GRAVITY
"There was a soul within the Multitude, knowing neither purpose nor birthright, but his heart compelled to the bodies which in heavens hung; Looked upon them with yearning as he, an earthbound man, had no heavenly company as yet
but drew the attention of a darkly elegant figure with whom he communed for vanity and pleasure
Did loom about, deceive and claim him,
Until such time of Kala’s intervention."
The Uncertain Past
Hail Casimir may have grown up with little but he had lived bright-eyed and a steadfast, guided often by the propulsion of nature otherworldly, cosmic in its scale and secret. He stared into the sky longing for its vastness, its mysteries, to be touched by the infinite; in this he felt both confounded and loved for a purpose he hadn’t perceived— at least not yet.
Hail lived in Warsaw, Poland in his adolescence but had no memory of a proper family or childhood, in fact he recounted very little of his youth; what he could came in flashes and fragments, except perhaps when he was with his dear friend Saša Gelnika: his bold counterpart. At times the two seemed polar opposites, and perhaps they were — but this opposition, at close enough range, had a gravity of its own. Where there were vacant corners in Hail’s mind, Saša filled with all manner of musing and brooding, letting go his grievances, perhaps a handful of his “brilliant ideas”. On the other hand, Hail filled his friend’s imagination with rich and evocative fantasy stories of which neither ever tired . The two made something whole, imperfect but most certainly rare. They sat atop the Old Town rooftops (likely smoking something Saša had procured) or went about the Vistula Embankment to be near the water and watch the barges and the fishermen in summer. They rarely looked far ahead in those days, but eventually the day arrived when the present stopped being enough for Saša.
Along with a few others from town, he joined some brand new military operation that had been recruiting young men and women throughout Central and Eastern Europe. A “great military enterprise”, they described it, or “mankind’s next great undertaking”- whatever that meant. These recruiters were certainly not locals- that much Hail had worked out from the ringed silver shield and star-shape emblem emblazoned on their armor. For a great swell of suspicion Hail hid from them, but no force he mustered could keep his friends from going. He both loved and hated Saša for being so easily convinced. So eager. Many times he swore at him and sneered “army brat”, but before they parted he still kissed Saša’s face and cried. It was all a signal to moving on, or another force, and in the months thereafter a restless and resolute Hail Casimir left Poland and drew across Europe in pursuit of his own destiny, whether in contentment or some brave unknown, to settle in France.
For many years Hail studied across Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Bordeaux. He pursued the arts and the study of astronomy for that love he’d carried all his life on into adulthood. His abiding fascination in such things might have been Kala’s first clue as to Hail’s birthright and greater purpose, but a concealing shadow would soon loom overhead. He eventually found work as a game designer and concept artist; he had a knack for it. He was well-admired by his peers and had, with time, secured a name for himself- an “engineer of magnificent worlds” he was called (therein laboring as the architect of his own escapism). His creativity and passion for games was perfectly infectious, even for all the recognition he received for his professional successes, for the wonderful people he met along the way, Hail still regularly chose to be alone. Still he felt deeply unsatisfied, solitude becoming too much a familiar mode; he knew it more and more intimately than any force or friend (except perhaps Saša). He took lovers but even they were always the same: men of no consequence. Strangers. Men he couldn’t remember.
Meeting Kilton
Kilton Reiss was famous for being absolutely fearless, implacable, inexplicably charming, and wickedly handsome: a gentleman with poise and candor of the harshest sort. To be a criminal attorney of his caliber and yet such an admired public figure was his own pleasure; he made certain that destiny always bent in his favor and for his fortune.
Somehow, Hail had sensed Kilton’s approach before they ever locked eyes. The smell and the color of the air was subtly changed about him, he heard a momentary ringing in one of his ears. Where Hail leisurely sat and gazed the Rhone upon the rampart of the Quais de la Roquette, he heard Kilton speak his name and just then everything stopped. When he turned to look, Kilton was wearing a subtle smile— utterly beautiful, and yet something disquieted Hail’s soul.
He called into the darkness encroaching
what he perceived residing within,
Its eventuality to consume him thought by thought,
dream by dream
but the stars about did not disappear…
The reputation preceding Kilton Reiss seemed to ring quite truly for Hail was taken quickly by the alluring, groaning bell of Kilton’s voice; it tolled him, charged him. Hail was driven by unyielding compulsion and instinct for this bellowing and irresistible man and as more of the light dimmed around him, surrendered nearly every part of himself. For a long time they were lovers; Hail’s heart not so maintained but demanded by draw of Kilton’s wiles. Before long the public knew them as a new and exciting pair, even treading alone Hail was often recognized. He wanted for nothing inside Kilton’s universe of infamy and admiration and though he was thus willing to tolerate a number of peculiarities, some began to haunt his thoughts. Recalling the first time he entered Kilton’s chateau in Arles wherein he glimpsed a bizarre number of clocks through the halls and upon the walls, some ticking away rather loudly. There was one particularly memorable grandfather clock: A tall, dark wooden piece where sat upon its roost an owl with an unsettling gleam in its eyes and whose wings would flap upon the hourly chime. Sometimes he swore eyes bore an uncanny resemblance to Kilton’s. There were times when he would wake in the night, but never had he seen Kilton sleep; he simply sat in the bed staring into the dark as if he had forgotten to function at all, or intent upon something Hail could not begin to perceive. On one such occasion, Hail went to leave the bed and pack his things, but…
Kilton sprang to life and took Hail forcefully by the arm, ready at last to reveal himself; he spoke a name that Hail had never heard before, nor could he comprehend. A pair of lacerated, fearsome wings sprouted from his back and his eyes were changed: both shone in the dark, one a deep gold and one a sanguinous red. Though the darkness deepened and the room around them faded away, Hail knew it was not the advance of nothingness— it was full, and breathing, and alive, wherein cosmic geometries both faint and luminous traced themselves into the very air. Arcs and vertices, these tessellations folding into one another with impossible precision. The patterns in the air moved with this creature, orbiting him, and Hail felt instinctively he was in the presence of something terrifying, magnificent, and very, very old.
The Pact
Hail was a sleepwalker after witnessing such a transformation, scarcely able to discern between reality and imagination or what seemed a complete hallucination at times. Though Kilton could return to his more human self, though he could touch Hail’s body and lie with him as intensely, or go on with his work, or argue as passionately, Hail could not escape the brand new world he’d been plunged into so unceremoniously. And there was something else. Kilton had made him a rather peculiar offer: for Hail’s love of the stars, he simply said “W
Though at first wary of such a promise, Hail agreed. Kilton kissed him deeply and produced a Demonic Pact between them.
The pact gave Hail a booming career as a popular gamer but forbade him the love of another lest the pact break and dire consequences ensue. Though in its beginnings it did not seem so insidious, it was already too late. Kilton had plans of his own.
Time passed and though Hail’s fame continued to soar so too did his longing for human companionship, the wholesome thing, for Kilton's affections lacked intimacy and seemed wholly motivated by sex and authority. In going out into the world, Hail then laid with many men and loved none in substitution; each time Kilton would discover the "indiscretions" and punish him with brute force and emotional torment. For his promise, however, Hail would endure this for years to come without a word to anyone. Surely, this only strained contentment...
Eventually, as one may suspect for a figure made so public as Hail, the privacies of his life became less and less a secret and increasingly a story for the people of the world to ingest and dissect into its most remote parts and pieces. Rumors traveled swiftly to the eyes and ears of those who followed him, thus tales of both his numerous lovers and Kilton’s harsh abuse found their way into headlines. Kilton, however, was formidable and unmatched in his ability to make such stories disappear almost entirely by some craft of legal savvy or otherworldly power. Perhaps it was the power of his fortune or the threat of his ruthlessness (or was it will alone?). It was never quite clear even to Hail.
There was, by Kala’s touch of destiny, a man who maintained a particular interest in Hail’s career and the life he appeared to lead. His name was Arjun Emeric Maheswari (sometimes Eric by a few of his friends and colleagues). He came from Jaipur as a small child with his family to live on the West Coast of America and made his living as a journalist for a small publication mostly known for stories of local happenings of an ordinary sort. Arjun was a wholesome and gentle soul who so often wrote stories in his spare time; some were autobiographical in describing his subtle assimilations into another culture, others rich fantasies: the stuff of his own bizarre and beautiful dreams. He was, too, a daydreamer and occasionally put to words a tremendous longing that abounded from the deepest, most remote corners of his soul. Is this longing truly mine?, he thought to ask himself for this well of inexplicable desire was absolutely overtaking and manifested in various forms of emotional burden that seemed to show themselves in the ways he would interact with others. This longing sang of a love yet so unfathomable he scarcely recognized it, nor could he trace it to even the greatest tales of romance the world had to offer him. It only abated when he dreamed. He might then soar up into to the sky or among the stars with a great swell of purpose. Then Arjun's deepest breaths could bring him peace, if only for a time.
Arjun was successful socially and professionally for his loquacious nature, which served him well in his undertaking of the Hail Casimir story. It took him weeks to prepare for an interview.
Provence
Hail would be a guest at a gaming event in Provence, France: Provence Games Week (PGW) and Arjun had been assigned to interview him. Arjun felt twinges of nervousness preceding his attendance of this event in anticipation of attempting to uncover any truths regarding the reports of the violence Hail had allegedly endured at the hands of Kilton Reiss. He wished, above all things, to probe with empathy and compassion, but was ever wary of how the gaming star would react to his questions. Upon his arrival, Arjun awed at the crowd drawn in by the event, and of Hail’s numerous admirers. Hail seemed happy though; he was smiling and laughing. He was handsome in his joy, an observation that brought rosey hues to Arjun's cheeks.
After some time wandering the various exhibitions, the time for the interview had come.
THE INTERVIEW
Arjun: Thanks for making some time for me this morning, I feel like you must have a pretty stacked day ahead of you.
Hail: (nervous laughter) Haha! Maybe.
Arjun: I’m here with Hail Casimir, one of PGW’s most exciting guests this week, to talk a little bit about his career trajectory, his plans for this amazing event, and of course some of his favorite games! Hail, so nice to finally meet you.
Hail: (candid and flirtatious) It’s nice to meet you, too! I admit I attend events like this often enough but haven’t been in front of a microphone like this very much. So if I mess up, throw me a rope!!
Arjun: (affirming) No worries, you’re doing great! Now, I wanted to talk a little bit about your career as a professional gamer. That’s certainly quite a career choice! How did that happen for you?
Hail: (nervous laughter) Haha, oh! Well, that’s a good question. It may have started with me investing a little too much time in games, but I was good at them. Eventually I started getting involved with a few small studios, even participating in some local and regional gaming tournaments. Started to build some traction when I began streaming. It was such a big surprise, I never thought people would want to watch me do anything, much less play video games.
Arjun: (candidly, Eric gives a casual wink) I’m sure you’re quite the sensation and well worth the watch! As far as games go, have you been to PGW before? What are you looking forward to while you’re here?
Hail: Well, thank you. This is my first time at PGW, I was thrilled to be invited. I’ve been to a lot of neat events, and I find this so impressive! Can’t lie. I love the VIP access to new game demos. It gives me something to take back to my viewers, too. Little surprises and tidbits of info I can pass to them are a lot of fun. Otherwise being in another country is always a valuable experience and I think a welcome escape, too.
Arjun: Is this your first time in France?
Hail: (nodding) It is!
Arjun: Provence is a beautiful area. What have you gotten around to doing so far? I heard Park Se-Yun is in town for his tour, have you seen him yet?
Hail: I haven't seen the show yet, but absolutely everyone I know is begging me to go. I know I'd love it, the new album is great.
Arjun: What a SHOW! I think he's rumored to show up here at PGW at some point. I believe I saw Nikola Radenović was here too, it'd be so cool to meet some other big names. Don't you think?
Hail: (looking at the camera, chuckling) So if you're seeing this...!
(Hail and Arjun laugh together)
Arjun: Haha! So back to your career in games! Coming up in Poland, moving to the States. You've become hugely successful in a pretty short period of time. Has that been overwhelming for you or are you just loving every minute of it?
Hail: It has its moments, sure sometimes it feels like it's too much.
Arjun: What's been the most surprising thing about it so far?
Hail: I think...(pondering), I feel like there will always be things I'm trying to get away from. But being confronted with this modicum of fame has really put me out in the open and I'm not accustomed to that. You know, there's your "public life" and the rest becomes a little more challenging.
Arjun: Challenging in what way?
Hail: Relationships with people, for one. That's a tough one.
Arjun: Damn, and I was going to ask for a date after this.
Hail: (appearing somewhat bashful) Oh...
Arjun: (noticing a bit of Hail’s turmoil) Kidding, kidding! (looks at the camera, jokingly smiling) Am I? (Back at Hail) Now a second ago you mentioned "things you're trying to get away from". I’m interested to know what’s going on in your mind when you say that.
Hail: Oh, well yeah. Everyone’s got their shit, you know? Can I say that? (nervous laughter) Things they’re working on, or need to fix. Or yeah, make peace with.
Arjun: Of course. There have been a lot of headlines popping up recently about you and Kilton Reiss. What’s that been like for you? Trying to get out of that situation? I must say when I first heard I was pretty moved by your openness, and considering how long this has been go- (notices Hail’s sudden visible distress and pauses for a few moments)
Hail: (visibly distressed) Sorry but how did we get here?
Arjun: Well, reports not only emerged that you endured physical and psychological abuse from Mr. Reiss but that he went to great lengths financially to have even whispers of it buried. Some of the reports that surfaced date back to just over three years ago. Was this going on for all that time?
Hail: (still visible distress, now glaring at Arjun)
Arjun: Don't worry! I'm on your side! Do you think this could be an opportunity for you to tell the whole story? In your words?
Hail: (visible despair) I think if there was any real story to be told, I’d tell it in my own time. Excuse me.
Arjun: Of cour-
Hail: (gets up from his chair and departs the interview)
Arjun: Hail! I………(quietly) dammit. (gets up to pursue Hail)
Arjun's guilt at his interrogation of Hail, who had been perfectly approachable and friendly, surged within his heart as he watched Hail walk away. He’d let his assignment blur the lines of his own decency, and he had to make amends. He was hesitant in pursuing him at first, but knew a proper apology was in order. It was not only his conscience, however, that motivated Arjun, but also a strange mixture of compulsion and curiosity; something in the blood as his now boiled to blur his own sight.
Hail had fled into a nearby lavatory hoping to find a moment to himself, a moment of peace, to let the tension of the moment wash over him. Though he was furious with Arjun for bringing his suffering back into the light, he also felt a wave of relief that it was not kept such a secret. It was a sign that Kilton had not entirely buried the story, he had not entirely buried Hail’s burden. Hail felt less isolated, as if this stranger had stepped into that light with him as a gesture of reassurance that he needn’t suffer in dreadful silence. After all, no one had asked him so directly about the subject for quite some time...
The gravity between Hail and Arjun was swift and undeniable as they spoke in private this time. Closer and closer they drew to each other and Arjun, in a moment of pure lust, gave in to his strange compulsion. His hands made the first move, and before long they indulged in each other's bodies in a way that felt everlasting and yet so brief. Carnal and yet loving. Arjun let Hail enter him with all the joy his body could muster.
For the rest of their time in Provence, Arjun visited with Hail in his hotel room each night, happiest to feel that he had somehow earned Hail's forgiveness.
Their encounter had not gone unseen and recounts and a few recordings of their interview had certainly surfaced. Kilton's pact with Hail had forbade him to love, so what consequences awaited him now? Hail had also been foolish to think someone as unyielding as Kilton would be unmoved by his name being dragged through the mud, or by the quiet tales and now the quiet tears devoted to Arjun as the thought of them parting drew nearer and nearer. He felt increasingly fractured as he felt his pact with Kilton dissolving from his body.
For Arjun's protection Hail insisted that they separate when it came time to return home; he had not spoken of Kilton's true identity. Arjun knew, however, that something was amiss having grown much wiser to the situation than he dared to express.
The Broken Pact
Kilton saw it as his right to punish Hail for falling in love, grown quite suspicious that more than just attraction and sex were involved. When Hail returned home from Provence, the demon's rebuke was swift and merciless. The broken demon pact alone had forced painful splinters into Hail's mind, made worse by the brutal beating he endured to the very edge of his life. Everything the two had built together felt far away then, and Hail lay dying in his own blood on the floor of their home.
Kilton then fled the scene for fear that forces were present which had not revealed themselves.
Hail's Familiar Dream
Most of the world's public only wondered on Kilton's disappearance for what seemed like moments. What forces saw that their sight shift so quickly from this prominent figure and his terrible deeds?
Hail was taken to a nearby hospital, his body discovered by the local authorities after receiving a call about a violent disturbance. Upon receiving the news, Arjun hastily traveled to his side. Hail's family, friends, and admirer's mourned his health and his hospital room filled with flowers and other sentimental things. Ezra Lorick, an avid fan, sent one such item bearing the message "Please come back to us soon, Hail."
Within the splintering depths of his subconscious Hail waited for death, for how could he possibly have survived the onslaught of a demon? He caught glimpses of his life as portrayed in the darkest corners of his imagination, flashing before him in the darkness. His pain and regret took terrifying forms, and so there alone he cowered. This was some device of the demon's.
Curiously, after time indeterminate, he strayed into a more familiar world as Arjun lay so peacefully beside him...
It was a love passed down through the generations of his family, cherishing art in so many of its forms. Hail was often taken to the ballet when he was young; he sometimes imagined his life as dramatically, filled with dance and music in the most stunning of compositions. The Nutcracker Ballet was one such tradition that stayed with him well into his adulthood. He thought of it so often that the music itself might have become the soundtrack of his life.
When the fragments of his consciousness began their gathering, there he was within his own telling of the Nutcracker; his dream sprang to life. He thought this may be the clever approach of death but that this fantasy was as great as any to remain in and perhaps grant some semblance of joy. The Nutcracker doll itself, he found, bore a comforting resemblance to Arjun and so he cherished it. Each act in playing out this fantasy was splendorous but still he could not shake the looming presence of the one who'd put him here. Was he doomed with Kilton's presence here, too? The Nutcracker, of course, being full of strange and nightmarish visions, perhaps it was no wonder that Kilton's villainy should persist. He peered at Hail from the corners of this dream, at one time taking the form of the terrible Mouse King.
When it came time for the Nutcracker itself to transform, Hail gazed upon his last lover fully realized. There stood Arjun adorned in a beautiful shade of red and wielding a sword with which he smote the creature to ruin in the falling snow. A pity, perhaps, that such an unfolding was only a dream.
As days and weeks passed, Arjun grieved that Hail showed no signs yet of waking. Even so, he had begun to notice something rather odd: each time he would curl up in the hospital bed with his beloved he'd drift off into what appeared to be the same dream which was mostly unfamiliar to him. It was not a dreamscape not built by him, but by Hail. He felt, in some part, that he was communicating with Hail by the union of their subconscious minds. At first when making repeated attempts to communicate he only heard his words echoing until they simply faded away. He'd try again, each time attempting with a greater and greater will. Occasionally Hail would look up as if it acknowledge that he understood, Arjun even once glimpsed Hail's smile at the sound of his voice.
Gravity Awakening
As powerful as he was, Kilton did not anticipate or fully understand the forces at work within Hail and Arjun. Though the pact had broken and Kilton's mind-fracturing device still saw that Hail was tormented even in his slumbering, Hail's resilience to such a terror and Arjun's swelling affection served as evidence that he had been a witness to extraordinary people touched by Kala. In fact, Kala had revealed his very intent through Arjun, whom he had thus chosen as his vessel on Earth. It was a purpose that though Arjun could not completely fathom, he had yielded to. It became clear that this newfound ability to step into another's dreams was a gift bestowed upon him. In part Arjun could understand among what thoughts Kala had resigned to him: Kala had been searching for his counterpart for many an age, it was a touch of destiny made manifest in molding their love. Arjun was indeed supposed to meet Hail.
When Hail finally awoke from his coma, he and Arjun were both new people.
Hail had awoken as the destined Arbiter of Gravity, one to act as Kala's counterpart, though in possession of strange powers that weren't fully realized. He felt a danger to himself and perhaps even to others; for a time he sought solitude even from Arjun (see DEMIGODS and FARERS).
After several months, when the time was right, the union of the Arbiter of Gravity and Kala was begun. Hail and Arjun's love was unwavering and now driven by these even greater forces.
***Hail came to New York, as some would say “meagerly”, a solitary creature with but a few scattered memories of his life in Poland.
He was on his own by the time he left Warsaw in his adolescence. He had no family to speak of (that he remembered…) and his only real friend had already disappeared by then, joined some brand new military operation that had been recruiting young soldiers. A “movement”- “mankind’s next great enterprise”, they called it. These recruiters weren’t locals, however; that much Hail had worked out from the ringed silver shield and star-shape emblem emblazoned on their armor. He was often curious why his friend, Saša was his name, had gone so expeditiously and why these people never approached him for the task at hand; it was not that he’d have gone willingly, anyway.
Hail’s heart, restless and unyielding, drew him across the sea in pursuit of contentment, something he hadn’t much had in himself. It was altogether quite a curious endeavour as the university in New York had fervently offered him a full scholarship and even sent him a generous travel grant which would compensate for the journey over (and perhaps even a bit more). All signed anonymously…
In New York he studied the arts and astronomy for his imagination abounded with such far off and fascinating things; the great beyond. He recalled such love from his childhood.
His interest in such might have been Kala’s first clue as to Hail’s birthright and greater purpose, but a shadow would soon loom overhead not just to conceal but to blind him.
Some Notable Life Events
