Cygnus X-1 Book Two: Hemispheres
#2 of Cygnus X-1
I. Prelude
"When our weary world was young
The struggle of the ancients first began
The gods of love and reason
Sought alone to rule the fate of man
We battle through the ages
But still neither force will yield
The people are divided
Every soul a battlefield..."
Thus began the words to a song that every schoolchild in the land knew. Their parents would hope for an end to the war but the governments of both cities, Apollo and Dionysus would fight for what seemed like forever. Named after the gods who inspired their philosophies, these two cities shared a desire to build great structures and artowrk that would stand the test of time but they had opposing views on how these things should be built. No sooner did one city build a statue or building than a raiding party from the opposite city would destroy them. The two cities represented the only two countries in the land and they were placed between impassable mountains, the only opening for delegates (or soldiers, when the vandalism and destruction of art got out of hand) was a narrow passageway called the Callosum Pass. The field was peaceful but perpetually unoccupied as no one would ever venture to meet their peers in the opposing city. Before the coming of the Bringer of Balance, there was a wall erected which spanned the passage and blocked anyone from entering. And so they built their statues and buildings but little did they know, their civilization would only advance through cooperation.For this was a battle between Heart and Mind...
II. Apollo, Bringer of Wisdom
The Apollonians considered themselves to be more advanced than the Dionysians- their beautiful white temples to Apollo were built with an eye towards geometry. Their logicians and philosophers sought to build a great country. They believed that just as the early humans had used fire to warm themselves, sharpened blades to hunt for food, and learned which berries were helpful or harmful, so too could philosophy become the path to a successful civilization. All this while the Dionysians lived off the fat of the land, listening to music which was terrible to a man of Apollo and artwork which was a smattering of paint or a crudely-rendered stone image of a man. Their artwork showed the beauty of the human figure with lines and curves where they should be and no music in Apollo could be created unless the composer was proficient in music theory as well. And they lived in extraordinary mansions while the Dionysians lived in forests and caves under the stars at night.
However, the king of Apollo was not satisfied with this arrangement because his country had remained largely static- the same country and city that endless generations of kings had ruled before him. Defying the rules, he asked the wise men in his court to form a delegation to Dionysus to see if there was something there that could be used to bring back the glory to a tired city which had not changed in years. The people considered this and realized they had lost the urge to build more temples and houses and slowly, the resistance to asking these barbarians for help broke down. But they could not break through the wall of their own construction.
III. Dionysus, Bringer of Love
To say the people of Dionysus were emotional was an understatement. These forest dwellers who would only bother with tents or caves when it started to rain lived to create music and dance and create art. There were no parameters as to how their artwork must be made, anyone could submit a song or a dance or a drawing to the tribe and it would be summarily approved as part of Dionysian culture. In the Dionysian mind, the Apollonians were too concerned with their work to enjoy life- they should learn to embrace life as it was. The Dionysians' greatest joy in life was dancing as brothers and sisters in the forest where they knew love could not be wrong. This primitive people guarded the forest so no Apollonian could come and force their culture which viewed nature as an enemy upon them. They were happy as Dionysus provided them with all the food and wine they would need. But then came a cold snap- many of the Dionysians died when their food stores ran out and they shivered in the cold, lacking sufficient clothing. The winter tried them and they retreated into the caves for warmth and protection, hoping and praying for something to come that would help them survive, even if they had to go to Apollo for help. But they could not break the wall of their own construction.
IV. Armageddon: Battle of Heart and Mind
The people of both countries and both cities were looking for each other but in a move designed to keep each one from the other built during a time of conflict, they were unable to contact each other. Each country's army could hear the other pounding away at the wall from each side around the Callosum Pass and each side wanted to break the wall first. When at last they succeeded, the warriors on both sides had only heard tales and ideologies about what the other side was like. Uncivilized, thought the Apollonians and effeminate, thought the Dionysians. These verbal spats became an open war, in which the gods who had been accompanying them on their journey fought alongside them. The gods themselves fought against their opposite tribes with lightning and thunderbolts. There was bloodshed and war between the soldiers until the king of Apollo and the chief of Dionysus remembered an ancient prophecy.
V. Cygnus: Bringer of Balance
"I have memory and awareness
But I have no shape or form
As a disembodied spirit
I am dead and yet unborn
I have passed into Olympus
As was told in tales of old
To the city of immortals
Marble white and purest gold"
The wise men of both countries were both perplexed by what this might be as they hid behind their own lines. Meanwhile, Gary Weinrib, the disembodied spirit of the fox who had committed suicide by flying directly into the black hole was looking down on the battle from the heavens. He saw the fighting and bloodshed and he saw the skies turn dark as the supernatural thunderstorm, larger than any other that could be recorded on earth raged. It tore through the temples of Apollo and burnt the forests of Dionysus. Somewhere, in the fox's soul he felt a "silent scream"- he knew that both cities would destroy each other if nothing was done.
"I MUST SAVE THEM!"
Suddenly, on the battlefield, a shooting star crashed near where the two warring countries' armies were fighting. Upon further examination, the star was actually a metal object with the words "ROCINANTE, GARY WEINRIB" written on the bow. And much to their surprise, an anthropomorphic fox wearing the uniform of a country they had never seen before emerged from this wreckage. The fox glowed with a light and had a halo above his head, indicating his status as a spirit.
"Why are you fighting?" he would ask to which the wise men would explain their arguments against the other city. After listening to both sides, Weinrib suggested that the people of Apollo and Dionysus had more in common with each other than different. He even convinced the gods with their mighty strength to stop fighting each other and work for the common good. They had failed in their one duty in protecting the people and enriching their lives- instead having them fight one another in attempt to show superiority. Everyone in the land would celebrate a permanent ceasefire and the start of an era of cooperation all because of the work of one fox who had not even a physical body. Weinrib soon had placed in his paws the treasures of both peoples- the Apollonians gave him from their museum a dome made of gold with precious gems and silver. The Dionysians also had another dome of the same material.
"These are beautiful works but in truth, they should be combined", the fox said as he took both domes in his paws. And so the vulpine hero Gary Weinrib was the hero of legends shared between the two countries. The fox was deified as Cygnus, the Bringer of Balance when he combined the two treasures by locking them together. There was a glorious golden light brighter and more beautiful than anything either country could create which lit up the entire land,
And the valiant works of this fox are still remembered in story and song throughout both countries:
We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim
Let the truth of love be lighted
Let the love of truth shine clear
Sensibility
Armed with sense and liberty
With the heart and mind united
In a single perfect sphere.