Sun, Night, Moon

In the beginning, there was Nothingness.

Nothingness gave birth to the Sun.

The Sun had immense power. It had control over everything and anything, but it was pure and kind. The Sun helped give life to the World and all its creatures. It caringly took care of everything and maintained peace. There was nothing that the Sun did not notice, for the World owed its existence to it.

For a while, all was well.

Almighty though it was, the Sun eventually grew tired of being alone. Eventually, the Sun decided to speak of this to the Nothingness.

“I am tired of always being present,” said the Sun.

“So, what is it that you want?” asked Nothingness in reply.

“Please give me company, so that we can take turns watching the World.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes.”

“But one that can take turns for you must have equal strength with you. Are you alright with that?”

“I do not care,” answered the Sun recklessly. “If worse comes to worst, it will be my responsibility.”

Nothingness looked at the Sun and sighed.

“So be it.”

And Night was born.

Sun, Night, Moon

a short by Chris Zhou

Possessing equal powers with the Sun, the Night was everything its sibling was not. If the Sun was open, the Night was elusive. If the Sun was wise, the Night was much more… brash. But, the Sun cared about the Night very much, as it was its only company, and gave it half of the World to take care of. The Sun called its share of the World a day, and the Night—an arrogant being to its core—called its share its own name, a night. Just like the Sun told Nothingness, the two began taking turns.

While all is well in the day, the night proved to be problematic. Evil and wrongdoings ran rampant in the protection of the darkness, something that the Night fancied so much it dedicated all of its share to revel in. The Night had fun in seeing conflicts and wars, and so violence and bloodshed had turned common. The Sun did not enjoy this, but it knew that it had no right to criticize—it had asked for a sibling, and Nothingness had given it just that. So the Sun did what it could do and bestowed recovery and health for all the creatures to protect themselves from the dangers of a night. It had even introduced to the creatures a source of light in the night, the fire.

The Night did not like what the Sun had done. It decided to confront its sibling.

“I thought you gave me half of the world to be mine? What business do you have, snooping around?” asked the Night coldly.

“I gave it to you to take care of, not to be your plaything. If you continued doing what you did, the night will soon lay waste to everything,” the Sun said sternly.

“That is not a big deal,” sneered the Night. “If anything, that is the natural course of things. Creatures are meant to destroy one another.”

“You are wrong, Night. There is a reason why we can coexist, isn’t there?”

The Night exploded in laughter.

“The only reason you are still around is because I let you. Face it—whatever you do, I can do it better.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You gave fire to the creatures so that they would see you in the night? I can turn it into something to my advantage. I can… no, I will make them hurt each other using the very thing you gave them.”

“How dare…” the Sun’s expression hardened.

“Oh, yes. In fact, I think I’m beginning to get bored of your presence, sibling. What say you we decide who the ruler of everything should be?”

“Night… you do not want to do this…” The Sun said cautiously. The Night was clearly riled up at this point.

“No objections! I will give you time to prepare. Let us settle this in war!”

As the Night left the Sun alone, the Sun knew it had no choice in the matter.

The Night, in preparations for battle, gave birth to Lies, Malevolence, Cunning, Deceit, and many other evil values to arm its creatures. Wicked feelings became their weapons, allowing them to unleash their wildest potentials. No means are beyond these malicious beings.

The Sun, on the other hand, gave rise to Courage, Steadfastness, Justice, and many noble values for its creatures to defend themselves. The path of the pure and the right became their weapon of choice.

Finally, the Great War between the Sun and the Night began.

The Great War lasted from years to decades to centuries. The World had become a barren place as the result. For every cheating ways that the Night had its creatures pull off, the Sun would always have a triumphant comeback. But nothing could stop Night’s advances, even with the Sun’s loyal creatures at its side—especially because the Night did not play by the rules.

After one particularly intense battle, the Night had the Sun cornered.

“It’s time… to say goodbye… my sibling,” said the Night, panting.

“I will not say goodbye, my sibling,” replied the Sun.

“Then I assume you are ready to surrender to your fate.”

Without any further ado, the Night ended its sibling’s life.

And then everything was dark.

The Night had won. With the Sun’s existence vanished from the World, there was nothing in its way to cover the world in darkness. Nothing had given the World light but the Sun. Fire, which was given by the Sun to the World, was forever banned by the Night. Eventually, the Night banished the fire from existence as well. The World went into dark times. With the Night’s pastime being violence and conflict, battles and fights waged without stop.

But the Sun had left something before it died.

It had given birth to Love.

Before the final battle the Sun, sensing its doom, realized that Night would win the Great War. But, by then, the Sun had realized that it would take something greater than just the Sun, or the Night, to end the meaningless battles. So, with all the strength it had left, it created something… distinct. It created something that was a part of itself, and part of its sibling.

Love was contagious. Love quickly spread across the World, without fail attaching itself to every single creature living in the dark. Finally, it had gotten to the doors of the Night itself, and discreetly it planted itself inside the Night. Love was gentle, yet firm. As a result of two contradicting beings poured into a single feeling, Love felt dynamic and universal. It was also scarily addictive. It had given everyone it crossed paths with a resounding joy like nothing else they had ever felt. All the creatures, and even Night itself, rejoiced because of this new feeling.

But as powerful as Love was, it was not complete. It was something that was created by the Sun, with some of the feelings and values that the Night had. So without the Sun’s existence, Love would never be whole. This drove the Night and all its creatures crazy—mainly because they never thought they would need the Sun for anything. Love has accomplished its mission: to introduce the importance of balance.

At first, the Night restored fire, thinking that it would help. But nothing worked.

So the Night and the whole World begged Nothingness to restore the Sun. And Nothingness, secretly amused by the Sun’s ingenuity, granted their wish.

The Sun was alive again, but this time, it made a pact with the Night to ensure everlasting peace. The Sun would give a little bit of itself in the night, and the Night would have a sign of its presence even during the day.

And so, the Moon was born out of this agreement.

Perhaps that’s why the moon is so romantic.

By Christopher Zhou