The Newborn Sun – Part 2
Life has a way of getting to me. I make no secret of my mental issues. Hell, they are part of why I’m able to write at all. Perfectly sane people don’t go around dreaming up enormous worlds of make believe and intrigue when they should be doing actual important things. However, that gets the better of me on more days than I would care to admit. I begin to spiral: Everything I make is junk, so I am junk. I am junk, so everything I make is junkier. Everything I make is junkier, so I am the junkiest. Etc.
Is this fair? No, not really. I’m already a better writer by every single measurable metric than when I started. In the end, I am the only writer I should ever compare myself to, and so I am ‘winning’ in that regard. I have work which I continue to push closer and closer to official publication, and I’m getting into a more reliable rhythm with regards to these here posts.
Sometimes though, I am just broken. I hate it. I hate that feeling that without the medications I am on and the steps I’ve taken to further curb badness, my life would literally burst apart at the seams. I feel useless, helpless, hopeless. It’s silly: If I had cancer, I wouldn’t even think twice about taking the medications which keep me alive and healthy. Yet there it is. Nothing I say or do changes that feeling. Hopefully one day I will cope with it better. For now, it’s just going to rob me of a few days here and there as I try to push my writing career.
Without further introspection…
The Newborn Sun – Part 2
La’an’s father paused dramatically. He had a flare for them, knowing exactly how long to let the moment linger, knowing how to manipulate his audience with facial expressions and hand gestures. But then, the Aura Witches always did know where best to put people to match their talents and inclinations. They had clearly read the energy waves swirling around La’an’s father with extreme clarity: His class was putty in his large hands.
“Humans resisted at first. We always fight change, no matter how good it is.” He waggled his eyebrows, and the room giggled. “At first, the Midnight Sun faced resistance in the form of assassination. Bullets, grenades, knives, bombs, even a rogue nuclear weapon were all used against them.” Each weapon came with it’s own pantomime, and La’an and the rest of the class were riveted. They had all heard about weapons of course: Things human beings used to maim and kill one another. It sounded absolutely barbaric. “The Midnight Sun could not be harmed however, and at each stage they worked tirelessly to make sure the attempts didn’t harm any of the men and women around them. Eventually, as attempt after attempt not only resulted in failure, but wasn’t even challenged, they slowed to a trickle and eventually stopped altogether.”
A new image flashed above La’an’s father. It was an old digital recording, from the time of the Midnight Sun’s birth. It showed a room which was very familiar: It was the council room of every UN building on every planet within the Sun’s Halo. Around it sat the world leaders of old Earth. “The new United Nations of Earth, still prey to fractured interests of nations over species, of moneyed interests over common good, at first stood against the Midnight Sun. No amount of reason or arguments could dissuade them.” The image showed the UN members presenting the Sun with a copy of the Earthen Accords, demanding a system of self governance free of any manipulation by force or threat of force, or governance in a fashion detrimental to members of the human race.
“Do you see what they had done my children? In their fear, in their arrogance, and in their greed, they handed the Midnight Sun the very means they had been hoping for to help humanity break free from the shackles of war and oppression.” The video continued playing, and all the children laughed as they saw the trademark grin shine forth. A mixture of triumph and gratitude, always with a playful air, that smile had won over so many arguments against the Sun’s directions. Immediately, the Midnight Sun pounced. “Very well gentlemen, allow me to make sure I understand you correctly” they said in a calm, measured tone. “You want me to verify, with my whole heart and soul, in a binding agreement, that I will not allow the human race to be bullied by force of arms or to have their rights deprived of them by any agents, mine or otherwise?”
The collection of world leaders, powerful men and women before the horror of the final nuclear confrontation that should’ve ended their respective countries, looked around at one another. Then, as one, they stated their confirmation of both the document and the Midnight Suns assessment. The Midnight Sun, smile in place, signed the document using a pen conjured from nothing. A copy of the document appeared before each member of the assembly, as quietly and suddenly as the pen had. An enlarged copy, blown up so that it fit on one page, also appeared directly behind the Midnight Sun, encased in a magnificent, filigreed frame. It was hung directly above the Midnight Sun, where the entire assembled leaders were forced to focus upon it at all times. “My first act” the Sun stated as they rose and pointed out to the assembled crowd. La’an shivered. She could’ve sworn that the Sun was pointing and looking directly at her. “Is to enforce this document. I demand the dissolution of all armies, militias, or any other armed body. I also demand the surrender of every weapon of any kind, and the release of all men and women held in bondage, legal or otherwise.”
The room was deadly quiet.
To be continued….
Peacefully,
Justin
