The Never Ending Tails

A child was playing by the sea as the star shining upon his world was falling down under the never ending trail of the horizon. The child had grown fond of the ocean and each night without failure, he always went by the shore to see it swallow the big circles of Light his people called Assay.

He got tired and sat admiring the last moments of that event that always happened as long as he could remember. Every time, Assay died and died again before his eyes, but each time, the child hoped that Assay would survive, that the Light would stay and that the night will never come. The child never liked the night, he never liked the darkness that it brought and the fears that always lurked around it. He felt sadness again as he knew that once Assay gone, his fears will come back to haunt him.

The Child was diving more and more in this state of unease and uncertainty, but something came along and snapped him out of his dark thoughts, a familiar voice coming from behind.

“Adric ! Still wondering off boy. What have I told you about spending too much time here alone?”

“That I shouldn’t gaze too much into Assay when it’s dying,” The boy started responding while turning toward the voice. “I know that father, but I still don’t understand! Why do Assay need to die every day?”

Adric’s father seemed annoyed by the question, but after noticing the persistent look of confusion on his son’s face, he smiled and came to sit next to him, looking at the fall of Assay for a moment in complete silence. Adric followed the lead of his father and sat as well wondering what answer he could give him, if there was even an answer to start with.

“You know son, I have been scared by the death of Assay as much as you are now.”

“You were scared Father! How can it be? You are never scared of anything!”

The father started laughing a bit, but Adric just got more confused by the reaction.

“Many things used to scare me Adric, and many still do, but fear is a part of us we need to accept.”

The father saw that Adric was still confused. He sighted before explaining further.

“There is a reason why Assay, has to die each day. I am gonna tell you the story of Our World, the story of the three holy Animas.”

“They are the ones who kill Assay every time?”

“Trust me, they have to do it for the sake of all of us, now hush boy, and hear the story until the end…

"Anima is one of the most peculiar worlds of all the Arasmas. At its origin, it was but a huge sea with no life; an ocean of salted water only inhabited by rocks. Anima was no regular world though; even while lacking life, Anima was the holder of a great energy: the energy of the souls that were to fill it.

"Everything changed in the world with the migration of Assay. Assay was one of the primary beings to inhabit the Arasmas; he was as strong as the strongest of stars, but he always needed to feed on the energy of worlds to keep shining.

"After destroying countless planets, Assay was heading for Anima. He flew all the way in the void of space to the ocean world sensing the enormous energy it had stored in its depth, the energy of those to come. As he arrived near Anima, Assay started feeding on the essence of the planet. The ocean became unbalanced, and for the first time, Land appeared on this world.

"Assay was finally able to stop its long flight, and to take rest on the newly formed ground. The world felt the disturbance caused by the titanic creature, and sensed that its endless surface of water might disappear once and for all if the creature continued feeding and burning.

"Something incredible happened then; the world gave birth to the Animas to stop the intrusion of Assay. The Animas appeared first as three little turtles that were no match for the giant Assay and his burning light, but the world entrusted them with its energy making them growing bigger and bigger, up to the point where they were as big as continents. The Animas then moved through the never ending ocean; reaching Assay, they encircled him.

"The animas understood that Assay was feeding on the essence of the world and that they were to die and their world with them if they did nothing to stop him. They came up with the perfect solution; they figured out that even divided into three, the world’s energy was too volatile to be protected against absorption, so it needed to be further divided.

"The animas opened gateways on their back that connected their world to other worlds; they pierced the void of space with their channels of light and spread all the way to the stars beyond.

"They knew that by doing so, Life would come to their planet, and they were right. On the other sides, Life forms with different degrees of intelligence and consciousness got curious about those strange pillars of Light that appeared from the sky. Many crossed them and found themselves on the back of the Animas. Many were confused, and even failed to notice the nature of the place they stepped in. People started crossing taking with them everything that they cared for to this new world, and soon enough, Life spread on the back of the giant turtles.

"The new inhabitants of Anima felt that something was wrong with their new home; they were feeling weaker and weaker with every day that passed. They couldn’t sleep with the burning Light of Assay that came with days that never end and nights that never come.

"Some of them were able to feel that the ground under their feet was alive, and succeeded in communicating with the Animas. The people worshiped them as Gods and named them Bahos, Samahos and Rahos. They then prayed to them for the end of the everlasting day.

"The prayers of the inhabitants of Anima intensified the energy of the world, and the Animas finally sealed Assay. They then asked the Humans if Assay should die, and most of them agreed without question, but not the children.

"The children couldn’t hate assay and the warmth he gave them. A compromise was finally made; Assay was to stay the day to shine and would receive some of the energy of the world, but at night he would have to fall into the ocean and return that energy."

“So Assay is still alive! Right father?” Adric asked a little while after the end of the story.

“Assay never really dies, but he pays for his past actions every night…”

As the father was saying those worlds, Assay’s Light faded away on the horizon leaving the field for the distant stars to illuminate the darkness.