To Be a Celestial
This is an introspective piece, inspired by posts I've seen online, and written mostly in second person. I found myself thinking about how different Celestials feel, especially made or became Celestials, and wrote this.
There is a difference between the Celestials. While all of them are powerful, removed from the rest of the population, there are differences not between their allegiances, Light and Dark meaning nothing more outside of political machinations or perhaps the tendencies of powers and personalities, but between the different ways each one became a Celestial. There are four ways to be a Celestial. Pre-Generations and the First Gens that came after them simply came into being, morphed into life like pure magic. Then came the Celestials who were born as such, their parents Celestials or other Eternals, some of them simply born that way through mysterious magic. And then there are the Celestials who were made by other Celestials and the Celestials who became Celestials through their own power. The Pre-Gens and First Gens have always known this power. To be a First Generation is to have appeared one day, walking upon the ground of the planet on which you were placed, fully clothed and fully grown, with all the knowledge of who and what you are residing in your mind. You are not a child, you have never been a child, and you will never be a child. You are no mortal shell, you are raw power caged in a less powerful body. You feel, you know, you love, you hate, you are more powerful than anyone could imagine, and yet there is nothing you can do when the laws of the world, placed there by beings even you cannot fathom, prevent you from interfering. You are above it all, you are below, you are everything and you are nothing and you are you. The Celestials who were born are different too. You were born a child, a tiny, fragile thing held in another's arms, powerless and weak, yet when you grow old enough to walk and talk and look around, you realize you are not. Beneath your skin runs magic, power that goes deeper than bone. You grow older, you learn more, you are still a mortal to yourself, until one day you realize you are not. You never have been normal. The fizzing you could feel within your veins was something all along. You raise your hands and watch your power move, see how quickly you are either turned against or turned into a god. You stop aging, you start learning, and one day you leave and make your way in the world. You meet others like you, people who tell you what you are, and you settle in with them and think, Yes, this is right, this is where I belong. But Celestials who were born such and Celestials who came into being are more similar than they think. To be one of them is to have always known power, even without knowing that is what it is. You have always been like this, you know no other way of the world. To be without eternity is baffling, to be without magic is even more so. You have always been different. You have always been better. When you help others, it is out of your kindness. When you use them, it is the natural progression of things. This is how it's always been. There is no other frame of reference. To be made a Celestial or to become one is the true split between Celestials. If you were made or became, there is a stark difference between you and both other Celestials and other mortals. Once, you were normal. Once, you were mortal. Once, you were only a child, weak and powerless, no power running in your veins, no hidden nature waiting to show itself. Once, you feared death, knowing the next day was not guaranteed. Once, you were simply alive. And then one day, you changed, and your entire world with you. You are power now. You are magic. You are the thing in the night that you always feared, and you are the savior you always wanted. You are hope, inspiration, despair, and resentment. Sometimes, you forget you are eternal, and wonder why you have not aged in twenty years. Sometimes, you wake in the middle of the night and realize you cannot remember the color of your father's hair. To have been made into a Celestial is to have been normal, average, just another person in the crowd, until you met someone far more powerful and knowledgeable, and somehow you impressed them or endeared yourself to them, and they offer you what they have. When you are made a Celestial, you have magic poured into you, a power beyond comprehension, pushed into your body as the Celestial who makes you finds a quality that you align with and forces it to bond with you. It was your choice to be made this way, but even with explanation and description, you find that nothing could have prepared you for how it feels. Your veins are fire, your face is ice, your hands spark with creation, and something inside you seems to break when the magic enters it. Maybe you would have fit something better, maybe you have changed your nature many times, maybe you only exist as the representation of this aspect for the time it takes to fill you with its power. It was your choice, and yet it was not your power that did this. But most different of all is when you become a Celestial, not through birth, or creation, or another's power, but through sheer force of will. You were not born special, you were not created this way, you did not catch the eye of someone with power and influence. You were nothing, no one, just a person, just someone who made decisions, someone who made choices, someone who made their own destiny. You didn't know what you were doing, what you were becoming, what you were drawing closer to. You picked up the spear and led the rebellion. You made a weapon to protect yourself. You poured yourself into that medicine. You drew that knife across his throat. You made the choices. You made yourself. And in one moment, one moment above all other, you achieved that which even the Pre-Gens have not done, and became the perfect manifestation of this slice of existence, long enough that everything around you bends until you have its power. You were in pain before, you were afraid, you were horrified, but as soon as you become one, you know. You are different. You are changed. You are not mortal any longer. You are something else. And you look at what surrounds you, stand in an endless moment of knowledge, and know you can never go back. The Pre-Gens are like gods who cannot escape their downfall. The First Gens are painfully human, failing far more than they want to admit. Those born as Celestials walk with confidence, yet cannot understand those unlike them. Celestials who were made are some of the most relatable, showing the flaws of all mortality. And the ones who become Celestials stand apart, eyes drifting over people as if they can see through them, distant and unconnected. It is a terrible thing to be mortal, haunted always by death, never knowing when the end may come. Mortals fear change and what it represents. They fear loss, suffering, and despair. And it makes them grow. It makes them flourish. It makes them change, even if they fear to. Mortality is fleeting, and life lived in mortality is life lived fully. It is a wondrous thing to be eternal, even more wondrous to be a Celestial. Your flesh is pure magic, your gaze stronger than steel, and nothing seems to defy your power. But to be a Celestial is to always be more. You are not human, you are something else. You are an eldritch thing without end, and you are not sure whether you are on your way to greatness or to ruin. You are not ascended. You are downfallen. But this is what it is to be a Celestial.
There is a difference between the Celestials. While all of them are powerful, removed from the rest of the population, there are differences not between their allegiances, Light and Dark meaning nothing more outside of political machinations or perhaps the tendencies of powers and personalities, but between the different ways each one became a Celestial. There are four ways to be a Celestial. Pre-Generations and the First Gens that came after them simply came into being, morphed into life like pure magic. Then came the Celestials who were born as such, their parents Celestials or other Eternals, some of them simply born that way through mysterious magic. And then there are the Celestials who were made by other Celestials and the Celestials who became Celestials through their own power. The Pre-Gens and First Gens have always known this power. To be a First Generation is to have appeared one day, walking upon the ground of the planet on which you were placed, fully clothed and fully grown, with all the knowledge of who and what you are residing in your mind. You are not a child, you have never been a child, and you will never be a child. You are no mortal shell, you are raw power caged in a less powerful body. You feel, you know, you love, you hate, you are more powerful than anyone could imagine, and yet there is nothing you can do when the laws of the world, placed there by beings even you cannot fathom, prevent you from interfering. You are above it all, you are below, you are everything and you are nothing and you are you. The Celestials who were born are different too. You were born a child, a tiny, fragile thing held in another's arms, powerless and weak, yet when you grow old enough to walk and talk and look around, you realize you are not. Beneath your skin runs magic, power that goes deeper than bone. You grow older, you learn more, you are still a mortal to yourself, until one day you realize you are not. You never have been normal. The fizzing you could feel within your veins was something all along. You raise your hands and watch your power move, see how quickly you are either turned against or turned into a god. You stop aging, you start learning, and one day you leave and make your way in the world. You meet others like you, people who tell you what you are, and you settle in with them and think, Yes, this is right, this is where I belong. But Celestials who were born such and Celestials who came into being are more similar than they think. To be one of them is to have always known power, even without knowing that is what it is. You have always been like this, you know no other way of the world. To be without eternity is baffling, to be without magic is even more so. You have always been different. You have always been better. When you help others, it is out of your kindness. When you use them, it is the natural progression of things. This is how it's always been. There is no other frame of reference. To be made a Celestial or to become one is the true split between Celestials. If you were made or became, there is a stark difference between you and both other Celestials and other mortals. Once, you were normal. Once, you were mortal. Once, you were only a child, weak and powerless, no power running in your veins, no hidden nature waiting to show itself. Once, you feared death, knowing the next day was not guaranteed. Once, you were simply alive. And then one day, you changed, and your entire world with you. You are power now. You are magic. You are the thing in the night that you always feared, and you are the savior you always wanted. You are hope, inspiration, despair, and resentment. Sometimes, you forget you are eternal, and wonder why you have not aged in twenty years. Sometimes, you wake in the middle of the night and realize you cannot remember the color of your father's hair. To have been made into a Celestial is to have been normal, average, just another person in the crowd, until you met someone far more powerful and knowledgeable, and somehow you impressed them or endeared yourself to them, and they offer you what they have. When you are made a Celestial, you have magic poured into you, a power beyond comprehension, pushed into your body as the Celestial who makes you finds a quality that you align with and forces it to bond with you. It was your choice to be made this way, but even with explanation and description, you find that nothing could have prepared you for how it feels. Your veins are fire, your face is ice, your hands spark with creation, and something inside you seems to break when the magic enters it. Maybe you would have fit something better, maybe you have changed your nature many times, maybe you only exist as the representation of this aspect for the time it takes to fill you with its power. It was your choice, and yet it was not your power that did this. But most different of all is when you become a Celestial, not through birth, or creation, or another's power, but through sheer force of will. You were not born special, you were not created this way, you did not catch the eye of someone with power and influence. You were nothing, no one, just a person, just someone who made decisions, someone who made choices, someone who made their own destiny. You didn't know what you were doing, what you were becoming, what you were drawing closer to. You picked up the spear and led the rebellion. You made a weapon to protect yourself. You poured yourself into that medicine. You drew that knife across his throat. You made the choices. You made yourself. And in one moment, one moment above all other, you achieved that which even the Pre-Gens have not done, and became the perfect manifestation of this slice of existence, long enough that everything around you bends until you have its power. You were in pain before, you were afraid, you were horrified, but as soon as you become one, you know. You are different. You are changed. You are not mortal any longer. You are something else. And you look at what surrounds you, stand in an endless moment of knowledge, and know you can never go back. The Pre-Gens are like gods who cannot escape their downfall. The First Gens are painfully human, failing far more than they want to admit. Those born as Celestials walk with confidence, yet cannot understand those unlike them. Celestials who were made are some of the most relatable, showing the flaws of all mortality. And the ones who become Celestials stand apart, eyes drifting over people as if they can see through them, distant and unconnected. It is a terrible thing to be mortal, haunted always by death, never knowing when the end may come. Mortals fear change and what it represents. They fear loss, suffering, and despair. And it makes them grow. It makes them flourish. It makes them change, even if they fear to. Mortality is fleeting, and life lived in mortality is life lived fully. It is a wondrous thing to be eternal, even more wondrous to be a Celestial. Your flesh is pure magic, your gaze stronger than steel, and nothing seems to defy your power. But to be a Celestial is to always be more. You are not human, you are something else. You are an eldritch thing without end, and you are not sure whether you are on your way to greatness or to ruin. You are not ascended. You are downfallen. But this is what it is to be a Celestial.
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Author's Notes
I wrote all of this at 12 and 2 AM, based on a short speech I gave my brother while he was trapped in the car with me last week (we went to the movies; saw Demon Slayer for the 2nd time; watch it if you can), and I'm pretty sure it's longer than my final reflection project for my college class. Priorities.