Chapter 10: Concerning the Stars
What they did not know was that the being who had set Lataria in motion, Xaiyar, had intervened in Lataria’s happenings once more. The elves knew of Xaiyar, but they recognized Xaiyar as a distant being—one who would not interfere in their affairs. Even though they were wrong about him, they would not discover their misjudgment and mistake until years later.
Xaiyar, alone, for Xaiyar did most things alone using his own power, strength, and imagination, rather than anyone else’s, created what had come to be known as the two stars. These two stars were made from the strongest stones, and Xaiyar himself had even completed one part of the crystal-making process—thereby strengthening the stones so that they could not be utterly destroyed or obliterated. Once these stars were completed, he took the cloudy white one and set it in a tree stump shaped as a pedestal. This pedestal and star would for many years reside in the south of Lataria—anywhere else and the star would not be effective in its design. The other star, he place in the north. This star—still cloudy but a little darker in color—was set in a like pedestal.
Now when elves or men chanced upon them they thought that these pedestals were just some other elements in nature. Indeed, hardly anyone else knew of the stars, except for the gods. Once Xaiyar had created them and put them in their places, Xaiyar summoned the god of Knowledge, Parrazanad. In showing Parrazanad the pedestals, surroundings, and stars, Xaiyar explained their purpose and why he created them. Xaiyar had noticed that in such a short amount of time, Lataria had given itself over to the temptations of power, greed, and inflicting suffering. In essence what was once the way it should have been, was beginning to become no more as Sanguinar had gathered such power and forces of malevolence around him that it would be nearly impossible to restore all of Lataria to its original state. Acknowledging this fact, Xaiyar created the two stars—one to manage Sanguinar and his evil, deceiving forces, and the other to preserve and strengthen the natural goodness that used to abound in everything in Lataria.
Just telling Parrazanad what these stones were for and what they did was not enough. Xaiyar explained still further to Parrazanad the instructions to keep the stars safe so a more easily accessible figure in Lataria would know Xaiyar’s mind and therefore be able to guide anyone if the time should come. So Xaiyar said that in order for the star to work its power and fulfill its purpose, it had to be in the pedestal. If the star—or a piece of the star—were to be removed from the pedestal, then it would stop functioning. For the good star, if this happened, the inherent goodness would begin to fade, therefore allowing the darkness of Sanguinar’s will to overcome everything as it once had. Before Xaiyar could describe what would happen if the evil-willed star were to be removed, Parrazanad guessed that the reverse would occur—that evil would dwindle and good would flourish. Xaiyar reprimanded him, instructing still further that if the evil star were removed, evil could still continue to grow because of the one being who had the power to stir up his evil creatures—Sanguinar.
What purpose, then, would this ability serve, the god asked, to be able to remove the stars? If, perchance, the good star were joined with the evil star, then all that was good would be taken into the evil. There would be no hope for good to return to Lataria, or for the little bit that would be left to grow stronger. Each star was set on a timed clock—the star, or any of its pieces, must not remain separated from its pedestal. If this happened, and one thousand years passed, the star would lose its power, the pedestal would disintegrate, and Lataria would soon fall into darkness because the keeper powers of good and evil would no longer be balanced. Despite the desperate situations of the stars, there was one beneficial aspect—other than the fact that the stars kept good and evil in check—that was, that the evil star can be joined to the good star. This would allow goodness to overflow in Lataria—if Sanguinar could be kept from tampering with the star.
All these things Xaiyar told Parrazanad. And so it was that at first only two gods knew of the stars: this god, and Sanguinar. How Sanguinar came to know this so soon was from eavesdropping. Sanguinar listened to the conversation, thinking he had outsmarted even Xaiyar. Yet Xaiyar knew he lurked there. Xaiyar, however, chose not to say anything or forbid Sanguinar’s presence. Immediately after Sanguinar heard all the stipulations, he left his eavesdropping post to scour the north until he came to the star he sought. There, he guarded it: placing charms and spells of illusion upon it. While Sanguinar brooded and planned his return in the north, no one protected the star in the south as Sanguinar had suspected. Indeed, there was nothing keeping anyone from taking the good star except for the cloud or protective power surge surrounding the star. Anyone who touched the star would at first be shocked, but once the cloud was penetrated, then the star could easily be taken up into anyone’s hands.