3 A Dance of Two Sisters

Chapter Three

A Dance of Two Sisters

The dance of the cosmos is doom for the mortals

Aden.

Year 5L 14/15 (5th Loop 14th Cycle 15th Year)

Everyone was hidden behind closed doors, which was a fairly common practice in Aden during the days of darkness. But Andrews was different. He was always fascinated by this phenomenon. Standing on a cliff on the banks of the river, Andrews looked at the massive whirlpool beneath him and felt drawn towards it. Andrews was an astronomer, chemist, physicist, and explorer. He was fascinated by the stars and their lights, the planets and their orbits, the moons and their gravity. But the thing that fascinated him the most was Aden's twin sister Tenebra, and its enormous impact on her.

From the researches made by earlier astronomers Andrews had learned that Tenebra wasn't a planet in their system, but it revolved around another star. With the help of the limited equipment they had at their disposal, these astronomers had discovered that their system was one-half of the two planetary systems very close to each other. These neighboring systems weren't just adjacent to each other, they were astonishingly similar as well. They were like identical twins. Both systems had seven planets revolving around their star. Just like Aden in this system, Tenebra in the other system was the farthest planet from its star and seemed like the only planet which could support life. For that reason, they called Tenebra the sister of Aden. But there was a lot more than habitability that connected the two planets.

In Aden every month had twenty-one days made up of twenty-one hours. A year was twenty-one months-long and twenty-one years made a cycle. Twenty-one cycles constituted a loop. The holy number of twenty-one was present everywhere but very few people understood its real significance.

To keep a track of the time, the astronomers devised an ingenious format to write down the dates. As per this method, after the date and the month, the loop was mentioned accompanied by the letter "L". It was followed by the mention of the current cycle. In the end, the year of that current cycle was mentioned after a slash sign.

While the counting of days, months, and years was connected to the movement of Aden around their star, the counting of cycles and loops was directly connected to Tenebra. Due to the eccentric orbits of the two planets, every seventh year they came very close. For seven days, both planets hung above each other like giant orbs. This seven-yearly event was commonly referred to as the Crossing. These seven days, also known as the Days of Darkness, marked the beginning of a mini-cycle of seven years. Unusually High tides, severe thunderstorms, torrential rains, and volcanic eruptions were regular occurrences during these days of darkness. Astronomers joked that the two sisters shook a leg on meeting each other after such a long time. And that little dance shook up everything within them.

Every twenty-first year, the Crossing coincided with an eclipse. For days, the sun would remain hidden behind one of Aden's giant moons who would be exerting all its gravitational powers on Aden. This extended eclipse exaggerated the effects of the Crossing. The thunderstorms were more devastating, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes were much more frequent and the Great Sea got unusually high tides. The days of darkness were at their darkest during these times. These extra violent Crossings marked the beginning of a new cycle, which consisted of three mini-cycles each.

Andrews learned that the cycles and mini-cycles were all connected to Aden's relationship with Tenebra. But what about the loop? What were the circumstances that ushered in a new era, which the scholars termed as the turn of the loop? What were the astronomical events that marked the beginning of the new loop?

Andrews had heard stories about the twenty-one days of extreme darkness. He learned that at the end of every twenty-first cycle the next loop began with catastrophic events. It was said that during those days the thunderstorms never stopped, the rivers flooded the lands, the volcanoes erupted simultaneously, the earth kept shaking constantly and even the Great Sea changed its position. However, Andrews wanted to know what caused such violent natural occurrences.

Andrews studied different books, delved into hundreds of charts and diagrams drawn by previous astronomers, and observed the planetary movements himself. It enabled him to finally conclude that towards the end of every twenty-first cycle, the stars and all the planets of both the systems aligned in a single straight line. The sun and all the six planets in this system pulled at Aden whereas their counterparts in the other system pulled at Tenebra. There was virtually a planetary tug of war, with Aden and Tenebra at its center. The gravitational pull of all these heavenly bodies, combined with the effects of both planets on each other, didn't only just stretch the Crossing but also wreaked havoc in the two worlds. It was a doomsday of sorts. This cosmic event marked the end of a loop and the beginning of a new one.

One of the earlier scholars Arias had termed this infinite circle of cycles and loops as The Dance of Two Sisters. But what he didn't know was that this dance was not just confined to planetary movements, but it had a much greater impact on the fortunes of the two worlds. Arias had famously quoted: the dance of the cosmos is doom for the mortals. When the Dance of these two worlds reached its crescendo, everything within them was turned upside down.

Andrews' curiosity had driven him to study all these theories in great detail. His genius mind had enabled him to derive reasonable conclusions for most of these phenomenons. However, there was one thing that still didn't fit in any of his scientific explanations and defied all logical propositions. The giant whirlpool, known as the Eye of Tenebra in this world.

Andrews knew that neither river Mel had such strong currents, nor it had that great depths that it could create such a massive maelstrom. Secondly, anything that was sucked in by the whirlpool was never found again, neither at the bottom of the river nor at its banks. As if it had just vanished from this world altogether. Another intriguing aspect was that during every Crossing, the whirlpool appeared at precisely the same location and at an exact time. It materialized at sunrise on the first day of darkness and disappeared at sunset on the seventh day. Furthermore, the area of the river where it formed was no different from its surroundings. So, why the whirlpool appeared at that exact spot was beyond any explanation.

To unravel the mystery behind the Eye of Tenebra, Andrews wanted to observe it from close quarters. On the first day of darkness, he climbed a cliff on the bank of the river which stood right above the giant whirlpool. He was mesmerized by the massive swirl. He was leaning down from the cliff, trying to get a better view when a strong gush of wind blew him off his feet.

Andrews cursed himself when he fell from the cliff towards the water. His never-ending curiosity was about to get him killed. He hit the water's surface with a loud splash and was instantly sucked in by the swirl. For a few seconds, he twirled wildly under the water. But then all of a sudden, the swirling stopped.

Andrews was baffled. What the hell just happened there? He rose to the surface of the water and what he saw there knocked his breath out. Instead of the whirlpool, he was in calm slow currents of a gently flowing river.

Andrews swam to the shores and looked around. He couldn't recognize the place where he was. Probably, the strong force of the whirlpool had thrown him far away from the spot where he had fallen.

"This is the worst time to go swimming young man," Andrews turned around to see a middle-aged man walking towards him. He looked like a peasant from his appearance. "Can't you see Inferna is above our heads?" He said pointing to the giant orb hanging above them. "The days of Adversity have already begun. Thank your God that you are down here. If you had been swimming upstream, you might have been consumed by the Abyss of Unknown."

Inferna? Abyss of Unknown? Andrews was bewildered. He desperately looked around. Although the location was unknown, the landscapes seemed familiar. And yet, there was something about it that was different. There was a gloom, like a dark shadow, which engulfed this place. Everything looked dull and dark. The grass and the trees had darker shades. The rocks, the soil, even the river looked different.

Then it began to dawn on him. Andrews got a feeling that he somehow knew what had just happened to him. And he hoped that it wasn't true. He wished that this was just a nightmare and he was going to wake up anytime soon

He mustered some courage and asked the farmer. "It may sound strange but can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, Sure."

"What do we call our planet. I mean what is the name of our world?"

The farmer gave Andrews a nasty look, "I guess you weren't swimming. Now I know who you are. You are one of those rich merchants living upstream. You might have been drinking and accidentally fell into the river. You still seem quite drunk."

"Can you please answer my question?" Andrews requested politely.

"Well, Elisium. Elisium is what we call our lovely world."

Andrews let out a cry of anguish.

His insatiable curiosity had displaced him from his home and transported him to the dark world. It had changed his life forever.

However, what Andrews didn't know was that his fall from the cliff wasn't just going to change his life, but it was also going to transform the fortunes of millions of people in the two worlds.

His inadvertent fall, a relatively small accident, had opened a door that was never meant to be discovered at this point in time.

And that door was now going to lead the two worlds on two opposite paths.

One on a path of success and the other on a path of doom.

And when those paths will collide, that collision will change the fates of the two worlds. Forever.