Born in the light of Stephanie McKinley

“Mum, why do I have my name?”

Since the little chicken had hatched it was the first time it thought about anything else than eating and sleeping. She tried to say her full name as good as she could:

“Chukulap Tschitschad Stebbane Maginli Wellnested… why is it like that?”

“Stephanie McKinley my dear” explained her mother “Stef-a-nie Mac-Kin-ley”.

“Sefnanie… Stefaanie Makinli… why is my name so hard to speak?

Her mother knelled down on her chicken and took it under her wings “Oh, that is your Lightname. It comes from another language, another time. Some lightnames are very hard to pronounce but you’ll learn with time.”

The little chicken shuffled though her mothers feathers with her beak for a while.

“What is a lightname?”

Her mother look wondering at the little chicken. Was she really already old enough to ask such questions?

“A lightname is the name of a fallen Angel who saved our ancestors from eternal damnation. You should always wear it with pride.”

“Stepaani Makinlei. I think it sounds strange.”

But still Chukulap wore it with pride. When she became old enough for school she learned others had also lightnames. So many different but none two had the same. Robert Mueller, Gracia Afonso, Iro Yamata, Pacifique Mutombo. All sounded strange and all were different. But the best of the lightname: Once a year it was lightname day and she always got small presents, some sweets and a hug from her parents.

At her twelfth lightname day she again happily received a pack of sweat leafs and a little book. ‘About your lightname’ by Roztolon Stephanie McKinley Ironsmith. Another strange name. She looked at the publishers name and froze in awe – the book was written by an alien from a species she never heard before, over a million years ago, and he claimed to have served alongside the Angels!

She looked at her grandma which smiled back to her “I hope you appreciate such a gift despite your young age. It was a lucky find from extrasolar books and it took more than two years to deliver." - after that Mum and Grandma had a short discussion about expensive gifts but Chukulap didn’t listen, instead she started to read the book and didn’t stop for two days until she finished it and became even prouder of her heritage. So when a year later she was tasked with giving a free presentation of her choice to her class she decided to talk about lightnames. Her lightname in specific.

A long time ago all stars in the sky and beyond were under rule of the exalted dark ones. Beings older than the light of stars, beings holding rule over everything dead or alive. They were gods among mortals, Titans above Ants. For them the stars were their playground and the beings under them their toys. Their rule was strict, not to say cruel, and those who were smart enough submitted to their might in the vain hope to avoid cruelness for another day.

In their hubris they ignored a small world at the farthest end of the cosmos, a world where an unruly but smart animal rose to power at an astonishing speed. Where less than 3000 years ago they build huge pyramids to honor the exalted dark ones they now build schools of knowledge, temples of finances, machines of war and wings to the stars. They even dared to forgot about the exalted dark ones.

So when the exalted dark ones returned they brought wrath and terror upon those misguided animals. They send thousands of their most mighty warriors against these feeble creatures, tasked to punish the disbelievers, raze their cities and demand tribute.

Instead they received their mighty warriors back. Hacked into small pieces, desecrated and with a declaration of war. War was something new to the exalted dark ones but it sounded interesting. So they send millions of warriors where thousands wouldn’t do, to make an example. Their warriors killed the animals in the millions but did they learn? No. They didn’t. They adapted and annihilated the warriors again. Not by strength, not by might, but by unity, ingenuity, morality and protectiveness. And this time they send a threat: If the exalted dark ones ever dared to cross the path of humanity again their doom would be sealed.

Though the exalted dark ones didn’t listen. They pulled all their might together. From endless galaxies they pulled their champions together, gathered an armada the universe hadn’t seen before. And endless tide of terror flooded against the worlds around the human star. At first their endless horde vanished like ocean waves against a cliff of stone. But over time they eroded the stubborn humans. Until there was nothing more. Even the planets had been turned to dust, leaving a dead cloud of debris around the humans star.

But the price was high. The exalted dark ones had used everything at their hand and had paid a terrible price. For every human they lost a hundred champions, for every city they lost entire fleets. The ranks of their peasants were filled with trauma and their lesser lords started to question the superiority of their leaders.

In the chaos of the aftermath countless humans escaped on their own crude ships, sneaked aboard the enemy fleet, vanished between the stars. Over time the tale of a stubborn race resisting the exalted dark ones spread between the stars. Strange bipedal creatures hiding themselves under dark cloaks started to teach how to resist. A cult of resistance breed under the stars, telling of a world where the exalted dark ones had faced defeat, paid in blood.

Another world resisted and was put to ash. Then another four. Again they received no mercy. When a huge fiefdom felt mistreated it started to support another revolt and soon hundreds of worlds fought against the oppressors. Then thousands, soon millions, a galaxy burned, then a cluster of galaxies.

And thus the prophecy of the humans came true and the doom of the exalted dark ones was sealed… Their empire crumbled to dust and even their name was forgotten, just like the humans who had sparked the revolt.

Until humanity returned to their home star and build a tomb. Not just some tomb but by far the most impressive one ever. They used the debris from their worlds to form a Dyson Sphere around their home star and engraved the names into the sphere, of those who had fallen against the exalted dark ones. So that the light of their home star could shine outside and send the names of the fallen ones to a free universe and make their names forever part of the eternal light cone of history.

The first 120 billion names were human names. Then came another 30 septillion names, covering the whole sphere with a diameter of 300 million kilometers, naming those who followed in the foot steps of the humans.

And while the sphere rotated once in a human year every child born anywhere in the universe under the light of a name got this name as lightname. And hers was Stephanie McKinley. She spoke it flawless after years of practice.

Stephanie McKinley died at the age of 17 while serving in an artillery company in the defense of Aberdeen. She loved horses and books and wanted to become a veterinarian. Nothing else is know of her but she will always be remembered.

…

For all those who died far too young fighting in a war brought upon them.