He could sense her now, coming up behind him, her footsteps quiet. Slowly he opened his eyes, and twisted his head to look at her. She shone with pearly promise, her feet stepping so, so gently from star to star. Her milky hair floated around her perfect face and he felt his breath ache in his lungs.
"Welcome," he said, his voice hoarse with disuse. He had not seen another being in 365 days.
"Ano," she replied, bowing her head carefully. He did not question how she knew his name. She stood beside him, looking down upon his work. The warm sun beneath their toes shifted light toward the floating balls in the expanse of black velvet.
"You have done much work these past days, Ano," she told him, her voice warm and smooth.
"You have much work to do, Annee," he replied.
"Ah, yes," she told him, and reached out toward the floating orbs. Surprised, he grabbed her wrist roughly, pulling her away from the colored toys. She stared at him, for a moment her black eyes flashing in anger, but it faded quickly.
"I am sorry," she said. "I am excited to be so close to the beginning." He nodded, pleased that she was so diplomatic.
"I can see that," he said, and released her. She rubbed her wrist absently, and he felt the tingling from the few seconds of contact run up his arm. He looked down as another day passed beneath his eyes.
"You have done great work, Ano," she looked again down at the floating objects, her eyes lingering especially on the cobalt blue one, rotating slowly. It was that one that was most important—that one that decided their fate. Ano knew this; it was how he judged time. If one were going to use any other method of time telling, there would be disaster. It would also mean one’s own death.
"I have, yes," he said. He frowned, "Of course, I have done some wrong, too. Perhaps you will right this?" He glanced sideways at his ‘children’, as he thought of the orbs, under his eyelashes.
"Perhaps. It is not for me to voice to one like you," she said. Ano looked at her sharply, and she stared back into his eyes without blinking.
"You forget yourself, Annee," he snapped, his back teeth creaking and snapping together. "I am your elder, and I have set the world to where you will pick up."
"You are a very silly old man, Ano," she hissed, narrowing her eyes. Ano glanced at the blue, spinning orb. Too fast, he thought.
"Quiet," he scolded. "You have upset me, and I am not afraid to ruin it for you, Annee." She started to say something but instead closed her mouth and studied her bare toes. They stood together, watching the stars glinting in the distance, silent, and slowly Ano’s good humor came back. She was nervous to begin, certainly. And, of course, she could not tell him what was in store. Had he not acted in such a manor 366 days ago?
"I am sorry, young star. I am simply sore with bad humor. I have not long left, of course," he told her. As the sincerity of what he had said sunk in, he slowly turned to look at her. She was staring greedily and the cycling balls, her black eyes gleaming with the light of the sun.
She was so beautiful, so full of promise. Had he looked so grand to his elder? He could barely remember the day, really. His elder, Jahr, had been a strong man with hair that glowed with the life giving light of the sun, his eyes white like the moon. His skin had been so dark that he almost faded into the blackness around them.
He had been magnificent, but he had been dying. Ano had wondered what Jahr would have looked like to HIS elder, when he was in his prime. Ano realized that he himself must look like a burnt out star to the beautiful woman beside him now. His face was lined and his skin had blackened.
Her skin was so pale, so lovely. Would she become darkness, too? Ano felt dizzy with the grandness of it all. He snapped to attention, feeling the loss of wasted time sorely. After all, he had little left.
Annee was looking at him now, "You are… feeling old now, Ano?"
"Yes," he said, and his voice was raspy. He winced, and she smiled.
"I see. Do you feel pain, Ano? I have never."
"No," he shook his head. "I feel no pain, and I do not think I will. After all, we do live on in minds, yes, and in history."
"Yes, we do I suppose," she said, her pale lips twitching. She reached out again, as if the caress the expanse before them. "They will certainly remember us, as they have all the others. I fear, however, that you were not terribly important. Five elders before you—now, she will be written in the stars, certainly. But you are… not so lucky."
"Yes," he nodded slowly. "You are right."
She turned to him, "I will be remembered. I will make sure of that."
Ano was not surprised this time by the hatred and violence in her voice. He felt aged, wise. "I suspect you will."
"I will not be forgotten!" she screamed, and Ano knew that she did feel pain. Or at least, fear. She feared being a dying being, like the one she saw before him now.
"No, you will not be. And neither will I. Children will be born before you, and people will be killed under your feet. Someone will remember you, certainly, for a life time at least," Ano told her.
"That is not good enough. 1000 lives is not enough!" she cried, as his approaching death settled over them like a fine dust.
"Quietly, now, Annee. Your time approaches," he told her.
"I will not be outdone by any other!" she was beyond listening now, flailing her arms and crying tears of dusty crystals. Ano reached out, but she slapped him away. He felt his own fear trickle down his throat.
"Let me take these moments in peace, Annee," he said, his eyes becoming wild as he saw the rotating orb draw death closer to him. He could feel his heart flickering inside of him.
"I will live forever!" she screamed, and suddenly sprang upon him. Ano could not fight—he felt terribly weak. Her lips brushed his shoulder, her teeth sank into his throat. He felt the light of his eyes fading, and she grew brighter.
10
Ano pushed against her shoulders, feeling her drinking in his life.
9
"Annee," he whispered, weak. The sun burned his skin, and his hair began to sizzle.
8
"Annee," he repeated. She lifted her mouth, a laugh bursting from her lips.
7
"Fool," she told him, towering over him. "You should have taken your chance when you were young."
6
"Annee," he tried to look at her, but her brightness stung his eyes.
5
He began to fade, his fingers sinking into the dark space around him. The glittering dust shifted off of him, insubstantial.
4
He felt the pain, then, that was unknown to his kind. Tears streamed down his face, crystal drops floating away from him like butterflies. Annee laughed, growing brighter than the life-giving sun.
3
He tried to scream, but he was becoming nothingness. He was barely a shell now, a hint of what he once was.
2
In one instance he saw her, fully. Not the beautiful figure that she took form in, but the future she was. He could see, behind his eyes, the good and the bad. He felt his breath rip from his lungs, and a cry lifted into the emptiness around them, drowning out her cackles.
1
Ano’s heart faded to a cold lump of rock, and Annee kicked it hastily away from her. She felt strong, and she turned to her kingdom. The blue ball twirled, so slowly. She had so much time. Certainly, she would be the greatest ever known. She smiled, her teeth glinting against her skin, which already began to darken ever, ever so slightly.