Kyn checked his link and saw that it was 4 a.m. The room was still dark, and the lingering effects of the disturbing dream weighed heavily on his mind. Unable to sleep, he decided that a brisk early morning run would help clear his mind and shake off the lingering unease.
He put on his running clothes, laced up his trainers and quietly exited his room. The hotel corridors were dimly lit, and the hushed stillness of the pre-dawn hours enveloped him as he walked outside.
As he stepped onto the streets of the unfamiliar city, he was greeted by cool, crisp air. Kyn felt the tension in his muscles begin to melt away with each stride, replaced by the rhythmic pounding of his feet on the pavement. For a brief moment, the chaos of his dream was pushed to the back of his mind by the rhythmic cadence of his breath.
Kyn finally found solace in the early morning as he ran through the quiet streets, his thoughts gradually drifting away from the enigmatic encounter in the forge. The city came to life around him, and the first light of dawn painted the horizon with orange and gold hues.
For the time being, the run provided a reprieve from the chaos realm's mysteries and the weight of the artefact he had acquired. Kyn hoped that pushing his body to its limits would help him regain his sense of equilibrium and prepare him for the challenges that lay ahead.
His early morning run had taken him up the scenic Mount Ismaros Trail, and as he ascended the mountain, he marvelled at the night's essence. The only sounds on the trail were the soft rustling of leaves and the distant chirping of crickets. The allure of seeing the sunrise from a high vantage point drew him in, and the anticipation of the sun's first rays warmed his spirits.
It was 5:30 a.m. when he arrived at the summit, just a few minutes before daybreak. As the sun prepared to make its grand entrance, the horizon was already awash in orange and gold hues. As fate would have it, from afar, a figure of Nyx, resplendent in her purple gown, reclining on the lush green porch overlooking the night sky, her curves drew his attention.
Becoming aware of his presence, she invited him to join her. Her voice sounded like a soft melody in the early morning silence, and her invitation had an otherworldly allure that was difficult to resist. Kyn approached Nyx and sat down beside her on the porch, filled with curiosity and a desire to share this moment with her, The lady of the Night.
He couldn't help but feel a connection with Nyx as they sat side by side, gazing out into the night sky that was slowly giving way to the approaching dawn. The world around them was bathed in the gentle glow of the approaching sunrise, and the lines between mortal and deity seemed to blur in that moment, leaving only the shared experience of witnessing the beauty of the cosmos.
"Have you ever wondered, about the Morning Star?"
"No", came his short reply. Kyn couldn't help but wonder what revelations the new day might bring. The personification of the night itself had sat beside him while the first rays of dawn coloured the sky. Choosing to listen, he listened intently as she spoke of the Morning Star, Venus. Her voice was solemn as she told of a world that had once mirrored the beauty of Earth but had since become harsh and unforgiving.
"Ever wondered why, Lucifer fell to the earth; ever wondered why the Morning star is only mentioned once," she said as she stared deep into the golden sky.
Her stature and the way she spoke of Venus, a once lush and vibrant world with beauty comparable to the Earth, to that of Gaia. She continued on to describe her beauty, her love her embodiment of not giving up but now the same stubbornness is now stuck in her mind. She describes Venus as a once thriving Love, a place where life thrived and gods interacted freely with mortals. There were no deserts on Venus then, and it was a world of limitless potential and possibility.
However, as Nyx progressed, the story took a darker turn. She mentions a great destroyer, a force that wreaked havoc on Venus. A great deceiver that caused unrest among it's people.
Lies, deception, and the framing of innocent against their will had ripped the fabric of this once-great civilization apart. From those who chose to respect other peoples peace of mind to a race that wanted each individual to be seen as per right. No longer was a man safe from another and neither woman to another, even the children of Venus were denied the opportunity to be children, their innocence snuffed out by the chaos that had descended upon their world. This was the beginning to her end, a goddess of love to the sire of hunters.
The consequences were disastrous, Venus, the once a thriving and hospitable planet, had devolved into a harsh and inhospitable environment. Her anger seemed to stir her ethereal essence and so her wrath saw to it the temperatures hotter than that of Mercury, a world that seemed to crave contact with the sun itself.
Despite her proximity to the sun, Aphrodite devolved into a desolate wasteland of extreme heat, which brought upon it a new kind of hell for it's inhabitants. Her rain is like that of acid, her air is like that of sulphur, and her ground is a barren waste land, all because of her love. She could no longer go on with such an existence, and with it, we saw her anger.
Nyx's voice carried the weight of millennia of sorrow and regret as she told this story. It was a story of loss, of a world that was once a jewel in the cosmos but had succumbed to the destructive forces that could unravel even the most beautiful tapestry of existence. Kyn was captivated by Nyx's words and the tragic history she revealed, and he wondered what lessons could be drawn from such a story of cosmic upheaval.
Turning to look at Kyn as the sun broke the morning, her eyes turned to a golden ting, and she asked, "What are you, Kyn?" and with that, she faded from existence.