#volneas

She reached up, pressing her hand up against the cool glass as she looked out and up at the sky. It was a hazy, ruddy color like an orange that was slowly having the color squeezed out of it. Rarely did it ever change, it was always this way, stuck in a perpetual sunset, but it made sense to the denizens of the world. Even the little girl staring up at the sky forlornly, knew why the sky stayed the same, then again she loved learning about this kind of thing, just as she loved the cosmos far beyond.

Aether was a stagnant planet, no longer rotating about on its axis, leaving it in a still stasis. Because of this, most of the planet was inhospitable, leaving it barren in the darkest and brightest of places. Despite all of this, life managed to endure and held on as the populace built cities along the dusky band where day and night met in a permanent twilight and when they ran out of land to build on, they built upwards, laying new on top of old and creating levels and levels of cities to the extent that the lower levels no longer saw natural light. Stars and nebulae were real, everyone knew that but they felt like myths to those had never left the planet's stratosphere.

As time passed technology grew and the planet saw many changes not only on the surface but through society as well. Starships big and small traveled to the planet, which had become a prime port and center of trade in the Volneas system. Farmers were just as revered and placed in a position that matched that of the noblemen of ancient times past. Of course there were politicians and celebrities, athletes and the occasional artisan, but most people were average, just trying to make it by while they literally lived under the elite class. The richer and more influential you were, the higher up on the levels you lived. So a poor, abandoned orphan lived pretty far down, with barely a view of the twilight sky above to take in, but this little girl was grateful for that much and it was a beacon of hope for her.

But she had seen them, passing through the cosmos on a giant ship, her hand pressing against cold glass in a similar fashion that she was at that very moment. It hadn't been so long ago that she had seen them and they stayed burned in her memory, remaining a goal so far away. After being abandoned on this planet by her parents all she wanted to do was return to space and see the stars, to have a ship of her own, a proud captain, and to adventure and see all that she could see.

For now though, she was trapped here on Aether, the planet that no longer rotated. This was her home now and while the abandonment after being in the stars for the first six years of her life stung, she used it as motivation to get to work. There would be no better starship captain than Cassiopeia Polaris.

-----

Somewhere far away on a cold, dead star, drifted a being who was just now waking up. He had been awake, but not truly as he had been living in a dream like miasma filled with blood and terror. Blinking slowly he took stock of his surroundings and tried to piece together everything that had occured, but mostly he tried to figure out just what was causing this part of him to stir. It has been so long since this part of him had been present, gentle and mostly kind, but there was still the ever gnawing sensation of satisfaction of the century of bloodshed he had just committed.

Pushing that down he stood and stretched himself out. There were four limbs, no, technically six if one counted the dark, void colored wings that protruded from his back, along with the two typical legs and arms. There were pointed ears which were long and expressive. A basic, round nose, golden irises on top of dark black sclera, soft fluffy brown hair over which a small top hat hovered, along with the sharp teeth he was so familiar with finished off the appearance of his head and face. He had long dark claws that could rend flesh apart if he so desired to and a pristine suit that came from a time long past, so odd and archaic that it stood out, but he usually felt wrong without it, so the suit stayed.

It was odd that he was on a dead star, a piece of space rock that floated through space and that he was alive with no suit or breathing apparatus, but then in all reality, it wasn't that odd for him. He wasn't a physical being, no he was made of the same cosmic energy that thrummed all around him, a being far greater than any other living, physical thing, so there was no need for genuine breath or the other paltry things that true living beings needed.

The demon went to close his eyes as he desired to drift back to sleep, it didn’t matter that he was still standing, but then came a pulse, a sensation of someone, no someones, calling out to him. It was elaborate and large and so so far away. But, there was warmth and longing to the call. Then omniscence filled him in letting him know that somehow it was the Circle of the Dreamer’s Star calling to him, that they had endured the exile into space and through centuries of trials and tribulations, they were there, calling to him. Along with the call was a whisper of Mizar, that near wherever the Circle lingered was also Mizar and she was so young and so new and it was her.

Feeling the pulse again, he brushed off the suit and kicked off the dead star, spreading wings as he tugged on an ancient and sacred bond, a hesitant smile tugging at his lips. Mizar. It resounded within him, warm and loving, before it suddenly turned to bitterness, flame and fear. How did this come to pass when the bond used to be so pure and wholesome and loving. Why was it tainted beyond belief to the point where dread began to form in the bottom of a gut he had no true need for, and then he recalled why.

The last one had not been kind, the soul had not been in a good person, tainted, made worse by his hand and influence. She had been swaddled in blood and flame, ajar in a creation of metal and oil, her heart a darker pitch than the deepest night. Her actions not only scarred the cosmos, but him as well. What if that happened again?

And so Alcor the Dreambender, Lord of Nightmares and bearer of so many other titles floated in space, feeling profoundly and absolutely worried about the re-emergence of his Mizar.

There was yet another pulse, this time stronger as the Circle continued the ritual summoning. A large part of him wanted to continue to ignore the summonings, but then there was another, more human part of him that craved interaction and ached. It had been neglected in favor of solitude and fury and now that he was awake it desired to follow the summoning.

How far had he strayed this time? Enough that the bond from his followers whispered that they didn’t expect him to come, no one expected him to come anymore. Maybe it was a good thing that no one truly expected him, but that thought stung in an odd way, mixing with the hurt and betrayal he felt from the last interaction he had with a Mizar.

Golden tears dripped and with another incessant pulse he sighed heavily, allowing himself to be pulled to the summoning and gazing upon the leader there, an odd creature that looked so human and yet slightly not, he launched himself at them, clinging as he finally let the sobs go. He didn’t care about the startled auras or how the leader, her name was Mialach, tensed up before encircling him in a hug.

“My Lord? We are grateful you have arrived, but? Are you okay?” Mialach asked him and he noticed the concern and confusion on her face and something in him stirred. Perhaps he could trust this mortal, something said that he could and so he took in a breath and finally let it go.

Notes:

So continuing with Volneas after I saw StarlightSystem's TAUtober fic talking about the Dread Pirate Mizar. There's another story that I want to write in response to it but this piece needed to go up first so the lead up makes sense.

I wanted to give a nibble of the new Mizar that I am having this series revolve around, which is Cassiopeia Polaris. If you follow me on Tumblr or lurk in the TAU Discord you may have seen or hear my doodles and ramblings involving her. The way that I have it framed at the moment, Cassiopeia is the Mizar that comes after the Dread Pirate Mizar, which is a series and character by ToothPasteCanyon, I highly recommend reading it.

Pulling out of a bad period was like being underwater and finally deciding to swim back up and break the surface of the water to take a large, deep breath. It was bursting a cloudy, dirty bubble and finally being able to see once again. It was like waking up after suddenly passing out, the world coming back into focus and thoughts becoming rational once more. There were many other ways Alcor could have described it but those were the main ones that came to mind.

It had only been a day since he reawoke, finding himself drifting in space all alone, his soul aching in a way he had not been ready to completely confront, yet here he was, sitting in the parlor of a building that belonged to the Circle of the Dreamer’s Star, on a far distant planet that was anything but Earth. In his clawed fingers rested a cup of warm and incredibly sweet tea, it was berry flavored, which was nice as it showed just how funny mortals were. Lightyears away from their homeworld and here they were cultivating seeds and plants from it as if nothing had changed despite the fact that everything had changed.

Across from him was a woman, dressed in casual robes now with ashy blonde hair pulled back, nursing her own cup of tea. Mialach, the current leader of the Circle looked beyond tired, with semi permanent bags under her eyes but somehow she functioned despite the fatigue. Well at the moment it may have had something to do with the fact that her Lord had answered the ritual summoning and launched himself at her, sobbing. The memory made Alcor cringe, his nose wrinkling as he recalled it.

Mialach had given him time to recover and gather himself, after all, the Circle needed to clean up from the ritual they had just performed and that was going to take some time, so she let him rest. The resting time had ended when Mialach had walked in carrying the cups of tea as she then sat down on a floor cushion, gesturing for the demon to follow suit.

“So you say that Mizar is back, correct?” Mialach finally broke the ice, setting her teacup down and placing it on the floor in front of herself. Slate blue eyes gazed towards Alcor, taking him in, and the demon was sure that she could see just how anxious he was. “Yet you seem upset about that, conflicted even. I want you to explain it to me before I give my observations.”

Alcor fiddled with the cup in his hands more before he sighed and took a sip, letting the sweet tea wash over his tongue. Letting it settle he went and set the cup down as well and pressed his hands together, gathering his thoughts which were scattered worse than a flock of chickens trying to eat feed. “Well… It’s like I said, Mizar is indeed back…”

“That should be a good thing, I would take it as such, especially given recent and older history.” Mialach remarked, keeping her gaze steady on the demon.

“It. It’s complicated.” Alcor said and rubbed his head, closing his eyes for a long moment as old, painful memories began to dredge up into his consciousness. “For so long you would have been right, Mizar’s return would have been a good thing, great I’m sure. Mortal bonds help me alot and Mizar’s is the best out there.”

“We know. That is what the Cycle speaks of, how you move through ever changing, going from The Beast back to The Star all from mortal bonds. We track it carefully, but we have noticed a discrepancy, a disturbance in the Cycle.” Mialach said to Alcor, calm and collected, weariness on her face, “Hence why I want your perspective first, so as not to sway the conversation, so please, continue and explain to me how Mizar returning is now complicated.”

“I suppose it begets a question then. What do you know of the Dread Pirate Mizar?” Alcor asked, avoiding Mialach’s narrowing gaze as it began to scrutinize the demon. It made him want to squirm with how steady it was and he was already a nervous wreck. Why he hadn’t felt this way since. Well since the Dread Pirate really. Had it been this bad though?

“Yes, we know of her, she was the last Mizar to have emerged, until now that is. You’re dodging my question though my Lord.” The cult leader said, still steady, eyes still narrowed, “If it will encourage you then I will give you a single piece of chocolate from my personal collection. It is real chocolate. I will give it to you after we finish this conversation as I do not feel like getting up at the moment.”

Now that caught Alcor’s attention and he perked up a bit as he then held out his hand, an indication that he was willing to accept Mialach’s proposal, “I can just take it without you moving from your spot, if you’re okay with me doing that-”

Waving her hand a bit with a small sigh, Mialach then placed her hand within Alcor’s looking when the puff of blue flame appeared, signifying that the deal was made, “Go on take it, but now you have to answer my question my Lord, please stop trying to avoid it. I am tired and frankly I don’t have time for this.”

“Fine, fine. Okay.” Alcor remarked then huffed slightly and with a quick wave of his hand he pulled the piece of chocolate out of what seemed to be thin air but in reality was Mialach’s personal collection of chocolate that she kept in her personal chambers within the Circle building. “Oh wow, didn’t think you would live here too. Guess that’s convenient for you.”

“Yes, I live here, because it is indeed convenient and someone really needs to be here at all times and so why not it be the leader? As much as I just love to rattle on about my living situation, you my Lord are once again dodging my earlier question and unless you want this deal to be broken I do suggest you finally give your honest and full answer.” Mialach told Alcor, looking at him, finally reaching to sip her tea again, her gaze like steel as she watched him devour the chocolate and sigh.

“Forgive me, I. This is just incredibly difficult to talk about and part of me just really wants to forget it. I don’t want to remember what happened because it hurts.” Alcor admitted after a moment, a defeated look on his face, though he did flinch a bit when he noticed Mialach’s steely gaze, “The last Mizar, the Dread Pirate, I. I wasn’t there for her like I should have been. I. I tried so hard to help her, to be there for her, but in the end I hurt her beyond compare and it set her down the wrong path.”

“Well, what did you do to cause her to go down the wrong path? You say that you weren’t for her but by how you speak about this, it seems like you were.”Mialach observed, a brow raised.

Pondering his words for a moment, the demon shook his head, “No, I wasn’t there for her when she really needed it, when she needed true guidance. I don’t know why, but there was an incident where she hurt, no, killed someone and instead of being there for her, holding her accountable as she was expecting and wanting, I brushed it off. I wasn’t in my right mind and I don’t know why. However, because of that she. She was understandably furious and felt like I didn’t care about her as a person, only as a thing, which was as far from the truth as ever.”

“That still does not excuse it, my Lord. As hard as it may be to fight the Beast, sometimes you must in order to protect and help the ones you care about. At that time what she needed was someone to push her in the right direction but because you had succumbed to the Beast you brushed off her worry. It probably made her feel like you only cared about what she symbolized, what her soul was instead of the person she herself was at that moment.” Mialach remarked, her head tilted, “Please, if I am wrong, correct me.”

“No, no, you’re not wrong. Actually, if anything, that is terrifyingly correct?” Alcor remarked with a grimace as repressed memories flashed in his head of a lost girl who was scared and crying, blood on her hands and knife in hand. She had just killed a man and had no idea what to do, how to react, and the one person she genuinely trusted and brushed it off as a mere happenstance when really she craved and wanted structure and a reprimand, to be held accountable. Alcor recalled the horrified and appalled look on her face when he had suggested that they run away, hide from the law and then the horror changed to blinding rage and fury as she then invoked his true name and banished him, blotting him out of her life. “I did her wrong, entirely and wholly wrong. Because I was not there for her, did not make her feel like I cared about her as an individual, vice a soul, it set her down the wrong path and I was powerless to do anything about it.”

“Ah, see now that fills in some of the story, though I am still confused, how is it that the Beast emerged when Mizar was present? It is an anomaly that none of the Circle members have been able to figure out. At one point a previous leader decided that it must have been a clerical mistake, but then we checked other histories and they aligned with the story we had recorded.” Mialach explained, finally letting out what had been perplexing her, “It. It did not sit well with us and I am sure you could tell that we did not think that you would even answer us. The Beast during the time of the most destructive and murderous Mizar felt like an ill omen. But, perhaps that will not be the case now, Mizar is back, this is a chance to start anew.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to get involved with Mizar anymore. It’s just. I messed up so badly last time and I am absolutely terrified of what could happen now.” Alcor admitted, his wings drawing closer to his body.

There came a sharp tsk from the leader as she then went and gave the demon a small smack, “Shush, stop with that kind of talk. One, it’s annoying and two, you’re setting yourself up for failure by thinking that way. This is a brand new Mizar, you haven’t even met them yet, so how are you going to know if it’s going to be good or bad? What would Mizar the Gleeful say? What about Mizar the Brave or Mizar the Cunning? Hmm? You are not giving this Mizar a fair chance.”

“I thought about that last time and look at where we ended up! She caused a crime streak that is known throughout the universe!” Alcor gestured, ears going back as he spoke, “Obviously it was my fault, I caused it! Why would I want to chance it again?”

There was a glare from Mialach and she shook her head, “Again, you are making assumptions my Lord. That was one time, in the past, which cannot be changed now. You have the ability and more than enough power to change the present. What happens now is in your control and you have the lessons from the Dread Pirate so you can avoid making the same mistakes. I understand your trepidation, she betrayed you in a terrible way and left a scar on your psyche, but it is also time to move on and give this new Mizar a chance, just as you took a chance on me, take a chance on her.”

For a long moment Alcor sat there, looking down at his hands, then at the tea on the floor next to him. Picking up the cup once again he went and took a drink, finishing off the sweet beverage before he sighed heavily, feeling quite dejected, “I’m just scared okay? I’m terrified and anxious and I am doubtful.”

“That’s fair, but nothing will get better if you don’t try.” Mialach said gently, her expression softening, “Why don’t you go and take a peek first? See what she is like at this very moment? No doubt she is quite young and maybe she is just fine, but peeking is a good first step.”

Taking once more breath, Alcor nodded, “Fine. I can do that.”

---

On the lower levels of Aether, in the city of Minnestrope, was an orphanage. Most of the children in here had been abandoned, left behind by parents that no longer wanted them or were long dead. It was not a sad place and in fact the caregivers were compassionate and cared for the children greatly. However, at the end of the day, the goal was always the same; to find the children a good and loving home where they would thrive and grow into wonderful members of society. It was very rare that a child would not be adopted out and would instead age out of the system.

At the moment though, there was one child that had seemed to linger in the orphanage. She had little desire to be adopted and made no efforts to stand out to potential adopters as her head was in the clouds or nose in a book scribbling down notes. She spent much of her time in her room, drawing and working on diagrams, always asking for new books about spaceships or to be taken to the docks so she could watch ships come and go. Space fascinated her and she often would regale the younger children with tales of her memories about space.

Of course she had been in space before, having lived there until she was six and dropped at the orphanage like a sack of bricks. Despite how badly that stung, she bucked up and decided that she would find her own way back into the cosmos. Soon enough she loudly declared that she would build herself a spaceship and fly her way to space to travel among the planets and maybe even the universe. Of course the adults quietly entertained the idea but in reality no one really believed that she would succeed. At best she would go on to the Belt and work among the asteroid mines there, though the likelihood of her leaving Aether was slim.

Because she was too young to work on ships, the next best thing became robots, particularly droids. She was just as fascinated with them as she was ships. Thankfully this was something that the caregivers could thoroughly indulge and believe in, especially when the girl showed a knack for building them from the prefabricated kits. Soon enough the kits weren’t enough and she began to build the droids out of her own materials, typically scrap that she would collect on her walks home from school or by hoarding certain garbage from the orphanage.

The first time she had built a droid on her own, there had been inescapable glee, even when it bugged out a minute later and died. It had been all her own work, all of her research and handiwork and it had worked! Immediately she set to work on the next one and this was the continued trend when she wasn’t obsessing over spaceships.

One day she was sitting in her room at the desk she was given, tinkering with a new kind of droid, one that could fly. Unbeknownst to her, there was an unannounced visitor, lurking behind her on a plane that she had no hope of seeing into.

Alcor watched the child as she tinkered and hummed, her tongue sticking out as she worked and followed the blueprints she had made. A flying droid was pretty advanced, but she was a very advanced child and was going to try it anyways. For a long moment Alcor watched, then he peered a little deeper. On the surface everything seemed fine, the child enjoyed creating and dreaming which was standard for Mizars, after all many did take after the first one in some form. She seemed to get along with others, though was more of a lone wolf, which was fair, not every Mizar was going to be an extrovert.

Everything seemed fine, then he saw her dreams. He saw her desires of space, to have a ship, to be out in the cosmos and in a flash he saw Martha, but it wasn’t Martha. He heard her laugh as she burned through the universe. Immediately he recoiled, no, it was happening again! They were too similar, it was blurring the images, blurring the memories with potential fates and it left Alcor feeling more and more dreadful and scared. It was like looking right into a looking glass where Martha and this new Mizar were standing face to face, one reflecting the other.

It was another Mizar following a path of destruction, Alcor deduced. He had been right, Mialach was wrong! But then there was a nagging sensation in his gut. She was young, this girl, this Cassiopeia. Maybe there was hope yet, especially since no one thought she could do it, so maybe as long as he nudged the caretakers and maybe fate in the right direction, maybe he too could save this Mizar from destruction while she remained none the wiser. With that Alcor quickly disappeared, rushing to share his findings and get to work on preventing the fate he saw, leaving the young girl none the wiser that he had been there.

Pausing, Cassiopeia smiled, still not aware of the demon that had been there, but she was happy, dreaming of the stars and adventure. Something told her that she would make it, and nothing would get in her way, even a meddling interloper couldn’t stop her.

Notes:

I'm on a roll, and it's because of ToothPasteCanyon. She's an amazing source of inspiration and I'm loving how she just brings out my creativity.

I'm working very closely with her on parts of this because it does include Martha, her Dread Pirate Mizar, who is wicked awesome as a character and story arc.