Comic:
Light-Hearted
An alternate title card.
Listen to the music below if you wanna:
i’ll be okay in the end - YouTube
They live in a dark place.
It’s a place named Pluto. A cold, desolate planet far away from the sun. And yet, life touches these barren soils.
Even in the deepest seas, there is life. Creatures that have adapted to the extremely harsh conditions of their environment. So too, there is life that clings here.
And then one day, with no warning, Pluto’s sun began to burn out. Slowly, but surely, all organic life began to die in the darkness.
The people who live here call themselves Plutonians.
(A/N): Messing around with AI generated images.
Today, of the many beasts that once walked Pluto, only their skeletons and fossils remained.
Amongst their corpses, a new type of life emerged. Life that could create it’s own light in the deep darkness. They are known as the Lumin.
By the light of these creatures, the Plutonians find warmth and a semblance of the sunlight they once knew, long ago.
(A/N: If you’d like access to the encyclopedia, please click here.)
Many have collapsed in this desert. Cold, alone and in the dark.
Without regular light exposure, one would become blind and slow, and eventually die of sickness. Many of the elders die of this affliction.
(A/N: If you’d like access to the encyclopedia, please click here.)
It was not always this way. Thousands of years ago, the planet’s landscape was full of lush gardens and forests, with sunflowers stretching for miles.
Long ago, such affliction was unheard of. One merely had to step outside. There was plenty of light to keep people healthy.
The beautiful foilage the Plutonians celebrated and cherished…
Withered away and never returned. The barren survivors now struggled to find enough light to stay alive.
The following generations of Plutonians began wearing heavy drapes and masks to conceal their disturbing and disfigured forms.
These two Plutonians are making an important pilgrimage across the desert to meet a very powerful Lumen.
They are both members of the Phlegmatic nation, and go by the names Ziggy and Cotory.
Despite their brief respite, they must push forward into the darkness. Their journey isn’t over yet.
They approach the edge of the desert. Here, the land meets water.
The two quietly wait on the shore, at the location the Shepherds told them to.
Eventually, they see light playing across the lake’s surface. They look in the direction of the light for its source.
The light is coming from a ferry in the distance. It slowly approaches the two Plutonians. Luckily, Ziggy and Cotory are still young and healthy enough to see the boat clearly.
As the ferry comes closer, they can more clearly see where the light in coming from.
The riverman has arrived, with bright jars aboard to light the way.
”How much ya got?” The ferryman shouts.
The two unlock their Hearts and show the ferryman two lightflies. After arguing over the price, they settle on 5 lightflies.
The ferryman accepts the trade, and the handful of lightflies are coaxed into the glass jars beside him.
The plutonians climb aboard and are taken to the North Star.
The North Star is the Lighthouse of their nation. It is one of the four lighthouses built in each of the four united countries.
The plutonians are greeted by two Lumen at the lighthouse. They are the Keeper’s adopted sons.
The lumen invite them into the lighthouse. The two Plutonians climb the stairs lined with jars. Lightflies were commonly used as a form of currency. The Keeper of the Lighthouse must be very rich.
The fireflies begin to happily chatter.
”Oh, are you here to see Dimwit?”
”Of course they’re here to see Dimwit! She’s so warm and big, isn’t she?!”
The jars speak in childish and bright voices. The two plutonians shiver, knowing the fate that awaits them within the jaws of the North Light.
It is in the South Tower, where the lightflies are all raised and nurtured. They feed off the glowing milk of another Lumin, a type of Moonflower and the guardian of the South known as the South Star.
The South Keeper is a woman named Valentine, a romance novelist with a very nervous and hasty disposition.
The Keeper of the North is housed here. It is a massive Spiderlight. It is expensive to maintain and feed such a large Lumin.
The butterflies are purchased from the South and stored at the lighthouse and released to feed the Keeper’s partner at the top of the tower.
When the two plutonians reach the top of the tower, they enter a room housing the Spiderlight. Around it are other visiting plutonians, wearing traditional garbs and enjoying the light of the bulb. They look happy.
Under the North Star’s concentrated light, these Plutonians have blossomed. Northerners travel here once a year to bask in the light of it and recover their health.
END OF PART 1
The second group to cross the lake that day are not as lucky. They are older and their vision had already deteriorated, making their travels across the desert much more difficult. Still, they must travel every year.
The ferryman has already left, and will not be coming soon. It could be days or weeks.
Yet something shines on them from further across the lake.
“You left with the younger ones already. How did you come back so soon?” The plutonian asks.
”Can’t you see it’s me, the ferryman? How skeptical you are…. Have faith…” The stranger’s voice replies.
It stops moving. They watch the light cautiously. Curious, they come closer to the edge of the shore.
The light is calling to them.
”Hello? Ferryman?” They say.
”Pay your butterflies to cross.” A voice grumbles back.
Grabbing the key around his neck, the plutonian moves to unlock the butterfly’s cage.
He inserts the key into his mask.
Behind the mask is a tired wooden face. A few butterflies rest on top of his bald head.
”Is it the ferryman?! Finally! Open the door already,” Shouts the butterfly.
“Towards the light, love.” The Plutonian says in a reassuring tone.
Other butterflies quickly followed chase after the bravest one.
”I see the moon!”
”Ferryman, are you still there? Can you see my butterfly?”
”Yes, I’m here... We can’t depart until I’ve collected them all.”
A great splashing noise. The Plutonians squint, and see a blur in the water.
A great beast springs up out of the lake and eats up all the butterflies in one swoop.
It slowly begins to swim away without a word.
A Lumin had fooled the Plutonians and taken advantage of their poor eyesight. The Plutonians realized too late that there was no ferryman after all.
They had no choice. They had to wait for the real ferryman to return.
End of part 2.
Like the other two travelers, they were following the light of the North Star, which is visible for miles across the flat sands. They are almost there.
From here, they can see where the North Star lives. Great hands lift the star up to the sky.
The North Star is the Lighthouse of their nation. It is one of the four lighthouses built in each of the four united countries.
From here, the Lighthouse Keeper Gery observes the events unfolding across the lake. Plutonians continue to gather for passage.
It will soon be more dangerous for them to try to cross. The lighthouse was going out. Darkness would descend soon.
She decides to return indoors. She must try to send a message, using the house’s light.
Within the tower was her partner, a Lumin, surrounded by visitors.
“Hello old friend. I must ask you for a final favor,” Gery says.
She asks the North Star to send a code to the Plutonians across the lake.
”ABORT.” Reads the message blinking from the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was already shining less brightly. Her partner wasn’t going to last long, now.
Gery flashes back to when they first met. As a little plutonian, she grew up alongside many Lumin. Her favorite was a Spiderlight named Dimwit.
In their youth, it felt like they could do anything together.
Now, Dimwit was pregnant and dying. They dutifully send the message until the North Star is no longer strong enough to continue.
The message is recognized, and Gery breathes a sigh of relief. She thanks Dimwit, as the rest of the travelers begin to turn around back. It would be a long time before it was safe to allow them to return.
The spiderlight breaks open with a great crack. Her children would be born and looked after. Gery had promised this.
Dimwit’s eggs spill out across the floor with a cascade of clinks.
Gery, the pilgrims, and the Lumin take as many lightbulbs as they can carry and rush outside. When darkness falls, the bigger predators will come to eat Dimwit’s children.
Gery, the pilgrims, and the Lumin take as many lightbulbs as they can carry and rush outside. When darkness falls, the bigger predators will come to eat Dimwit’s children.
Valentine, keeper of the South Tower of the great Ocean, pauses writing her latest novel by candlelight, raises her head to see a light flashing in the distance. She rushes upstairs, hiking up her dress as she climbs to the top.
A message! ABORT! The North Star must be due to lay eggs!
”Oh, Gery must be in pieces!” She whimpers.
The South Lighthouse isn’t really a lighthouse. It’s just a greenhouse so brightly lit that it looks like one from far away. Valentine lives in the comfortable cottage nearby and spends her free time in the garden.
Next many moonflowers, a giant lunamoth sitting on the floor. It glows gently.
It’s like a butterfly sanctuary inside. Cute little worm-like lumen crawl on the plants.
Valentine begins narrating a message for the moth to flash across to the next tower.
”Tell them we’ll be there in a minute! I just need to fetch my coat, it won’t take long, love.” She fixes her mask in place and then flies away on her partner’s back.
That’s all for now. Leave a comment if you liked….
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