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The Shadow
Do you ever feel as though you are the underappreciated sibling doomed to live in the shadows of accomplishments so great, you can’t even reach them in your dreams? I, for one, know all about this feeling of worthlessness. But this is not my story; for every good story needs an ending and my life has not reached that point yet. No, this is the tale of how life on Earth began.
Our legend is set in a time when all life on Earth was single cellular and the Gods took the form of stars and it begins when those very stars granted the Earth two children; twins; a boy and a girl; Sol and Luna.
Sol grew to be a strong, handsome man and Earth bestowed him with the most important task imaginable: illuminating the dark nothingness they lived in. Of course this was a piece of cake for such a good-looking man yet he fulfilled his duties with utter earnest.
Luna grew to be a small yet beautiful woman, but her brother radiated such wonderfulness that it was impossible to outshine him. Earth saw no future in her but was too polite to admit this, so Luna was named Sol’s hand.
The task Earth had given Sol was a fatiguing one; he was not allowed to leave his post, because if he did the sky would turn black as pitch. It wore Sol out until finally, he collapsed.
As he lay on his deathbed, he still emitted a dull spark of light, enough for the gods to continue their work. Luna knew, as she tended her brother, that in this era of darkness it was her time to shine. But the girl, consumed by grievance over her sick brother, could not find the light in her.
The days grew darker as all the energy flowed out of the once so lively man. Everyone looked to Luna, his hand, his sister, who shared the same blood, to set things right again. Alas, she couldn’t.
The poor girl did everything she could for her, now unconscious, brother. But it seemed as though all efforts were without hope.
Then, when all faith seemed to be lost, Sol opened his eyes, and the sky was brighter than it had ever been. The gods of old rejoiced and hailed the mighty Sol. It was not until Earth mentioned some odd goings on, that they realized Sol still radiated only very little light.
But who else could light up the cold darkness of the sky? They asked themselves. There, in the middle of the ebony nothingness, they saw the answer; a beautiful, young woman was smiling down at the weakened Sol. Who this mysterious source of light was, they did not know. But she possessed powers of unimaginable strength; that was certain.
Earth noticed that his waters started moving which caused for several single cellular creatures to collide and become multi cellular. Everything in the universe seemed to fall into place and the culprit for this was standing right there in plain sight. But who was she?
“That’s my sister!” Sol whispered proudly. And indeed it was the little girl who had up till now lived in the great Sol’s shadows. Only now, there was nothing little about her; in that moment she was the universe.
From that day on the twins shared the sky, working together and taking shifts, so that history would never again repeat itself.
So let this be a lesson to all siblings out there: do not live in someone’s shadow, create your own.
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