The Never Ending Tails
Falling Sun

The sunwas falling over the great city of Washington as it had so many times before.It was a warm day of summer, but with uncanny grey clouds that covered the sky thewhole day. They only stopped filtering the solar aster when the golden disk felldown over the horizon, letting go of a strange illumination, shades of redsgoing from dark crimson to light pink, an explosion of warm dimmed light.

The redwaves of the falling sun felt on the Silver keep, the official palace of the highorder of the moon. On the balcony of the highest steel and glass tower; someonewas leaning over the edge, lost in the vision of the dying sun. It was the mostimportant person on earth in that current year 202 of the Silver calendar. Shewas none other than the High Silver queen, Frederica IV, the regent of humankind and the highest political authority on the planet.

The windcame disturbing her silent sight, toying with her silky brown hair. It made hersilver crown move sideways freeing short wicks of hair dyed silver; theofficial color of the faith and order of the moon. She didn't really feel thedisturbance of the wind as her mind was miles away from such trivialhappenings. Her jade green eyes were lost in the diffusion of colors producedby the falling sun.

She sighedas if she was carrying the faith of the world on her shoulders. Never had thisstatement been so true. She had to make a very drastic decision, a decision thatwould change everything she ever cared for, everything she wanted to keep...

She knewages ago that the day was to come, but now that it was there, she felt all thepressure of the situation; however, she needed to take the final decision andgo on with Project 'Prime'.

Her facegot paler at this very thought, but she couldn't let her emotions reflect onher appearance, so she got control of her reaction, switching back to awondering state. She couldn't stop herself from frowning a little bit though.

"Erica! What are you still doing here?! The high council is already gathered at themoon chamber, stop zoning out!" A voice said from behind her.

The personwho was talking in such openness and authority to the High Silver Queen was theHigh Silver Priestess Arianna, also called silver edge by some behind her back.The nickname was a reaction to her very direct and intuitive speech. Ariannawas very slender, with long golden hair dyed silver at some extremities. Herface was serene but her wide blue eyes had something lethal.

Arianna andFrederica were the same age; both of them twenty. Both of them have growntogether when they were chosen for their future tasks as babies. Thedesignation of the silver queen and silver priestess is random, but they aretrained for as long as they can remember which make them at the end the best tofill those positions.

Fredericatried to hide her disappointment from her friend, but she already knew it wouldbe of no use.

"Ineeded to take some air before the meeting." She said.

"Youare against it, right? But you know we can't change that… right?"

"Idon't care! I will do what I have to do..."

"Ifyou say so."

"I amthe High Silver Queen of the sacred order of the Moon Arianna! I can't put myown selfish wishes before the good of our society. We have come so far sinceour ancestors, the great sisterhood of old has founded the hidden faith of themoon, and has sworn to bring men down, and to put an end to their tyranny, tokill the patriarchy, and for once give us women the lead. We flew high abovemen with our determination; we changed the tides when the order of the moonbecame the center of all power on the planet. We won."

"Butat what cost? Men are dying out; soon enough, they won't be any left if youdon't do what you have to do."

"Don'tthey deserve to disappear? After all they did to us, after thousands andthousands of years of misery!"

"Are youhearing yourself?! It is the only thing to do, by doing it, we will give thefilthy gender the final blow, a last reminder of what they used to be and whatthey have become."

Fredericacouldn't hold her tight control anymore, her face frowned in sadness. Shewhispered:

"ButArianna...Could I really do that? To him from all people..."

"Youcan't change that Erica... It hurts me as much as you, but we are the will ofthe people; we are the wings of the silver falcon, and it can't fly to itsright path without us leading it where it needs to go!"

"It'sSélas we are talking about Arianna. We knew him all our life, he has alwaysbeen there for us, he rightfully served as the Golden Paladin, our own personalknight Arianna! The person that swore an oath to protect us as long as he wouldlive! Would that even matter anymore after we take action?"

"Somethinghappened recently? Right Eri? Something that I am not aware of yet."

Fredericablushed; she couldn't stop the flow of memories invading her mind; a stolenmoment, a moment that she shared with the knight that she knew since birth; abreak in the thread of duty and roles, and a second of bliss.

She felt aspark going through her skin when she remembered the contact of his skinagainst hers, and that kiss, that sole kiss that they had. She felt that thatmoment had passed like an eternity. So much held feelings have been releasedthrough that lone kiss.

Sheremembered his warmth as well, the fire burning inside him that he was alwayshiding away. But she also remembered all the fear and confusion. She was theSilver Queen and Sélas was her Golden Paladin; that romance could never be, sheasked him to stop.

She sawthe surprise and the deception in his eyes for a second, but it all vanished swallowedby the depth of his pupils. She remembered him getting on his knee and sayingthat sole sentence: "For you my queen, I shall do anything." beforehe completely switched back to his dutiful self.

Ariannalooked at her friend, instinctively understanding what was going through hermind. She chose to not say anything for a moment, letting the silver queen inpeace.

“How cansomebody live forever, does anyone really want to be immortal?" The silverqueen said with sorrow in her voice.

"That'sthe price men have to pay through their last avatar to be, Sélas’s life willsurely stop making any sense after a while..."

Fredericatook a deep breath, before whispering to her friend,

"Thereis no other way Arianna, right?"

"I amafraid not…”

"Wewill long be dead, both me and you, and he will stay the same, trapped in thislife that is not his. He will be so alone…"

"Iknow..."

The sun completelydisappeared dimming the sky in darkness. The dark clouds fell apart letting thefull disk of the moon illuminate the sky by its silver light. Frederica andArianna looked at the astral body for a while before walking towards the roomof the moon, without saying a word.

After themeeting was held, the decision was taken. Sélas the golden knight was chosen tobe the last man. The superior number of female birth had led to a potentialextinction of the male gender and very few specimens where remaining.

Sélas wasone of them, and he was to be made immortal through the genetic material of theglitch; a man who first acquired that gift in the 1960s of the fox era butended up shattering his mind in an attempt to make the world a better place.The order already found a solution for the preservation of the species throughselective cloning; the last man would be the eternal bearer of the downfall ofmen, the eternal living symbol of the falling sun.

Theproject was to start that same night. Frederica and Arianna visited theinstallation as it was expected from them. As soon as she entered the room, shesaw Sélas waiting there, with a confused look on his face.

When hesaw her, she glimpsed a spark in his eyes. She remembered again, but this time,she took good hold of her emotions and so did Sélas, he rose from his chair andbowed a little putting his hand in front of his heart.

"MyQueen! It is an honor to have you visiting my humble person."

He turnedtoward the high Priestess, and bowed again although a little less that time.

"LadyArianna."

"I amonly fulfilling my duty. As you are my Golden Paladin, I need you to know thatthe high order of the moon is thankful for your contribution in the greaterscheme of things."

She feltawful saying that. He kept looking straight in her eyes as he bent his rightknee to the ground and said:

"Foryou my queen, I shall do anything."

He then gotback on his feet, bowed again to both the silver queen and the silverpriestess, and turned to the door of the room where his life was to changeforever. As he opened, the door, he slightly turned crossing the sight of Fredericafor a second, then disappeared closing the door behind him.

"Thethings we do for peace..." Frederica whispered.