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Once upon a time, there was only the Moon alone in the vast darkness, without a single star to keep him company. The Sun, radiant and proud, gave the Moon his light to reflect. And because the Sun wished his groom to wear a veil as a symbol of their union, he scattered fragments of himself across the heavens. Thus, the stars were born.
Among them was one star, just one that shone brightest whenever the Moon waned into a crescent. This star became the Moon’s constant companion.
“Do you have a name?” the star asked.
The Moon shook his head. “Why would any of us need names?”
“The mortals call you many things,” The star replied. “Luna. Diana. Artemis. Chang’e.”
“All those names are for women,” said the Moon.
“Are you offended?”
“No,” the Moon answered thoughtfully. “I’ve never considered having a name, much less a gender. Though they also call me the Man in the Moon.”
“That one suits you,” the star said, watching the Moon’s more talkative, mortal-like form.
“I’ve only recently discovered this form,” the Moon admitted.
“Then let me give you a name,” the star said gently. “Nox.”
The Moon repeated it, tasting the sound. “Nox… What does it mean?”
“Night,” the star whispered.
And so the Moon accepted the name, for night was the time when mortals looked up to see not only him, but also the star he had begun to love more than the Sun itself.
“Tell me more about mortals,” Nox asked.
The star laughed softly. “They love to chase the stars.”
“Chase?” Nox echoed, tasting the word. “That could be your name.”
The star blushed with light. “It is a beautiful name,” he admitted shyly. “I love it when children run after us, even though they know they can never catch us. Still, they chase us anyway. That is what makes mortals so extraordinary. Unlike us immortals, they cherish the pursuit as much as the dream.”
“What do mortals say about the Sun?” Nox asked hesitantly.
Chase paused, considering. “They call him by many names. Mortals fear the day the Sun will die, for they know that without him, their world would be swallowed by darkness. So they sacrifice in his honor. In truth, mortals sacrifice for every god even those who claim to demand nothing.”
Nox frowned. “How can that be?”
Chase met his gaze. “Think of it this way: if I were mortal and devoted myself to you, I would eventually devote my children to you as well. In doing so, I have already sacrificed them. They may live and grow, but to any unbeliever who insists my faith is false and theirs is true, my children become perfect heretics worthy of death in their eyes. That is the cruel paradox of devotion: every offering carries the shadow of sacrifice.”
“I don’t believe you. Mortals cannot be that cruel,” Nox protested.
“I’m afraid some of them are,” Chase replied softly.
“You told me children love you.”
“They do,” Chase whispered, his light dimming. “The children love me, and I hear their wishes, every prayer, every dream. But I also hear their final wishes when they are condemned as heretics in the aftermath of war. It is a brutal burden we stars must carry, for we hear it all… every night.”
“You…” Nox faltered, then lowered his voice. “I’m sorry you had to hear that. The Sun told me you stars were only made to—”
“To be the veil that symbolized your union with him,” Chase finished gently.
Nox hesitated. “I… Can I tell you a secret, Chase?”
“What is it?” the star asked.
“I don’t know if I want to remain with the Sun.”
Chase’s light flickered uneasily. “You should be careful with such words.”
“Why?” Nox pressed.
“It is you, and yet it isn’t,” Chase said slowly. “In myths, when the Moon tries to leave the Sun, it rarely ends well. Mortals tell a story of Artemis and Apollo: Artemis loved the hunter Orion, but Apollo tricked her into striking him down. Even gods are not spared from tragedy when love strays from its destined path.”
“Is there ever a myth where I am happy?” Nox asked softly.
Chase thought for a long moment before answering. “I don’t know. Many cultures tell different stories about you. In some, you fall in love, only to leave your beloved behind when you ascend to become a moon god. In others, you are forever a virgin, untouched and distant. It seems you are always cast as either the one who leaves… or the one who remains alone.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” Nox pleaded with Chase who looked at him.
“What would you want me to tell you?”
That you loved me. Nox thought in his head.
“I know the other immortals are whispering,” Chase murmured.
“What are they whispering?” Nox asked when Chase looked away.
“They say we immortals are being… changed.”
“Changed? How?” Nox pressed.
Chase sighed, his light flickering. “In the old days, mortals only wove myths about us, and that was enough. But as they grow more advanced, they have begun to shape us differently giving us human traits within their stories. Surely you’ve felt it too. Once, I was only a star, distant and untouchable. Now I have eyes that can look upon you, and hands that can reach for you. All of this our voices, our forms it is what mortals have imagined into us.”
“That’s beautiful,” Nox said to Chase. “I mean—you’re beautiful.”
“It would be, if it were the only change,” Chase replied sadly. “But mortals have grown weary of praying to countless gods. Now a new idea spreads among them: what if there is only one God?”
“One God?” Nox repeated, incredulous. “That is foolish. Why worship only one, when most mortals cannot even love only one person?”
“It may sound foolish,” Chase admitted, “but the idea spreads like wildfire.”
“Why would it take hold?” Nox asked.
“Because mortals kill for their beliefs,” Chase whispered. “And others do not wish to die. So they swear allegiance to one God above all, even if their hearts once belonged to many.”
“Tell me about this God,” Nox whispered.
“He is more wrathful than Zeus, I would wager,” Chase replied. “Yet he cloaks his wrath in the guise of love.”
“You aren’t telling me everything.”
He claims to be a God of love,” Chase murmured, “yet insists that men and women are made only for one another.”
“What of the faiths that honor love between the same sex?” Nox asked quietly.
“They are condemned as wrong,” Chase admitted.
Nox sighed. “And still he calls himself a God of love. Do not worry, Chase. I believe mortals are wise enough to see that such a God does not deserve more devotion than those who already reflect their cultures, their landscapes, and the fullness of their hearts.”
“How can you expect mortals to be true to their hearts when you aren’t even true to your own?” Chase asked Nox who went silent.
“I was always meant to belong to the Sun, just as much as the planets are his,” Nox whispered.
“And I belong to you,” Chase replied softly.
“No, Chase it isn’t the same. I love you.”
“I was made for you,” Chase insisted.
“It’s not the same,” Nox said firmly. “We choose one another.”
“The Sun made me for you. You were made for him.”
Nox shook his head. “Do not compare what I have with the Sun to what I have with you. With him, I am bound by power. With you, I am free. I do not hold power over you and that is why I love you. “
“You do have power over me,” Chase confessed to Nox. “Power in the way that, whenever the Sun is mentioned and I see you grow uneasy, my thoughts turn to you before they ever turn to myself. I worry for you more than for my own light. I want you to leave him, though I know it cannot be. I want you to break free of the Sun so that you might truly smile and not remain only the solemn Man in the Moon, as mortals call you. I want you to be more than their sorrowful myth. I want you to be happy.”
“If I leave the Sun, you would come with me… wouldn’t you?” Nox asked.
Chase was silent.
“You would come with me, right?” Nox pressed.
“Someone would have to take your place,” Chase said at last. “And it would have to be me.”
“No,” Nox repeated firmly. “No—if the Sun discovered what you had done, your light would be…”
“Snuffed out,” Chase finished quietly.
“Then why can’t we ask another star to—”
“To sacrifice themselves?” Chase interrupted gently. “I could never be so selfish. My siblings are constellations, guiding mortals through the night. They are needed. But me… I am the closest to you, and the farthest from any constellation of importance. No one would notice if I were gone.”
“I would have noticed,” Nox whispered, finishing for Chase. “I love you, Chase. I love you so deeply that I dream of living a life with you like mortals do. I imagine us waking beneath tangled bedsheets, sharing meals, feeding one another with laughter. I want you to be human enough, one day, that I could offer you your favorite food with my own hands. I want to love you not as the solemn Moon bound to the Sun, nor as a star bound by myth, but as two souls meeting once, perfectly, as strangers who choose each other. I want us to love freely, without destiny dictating what we are.”
"I wish for you to be free, Nox.” Chase told Nox.
“I wish to love you.” Nox told Chase who smiled at him.
“You already do,” Chase whispered. “But if you truly want us to find one another again, you must make a wish. You must wish that no matter how many myths are forgotten, no matter how many heavens are remade, we will find each other again.”
“I wish to love you again.”
“I wish for you to be free so that I can love you again.” Chase told Nox who left Chase alone to face the sun’s wrath.
“Why did he love you more than me?” the Sun sneered at Chase. “You are nothing but a speck of my light.”
“I don’t know,” Chase admitted softly. “All that I am was born from your brilliance just as all of Nox was shaped by it. But perhaps that is the difference. You loved the Moon because he reflected your beauty back to you. I loved the Moon because he was beautiful even when your light fell away from him.” Chase said as the sun wrapped his hands around Chase’s waist.
“Are those your last words?”
“No,” Chase said slowly. “I have one more wish… I hope you die.” His voice was sharp, a sneer cast toward the Sun who had birthed him, and who could snuff out his existence as easily as he had kindled it.
That night, mortals gazing at the heavens would not notice the absence of a single star. But they would notice something else: the Man in the Moon no longer looked back at them. His solemn gaze had vanished, leaving the night sky emptier than it had ever been.
Nox sat quietly, watching the eclipse unfold, when a figure settled beside him. He turned and saw the familiar golden hair he had loved so long ago a star who still shone, though he seemed unaware of his own brilliance.
“Hello,” the man said with a smile. “Do you mind if my cousin and I sit with you?”
“Of course,” Nox replied, as the man gestured for his cousin to join them.
The man rummaged through his bag, frowning, when Nox held out an extra pair of eclipse glasses.
“You’re such a little fool for forgetting your own,” Nox teased gently.
“I thought I packed a pair,” the boy admitted sheepishly.
“Lucky for you,” Nox said with a faint smile, “I always carry extra.”
“My name is Chase,” the man said, introducing himself. “And this is my cousin, Deacon.” He gestured toward the man beside him, who gave a quick wave before burying his face back in his book.
Nox raised a brow. “Your cousin brought a book to an eclipse?”
“He brings his books everywhere,” Chase chuckled. Then he turned back to Nox, his smile softening. “Hey, Buddy… I don’t want to startle you, but you look familiar. Have we met before?”
“I…” Nox faltered, unable to find the right words. He knew Chase yet he didn’t. Not this version, not the mortal who had lived a life apart from the celestial spirit he once was.
“You look… familiar,” Nox said at last.“Perhaps we passed one another on the way here.”
“Cool eclipse buddies,” Chase said offering Nox a water bottle he had in his bag which Nox cautiously took.
“Chase, it’s starting,” Deacon whispered from behind. Chase lifted his gaze to the sky, and Nox followed.
“It’s beautiful,” Chase breathed, watching as the Moon slipped across the Sun, dimming its brilliance for a fleeting moment.
“Yeah… beautiful,” Nox echoed, though his eyes never left Chase.