The Dark Stars are always there, up in the heavens glowering at all creeping, terrestrial things, though only a very few take notice—or, can take notice and not be lost to a singular, permanent departure from reality. The Dark Stars are visible by day as well as by night, though they are at their brightest at twilight. They are not stars as we understand the term. They are not gargantuan spheres of thermonuclear plasma. Some of them, perhaps, may be, but this is immaterial. The Dark Stars have very little to do with stars apart from the fact that they comprise an innumerable glowing legion in the sky.

The history of such is of significant antiquity, appearing to date to the emergence of behavioral modernity some 45,000 years ago. The causal relationship here has been thoroughly discussed, but it is still today very unclear as to whether the discovery—or “first sighting”—of the Dark Stars inspired and spurred the rise of behavioral modernity, or if the achievement thereof allowed for the perception of the Dark Stars. All primitive artistic depictions thus far investigated, from cave paintings to ivory jewelry to shamanistic fetishes, imply knowledge of the existence of the Dark Stars, though this was not at all obvious before a critical mass of contemporary humans began, a century and a half ago, to discuss their experiences with them. It was only thereafter that the deep history of the Dark Stars came to light.

There are a number of theories as to what the Dark Stars truly are. Their ubiquity, insanity, and strange relationship with twilight give credence to one theory, which is that they are the metaphysical remnants of the Shattering of the Truth, which took place during Earth’s first twilight after its cataclysmic encounter with Theia. If so, they would constitute a terrific danger to all of humanity, as they carry with them the “weight” of absolute chthonic annihilation.

Another theory, which has fallen out of favor among experts, more likely due to the unpleasant nature of the theory more than its actual likelihood of being false, is that the Dark Stars constitute the infinite, unblinking eyes of God. The horror inspired by this would account for the fact that they have been many times over the millennia mistaken for demonic entities. While it is universally accepted that God sees and knows everything, even the most stalwart in one’s faith finds himself shuddering at the idea that the eyes of God are everywhere, in and around, within and surrounding all things. “Why should God need so many eyes?” one must ask. This question has never been provided any kind of intelligible answer. But for the theory of God’s infinite, dark eyes to be fully rejected, the question must be answered. Until then, it must be entertained, however unlikely.

Additionally—and this is obvious by now—that the Dark Stars are “up there,” as it were, is simply an expression. It is a saying rendered into everyday language, but it conceals the fact that “up there” means “everywhere,” and a much greater “everywhere” than one might think. 

You see, the sky is not “up there” so much as it is “out there”—looking “up” is really looking “out.” Moreover, if one were to peer through the surface of the earth, through the mantle and core and through the other side of the crust, one would again arrive “out there.” There is no “up.” There is only “out.” What is more (and more worrisome) is that “within” is also “out,” both in the sense, now understood as somewhat trivial, that all directions are “out,” and also in the sense that within the human soul—which is the very seat of the body—there is an infinite descent into an unknowable, titanic space in which the density and black brightness of Dark Stars only grow, the deeper one’s inward glare penetrates.