Burning Shadows

Love. What a most tragic word. How many stories it carries. Love is always good, when it is true. When it is not, then it is not love.

— an unknown Celestial

The love story of the Commander and Celosia has been called "Burning Shadows" for years. This version is the one that appears in the Tales of the Celestials. Other versions exist, but the differences are few.

Story

Shadows do not burn, you say.
Oh, but they do. They burn with the darkness of fear, the heat of emotion, the intensity of hate, and the silence of death. Shadows do not burn like fire, they burn like night.
And the shadows I will speak of in this tale are of two kinds: the kind that burns like night and the kind that burns when it touches fire. For both belong to him.

Long ago, when the world was still young, there were two Celestials: the Commander and his sister Love. The two were as different as night and day and not simply because their powers were opposites. Love was the Celestial of light and love, while the Commander was the Celestial of darkness and hatred. Love preferred daylight and people, laughter and emotion and events, and the Commander often stayed by himself in dark and quiet places, staring up at the stars and contemplating life.
It was one of those nights, with the stars shining above, when he met Celosia. The moment of their meeting is not known, but they bonded almost instantly. Celosia was like the sun itself, a true burning flame like her name suggested, and she brought him out of the shadows.
They fell in love as if it was a cliff they had taken one look at and chosen to leap off. One could almost see it when looking at them, see the wind tearing past their bodies, hear the air splitting around them. Their arms wrapped around each other, their eyes locked together, every piece of their souls entangled in the descent.
And yet, despite how committed they were to each other, one thing stood in their way. Love, the Commander's sister, did not approve of their union. Celosia was a friend of hers, and she claimed that her brother could never be enough. He was not kind enough, not happy enough, not good enough for her friend.
Celosia did not care. She was in love with the Commander, and the Commander was in love with her. They did not need anyone's approval. Their love was enough.

by Lilliana Casper

The other Celestials had varying opinions. Only the dark Celestials seemed to be truly in favor of their marriage. All others sided with Love or refused to comment.
They married in a beautiful ceremony, exchanged vows and rings, and moved to the Commander's castle. They had a daughter, Rohana, with hair as dark as her father's and as thin as her mother's, and eyes the color of violets.
An artist, their name and identity unknown, drew several pictures of them. One shows Celosia dancing with Rohana in her arms while the Commander watches. One shows the couple dancing together, their limbs entwined in an ancient dance. One shows the Commander's shadows wrapping in shapes while Celosia's flames weave around them, locked in a tangle of beautiful contrast and perfect paradox.

Celosia's husband had secrets I did not wish to know. She believed he loved her, but love does not mean you will always be together. And he was the Celestial of hate, the complete opposite. I am not surprised it did not last. I am only shocked by the tragedy.

— Naida to Fadilah and Oralia

You know nothing of love.

— Alvacia to an unknown Celestial

Shadows do not burn. But his did when they touched her fire.
No one had thought they would last, but no one had thought they would end as tragically as they did.
No one knows when it was. No one knows how long after their marriage, how long after Rohana's birth.
The Commander came to visit his sister alone. He wore all black, covered his face, and barely spoke. What words he did say were twisted with pain.
Celosia was dead. Her husband refused to tell anyone what happened.

The funeral was attended by all. Rows of black-dressed mourners followed the dark box to its burial place, stood to watch Fadilah cover it with soil. The Celestials whispered about the Commander's silence, about his stoicism during the ceremony, about his daughter's pale face.
The father and daughter returned to their home and never left. Only Alvacia, Felicia, and Nicole were allowed to visit, and even they stopped going after some time.
Rumors spread swiftly. After all, everyone had expected them to fall apart, fall out of love, or grow to hate each other. No one had predicted

one would kill the other, but from the Celestial of hate, mariticide did not seem too much of an assumption.
Many years later, Love would admit to having a vision the night before her brother's visit. She had believed it was only a nightmare until he came to tell her that his wife was dead.
In Love's vision, she watched Celosia open a room and look inside before fleeing to her bedroom. The Commander found her, pinned her down on the bed, and restrained her with shadows before killing her with Oblivion. Her vision ended there.
But Love did not tell anyone her vision until the Celestial War when Rohana escaped her father and came looking for help.
When the truth was known after the war, the Celestials were angry. It did not take long for the story to reach every corner of the galaxy. Celosia, the beautiful and beloved Celestial of fire, had been killed by her own husband, the Celestial of darkness and hate.

by Lilliana Casper

Love had been right. Their love was not enough. The Commander's hatred had been too strong.
Shadows do not burn. But his burned like night.