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Come with me, to the Orrery. the voice spoke, bowing her noble head - it's glittering horn so similar to Altair's catching the light from the spinning machine in the center of the room. There is much to tell, and so little time. I will need to show you. I'm afraid I do not have much strength. I have traveled far to find you, Keeper of the Stars.

Still wary, Khalindra eyed the creature before her. Why would the texts not have mentioned such a beautiful manifestation? What had she done to be stricken from the Great One's histories and their own writings? The fear was waning, curiosity reaching further into her mind and gripping at her, taking control. Against all instincts of survival, the blond took the few steps to the Orrery, placing a hand upon the smooth bronze as the beast's horn touched it, a bright light enveloping them both and transporting them to wherever this newcomer wished.

The new place was silent. Not a single star burned in the pitch of the sky, the land new and ragged. Unrefined.

"Where are we...?"

When are we. the creature corrected, taking a few steps and lifting her head to look around.

Fifty six thousand years before the first man walked this world.

Surprise lit Khalindra's eyes as she turned her attention onto the one who spoke, "Fifty six thousand..." she trailed off, "The Orrery can only take us places we have been. Times we have been. You cannot be..."

That old? I am much older, Keeper of the Stars. There was a soft, tinkling of laughter in Khalindra's head. Much older...

"But there are no stars hanging in the sky!"

We are in the beginning times. I may not have physically existed, but my mind, my essence, was in being. I remember. And thus, the Orrery can take me here.

"If that's true, the Orrery could take me...?"

No. The Orrery is much more complex than you could ever begin to understand at this moment, Keeper of the Stars. What you will understand of it I do not know, but now is not the time for explanations of that. Watch.

So she did.

Khalindra watched as the Thirteen Greats wove the blankets of stars covering the sky. She watched as the sun was birthed, the moon was painted. The constellations were hung, carved out. She watched as twelve* high races were made, each one children of the Thirteen, carved and given traits for each either in personality or physical appearances. She watched as the siblings fought, loved, laughed. Thousands of years passed in a blink of an eye, leaving Khalindra's head spinning.

And then she watched Eisra's banishment. She felt the sorrow of the Twelve as they had to cast Eisra into her own world, where she could not destroy the delicate balance they had worked so hard to create.

And thus, Humans were born - stripped of all that was once Eisra's influence.

It was then that time stopped, and the creature turned to look at Khalindra, who had tears running down her cheeks.

This is where my story begins. Where my people's story begins.


* There are not thirteen high races, as two of the siblings were so close together, that they put their essence into a single race - creating Celestials, the most powerful of the present twelve high races. This explains the elevated tiya levels within the race.




Within her own world, Eisra brooded. Betrayed by her own siblings, cast aside like the garbage of yesterday. Hurt, pain, anger. She may have been Chaos, but that did not mean that she had no feelings. She could not help her nature. Chaos was chaotic, and she had lived as she knew how only to be removed from her family. As if she was not good enough.

How she longed to be good enough.

For years, Eisra worked. Even within her world, she had access to the celestial spirits that her siblings had let free. Essences were caught, bottled, and stored - and she experimented. The sun, she could not hold. It burned too bright against her darkness. The moon, she could not manipulate - for it was too pure for her to handle. But the stars - the stars were born from chaos. They were hers.

The noble Caelesti born was dismantled, piece by piece, and put together in new order. Wings were stripped, leaving it flightless. The horn, majestic, was removed, leaving a bare forehead. There was something beautiful about desecrating what she and her siblings had created. Like they had desecrated her. Eisra thought it oddly symbolic. Chaos desecrating what Chaos had formed.

Though as she manipulated this creature in her world, the wings of the Astrals already in existence faded into stardust, leaving them to plummet toward the earth while they were in flight. It was a meteor shower, lights streaking the sky of Svatura as the blessed stars fell down to earth.

As they hit the earth, explosions of light dotted the world, their energies dismantling and reassembling into something new altogether. Unable to stop, the Twelve watched as their companions morphed, forming in three different ways.

The first to step from the mists, days after the explosions began, was the creature which had stood before Khalindra. The wings had disappeared, leaving what appeared to be a graceful, long bodied horse - ordinary except for the horn that protruded from its forehead, glittering in midst of settling stardust.

The second, the Caelesti known in present time - horn absent from its head, but with its wings still at its side, trailing the stars. These seemed to be the most plentiful, the wings being such an integral part of the race that they were hard to destroy, even by the hand of Chaos.

Then the rarest of all stepped up from the dust - untouched by Eisra's hand - though there were only a handful of those who had been strong enough to withstand the decimation that had occurred.

Despite these changes, Eisra had failed. She wished to strip all that she found beautiful and special, leave the race nothing more than the horses the high races used for labor. But her intentions were clouded, corrupted. So corrupted she was that she could not even control her own element.

And so we were created. Your companion, Altair, is descended from the last of the original Caelesti - the creatures with horns and wings, both. And I...I am the first that stepped from Eisra's corruption. I am Nova.

Khalindra's head spun, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nova."








"I don't understand," Khalindra said as she sat down on the floor beside the Orrery, crossing her legs up underneath her. The entire trip had been a bit draining, and the return trip had left her dizzy and slightly disoriented. "Why are you not written about in any of the tomes?"

The remaining Twelve were very displeased that this had happened under their nose. They were unaware that even through banishment their sister could manipulate the cosmos just as well as they could from their little piece of heaven that they created for themselves. With precious few of the original Caelesti in existence, the two remaining were given to Kaede and Kale, the twins. When the twelve descended from this earth, the last of the Caelesti - The Alicorns as you call them - were given to their race, the Celestials.

"You're still not answering my question," Khalindra said with a furrow of her brows.

Patience. Nova said, bowing her head toward the Keeper, Your question will be answered in good time. But you must know this.

A harumph was given from the blond, but she quieted and tapped her fingers on her knee while she waited for the female to continue. Obviously, she was quite used to getting what she wanted, when she did.

With the plentiful Caelesti possessing wings, these were dubbed the 'true' race. But the Twelve were unable to decide what to do with the rest of my race. They could not kill us, it would be too brutal - though Katrin and Kydar were certainly all for the eradication of us. We were the very essence of their sister's chaos, after all. Corrupted. Hodair said that we were welcome, that our birth was not our fault - and many of the siblings agreed. It was Gen, of course, who had the final decision. She had always been the most neutral of the siblings, preferring to weigh logic and emotion in a balanced way.

Nova paused and looked over to the fidgeting blond, rolling her eyes.

We would not be killed, but we would also not be allowed to stay. It would somehow lessen Eisra's victory if both of the races corrupted by chaos would not be allow to remain. And we were the most obvious, and the fewer. It would be easier to explain our existence away.

"What did they do?"

I am approaching that part of my tale, Star Keeper. You should be familiar with the inter-world travel that the Celestials are able to do within their caravans. Svatura was far from the first world in existence, Khalindra. There are many that pre-date the creation of this beautiful world. We were sent to An'kahol.

Her eyes widened, "An'kahol isn't simply a fey story?"

I suppose you could call it that. But those who inhabit An'kahol would call your world a fey story as well. It's a world without magic. Gen believed that by giving us a purpose in another world, she could make use of their sister's corruption. Turn it into goodness.

"But why would she send you to a world with no magic?"

Gen and Cheya's hope was to give them something to believe in. We were the first to go, careful to be seen by only a few. We were written about in stories, myths were spun about us. Unicorns, we were called, by those inhabiting the world. Her eyes sparkled. An'kahol is where magic goes to die, but instead lives on forever through written and spoken word.

Silence hung in the air as the blond attempting to digest the information she was being fed - amazed, intrigued, and wanting more. However, she held back her barrage of questions that she wanted to answer, and instead asked perhaps the most important question of all.

"Why and how are you here now if you were sent to An'kahol?"

I told you, Star Keeper. I traveled a very long way to find you. My ways are my own, but my reason must be shared.

"Then do it already!" Impatience touched the woman's voice as she looked at Nova, curiosity becoming too much to hold back.

Eisra. Solemn eyes locked with Khalindra's, You must awaken the Twelve, and call them back from their rest.