The Mammoth Book of Short Erotic Novels (70 page)

“I know what must be done”, the magician replied, seemingly unmoved by the emperor’s plight. “How, may I ask, is the condition of your heart? Have you left anything
undone? Have you said your prayers for your people?”

The emperor nodded gravely. “But what about my bride? I will never be ready to tell her good-bye.”

“Your Majesty,” the magician scolded him, “you are such a foolish man! Your destiny has never been anything but that: your destiny. I told you your love was ordained by fate to
last throughout eternity, but love requires you first to surrender. Nothing you do can exert your will over the will of heaven. All you’ve managed to create in the meantime is human misery
and delay.”

The emperor’s eyes edged with tears. He summoned great strength within himself, braved his creature’s hot fire, kissed her tender mouth one last time and surrendered to the will of
heaven.

He tried to contain his tears as he watched his court magician conjure an incantation over his blissfully ignorant bride. And then, with not even a moment to prepare, a mighty gale of wind swept
across the teakwood verandah and the emperor’s treasured creature shot up to the sky as a crackling ball of fire.

Day dawned instantly on the land and all that was left behind for the emperor to cling to was his creature’s sacred pearl; the treasure their joy had created had withstood the powerful
fire.

It is said that in his profound grief the emperor swallowed his creature’s pearl. And as the magician disappeared in a cloud of jasmine smoke, and a gentle breeze tinkled the tiny silver
chimes in the tender plum blossoms, the emperor wept bitter tears, and did not stop weeping, even after the sands had slipped through the hourglass twelve more times.

And it is further said that so great was the emperor’s remorse, as he could no longer provide night for his tired people who toiled in constant daylight, so bitter were his tears, that he
finally dissolved into salty water that trickled down into his majestic lagoon and was carried out to sea.

It was then that the mighty waves leaped and swirled and tossed a sacred glowing pearl far into the western sky, at last bringing on the gentle evening. And it was this sacred pearl, which
we’ve come to call our moon, that was loved in ancient times by a tender, tired people, who came to call it, affectionately, the Emperor of Night.