Star Fall, the Errant Star
Listen children, and listen well, for this is the tale of the world that was. Our forebears who remembered have carried this tale from lost Aerith so we might know whence we came.
Late in the year, in a world already in despair, thunder cracked the sky as an object fell. Whether it was an asteroid, a comment or something else, no one knows. It evaded detection until the fireball erupted in sky over one of the most populated nations, awaking many to witness its horror.
Some say it appeared in orbit before it fell. Others that it could not be seen by instruments available at the time. Burning through the atmosphere, the falling star impacted in the great desert. The plume darkened the sky of the whole world for seven days. People panicked. Fear reigned.
At the dawn of the eighth day, fire burst in the heavens. The strange gold glow raged in the sky for seven more days.
Morning of the eighth day, the luminous rain fell from to the Aerith that was. All our people could do was watch. Little pebbles of brilliance fell from the sky in great torrents. The population didn't know, and couldn't understand the sorrow to come.
The blazing stones beat with their own living heart, ancient and more powerful than anything our ancestors could have imagined.
When the luminous rains ended, the vines grew.
Fields of Hyperion rose from the ground. They couldn't understand. They couldn't know. The radiant vines could not be cut by any tool or weapon they possessed; fire made them grow.
Within a month the first Hyperion blooms stretched out their incandescent petals to the sky and their stamen broadcast their fertility to the galaxy.
The Salevar heard the call. Their first ship arrived in peace, offering help dealing with the infestation of Hyperion. They offered contracts to various industries that prospered on the old world to harvest the blooms and cultivate the Hyperion.
Once they established their network of collaborators, they subverted our governments. When their fleet arrived to subjugate the planet, they already controlled most of the major powers.
In the hands of the Salevar, we entered space. They established a colony on Mars to cultivate the Hyperion.
Our people didn’t take well to captivity. Revolts flared up like wildfires, but the savagery of the Salevar crushed each one with ruthless efficiency.
So it was that our people were scattered among the stars. Teach your children well to remember the star fall.
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