A dusting of stars glitters in the night sky, like a trove of diamonds spilled across a curtain of cobalt velvet. A gentle breeze carries the deep baying cry of a Sabre Wolf across the grasslands.
Demiurge's fire bright suit is limned in silvery moonlight as he leans forward to rest his elbows upon the balcony of the Seventh Floor with a cigarette between his fingers. He slowly exhales, letting curls of smoke escape his lips.
Raising his face to the sky, he looks to his favorite constellation, Gemanarai.
"Malfaxx is the larger of the twins. The purple-giant is approximately 35 light-years from our world and is at least three times as massive as the moon." Ulbert tells him as his claws carefully twist the focuser dial.
Demiurge is unfamiliar with the terminology Ulbert is using, but he does not miss the gleeful grin spreading across his Lord's features as he gazes into the strange device he has poured hours of work into over the span of the past two months. Despite not being entirely sure what his Creator is telling him, he absorbs every detail and commits it to memory. For whatever it is to bring Ulbert such joy, it must be of great importance.
"Please, take a look." He offers, then steps back so Demiurge can peer through the eyepiece of golden telescope himself.
"How remarkable..." Demiurge marvels as he gazes at a ball of fire that burns a deep amethyst purple, like a jewel of flame within inky black space. The other lights surrounding it are but pinpoints, and utterly pale in comparison to its brilliance.
"Isn't it magnificent?" Ulbert gushes.
"Indeed. It is truly spectacular."
"What you are seeing is Gemanarai, one of the brightest star formations, or constellations, in the night sky."
'These... these are the stars?' Even when Demiurge flies so high that his wings slice through the roof of fluffy clouds composing the stratosphere, where the air is so crisp and thin it makes him gasp, he has never beheld the stars in such marvelous detail.
"The other star, Demiurugosu, is brighter, and less massive than its counterpart. Unlike Malfaxx, it burns a deep orange. These stars are so close together that they orbit one another in just a few days. With their close proximity, there's no way for the naked eye to view them as separate entities. Only through a telescope can they be identified as individual stars."
Demiurge takes a step back, and removes his spectacles to polish them with his pocket square.
"Have you heard the stories associated with this constellation?" Asks the Goat of Great Disaster, as he adjusts the viewfinder to pinpoint Demiurugosu.
"I do not believe so, my Lord." He replies, sliding his spectacles back onto the bridge of his nose.
Ulbert motions for his Creation to once again see for himself.
The demon feels his tail swing in an almost violent wag as he's offered yet another peek behind the curtain of mystery that is the heavens he has yet to touch.
This one is even brighter than Malfaxx, and throbs with the heat of rippling gold and scarlet flames.
"Because of its unique formation, shamans and stargazers across the land have named them "the Tiger and the Dragon". This refers to two spirits so wildly different and yet so simultaneously similar who are intricately linked together through destiny. Both the Dragon and the Tiger are Buddhist warrior symbols, with the Tiger lunging straight ahead to tear through his opponents with sheer brute force, all claws and fangs, while the dragon is revered for patience and calculated wisdom from which he derives formidable power from. Both of these locked together represent a balance of power which forms a harmony between Yin and Yang."
"Fascinating. I fear I cannot even begin to adequately express my gratitude for being granted such a deep insight into the nature and history of an astrological body."
Astrology was one of the Supreme Being's secret passions, one of which Demiurge feels privileged to have shared with him firsthand.
The Devil sighs as he scorches the remainder of his cigarette into powdery ashes, which he allows the wind to scatter.
Once again, the unanswerable question gnaws away at him like a corrosive acid.
Why did Lord Ulbert abandon him and his brother? The Tomb and all he had built over the years?
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You can read chapter 1-29 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25904596/chapters/62954236
