As I watch the moon slowly rise through the sky, I see it pierce the dually colored horizon and conquer it as one true color. This moon is like I am and, to be honest, I don't know if this is a blessing or a curse. Everything in the galaxy far beyond our reach is like I am, or so it seems. I know that stars collapse within themselves and either form newer stars or just die completely. I am like the former of the two options. All my life, I have loathed this...this curse of mine. Others call it a blessing, but they don't understand it.
Boldly stated, I am an immortal, a being that never dies. I am over a thousand years old and have seen my friends and family, with the exception of another close to heart, have all been long dead and left us both alone to continue our lives. They were the ones that have told us that our immortality was a blessing, but we consider it to be a curse. A curse, not only because we can't experience true pain and suffering, but because those that get close to us end up leaving us within years to come.
Myself, you ask? I have given up on certain emotions, such as love and eternal happiness. Love because the other will leave me eventually and eternal happiness because of this long-lasting curse of ours.
As for her, she has undergone certain changes. She was always known as the emotional one while we were growing up together. She was the one to let emotions get the better of her, which eventually led to her momentary collapse. That was harsh, even for me. At that point, I never had the experience of living on my own. That was very tough for me.
I had to find a new hobby in order to pass my time by without a loving sister to share it with. I focused on the school nearby and paid more attention to those that attended it. I've seen students come and students go, either by graduation, abandonment, or flunking out. This school is a prestigious school, so failing is not an option.
Eventually, I met a student whom I saw so much potential in. I thought that they would succeed and make the world a better place, but I couldn't have been any more wrong. Just when I thought she would turn and focus more on her studies, she abandoned them and traveled elsewhere to pursue a dream that could not be seen through her uncertainty and cold heart.
As time went by, I began thinking about my long lost sister. At this point, it has been almost a thousand years since I've last seen her and it only now starts to take its toll on me. The moon every night reminds me of her and I always catch myself saying that she will return one day. That day is hopefully soon.
Eventually, there came this one student that enrolled at the school at such a young age. When I got the chance to see this student, just one glimpse at her reminded me of my sister and I when we were that age: playful, energetic, kind, dedicated, and bright. I decided to personally teach her and make sure that she goes down the right path in this new life she began to embark upon.
As she grew older, she began studying more, which prompted her to refrain from social interaction. When I concluded that my long lost sister was returning to our land, it was my job to set up a preparation ceremony for not only that, but for the summer solstice and the celebration for the longest day of the year. This celebration has been dubbed as the "Summer Sun Celebration" and is one of two celebrations this land shares hosting privileges, the other one being the "Winter Moon Celebration," which happens on the winter solstice; the longest night of the year.
It normally is my job to make sure that the preparations are all fine and going according to plan, but for this particular one, I sent my best student to handle them and, hopefully, handle social life fine for the first time. She left via chariot, to which I arranged, and made her way to survey the preparations and make sure that everything was all according to plan and running smoothly.
When it was time for the celebration, I was greeted by my sister just as I was supposed to reveal myself to the land and bring in the summer solstice, but something seemed...off about her.
Her emotions, once again, took her over and she used her power to send me away and lock me up in the cells beneath our home. Those cells were almost never visited and I didn't know my way out. It was a literal maze inside this area and everywhere I went seemed to lead to another dead end. How ironic; an immortal coming to terms with a path that leads to a wall. Eventually, I made it out of the cells and went to deal with my sister, but when I finally got to where she was, it was all over.
I looked to my right and saw that my greatest student and a few others had on certain charms that I once wore: The Elements of Harmony. I knew that I made a great decision when I opted to teach her personally. I looked to my left and saw my sister before her emotions overtook her life. She was weak and needed rest, but we hugged for the first time in a long time. I cried, as did she and we celebrated her return as well as the summer solstice.
A few years later, it would come to my attention that my niece and her special one would become engaged and would marry very shortly. I decided to hold the marriage ceremony in our home, the most prestigious honor for anyone, really. This was the most amusing part: the soon-to-be husband to my niece was none other than my star student's older brother. Call it a coincidence if you must, but when I heard the news, I was thrilled not only to have a nephew-in-law, but also a niece-in-law in my star student.
When the wedding preparations went under way however, I saw my star student begin to develop these strange emotions. It was almost as if she didn't approve of the wedding between my niece and her brother. I was horrified by her actions and accusing my niece of being a diabolical villain and trying to halt the wedding ceremony.
But the killer of it all was that she was right. On the day of the wedding, she arrived in the hall with an exact replica of my niece, but this one seemed to be beaten up somewhat. I was shocked to find out that this doppelgänger was my actual niece and the one standing in front of me was the fake; she was the queen of evil beings that need love in order to thrive. She was strong, stronger than me and even stronger than my star student and her friends - granted she outnumbered all of us, but still.
It wasn't until she had her back turned and my niece - my actual one - combined her love with her soon-to-be husband and overwhelmed the queen, sending her far, far away, which was extremely ironic if you ask me. One that thrives on love was defeated...by love.
After the wedding ceremony, I sent my niece and her new husband to overlook the new empire that revealed itself once more. It was weird for me because I remember when it disappeared. I felt so much disarray when I witnessed all the citizens of the empire lose their lives after being cursed for a thousand years...but I should say I feel so much disarray about myself. They were lost for a thousand years; I am living for longer. Their curse does not come close to my sister's curse and my own.
When I sent my star pupil and niece-in-law over to help my niece and her husband, I sent her with her friends and expected nothing short of achievement. They were able to deliver achievement, courtesy of my pupil's assistant and my niece safely guiding the empire's precious artifact to where it needed to be.
My best student was able to do a lot of great things in her short life, and still is doing great things. She was able to help reform a formidable opponent, proved her well being, helped save an entire land, and prevailed through doubt. I knew when I gave her that special book that I was making a wise choice. I knew she could finish it. After all, he couldn't finish it...I should know it. He never really showed it to another besides me all those years ago.
Not even a day later was she able to complete it and, upon the completion, I took her to a private area that only we inhabited and congratulated her on her accomplishments. She was befuddled, probably because she didn't understand just yet what she had done. I explained to her what she did and smiled at her, letting her know that she has achieved greatness and is now ready for the next step in her studies. I gave her a little gift for achievement - a set of wings - and met her alongside her friends, letting her know what she did and what's to come as a ruler; a princess.
I set up a coronation ceremony to celebrate her and reveal her to the citizens of this land and crowned her there. It was an uplifting ceremony and made me very proud of what I once had with her as my student. It was a fun ride, but her life as a student had come to an end and her life as a leader and princess had begun.
She left for her home and continued doing what she did and helping out others. As for myself, I returned to a sense of normalcy with my sister for the first time in a very, very long time. Everything was fine and nothing sparked an arguement. Even as the national games approached us, everything seemed to be going like clockwork, even though there was a small blemish towards the end of the games, but nothing more.
I honestly look at this time period of the last few years as the best years of my life. Being reunited with my long lost sister, finding and being proud of a student so successful in life, watching my niece marry the love of her life...these are all events that have made me happy like the light coming from the sun. However, all good things must come to an end.
When I felt the presence of a terrible evil return to my land, I opted to keep my star student safe and I sent another one to help out, but it turned out that he would betray us all and join forces with the evil, helping him drain the land of prescious items - magic.
Afterwards, the evil took our thrones away from us, locking us all up in Tartarus. The time spent there was awful and it smelled horribly. Cerberus was too busy guarding a cell that was empty and my sister and niece looked as if they would collapse from exhaustion at any point. I didn't blame them because I felt like doing the same.
We spent quite some time being locked up before the chains magically disappeared. I was shocked, but when the magic I originally gave up to my star student came back to me - and my sister's and niece's magic did the same - I knew that she accomplished her dreadful and life-changing task and returned harmony to the land. After those events had come to a close, the land the Elements of Harmony had now occupied rewarded her with a castle of her own.
Nowadays, I sit here in this castle with my sister and just perform my royal duties of the day. It slowly passes the day, but I know that I have done well in accomplishing what it was that I originally wanted. However, I cannot get it passed me that my immortality will keep me from dying happily. I am now over three thousand years old and hate that I cannot die. Granted, if I weren't an immortal, I never would have taught my star student. Those few years of teaching her were possibly the best years I've ever had.
But it's all over now...
I now watch my little sister as she tries her best to be like me. She too has a star student, who ironically has almost the exact same name as her. She sent him to learn from my star student and learn the ways of friendship. She always tells me of his accomplishments - years and years of great achievements. It pleases me as it reminds me of all the accomplishments my star student achieved while she was under my tutelage.
When it came time to see her student, I found that he had successfully achieved the same thing my star student has. He has earned his wings as well and achieved the title of prince after years and years of studying. I am happy that my sister has this sort of happiness in her life now. It brings joy to me to know that she is happy with what she is doing.
As time flew past us both, both my sister and I saw plenty of citizens come and go, completeing their cycles of life. But here we were, living...and not dying. Years more go by and it's now time for suffering.
My sister's star student, the newest prince of the land, has become corrupted and is now suffering the same fate my sister once suffered. He had to be banished like my sister because of his emotions taking him over. A few more years, nearly twenty years later, my nephew-in-law had suffered a terrible heart attack and died. My niece and star student were both heartbroken and we suffered yet another scare as my star student nearly caved in to her emotions, but she was able to shut down any and all negative feedback over time.
About thirty more years later, the original Element of Harmony holders and her dearest of friends had started dying one-by-one. These deaths should have sent her into a collapsing spire and a falling star, but those did not happen, even after the last one - honesty - passed away.
I felt bad for her because she knew she would never see them again. Plus, I began wondering if my greatest gift to her would also be her greatest curse. I made her what she is and crafted her as best as I could, but as fate tells it, I crafted a mini me into her, making her immortal as well and doing things that I once did.
This is a curse, being immortal. There is no blessing in this at all. We see our loved ones go on and complete their lives all the time. It's especially hard on my star student because as the princess of friendship, she must connect to the citizens in a way that the rest of us does not. My niece may be the princess of love, but that is something slightly less than that of friendship because without friendship, there can be no love.
It is tough living in an eternal state; being the same exact age for four, five thousand years is not something to be proud of. My greatest friends all died thousands of suns ago and my family - our family - immediately followed. There isn't a day that goes by that I never think of them...the two that my sister and I once called mom and dad. Queen and King of this land...that is why neither my sister nor I will ever become a queen - out of respect for our parents.
I miss them very much. It's been thousands of years since they walked along the same land we walk along today. My sister feels the same way, I can tell. I remember her saying that Daddy was her favorite.
Daddy was the King of the Night, a title that no one else takes away. Mommy - my favorite - was the Queen of the Day, a title I rightfully did not take out of respect. They were the ones that taught us how to bring in each and every day and each and every night. They were very passionate in what they once did. I try my best to follow their roles and advice, as does my sister, but we will never replicate the greatest rulers this land once had.
Mommy and Daddy...haven't said those two words in a long time. It feels empty saying them now; we haven't seen them since we were about five or six years of age. That was the last time either of us saw our parents. It's been so long. It breaks my heart just thinking about them and knowing that my star student experienced those same events herself breaks my heart even further.
Every citizen claims that I am the toughest and strongest ruler they've ever experienced, but I would like to beg to differ. My sister claims that I am the strongest one in the land and that nothing can stand up to me, but I don't think that at all. In my eyes, I am a weak ruler because I repeat my same mistakes. I broke the hearts of my remaining family members because they saw their friends and families die off. A noble leader would not have let that happen. A noble leader would have saved either all or none of them.
I am not a great leader. I am not a strong leader. I am a weak leader.
I am Celestia and immortality is the world's greatest curse.
Author's Note
This was one of my older stories, written during 2015. It featured my OC, Lunar Nights, towards the end, whose own series is not posted here (yet). I was still working on perfecting my storytelling during this story, so I understand if it was hard to follow at some points. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed a walk down memory lane in the earlier portions of the story.
-Dan
