Verse 3: The War against Darkness

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https://www.deviantart.com/ifritnox/art/3-1-The-Weapons-of-Night-965493038

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Hidden and secret, evil could prosper for a while.

After Mimas' death the lands of light-reach were in turmoil. The sad faith of the fox had scared the titans and their creations. Much talk was about how it could've been prevented or Mimas could've been saved.

Vulpecula was working hard to secure the Cepheus-sea further. Many helpes, other's gatheres new ideas and many also thought about how to help Erakis overcome his sadness. Only the five scouts were working as before, following Lupus' command.

But in this chaos, nobody noticed that Erakis was long gone. And behind the Alkes-Wood, in the wilds of the mountains, Corvus didn't notive the darkness.

Oh, we can only guess how much pain we could've been spared, had the raven been more vigilant. I only know, had his eyes been more clear, there wouldn't be a new verse here. Maybe Andromeda would still exist in it's old glory, maybe death would still be only a change of pace and Mimas and Erakis had stayed sad exeptions.

But that's not how the story goes, and the past can't be changed, only lamented.

Anyway, the part of eclipse that had entered, met her servants here: The snake Serpens and the water snakes, which were Hydra and Hydrus. All three were infected with darkness, which Serpens brought to her cousins.

With their help, the darkness took form. Bit by bit, the snakes build her a body.

The start was the horn of darkness, a sabre tooth. For this, the snakes fell the oldes Poplar tree of Andromeda, which was called Carina, and clouded it in darkness. This was Shadowblade.

Next, they made wings for the darkness. For this, they stole the cloud Vela from the sky and made it into giant bat wings. This was Stormbreath.

Then they took the pure earth of Andromeda from the river mouth Puppis, and build a giant stomach, so that the eclipse could devour all her enemies. This was Stargrave.

Now, the darkness begann collecting more weapons. Three mighty claws she forged, which were names Sculptor, Antlia and Octans. Each of them could kill a bear. They caught a Chameleon, and this poor creature was turned into the many-colored, all-seeing eye of darkness. Finally, all three snakes worked together to make a tooth so poisonous that merely looking at it could cause sickness. This was the feared Pyxis.

As this was done, the darkness had turned into a fearsome monster. Now the snakes started to gather new servants.

The first of those were Regulus, sone of Lynx, the lizard Lacerta and the crab Cancer, who had already helped with the twin foxes' trick. Likewise, the poison had worked inside them, but instead of killing them it led them straigth into the arms of darkness.

With these loyal subjects, a titan child even, the eclipse wanted to create a new, more dangerous dragon. Regulus should give it his roar again, Lacerta the scales, Cancer the armor.

Now she called for Apus, the bird of paradies, who should give the creation wings. However, the bird refused the call of darkness and fled to the other side of light-reach. The snakes chased him, but couldn't find him. But Apus also warned nobody, and finally, the snakes returned to the eclipse.

Instead, the returning snaked met another winged creature: The fly Musca. Since she also had wings, they invited her - and the fly agreed to join the darkness.

Now everythign was ready to create a dracon. Satisfied, the darkness began her work. She called him Draco. But since the dragon was supposed to be dangerous, she soon realized she would need more time to finish it. Thus, the darkness wanted to hide from the Titan's gaze. She was greedy, but also patient like a crocodile in the river.

Now maybe you ask what could move a creature of light-reach to pact with the eclipse. And there is an answer, for the darkness promised her servants three things.

The first was Naos. This was protection from darkness. For who met her and was weak of heart, that soon believed she was undefeatable and got scared. Many joined her out of fear, since they didn't believe the light could win. Those had lost their faith in Lupus.

Secondly, the darkness baited them with Hadir, revenge on their enemies. Her goal to destroy Andromeda also meant her servants could take their revenge on those they believe had treated them wrongly. These had lost their faith in the judgement of Corvus, Ursa Minor, and Lynx.

And finally, the darkness promised them Azmidiske. This was her biggest lie, for she told her servants there would be an even better world, where nobody had to die like Mimas and there would never be a danger behind the mountains. Her twisted, perfect version of Andromeda. Azmidiske would be the land of peace; but none realized it would be the peace of death. Nobody would have to fear darkness, for darkness would be everywhere. Nobody could die, because none would live. Many followed the lies of the eclipse, and those had lost their faith in light-reach itself.

One particularily powerful being joinges the darkness without enticement. This was Auriga, the trap-layer. He was followed by Indus, who wanted to take revenge; since he still felt mistreated by Lupus, after being punished for the creation of dogs.

Auriga, however, wanted to help the darkness, although he saw through her lies. As a gift, he even presented her with a giant net, made from vines, which, as he swore, could even catch a Titan. This mighty net, called Reticulum, was the final weapon the darkness got, and most certainly the darkest gift ever made.

Thus ready, surrounded by her Loyals and with these weapons, the darkness was almost ready for open war. Only Draco was missing. The monster was still sleeping in a big egg, growing and growing and growing, without a sign of hatching.

And still Corvus was blind.