Radiance by elennalore

Radiance

Seven new stars appeared in the north where the great lamp Illuin had fallen. They shone like diamonds against the suddenly-dark sky. Varda had written her threat in the sky.

Mairon could not help it, he cried in despair. They had failed.

Suddenly Melkor was there; his strong hand pulled Mairon closer, his cloak surrounded him like mist.

“Don’t be afraid, little flame,” he said in a deep voice, but Mairon could sense his master’s frustration. Melkor added, as an afterthought: “She will target Ormal next.”

“So she will,” agreed Melkor’s brother Manwë who materialized at their side. As Melkor’s chief Maia, Mairon was not afraid to look at Manwë, not even like this, when he was in his most warlike form. “And we have to stop her ere it is too late.”

Mairon knew it meant that they all had to rush south and try to save the great pillar from the fallen Vala’s wrath. But he could see it in his master’s eyes; they were powerless against her. The other lamp would be destroyed, too, and the only light would come from Varda’s stars.

It is said that Varda was corrupted already in the beginning. Eru had given her the ability to control light better than any other Vala. But light held enormous amounts of energy, especially the wavelengths that could not be seen. Hungry for power, she had started to bend the light according to her will and collect its energy for her own needs. The structure of Arda had suffered severely, and the Void now threatened to swallow Arda whole.

Melkor was wounded; in the fight for Illuin, he had touched Varda whose fana was made of light that burned. Now Melkor’s hands were blackened and painful, and still Varda had escaped, for she could move at the speed of light.

Mairon did not tell Melkor that Ilmarë had appeared before him while his master had duelled with Dark Lady Varda. There was nothing to tell. He had been loyal to Melkor and refused to listen Ilmarë’s promises of unlimited power that was hidden inside the stars. There was a certain allure in it, he had to admit, but in the end, he had stopped listening. He had chosen Melkor once, and he would do it again. Together, they were whole, they were complete. Their union was more fulfilling than promises of unlimited power.

“We must protect the Children of Ilúvatar,” Manwë said. “What if the only light they see when they awake comes from the cold stars of Varda? In a dark world like that, they will sing hymns in her name as they wander under the stars that only sing songs of the Void. We must think of something!”

While they were still speaking, a great disturbance shook the land. The darkness fell like a curtain over them. A darkness filled with stars.

“Ormal has fallen,” Manwë said, desperate. “What do we do now?”

“I have an idea,” Melkor said, grinning.

Mairon’s heart leapt. His Master always had the most original ideas.

They were at the remains of Ormal now. It was easy for the Valar to move swiftly across the continent, and Melkor had carried Mairon in his arms, as he often did. Now Melkor set him down and took instead a broken lamp in his blackened hand. Only Mairon’s sharp eyes saw that his master grimaced in pain.

“We cannot make innumerable stars like her, but we can make at least one. I command the power of change. With Aulë’s help and with your blessing, brother, I can make us a star bigger than the rest that shines like a lamp in the sky, hiding her cold stars from view.”

Manwë nodded solemnly. “I trust you, brother. That is what we shall do. Let our new light be called The Sun. Let it always shine upon our path in Arda, and upon the path of the Children.”