Contest entry for Contests

"Look up at the sky, what do you see?

A masterpiece? A painting? A wide open plain? A crowded expanse?

What if I told you that, once, the sky was not quite so bright as now it seems? What if I told you, that once upon a dream so far, they say the sky was dark, not completely, but a lot more than it is now?"

Leo tutted, "I'd say 'duh'. Obviously stars started out somewhere," he pulled his hoodie tighter about himself, zipping it right up to his chin and leaning back against the car windshield. It maybe wasn't the most comfortable place in the word to be, or the smartest solution to finding a place to lie down out here in the middle of nothingness, but he didn't mind. He liked coming out here with Lyra; it was an occasional thing, and each time she had something new to talk about.

Lyra continued like he hadn't spoken at all, "There's a lot of theories about how it all started, but this one, I'm quite sure you won't have heard before," she had a slight smile on her face, as she always did when talking about the stars. It was like a whole other world for Lyra, every second a new opportunity, every night spent out in the darkness even more breathtaking than the last. She couldn't get enough of it.

Leo shuffled closer to her, the cold beginning to get to him even though they'd only been outside for a few minutes at the most. Why had he only brought a hoodie? They'd done this more than a dozen times now, and he never learned. "Do tell!" He replied, interested despite himself. It was the way she told these stories; her avid interest in everything she said and the confidence with which she said it. He could listen for days.

Lyra tilted her head to the side, "A long time ago - I'm talking millions, billions of years ago, maybe - there were two stars, Omnia and Nihil. They roamed the sky as if it were their own. This was a time after the first rocks and planets had exploded outwards, but as far as they knew, there were no other sentient beings in the universe," she paused, pointing up to a mid point in the sky, just next to the North Star to show him a comet flittering past.

"They were companions for longer than we've been around, the only lights in a universe far too young for suns. All they needed was each other and the space in which they could do whatever they pleased. Time was nothing, and they were everything. It seemed that things would be that way forever." Leo listened to her intently. Other than her words, and their breathing, the night was silent.

Lyra had picked him up just after ten, and they'd driven out here to yet another new stargazing spot. It was their fifteenth 'star date'. They were never planned, because, by Lyra's reckoning, the spontaneity was half the fun. Leo couldn't help but agree.

He'd never been stargazing before meeting Lyra, and even then he'd been skeptical of how magical it would really be. What could be so great about staring at the sky for an hour? In the pitch dark? With cold wind biting at your skin? He'd never really expected he could enjoy something so much just because he was in the company of someone else, just because Lyra's stories were always so captivating.

"What happened next?" He asked, turning to face her. It was confusing so far, yes, but he was entranced all the same.

"Next? Their relationship changed. Spending so much time together, in a place where they knew no one but each other, they became more than friends -.."

"Best friends?" Leo interjected with a grin. Lyra replied with a slight laugh, shoving him playfully before her eyes took on that familiar wise look again.

"Even more than best friends. They were inseparable, conjoined almost. Two bright lights in that wide expanse. It made sense for them to end up together, as there was no one else around,"

"Omnia was bright and wise, a caring soul with a want for adventure, and a determination to see everything there was to see in their reality. They were brighter than the North Star is how, larger than the sun itself by personality alone. Nihil was equally as wise, with a heart of gold and a conserved power that kept Omnia in permanent awe. They saw the truth in the universe where Omnia saw possibilities and dreams. They were a balance, but they were not the same,"

"As the universe expanded and cooled, and planets formed all across it, new life emerged in the form of other stars. Singular stars, large stars, equal in size to Omnia and Nihil. These stars wished for parts of the universe to be their own, and it was granted to them. Now, they weren't alone, and things were just as good as they'd been before." Leo could imagine these great beings, alone for millennia and then joined by newer versions of themselves that they'd never before known could exist. But still, where was this story leading?

"As these new stars moved into existence, and time trudged onwards, space became brighter than before, but still remained an open expanse. It was during this time that Omnia and Nihil realised some things about their infinite world that were, at the least,  concerning."

Lyra paused and cleared her throat and then continued again, "The stars around them would sometimes dim, talking less and less until they seemed to become little more than nothingness, enveloped by blackness and snuffed from existence. It was a sad thing to see, but neither star could figure out what caused such a change,"

"They tried to help for a while, doing what they could - which was little, as they were beings of light and not form -  and eventually just keeping the stars company while they died. They stopped searching for a cure, and accepted this as a part of life,"

"At least, at first they did." Leo was absorbed in this story completely now. He'd never really given how stars died much thought, but Lyra clearly had. He always wondered if she just made tense stories up on the spot, or if she got them from somewhere else. He'd asked her before of course, but each time she would just smile in a secret way, and look at at the sky again. He'd realised she was probably never going to tell him. Maybe that was also part of the fun.

"As years passed, Omnia began to realise that their love, their companion from the beginning of time itself, was lagging behind considerably when they travelled. It was a small change at first, but bit by bit, Nihil fell behind, like they were simply unable to move as they once had,"

"By this point, Omnia had seen this sort of thing a million and two times, and they knew that it meant Nihil was dying. The very idea of that, the very thought, made Omnia go wild. They couldn't handle the idea of travelling alone, of being alone in this expanse without Nihil at their side,"

"They say the death of a star could take anywhere from a few years, to a hundred from what Omnia had seen, and so they began to search for a cure. Crazed, Omnia scoured space for something - anything x which would help their love to regain their lost strength, to replenish the light Omnia could see so slowly sleeping out of Nihil. It was a dark time, a time in which the younger, lesser stars saw a new side to the elder they had always seen as a guide,"

"Omnia did all they could. They investigated the remains of dead stars, spent time just watching those who were close to death for any hope of a reprieve. Everywhere Omnia went, Nihil tried to follow. Nihil didn't want to be alone, they hadn't been alone in so long, and they had never felt so weak before,"

"Days before the end, Omnia gave up. They travelled back through the darkness until they found their love. This was a pace they'd spent many years together. A place they'd watched grow from nothing into a sun, less than a quarter of their size, and clumps of rock that had broken and shattered as the years had worn on,"

"Omnia intertwined themselves with Nihil, keeping a close eye upon them while their strength was swept away by something neither of them could stop. Omnia stayed like this, unmoving, unwavering for the first time since their creation, until the light of Nihil finally died and settled into nothingness,"

"Even then, they did not move. Omnia couldn't handle the pain that blackened their sight, and they began to heat up, warmer than the warmest of suns, glowing brighter than they ever had before. The surrounding stars grew concerned for Omnia, but what could they do? Their words were ignored, and Omnia stayed the same,"

"Then, one day, Omnia's eyes opened, and they moved for the first time since their love's death. For a moment, the stars around Omnia rejoiced, for they were back, and they were alive. Maybe, once again, they would travel the darkness. But, alas, this did not happen..." Lyra trailed off again, her eyebrows furrowed like she was reliving the words she spoke.

Leo wondered sometimes, if she spoke from memory. The way she brought the stories to life, the vividness with which he could picture her words, made it seem like a memory rather than a story. "What did happen?" He asked in a whisper, almost as if he was hesitant to break the silence between them.

Lyra sighed, and her breath misted in the air above her. "Omnia opened their eyes, glowing brighter than bright, and exuding more heat than had ever been seen in the universe before. They moved, staring at the space Nihil had once been in, and then..."

Leo groaned. Why did she have to dramatise it? He wanted to know, he had to know. He'd always been curious by nature, always searching for explanations and reasons for things. The suspense was killing him, but this time, he didn't dare break the silence.

"Then, Omnia broke apart completely, shattered into a billion shards of star and light across the universe. The explosion from their outburst shook the surrounding planets and shoved them away, sending them far from our solar system and leaving very few where they'd been before. The pain of losing Nihil had been far too much for them to take, and so they'd imploded, unable to survive without their love,"

"They say that by exploding, they had enriched the sky we see now with constellations rather than just mere solitary stars." Lyra spread her arms, gesturing towards the stars scattered across the sky in every direction. Leo took the opportunity to lean against her properly, using her heat to stop himself from shivering. He wrapped one arm across her stomach and pulled himself closer, so he could see exactly what she saw. Lyra smiled and pressed her cheek against his. She pointed towards the North Star again.

"That spot, right there, is where they say it happened. The brightest star in our sky is the largest shard, the heart of Omnia, that shattered upon their implosion. The space around that star, is Nihil, even in death staying by Omnia's side. They are inseparable, even now, and they will be for eternity. That, is the story of how the sky came to look as it does now," she finished with a sigh, closing her eyes while Leo stared up at the North Star as if it would speak to him.

Someone as old as a star, dying due to their love for another star? Leo could see that happening. He'd been dating Lyra for a little over three years now, and although they tended to take things slowly, he could see himself imploding if she died.

It was an odd thing to think about, especially out there with nothing nearby and no one but her for at least ten miles in every direction, but it rang true in his head. Leo looked at Lyra, at how serene and otherworldly her face appeared in the moonlight, and while he watched, he could have sworn her face began to glow.