The Goddess and the Hero

“I’m off! I’m off! I’m off on an adventure.                                                                                              An adventure! An adventure!                                                                                                            From my tiny little town, to places unknown!                                                                                    An adventure! An adventure!                                                                                                                  I’ll slay all the monsters, for faraway renown!”

“That doesn’t rhyme! And you’re tone deaf.”

“I can make it rhyme, and it doesn’t matter if it sounds good or not, it’s the gung-ho spirit that matters.”

“What spirit could anyone possibly have at 5 in the morning?”

“The spirit of adventure, Ars! The spirit. Of. Adventure!

Adventure! An Adventure!                                                                                                               From fields and farms to castles and towns!"

“I walked into that one. Just keep it down!”

“Right! When the time comes we’ll lay down our lives,                                                                 For the town officials and people on bribes (whoops)                                                                   So, then at the end when the hero arrives!”

Chinko slams his foot onto the edge of the cart, causing the horse to neigh and the driver to give him an agitated side-eye. Arasa pulls Chinko down, crashing into the hay.

“Have you heard this tune?”

“I don’t need to hear another song.”

“It’s my favorite.”

“I know.”

“I’m going to sing it anyway.”

“tch”

“Oh, how the weight of love makes the heart lighter still,                                                             like a skill, it can make you take flight. What a sight.                                                                         It can make you soar, like a comet,                                                                                                        If you let yourself follow the path, fly through the comet’s trail                                                     Like a ship with no sails, let your love guide you                                                                           

Let the comet pull what’s inside you and open your heart!                                                           It’ll lead you to the place, where your life can fin’ly start.                                                                At the end of the comet’s trail: Lovesong.

COMET’S TRAIL: FOLLOWING TRUE LOVE’S STAR

Once upon a time, there was a goddess and a boy. The goddess loved this boy, but she had no way to tell him her feelings. She granted him heroic, superhuman abilities so that he might be safe and able to live a long, happy life. She watched him day after day, as he accomplished heroic feats and earned the admiration of everyone around him. She was so proud; however he was fast approaching adulthood, and the girls and women around him had begun to take notice of his handsome visage and muscular physique.

The goddess began to grow jealous. The goddess was the one who had granted him those abilities that had granted him such attention, she had done it for him and he had the nerve to dally around with other women. She felt he was ungrateful, but logically she knew that he had no idea of the goddess’s feelings. It was then that she had an idea.

On the third night of the Harvest Moon there was a meteor shower. The hero had returned home and was sitting outside on his porch watching when he saw a particularly large comet in the mix. The comet burned pink and had a lower trajectory then the rest of the space rocks.

On a whim the hero decided to follow it. He leaped across fields and zoomed through towns. Dozens of people from that day claim to have seen the hero running than they’d ever or would ever see him run again.

The hero chased the comet passed the last city and into the unpopulated, unexplored wilds. He chased it long after the meteor shower had ended. He ran through jungles and deserts, he swam through the ocean, he jumped from island to island, they say he even attempted to run through the sky itself. This comet became an obsession for him, a giant grin breaking about across his face, he pursued it until the moon had begun to fade and the sky was beginning to brighten.

The hero had returned to lush green fields and open prairies, and was beginning to slow down. He could still see the comet, he felt like it had been keeping pace with him rather than him trying to keep up with it. He was starting to feel tired, he’d been up most of the night and now that he thought about it, he no longer knew where he was. In fact it had been some time since the last time he’d seen anything familiar.

The hero continued at a fast jog until…FWOOSH. The comet disappeared. He could no longer see it anywhere in the sky. He scratched his head in confusion. He didn’t know what the point of all that was, or why he’d been so determined to catch it. He shook his head and looked around. He nearly choked when he saw what was right in front of him. The hero had circled around the entire continent and ended up back home.

He approached the small cabin. There was a mysterious stranger there; a woman in white. She stood up as he came into view. She was wearing a hood. He couldn’t see her face but she felt familiar.

The goddess stood before the boy she had admired for so long. He slowly eased up the steps to her.

“I feel as though I know you.”

“Do you?”

“I suppose not.”

“I hear you’ve been on quite the morning jog.”

“I was chasing something, I didn’t quite know what it was.”

“Why would you do such a thing?”

“I don’t like mysteries.”

“Did you figure it out?”

“That’s the thing about mysteries, it sometimes takes a while before you finally figure them out. If there were less mysteries to think about, we’d have a bit more time on our hands.”

“What would you fill that time with?”

“There you go presenting myself with another mystery.”

The hero walks up close to the woman, he looks into her eyes. He feels like he know those eyes, they feel as familiar as the sun on his back or the wind through his hair, or the blood flowing in his veins.

The goddess hadn’t realized the boy had gotten so tall. He towered over her but she wasn’t intimidated. She felt his kindness in his gentlemanly smile, and his softspoken words. She lowered her veil.

“I think I can help solve one mystery.” The rising morning sun cast a warm orange glow over the two of them. The goddess had cast off her divinity and for the first time felt her cheeks burning with anticipation.  

“Really?” There was such strangeness afoot but this woman before him set his heart and mind at ease in a way no other person had before. 

The goddess was so close to her beloved, she could see every minuscule hair on his glistening face, up until this point she had been watching from on high but it was only now that she was realizing she hadn't taken the hero's feelings into consideration. She needed to know how this man felt about her. 

“But before I do I’d like an answer of my own.”

“And what’s the question?” The hero asked the question with a calm, unflinching smile. 

“Let’s say you followed a comet, what do you think would be waiting for you at the other end?”

“In my case, I’d say I think I found the love of my life, but you know, not all mysteries are meant to be solved in one go, nor are all questions answerable in a single sentence. Life and love are a bit more complicated than that.”

“So, what then?”

“You say you have an answer, I’d like to hear it, but I’m one to do a lot of philosophizing and hair-splittin’ so I think you might want to come in, sit down, n’ get comfy. There’ll probably be a few interruptions as well.”

“How long do you think our discussion will take.”

“Years, if we’re lucky. What do you think?”

The goddess blushed, “I think I have lots of mysteries for you to solve.”

“And I’ve got nothin but time to figure them out.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Come on in then.”

He gestures toward the door. The goddess kisses him.

The goddess and the hero lived happily ever after (with some minor interruptions). The comet she’d made still circles around to this day. It’s said that if you and your love are both looking up at the comet at the same time, you’ll be destined to meet each other one day. This myth would prove to be more than a myth for our story’s hero exactly 500 years later…