I’m writing a totally fictional world and set of characters in it. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into the people and thought of this world and how to make it seem as robust as real life. This is a tidbit I came up with. The protagonist, Caelum Deleon, was born with a power he can’t quite control. Hopefully that puts this in context.

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Caelum wandered away from the camp for a few minutes of seclusion before drifting off to sleep. He climbed a large grassy hill not far from the camp. He was surprised to find a person lying down on the grass on the far side of the hill. He looked down at the body and made out some blonde hair and white clothes accented with blue.

“Arlia?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied.

Caelum laid down on the ground next to her and followed her gaze up to the night sky.

“I like to look at the stars,” she said, looking over at him. “Helps me relax. I was really into the myths and stories behind the constellations when I was younger, and my father knew them all.”

“I can’t say I’ve ever known one of those stories,” Caelum said. “I was always busy with things my parents found more important than stories in the sky.”

“That’s a hunter,” Arlia said, pointing at a group of stars in the western sky. “He hunted a bear for days and finally cornered it, but it turned into a deer and leapt away. He hunted the deer and cornered it, and it turned into a hawk and flew away. He hunted the hawk, climbing the highest mountain, and finally landed an arrow in the hawk. The hawk fell to the ground. The hunter went to retrieve it and the hawk turned into a beam of Lumen and shot up into the heavens. The hunter followed it and still hunts it ‘til this day.”

“And where’s the Lumen?” Caelum asked.

“Over there,” she said, pointing to a bright star farther to the east, almost right above them.

“Any other constellations I should know about?” Caelum asked.

“That’s a lion,” Arlia said, pointing at a particularly bright grouping of stars in the northern sky. “The lion was born strong, and grew to be the strongest lion in the world. No hunter could capture it, no warrior could defeat it.”

“How did it end up in the sky, then?” Caelum asked.

“Wait, I’m not done yet!” She smiled. “The people began to fear the very existence of the lion. But the lion was actually a good-hearted creature. He killed many of the other monsters that were plaguing the cities and villages. But this just made the people fear him more. The people pleaded with the gods to destroy the lion.

“Eventually, the gods descended and challenged the lion to a battle to test his character. The lion proudly accepted. The fight dragged on for days (some versions say weeks). As the fight went on, the lion grew more and more fierce, wild, and dangerous. When the fight drew to a close, the lion had become a fearsome beast, and the gods had no choice but to kill it.”

“That’s terrible,” Caelum said, staring up at the constellation. The autumn wind blew and a chill ran down his spine.

“The gods respected the lion so much that they placed him in the sky to forever be a sign of strength.”

“Is there a moral to that story?”

“Some things are meant only for the gods,” Arlia said.

“But the lion didn’t ask to be that strong.”

Arlia shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”

Caelum picked himself up off of the ground, dusting himself off. “We’d better get some rest before tomorrow. No telling what we’ll find.”

“Right,” said Arlia, picking herself up and shivering. Caelum threw his cloak over her shoulders. “Thanks,” she said, smiling warmly.

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