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Vega couldn’t just sit and watch as the Star Jewel was used like this. It wasn’t entirely against its purpose, to be used to grant these kinds of wishes. It had the power. The only wishes it couldn’t grant were those that went against the laws of nature, against the laws of magic.
But that is what made the Star Jewel, which used to be a beacon of hope, a tool for disaster. Wishes for blessings or good luck were almost nonexistent, buried under the wishes for war, for power, for divine intervention on the battlefield. Vega knew he was being selfish, picking and choosing what was granted when it all became too much. He knew he was going against the whole purpose of the Star Jewel being able to grant any wish, but Vega wanted to hope humanity was better than this. He wanted to save them before they completely and utterly destroyed themselves.
Everyone had one wish. Vega was not excluded from this, even as the celestial guardian. When war finally broke out on Mistero, he knew it was his time.
He wished for the Star Jewel to be sealed away, for it to be unable to grant anymore wishes, in hope that humanity would better itself. Vega knew that his wish would not last forever, but all he could do was pray that humanity would change when the seal would ultimately break.
The Star Jewel heard his plea, and in a bright, spectacular display, split itself into 6 pieces. The ground shook, the sky was lit with every color as the planet split along with the jewel. For a moment, as buildings crumbled in the distance and as Vega heard the screams of the spirits and of the people, he wondered if he had made the right choice. Would this wish really keep humanity safe? Or would it just lead it even faster into inevitable doom?
Vega’s 6 apostoles each took one shard, and 5 fled to the newly created planets. One remained, Capella, ever loyal by Vega’s side.
Oh Capella, how Vega longed to stay by your side as well.
But the effects of Vega’s wish were immediate, and so were the tolls. His wish was only able to be granted due to his celestial lineage, using his life and power as the seal to keep the cosmic energy of the jewel at bay. As soon as the shards left the now planet Mistero, Vega felt his energy leave with them.
Capella was there to catch him as he fell to the ground. With a belated realization that no one would be able to watch over the shards in his place, Vega used the last of his energy to create an observer. They would watch over the planets in his place, making sure the shards were safe and were not used for harm. This observer knew their purpose immediately upon creation, and set out after those with the shards.
As he watched the observer leave, Vega was again overcome by a sense of dread and fear over what he had just caused. Single handedly, he had shattered not only the Star Jewel, but the entire planet along with it. He caused the greatest calamity humanity had yet to see, all to prevent anyone from doing it themself. Was he really fit to have been making these judgements the whole time? Did he deserve the power he had been granted?
Fatigue was quickly catching up with him as he lay there in Capella’s arms. Capella held Vega tight, sensing the awful thoughts that were suddenly swarming him.
“Capella?” Vega called out, voice noticeably weak.
“Yes, Vega?” Capella responded, trying to hide how his voice shook.
“Everything that I’ve done… was it all just a mistake…?” Vega asked, weakly gripping onto the front of Capellas robes as he fought against the exhaustion settling into his entire being.
Capella shook his head, pulling Vega close and hating the way he started to feel like he was far away. “No, no, you’ve always done what you believed was right, Vega. None of that could have been a mistake.”
Vega just nodded, a strained effort for such a simple task. He could feel the calls of slumber tugging at his vision, but there was so much he needed to say, so much that he needed to be sure of. He didn’t want to sleep with all these doubts, he didn’t want to leave Capella all alone in a world that he had broken apart.
“I just wanted everyone to be happy.”
As the last words tumble out of Vegas mouth, his grip on Capella’s robe loosens, and his hand falls with him into the darkness of sleep.
Everything is suddenly, inexplicably still.
Capella’s wails break the stillness. He cries out for Vega to wake up, to return to him, that he did everything right and it is the world that was wrong. He cries, and he cries, until the light outside is gone and it is just the two of them alone in the temple that used to be a sanctuary for anyone that needed just a little bit of hope.
When the light returns again and Capella knows for certain that Vega won’t be waking anytime soon, he lays the sleeping guardian delicately on the altar, making sure that the pillows and blankets were arranged neatly and precisely to offer him the best comfort. Capella made sure he could stay nearby, hoping that Vega would awaken and return to him soon.
Days turned to months, months into years, and years into a millenia, and Vega never once stirred.
Capella had stayed by his side the whole time, bringing flowers and food and books and trinkets he hoped Vega would enjoy if he happened to wake up that day in particular. The flowers eventually wilted, the food eventually rotted, and the books and trinkets were eventually returned to the library and the collection. Time marched on, with only Vega’s sleeping form unchanged.
Everyday Capella would pray, would wish that today would be the day Vega woke up. But with no Star Jewel and no one to grant the wishes, Capella had little hope that anything would happen. But even if Vega would never open his eyes again, Capella had promised him to stay.
He promised, as he lay Vega down on the altar, that one day the two of them would smile together again.
So he would wait for that day to come.