Their fingers-limited to five digits-dig through fur and rub the scar-chafed skin just so. “Now I have the strength I need, and I have you,” the Thousand-Star-Eyed Wolf says, laying a hand on his nape. He has no purpose and he is still tired and lonely. “The universe was never meant to bow to gods.”īut why now? First Wolf asks. Their head is smooth and their eyes are void.įirst Wolf sits beside his liege, head tilted. To a non-wolf eye, the starborn would look unbearably human: willowy, restless, with skin too frail to withstand solar heat. In this state-this stillness-their humanoid form is far more alien to him than then when they bared their teeth and shone with brilliance. “I want to unmake the Sun Lords,” says the Thousand-Star-Eyed Wolf. Their body is silhouetted against the eerie glow of the minor star the planet orbits. The starborn stands on the bridge of their ship, watching Io Destiny on the viewscreen. First Wolf bows with his forelegs when he sees his liege, his lower jaw brushing the floor.
He stalks through the ship to the bridge. It is like home, this ship: ancient trees, wild meadows, biting rivers filled with ice. It hosts ten million souls and is a forest of metal and light: great curves of alloy and webbed neural interfaces, screens patterning the walls like moss. It glides through void, so very cold, on course for Io Destiny. He leaps through atmosphere and void and prowls into the ship, holding back a yawn. He opens his eyes under the starlight of his home.įirst Wolf obeys sleepily. The pain in his belly has begun to subside at long last. It is like this: His liege calls him from his restless slumber on Tau Usher. It must never fall, lest the Seven Suns abandon notions of peace and once more bite at each other’s necks, plunging the universe into perpetual war.įirst Wolf discovers unbearable want the dawn before he eats the world. While the gods chafe and feud with each other, hovering on the cusp of war, this planet is sacrosanct.
Temples caress the lower atmosphere and ships dance in celestial orbit the Seven Suns are honored in effigy in great statues and holograms that mortals adore. All the gods are worshiped equally here in peace. Io Destiny is a rich planet, home to three billion lives, built as a faceted gem to honor the Seven Suns. The ninth had no form and no name, and must be forgotten.
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