_XXI_
THE DARK SUN
How long our souls lay in the arms of joy, I cannot say; but, all atonce, I was waked from my happiness, by a diminution of the pale andgentle light that lit the Sea of Sleep. I turned toward the huge, whiteorb, with a premonition of coming trouble. One side of it was curvinginward, as though a convex, black shadow were sweeping across it. Mymemory went back. It was thus, that the darkness had come, before ourlast parting. I turned toward my Love, inquiringly. With a suddenknowledge of woe, I noticed how wan and unreal she had grown, even inthat brief space. Her voice seemed to come to me from a distance. Thetouch of her hands was no more than the gentle pressure of a summerwind, and grew less perceptible.
Already, quite half of the immense globe was shrouded. A feeling ofdesperation seized me. Was she about to leave me? Would she have to go,as she had gone before? I questioned her, anxiously, frightenedly; andshe, nestling closer, explained, in that strange, faraway voice, that itwas imperative she should leave me, before the Sun of Darkness--as shetermed it--blotted out the light. At this confirmation of my fears, Iwas overcome with despair; and could only look, voicelessly, across thequiet plains of the silent sea.
How swiftly the darkness spread across the face of the White Orb. Yet,in reality, the time must have been long, beyond human comprehension.
At last, only a crescent of pale fire, lit the, now dim, Sea of Sleep.All this while, she had held me; but, with so soft a caress, that I hadbeen scarcely conscious of it. We waited there, together, she and I;speechless, for very sorrow. In the dimming light, her face showed,shadowy--blending into the dusky mistiness that encircled us.
Then, when a thin, curved line of soft light was all that lit the sea,she released me--pushing me from her, tenderly. Her voice sounded in myears, 'I may not stay longer, Dear One.' It ended in a sob.
She seemed to float away from me, and became invisible. Her voice cameto me, out of the shadows, faintly; apparently from a great distance:--
'A little while--' It died away, remotely. In a breath, the Sea ofSleep darkened into night. Far to my left, I seemed to see, for a briefinstant, a soft glow. It vanished, and, in the same moment, I becameaware that I was no longer above the still sea; but once more suspendedin infinite space, with the Green Sun--now eclipsed by a vast, darksphere--before me.
Utterly bewildered, I stared, almost unseeingly, at the ring of greenflames, leaping above the dark edge. Even in the chaos of my thoughts, Iwondered, dully, at their extraordinary shapes. A multitude of questionsassailed me. I thought more of her, I had so lately seen, than of thesight before me. My grief, and thoughts of the future, filled me. Was Idoomed to be separated from her, always? Even in the old earth-days, shehad been mine, only for a little while; then she had left me, as Ithought, forever. Since then, I had seen her but these times, upon theSea of Sleep.
A feeling of fierce resentment filled me, and miserable questionings.Why could I not have gone with my Love? What reason to keep us apart?Why had I to wait alone, while she slumbered through the years, on thestill bosom of the Sea of Sleep? The Sea of Sleep! My thoughts turned,inconsequently, out of their channel of bitterness, to fresh, desperatequestionings. Where was it? Where was it? I seemed to have but justparted from my Love, upon its quiet surface, and it had gone, utterly.It could not be far away! And the White Orb which I had seen hidden inthe shadow of the Sun of Darkness! My sight dwelt upon the GreenSun--eclipsed. What had eclipsed it? Was there a vast, dead starcircling it? Was the _Central_ Sun--as I had come to regard it--a doublestar? The thought had come, almost unbidden; yet why should it notbe so?
My thoughts went back to the White Orb. Strange, that it should havebeen--I stopped. An idea had come, suddenly. The White Orb and the GreenSun! Were they one and the same? My imagination wandered backward, and Iremembered the luminous globe to which I had been so unaccountablyattracted. It was curious that I should have forgotten it, evenmomentarily. Where were the others? I reverted again to the globe I hadentered. I thought, for a time, and matters became clearer. I conceivedthat, by entering that impalpable globule, I had passed, at once, intosome further, and, until then, invisible dimension; There, the Green Sunwas still visible; but as a stupendous sphere of pale, whitelight--almost as though its ghost showed, and not its material part.
A long time, I mused on the subject. I remembered how, on entering thesphere, I had, immediately, lost all sight of the others. For a stillfurther period, I continued to revolve the different details in my mind.
In a while, my thoughts turned to other things. I came more into thepresent, and began to look about me, seeingly. For the first time, Iperceived that innumerable rays, of a subtle, violet hue, pierced thestrange semi-darkness, in all directions. They radiated from the fieryrim of the Green Sun. They seemed to grow upon my vision, so that, in alittle, I saw that they were countless. The night was filled withthem--spreading outward from the Green Sun, fan-wise. I concluded that Iwas enabled to see them, by reason of the Sun's glory being cut off bythe eclipse. They reached right out into space, and vanished.
Gradually, as I looked, I became aware that fine points of intenselybrilliant light, traversed the rays. Many of them seemed to travel fromthe Green Sun, into distance. Others came out of the void, toward theSun; but one and all, each kept strictly to the ray in which ittraveled. Their speed was inconceivably great; and it was only when theyneared the Green Sun, or as they left it, that I could see them asseparate specks of light. Further from the sun, they became thin linesof vivid fire within the violet.
The discovery of these rays, and the moving sparks, interested me,extraordinarily. To where did they lead, in such countless profusion? Ithought of the worlds in space.... And those sparks! Messengers!Possibly, the idea was fantastic; but I was not conscious of its beingso. Messengers! Messengers from the Central Sun!
An idea evolved itself, slowly. Was the Green Sun the abode of somevast Intelligence? The thought was bewildering. Visions of the Unnameablerose, vaguely. Had I, indeed, come upon the dwelling-place of theEternal? For a time, I repelled the thought, dumbly. It was toostupendous. Yet....
Huge, vague thoughts had birth within me. I felt, suddenly, terriblynaked. And an awful Nearness, shook me.
And Heaven ...! Was that an illusion?
My thoughts came and went, erratically. The Sea of Sleep--and she!Heaven.... I came back, with a bound, to the present. Somewhere, out ofthe void behind me, there rushed an immense, dark body--huge and silent.It was a dead star, hurling onward to the burying place of the stars. Itdrove between me and the Central Suns--blotting them out from my vision,and plunging me into an impenetrable night.
An age, and I saw again the violet rays. A great while later--aeons itmust have been--a circular glow grew in the sky, ahead, and I saw theedge of the receding star, show darkly against it. Thus, I knew that itwas nearing the Central Suns. Presently, I saw the bright ring of theGreen Sun, show plainly against the night The star had passed into theshadow of the Dead Sun. After that, I just waited. The strange yearswent slowly, and ever, I watched, intently.
'The thing I had expected, came at last--suddenly, awfully. A vastflare of dazzling light. A streaming burst of white flame across thedark void. For an indefinite while, it soared outward--a giganticmushroom of fire. It ceased to grow. Then, as time went by, it began tosink backward, slowly. I saw, now, that it came from a huge, glowingspot near the center of the Dark Sun. Mighty flames, still soaredoutward from this. Yet, spite of its size, the grave of the star was nomore than the shining of Jupiter upon the face of an ocean, whencompared with the inconceivable mass of the Dead Sun.
I may remark here, once more, that no words will ever convey to theimagination, the enormous bulk of the two Central Suns.
The House on the Borderland Page 22