The night came without notice, covering us in its imposing coldness, waking shivers down my spine. I become stiff, and I feel my tolerance suddenly being wiped away from my body. I cross my arms, trying to comfort myself by rubbing my hands around me, hoping to catch a glimpse of warmth.
The waves seem to hit the bottom of the ship harder and harder, violently moving the ground beneath my feet. I choose to cling to the railing, feeling the icy steel against my palms. I hold onto it, every second feeling decisive, slowly making room for the cold to reach the marrow of my bones.
The sky looks like the only one capable of maintaining its composure. Even though it’s difficult to catch a glimpse of the stars, the ones that I do notice seem to keep the sky pinned in place, to keep it steady, unmoved by the berserk waves.
“Good evening, miss!” says a hoarse voice so close to me that it makes me startle.
I turn my gaze and see a face so calm that it might compete with the sky’s peace. The soft wrinkles around his eyes look like proof of earned wisdom. The short, silver beard also proves how much he must’ve worked for it through the years.
“Evening,” I say briefly, avoiding saying what’s my actual opinion on this, least good, night.
He leans against the railing next to me, smiling so profoundly that it makes me frown, these conditions are terrible; why would you enjoy this ? Even bent over the rail, this man is taller than me, with a strong build that makes him unphased by these horrific quakes of the sea.
“It’s such a beautiful night today, is it not?” he asks without taking his gaze from the sky, not even for a mere moment.
“It is a memorable night,” I spell hesitantly. “But I wouldn’t call it beautiful,” I admit bluntly, grabbing the icy rail harder, as I almost lose my balance.
I can’t even feel my hands anymore, just the intense tension of my grip through my arms.
“That’s what they would call it anyway,” he says, raising his shoulders. “Memorable indeed,” the old man adds, nodding with full approval.
“They…?” I ask, already entirely puzzled.
Did this man catch sea frenzy? What is he talking about?
“The first sailors, the ones that lived way long before our time,” he says slowly, with a melodious voice. “Would you like to hear their legend, miss?” he asks with a captivating gaze.
I only nod, not wanting to interrupt his narrative thread with my irritated mood.
‘Long ago, there were two gods, Aes and Yks. As their names foreshow, they were rulers over the sky and the sea. Unlike the god Aes, who had not yet found his calling then, the goddess Yks had always had an unavoidable duty. Right after Yks’s parents chose to create her, the god Time grew more concerned with every second the two spent together, since they would neglect their duties when united. Therefore, her parents became estranged with one another, separated by the god Time. That was what gave Yks the sentence that would last a lifetime.
She was to sustain the world’s balance, you see? Yks was a full reflection of her parents, Day and Night. After Time broke them apart, he gifted their daughter a huge scale, along with a few items. She had to add them on the scale, one after another, trying to maintain its balance, making sure that her parents would never meet again, preventing a catastrophe. Therefore, Yks had to keep an eye on them for eternity.
When her father, Day, was around, she had to put the sun on her scale in order to keep him in place. He couldn’t leave his duties, since he wasn’t able to see past the sun’s blinding light to walk away. The same applied to her mother, Night. When she came to her, Yks would have to place the moon on the scale to put her mother away from her father’s sight.
But that wasn’t enough.
Night was vicious, wanting revenge more than anything. She was powered by her anger, outraged that Day let Time tear them apart. She created a darkness so dense that she sometimes managed to veil the entire moon from sight. That’s when the work of Yks got even harder, and she had to prove herself stronger.
She had to start competing with her mother, not only hide her away. That’s when Yks took fragments of her power, creating stars. After she created the flickering lights, she had to place them one by one on the balance, trying to overcome Night’s overwhelming darkness, keeping her away from Day.
When Night is as strong as she is this evening, we can still see Yks’s attempts to keep her mother hidden away through the wiped-out stars that are trying to outshine Night’s power. But that is only the beginning of their story.’
“Would you like to hear the rest?” the old man asked with a peaceful tone, keeping his glistering eyes on the pale light of the stars above us.
I nod my head frenetically, entirely caught in the web of his story.
“Very well. As I was saying,” he continues with a low cough, transiting into his storyteller self.
‘Yks fulfilled her duties gracefully for centuries. She thought Time made her fully understand her purpose, to keep Day and Night apart, because as long as she avoided their collision, the world would not cease to exist.
Over the years, another god watched Yks from afar, analyzing her every move, that was Aes. He never had a particular purpose, but after all these years he was almost certain that he had found one.
He decided to spread the sea as far as it was needed for him to get closer to Yks. He used his powers for the first time to serve a purpose, to reach his goal, to reach her.
Aes didn’t know what he was doing or why, but he knew it was necessary. He was ruler over the waters and waves, but none seemed to be enough to extinguish the fire that was blazing hot inside him.
He was in love.
And when deities and love coexist, the innocents take the blow of their pain.
Soon after the sea reached the sky, Aes gathered all the courage from the wildest depths of his realm to meet his beloved, Yks. She was quite intrigued by the charming god and his mighty act of love. His feelings flustered her, and she couldn’t deny her affection she was now developing for him. She tried to tell herself that was not part of her duty, but with every conversation they had, she couldn’t help but see how Aes was now her new purpose as well.
However, Yks knew what the price of love was, of her abandoning her post, and she wasn’t willing to make the world pay on her behalf. She explained the importance of her role and why she couldn’t let herself be led astray by her new lover, trying to avoid the eternal punishment of her parents. Yks told Aes how she needed to keep balancing the scale while also enjoying his company, if possible. That was the only thing she could do, even though it shattered her to pieces to do so. Her duty to the world had to come first.
Aes was blinded by rage, unwilling to understand why she would choose the world over him. His heart broke into million pieces that sank beneath the waves, protected by shells placed in the darkest corners of the whirling sea.
Yks went on with her original purpose, although it now felt like an eternal punishment that kept her away from her true love. Every day she placed the sun, the moon and a few stars on her scale. From time to time, she would let her tears roll down from the sky, hoping they would reach her handsome god as a confirmation of her ongoing pain and misery for their lost love.
Every time Yks placed the brightest star to combat her mother’s darkness, sailors said it was a good omen that guided them away from the sea. Hearing this, Aes felt jealousy boiling in his veins. He would make the waves reach the sky, sending deadly storms toward the sailors that dared to look after his beloved goddess.
At first, many died of Aes’s wrath, drowned by the agitated waves that matched his temper. However, what once brought Yks so much joy now brought only doom and destruction. The goddess couldn’t let that happened, because deep down she knew that wasn’t what her lover intended, that wasn’t who he really was. So instead, she blew strong winds to help the poor people escape. Once on the shore, the sailors were safe from Aes’s rage, or so she thought.
The sea god grew even more jealous when he saw what happened. Why would his beloved Yks help them, free them, let them leave? They were not worthy of her love; she had already gifted the world enough. She has already sacrificed everything for them, already sacrificed him.
Everything was unbearable to Aes. He couldn’t find his peace unless they paid for everything. He couldn’t settle the waves unless they felt the sacrifice and pain he felt. Therefore, the god used all of his remaining strength to take whatever measures were in his power. Since he ruled over everything that was the sea, he managed to transform the sailors into seagulls. He trapped them in a form in which they were no longer able to talk to his goddess or to roam his lands with their ships.
Even today, the cursed sailors try to guide their comrades away from Aes’s deadly trap, helping them reach the shore. And even today, Yks lights up her brightest star and places it on the sky to show mercy on her lost partner’s behalf.
Even separated, both still perfectly aligned with the other, for eternity. ’
“So tell me now, my dear, isn’t she beautiful?” asks the man with his eyes still glued to the sky, while his peaceful smile slowly fades into a torn one.
I take a quick look at the stormy night, comprehending the meaning behind the heavy rain that got through my soaked clothes, without me realizing. I turn toward the sailor, opening my mouth to speak my mind about this night’s beauty, but the words get stuck in my throat.
The deck is empty; I can only hear the sound of her tears hitting the ground and feel the cold shiver of their forgotten love.