4. The Moon and the Mountain

The meteor burned at their backs. It crept closer and would meet the planet in a violent collision, any time now.

Darus smacked his tail against the floor. “Come on!”

He smacked it once more. The rock behind him curled upward. It catapulted Ardex, who barely landed on his paws and suddenly ran ahead of Darus.

He slapped his tail again and the rock rose to be so tall he could no longer see the top.

His tail kept going. With every hit, a new mountain tore through the ground and grew into space, like a sword through a sheet of paper.

The meteor slammed into the fresh mountains.

Chunks sprang in all directions like water droplets, streaming across the surface. And there still wasn’t a single sound.

Darus and Ardex dodged lumps of meteorite, which were immediately swallowed by the lava once they reached the ground. The remaining pieces were flung into space, but didn’t get very far either.

Gravity pulled everything together and formed one ball. A gray ball that grew so large it could be mistaken for a planet.

Now they had two large bodies. Their own planet and this ball. So gravity reared its ugly head again and pulled the ball back towards the planet.

While the rest didn’t dare look back, Cosmo stood on Darus’ back. Both stared intently at the ball, flapping and stomping. The gray mass crept closer.

Bella tried to turn him around. “What are you doing? That ball needs to be pushed away!”

“No! We need a moon!”

“What for?”

The planet spun, as if it were a soccer ball rolling across a field. Darus and Ardex stumbled. Everyone fell flat on the ground.

Bella instantly rolled onto her back to look up—but to her amazement, the moon stayed at a safe distance.

The danger had passed. Sunrays lit up her face.

“No thanks necessary, no thanks.” Cosmo was the first to stand up. “This lovely celestial body, my friends, is called a moon. It provides many good things.”

Darus’ tail had almost completely crumbled away. It was hard for him to focus on anything else. Maybe it’s time, he thought, that I start believing Bella’s story of life force.

“Does it also make us immortal gods again?”

Cosmo shook his beak. “But it gives safety. Gravity works both ways. We pull hard on the moon, because we’re bigger, and the moon pulls on us a little more softly.”

Ugh, Cosmo is going to explain things I already know, he thought. I’m the god of all rock and particles, so also moons and gravity. But he likes it, so meh.

“But you know what pulls even harder? The gigantic sun. So we want to go to the sun, the moon wants to come to us, and thus we chase each other without ever colliding.”

His wings spun around wildly, which looked elegant but meant nothing to the rest. “The pulling has tilted us sideways now. Days should be twelve times as long.”

Cosmo stood before his family as if they were on a school trip and he explained why they should find this museum fascinating. Satisfied, he stroked his feathers and stared at his moon with an open beak.

“Oh, yes, it also reflects sunlight. So we have light at night. We don’t need your fire anymore, Ardex!”

“Super. Thanks. Something else I can’t do.” Ardex hung his head and walked away from the others.

“Don’t go! We’ll lose everyone again!” Bella looked at Cosmo angrily and hopped towards her brother.

Darus nudged Cosmo from the side, careful not to ruin his feathers. “Well done, buddy. Don’t mind him, you saved us.”

“You too. Those are some impressive mountains.”

“Thank you! Thank you! A thousand thanks!” said Darus with exaggerated cheer. “At least some appreciation from someone!”

“Oh, Ardex probably thinks this whole malaise is his fault.”

“Which mayonnaise?”

“Pardon! Bella’s been tutoring lately. We’re in trouble. He’s afraid he went too far with what he did and said to Father.”

“He wouldn’t have survived a day on his own. It’s a blessing we’re together. And, obviously, super fun! Have you seen those other four yet?”

Cosmo’s other wing crumbled as well. The red shards hung like mist around them. “No. But it’s important we find them, because without their powers we won’t survive.”

“Survive? I thought we were trying to get back home.”

Darus sighed. “I see. You also believe Bella’s story about life force. Next we’ll theorize that unicorns live in the center of the planet singing lullabies to put us to sleep! My stomach is calling for a nice piece of meat.”

Cosmo shook his head. “You forget you’re a god sometimes, little brother.”

“Something else Ardex probably wishes were different …”

Cosmo squinted, as if looking straight into bright sunlight. “There’s a well-known saying: beings can scour the universe for all its stars, but forget to see the stars around them.”

“Did Bella teach you that?”

“Yup. Never fully understood it. But I think it means we should stick together and make this our home. Instead of looking at the sky longing for the road to the Heavenly Palace.”

“You know,” Darus said with a laugh, “a few more lessons and you’ll suddenly become the goddess of wisdom.”

Ardex lay in the distance. Bella stood next to him stroking his hair and softly speaking. Her other paw made made wild gestures.

“What are they saying?”

“I don’t eavesdrop on our family, little brother. Besides, I have to admit my hearing is worse here. Sound moves through air—and we don’t have air.”

“We have a sort of air. There’s a blanket of carbon dioxide around the planet, that’s why it’s so hot, and stuffy, and I’m choking all the time.”

Together they walked back. By now Darus had grown used to dodging all the falling rocks. He gracefully jumped around the holes that suddenly appeared, the stone burst open to reveal a pool of lava.

Only now did he realize this wasn’t bad, but actually very good.

“That’s it! Those falling rocks come from planets farther away. That means …”

“That there’s hydrogen in them. But … we need the oxygen.”

“If we throw enough rocks into the lava, the hydrogen should merge with the oxygen into water. That’s lighter. It bubbles upward and then we make an atmosphere!”

“Brilliant! Good plan! Do it!” shouted Ardex as if he were a sports team coach.

Darus tried to attract the rocks. He tried breaking them, extracting the water, asking for more rocks from planets farther away.

None of it worked. Like the lava, his powers trickled out of his grasp. He helplessly watched as he could barely control one small rock with great effort.

“Not enough. Work a little harder now!”

“I … I can’t do it anymore.”

Ardex’ tail had fully crumbled away. “It has to be faster! I want a planet that could sustain life within a day!”

Bella calmed him. “And then? Do you think life will just spontaneously appear? That little green men will come visit as soon as we have an atmosphere?”

Darus recalled Father’s story about Zyme. Gods shouldn’t hurry. Gods shouldn’t artificially speed things up. Instead, let the universe sort out itself. Gently guide life along. Allow it to bloom.

Out of all his brothers and sisters, he understood it best.

“And what have you done, eldest son of God? Other than give commands and belittle me?”

Ardex jumped at Darus. A stream of lava appeared between them. “Your family is dying and you’d rather sleep.”

“That was before I knew how bad it was.”

“But you also didn’t make any effort to figure out how bad it was.”

Ardex’ lava stream seeped further than he had intended. In the distance, it was held back for a few seconds. Then, in one heartbeat, it changed from a thin trickle to an explosion of lava as large as a forest.

I’m starting to feel like this planet isn’t so friendly, Darus thought. Even more unfriendly than Ardex.

Fleeing the the explosion, a silhouette bounced into view. It was thin but taller than all the other gods stacked on top of each other. Its shadow was therefore already long enough to tickle Darus’ toes.

“Oh no, not another meteor.”