a cocoon around itself before it fell asleep and transformed into a colourful butterfly. Silverhair with the help of Saturn's particles, that acted like a power engine, managed to reach for the second time the gates of Neptune's kingdom, where Vardar's brothers were waiting to receive him.

It was only until he was among their loving arms that Vardar seemed to awake and realise his state. However, still maintaining a strange calmness he spoke in a frozen, yet not angry, voice to Silverhair, “Well done brave comet. You managed to capture me and almost complete the mission my beloved father has assigned you. To prove your worth though, to him and the rest of the universe you have to carry out, one last challenge, which may be the greatest and hardest of all. You see all of us boys have an only sister. Her name is Levanter and she hides among the shadows of the death planet. Capture her and then you will have the whole creation at your feet,” he said and laughed an evil laughter.

Silverhair, pondered his words for a little while, as once more, he was being ushered away from Neptune's domain with the help of the planets children. Soon, whatever Vardar had said made sense and in the impenetrable darkness lying ahead of him, they became clear.  He had just entered the kingdom of death, ruled by the shadows of the king of the underworld, Pluto. A perpetual mist of darkness covered its surface, a black cloud, like his once beloveds imperial blanket, only this one looked scary and ominous. In the far distance, his moon, non-luminous as well, guarded the gates of Hades. Charon himself waiting for the dead to lead them to the other side of Acheron river.  Puzzled Silverhair, he was, as he had no means of spotting Levanter in this foggy veil. A planet, a whole kingdom dressed in the blackest of blacks.

As he had orbited around the sun so many times before, Silverhair used the same technique to orbit his opposite, the darkest of all creatures, in search of that elusive deity who came by the name of Levanter.

He saw his beams bouncing back every time he cast them through the impenetrable shadows of Pluto but he wouldn't get discouraged. Instead he would try harder and focus all his efforts on  illuminating Pluto's dark lantern.

After innumerable attempts, after his silver dust had raised over Pluto's fog and had disappeared behind it many times, Silverhair thought he saw a thinner layer resurfacing high above the thick clouds and Charon's vessel. There was no sound, no words, but there was no need for either, because at that moment he knew it was her, Neptune's one and only daughter, Levanter.  Such a fine creature he thought she was as he watched her surrounding him with her silky and fine movements, mesmerising and drawing him in her eternal sleep. He felt the whole world disappearing but he didn't care because her deathly embrace brought him peace and quiet. He just wanted to rest in there forever, forget his quest, the stars and the galaxies, everything he had lived so far and surrender himself to the rowing motion of Charon's vessel. He'd never see the sun again, neither the Eldest, nor his cloud. He would be forever gone into darkness. Him and her. His light would be devoured by her and he would disappear like his beloved princess. He pictured the quasar as she once was, bright and calm in her purple nebula and her image made something twitch inside of him. A small quake occurred in his icy body and some of his dust was sprinkled unintentionally on the deathly planet.  All of a sudden Levanter rose the silky dark veil she had spread over Silverhair and focused on the silver sparkles lighting a small portion of the black sky. She moved towards them and flew around the icy diamonds, exhilarated by whatever mysterious effect they had on her. Jumping around, she was trying to gather them all in her arms as if they were precious stones of a newly acquired treasure. Weak as they were, however, the drops of Silverhair's rain disappeared the  moment her lethal limbs touched them. Frustrated and  sad her toys didn't wish to play with her , she turned her attention back to Silverhair, who had regained his strength by now and was glowing  gloriously. It didn't take long for Levanter to understand that he was responsible for the beautiful rain and tried to recapture him in her mist. Silverhair, foreseeing her intentions moved swiftly and managed to escape her leaving behind him his usual silver trail. To his surprise, he saw Levanter being enchanted once more by his sparkles, which stronger now managed to remain into her arms for a little bit longer. Repeating this trick on her, Silverhair lead the way to Neptune's kingdom with Levanter following him happily, playing among the diamond drops of rain. When he reached the gates of the kingdom, unlike all the previous times, no one was waiting to capture that last child.

The truth was that no one believed, Silverhair would manage to capture Neptune's only daughter and the youngest of his children. Little Levanter, just a few hundred years old had proved to be the king's most troublesome child so far. All of her brothers and her father had lost hope of ever having her joining them again. It was only when they heard her joyous laughter that some of the winds rushed to the gates to see her dancing among the comets silver dust. They approached her slowly and carefully held her like a baby in their tender arms.

Neptune then spoke, “ I have no words to express my gratitude to you mighty Silverhair. Whatever I have heard been said about you is very little compared to the magnitude of your powers. I had lost every hope of seeing silent Levanter again. And you, not only have you managed to capture her but make her speak and laugh as well. You have attained the unattainable. As a gesture of gratitude and respect my sons will take you now to where your beloved hides. Find her and restore order to our world. If theres someone in the whole universe who can do this, that's no one else but you,” he said and ordered his sons to approach him.

The mighty winds circled Silverhair and forming a windy boat around him they started moving outside the borders of Neptune's kingdom. This rejuvenating capsule floated in the depths of the unknown corners of the universe until it reached the magellanic clouds that resembled a sea of space, Silverhair had never seen before. Stars that had clubbed together formed mini galaxies of tropic islands and shiny trees planted on an endless ocean.

The winds acquired a different shape this time and in the form of a huge transparent cloud bursting with an unimaginable power they spoke in unison, “ this is as far as we can go fair knight. From this point and on you have to find your own way through the ocean ahead,” they said and giving Silverhair a final blow which landed him in the centre of a stormy sea, they took their way back to the kingdom of their father.

Swimming in the immense ocean Silverhair, soon realised he was scattered in the middle of a  mine field and that the beautiful islands were deathly traps. Emitting powerful radio waves that attracted rocky particles floating in the skies, the mini galaxies were an aggregation of  dangerous storms and tornadoes whose powerful whirlpool Silverhair had to avoid in order to stay alive and reach his destination. When he had finally managed to cross this mine field without being injured, he found himself at the very far end of the magellanic clouds where the absolute peace was reigning in a vast space of nothing, in pure vacuum.

“And now, which way?” he wondered. He flew first to the East and then to the North and from there to the South and the West only to discover the same nothingness. He felt lost in space with no means of finding his way neither forward or back. Despair overcame him. To fight the feeling of loss he tried to concentrate on his cause. He remembered how Principessa had once taught him to communicate with the stars and the universe, without having to have a visual encounter with them. Silverhair dimmed his light and invited the void to become a part of him until him and it were one and the same thing. And it was then that he saw her.

Sleeping in her purple coffin she was being ushered deeper into the void by a funeral parade of surprisingly luminous stars. Approaching them, Silverhair realised how faded his memory of her had been. Even now that the only light within her was a tiny sparkle, he was hypnotised by her beauty as she was lying in her coffin serene and peaceful. The light of the stars that carried her death bed cast different shades on her body and made it shine like the colours of the Aurora Borealis. Once he was close to the stars, they felt compelled to stop moving and follow any orders he had to give them. Silverhair though, didn't say anything. Silence was somehow compulsory for him at that instance. Bending over the coffin, he covered it in the strongest of lights. “Principessa, Principessa,” he whispered but got no response. He kept calling her name an infinite number of times, until he had no more strength. The thought of loss, of failure and of his world dying, suddenly became the most possible reality and some of his icy lumps fell like tears landed on Principessa's impenetrable death chamber. It was only then that her light seemed to flicker inside its crystal palace.

“Is it you? Is it really you?” the faintest of voices came from the depths of her prison.

“Principessa, you're alive, you're alive,” Silverhair cheered and made joyous circles around her but his happiness didn't last long as apart from these faded words void and silence seemed to prevail once again and the thought of his mind playing tricks on him soon sat gloriously on a throne in his head. The mission he had to carry out, however, was stronger than anything else in his mind and he had to accomplish it no matter what. He swirled around Principessa's prison for a little while, but since there was no response or any sign of life from her he decided, his only choice was to take her back to the Eldest whether she was dead or still baring the hope of life within her. Convincing the stars to follow him, the whole funeral parade with him as its leader started moving towards a new direction. His tail embraced the coffin and the stars themselves and his body became the force that pushed them towards the known world. From time to time the fear of never finding his way back to the Oort Cloud invaded his mind but the thought of his quest kept him going and forget any doubts he might have.

Every now and then he would turn back and look at the once beautiful quasar and every time he thought, she was responding to him by flickering her light. In the beginning that made him happy and filled him with hope that order and light would be soon restored in his world. As time went by though, and nowhere near the Oort Cloud or the world he knew was he, doubt and fear started growing in his head like a poisonous Ivy. Soon he ended up not believing in anything; himself as well. What was there to believe anymore anyway?  He now felt so tired, so wasted, so cheated that he no longer knew whether whatever he saw was the truth or a figment of his imagination. He cast his light on the lifeless purple coffin and wondered why, why had he travelled to the depths of the universe. Why had he tried to go beyond its in-existent limits to find what? What exactly was that he had discovered? A rock, a dead rock whose only difference to the rest of those floating around the cosmos was an imperial colour which made it look like a rare gem. Was it really like that though or was this another of his hallucinations? And his mission had it really existed or was it a dream as well caused by exhaustion? Who could guarantee him, he actually woke up after the first time he fell asleep inside the purple nebula? Who could guarantee him, he had escaped Levanters dark and deathly embrace? Who could guarantee him that all of this had actually taken place? Who in the whole creation could prove to him, he himself really existed? None! At that point his whole being turned into boiling lava and he lost his senses. Drops of silver  dust rained on Principessa's coffin but neither her or him paid any attention. He was somewhere else and she was dead. His mind was flooded by the old comets words, talking about Principessa's beauty and how her image was imprinted in their existence forever. “Is that what they meant?” he wondered. Everything was fuzzy, hazy and blurred. He didn't know, he couldn't tell, he didn't really care what was happening to him. It would be better, if he actually disappeared forever, than returning to the Eldest only to watch them being swallowed by the void as well. A total failure he was.

“Keep on going, don't give up,” he thought he heard a voice from somewhere or something.

“Stop it, stop it, leave me alone. Nothing is real, its all a dream,” he shouted towards nothingness and shook his silver tail with rage.

“Silverhair, clever and mighty comet, you have managed to travel where no one else has gone before, you who have achieved the unachievable by capturing Neptune's children and returning them back to his palace, you who the Eldest have entrusted with the fortune of the whole universe, you have given up?”

“Please go away, it is all a lie. Don't you see? I found her and so what? She's only a stone and the world only knows whether she was ever anything more than that. What if I have somehow dreamt of everything? What if I have wasted my time doing absolutely nothing?”

“Look at her Silverhair, take a good look at her now. Does she look like nothing to you?”

“I don't know, I don't see her or you anymore. I'm blind like she once was. And you, who are you and why do you care so much about someone you dont know?”

“I know you at least, Silverhair. Some time, light years ago, you came to the gates of my fathers kingdom to ask for his help. He gave you a task to complete first!”

Silverhair looked around but couldn't really see anyone and he still continued to believe that all he heard was a result of him going absolutely mad. He couldn't tell whether there was a presence there or not. The only thing he could feel was a cool breeze, which from time to time made his silver hair move like a space tree in the universal land. However, all these attributes and the voice itself didn't seem completely unfamiliar to our comet, rather the opposite.

“Who are you?” Silverhair asked whatever was hidden behind the dark curtains of the celestial stage. “Show yourself and stop torturing me any further.”

No reply came from any of the four corners of the universe. The silence was enough for him to believe again that his mind was playing tricks on him until he saw the dark curtains parting and a familiar creation appearing on a starry stage. A miniature universe was dancing around following the rhythm of the music of the spheres. Crystal creations of the utmost perfection and artistic expertise were floating before Silverhair's eyes but he still couldn't decide whether that was real or just a dream.

“Do you remember me now?” the voice spoke again and this time it was accompanied by an airy presence whose hands reached out to Silverhair and twirled him in a mild twist. Suddenly, Silverhair seemed to regain consciousness again.

“Vardar, could it be you? What are you doing here?”

“Im not alone,” Vardar said. “A very long time ago, when we were young and naughty, you managed to capture us and return us to our father. We didn't know then, what good you did to us and we were angry at you, but now that we are older and more mature, we can realise the extend of the knowledge we have gained after all this time we spent next to our father and our brother. It is now time for us to return the good you did to us.”

“Ha, ha,” Silverhair laughed sarcastically. “There is nothing to return. It is all a dream, a fable, you, me, the stars, the universe itself. It just doesn't exist. And who are you all? Show yourselves.”

At that moment as if by magic a part of the skies took shape and the first of the windy giants appeared in front of Silverhair.

“I'm Gregale, your servant my lord,” he said and Silverhair recognised his cold breath that was no longer angry.

“I am your servant as well!” Vardar said and placed an ice crown on his tail.

Finally, he felt a presence surrounding him, like the finest silk , mesmerising him in the most familiar way. “Levanter is my name my lord and I am at your service forever,” she said in the most enchanting voice Silverhair had ever heard. However, no matter whatever the winds had presented before him he still insisted that what he lived was only a dream, bringing them at a loss as to what they should do in order to convince him to continue with his quest.

“All is real noble star. You have been trapped in the void for far too long. Pluto the king of darkness will soon reign on our dead world. Everyone is losing hope of ever seeing light again. And yet look at yourself, you carry it within you. If you join it with Principessa's power the world  will shine again. Its only because you have been wandered in this maze of galaxies and dangerous waves that you have lost your faith. Please let us help you,” Vardar said and before Silverhair had the chance to answer back, Levanter had wrapped him and Principessa's coffin in her hypnotic aura with a transparent membrane which Vardar turned into an ice cage by breathing forcefully on it. Last but not least Gregale blew on the ice vessel and giving it a little push sent Silverhair far away from the void and the maze in which he had been trapped.

Silverhair started moving again, slower than the usual as the coffin he was carrying was heavy even for a hero. He was now among the beautifully dangerous islands and lakes emitting their lethal radio waves. However, he noticed that there was no action of any kind. The lakes and the islands seemed somehow frozen and powerless, covered in a grey mist, as if they had been fossilised, as if they have been swallowed by the swamp of the void he had just left behind him. The  only movement in that part of the sky was a constant rain of tiny rocks that prevented Silverhair from seeing clearly ahead of him but at the same time it couldnt hurt him because no matter how forcefully it fell on his cage, it would immediately bounce out into the immensity.

“How can everything have changed so much in such a short time?” he wondered, “or was it not that short after all?”

Short or not, once he exited the magellanic clouds and the constellations of Dorado and Tucana, he realised the extent of the change. The stars the planets and the whole universe  had acquired the same grey colour, the same fossilised look , which was being corroded by the heavy rain that showed no intention of seizing. It seemed like time had stopped and the cosmos was now nothing more than a museum display. Far in the horizon he spotted what once was the magnificent Aurora Borealis. A shade of grey had substituted its wonderful colours and its silky movement.

“They are all dead, they are all dead,” he repeated silently as he was still flying among the universal graveyard. He felt his heart aching and soon despair started creeping on him.

As soon as he entered the dominion of the Oort Cloud, still having a little hope that his precious kingdom wouldn't have been affected, he fell at complete loss.

The sun was a big rock , a forgotten ornament of a once glorious past still hanging in a palace from an invisible thread. Around it a million little stars that years ago lit the paths and adorned the glacy lakes of the Oort Cloud were dead stone marbles scattered around the kingdom. Silverhair stood frozen for a little while trying to take in all the disruption and death that had befallen upon his kingdom and for a moment he thought life was slipping out of him as well and that he would very soon join all of them. What a sad way to finish his quest!

If our hero had eyes and if he could cry then his tears would have flooded the chamber of the Eldest. They were all standing helpless on their ice poles, with the stoic look and wisdom that had always characterised them, facing the entrance as if waiting for something or someone, a last minute miracle perhaps.

“I am too late, too late,” Silverhair blamed himself.

Thinking there was nothing that could be done to reverse the deathly spell, our hero exited the palace and headed for the sun. He had no other option but dying, surrendering himself to darkness and letting Pluto take over the cosmos.

On his way out, he stumbled upon Principessa's coffin and suddenly anger overcame him.

He bent over the coffin. “Its all your fault. Why did you have to behave like that? Why? Answer me! I know you are in there, still alive. Are you mocking me? Are you punishing me for leaving you? How selfish can you be? Can you actually be that selfish?” he raised all his questions to the void, to the absolute nothing and then crashed with all his force on the coffin, which to his surprise  didn't move the least. It seemed as it had acquired a fixed space for itself like everything in the universe up to that point. Focusing his rage on Principessa's coffin he kept crashing on it like a battering ram trying to open the gates of the castle to be conquered.

“Wake up, wake up,” he was shouting at her , attacking the coffin again and again more forcefully each time, until it started moving a little bit and then a little bit more, being pushed out of Silverhair's dominion. One last blow and the coffin would have been cast out of his kingdom forever. The minute, however, Silverhair collided with it that last time, it cracked and broke into tiny pieces which soon turned into dust disappearing in the immensity.

“What have I done, what have I done?”  he cried as he was flying around like crazy, gathering the broken pieces as if he would have been able to reconstruct her through them once again.

Sad and disappointed he was convinced now, everything would be forever gone, lost under the long endless veil of darkness. And if he were to die along the rest of the cosmos then he wouldnt have liked it to happen anywhere but close to the sun. He started orbiting around him, slowly and hesitantly in the beginning as he wasn't sure he remembered exactly how to do so. But he didnt really need to remember because he had never forgotten and as soon as he was confident that he hadn't lost his magic or technique he sped up and moved faster and faster until he could no longer be perceived as a comet with substance but rather as an essence, a spirit flying around the sun. And if the sun hadn't been dead then the whole sight would have resembled a fireworks wheel. Silverhair was now feeling free again like when he had first started exploring the world, sending the signals of his arrival everywhere he had travelled and further than that. And the more he was increasing his speed, the more he was forgetting about the world and his imminent death. He was so immensely happy, that he scattered around the purple Quasars pieces, with such a force that they reached to places billion light years away from where he was playing, far to the unknown limits of the universe.

Had he not been so preoccupied with his ride around the sun he would have noticed that some of Principessa's broken pieces, which had hit the surface of the sun, made it palpitate again. And if he could cast an eye to the depths of the cosmos, he would have seen that the same broken pieces were strong enough to light a starry path somewhere.

The comet was getting deeper and deeper into his blissful state and flying faster than he could cope with, he started disintegrating into silver dust, which the sun was gladly absorbing and was growing stronger. Soon a bright light came out of him, which spread first to its closest stars and from there to their closest stars and so on and so forth, until the whole creation was a beautifully lit candle, the most shiny and precious diamond having ever existed.

Soon our comet was diminished into a small luminous grain of silver dust which forced by the suns heat was elevated over the golden king and landed in the chamber of the Eldest. Tiny yet unbelievably powerful Silverhair's remnant illuminated the whole room and cast the grey mist away revealling the grace and beauty of the Eldest who timidly ,in the beginning at least,

showed some sign of life which quickly transformed into a glorious light. A powerful beam was shot out of the chamber lighting every single part of the world that had remained unlit, carrying forever within it Silverhair's light and heart.

News travelled everywhere and the whole of cosmos sang a praise to brave Silverhair who sacrificed himself so that universal order could be restored. And because the stars, the galaxies, the constellations, the planets and everything that is hidden in the vast oceans of the skies bared within them Silverhair's and Principessa's parts, the world never fell into darkness again and is bright until today.

Legend has it that once in a thousand years the spirits of the two stars meet each other and riding the Aurora Borealis they travel around the universe. The night then makes way for the whole world to shine brightly on an endless day.