Stars Of Madness

Chapter 11: The First Step

"So, you don't remember anything?" Aella asked curiously.

"Not a thing." I said dejectedly.

Aella and I had been going over what we needed to do next on our endeavor for the last few hours and about what happened in the Dreamlands. She asked about how I got my name back, and as far as I remembered I came back into reality as soon as she did even though I distinctly remember staying behind for some reason. She explained to me that something was keeping me back in the Dreamlands and I was stuck there alone for an entire day, she had pages of handwritten notes and drawings scattered about the cabin from where she was trying her best to get back to the Dreamlands. When she talked to me about all this, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was familiar to me beyond the last two days, like I know her from somewhere else. Finding my name again was beyond relieving and comforting, Aella said that it was a rather peculiar name, when I asked her why she said to not worry about it. We sat in the pitch black of the darkness as I watched the flames herald shadows across the ground like mistakes of ink across a canvas, I sat in wonder about what lies beyond the stars, because this proves the human race isn't alone out here amongst the infinite array of perilous stars and myriads of galaxies that we stare at each night. I never looked up and thought something was staring back at me into the infinite, I thought I was alone, almost comforting to know that I was never truly alone. I took the job I have to find what the world hides under the shades of time and history, to expose what time and the world had hidden. I guess I found it now, but I can't help but wonder if we are trying to hide from whatever is out there, or from ourselves and our own destructive curiosity. I turned and saw my newfound friend lay next to the fire reading the necro, raising her head from the book with her white hair falling down around her face creating a curtain marring the sides of her face, her eyes were a color I couldn't describe, it almost reminded me of the color that we witnessed while in the Dreamlands. Her appearance was no doubt bizarre and unique to the rest of humanity, but her features gave her definition and character that set her apart from the rest, her personality was also peculiar; one that was happy-go-lucky but almost strained to be like that in a way, I can't help but shake the feeling that she is haunted by something, but it's not in my nature to pry too much into things that people don't want to talk about, but maybe she will tell me at some point or I'm just imagining it. However, with the way she was sitting she exposed her neck greatly, I noticed that she had scars all around her neck.

"Hey, where did you get those scars?" I asked

"My scars?" Aella responded, noticing her scars could be seen.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." I said earnestly.

"No, no, it's fine. It's only natural for you to wonder why." Aella said with a hint of pain at the end of the sentence.

"Take all the time you need Aella." I said patiently.

I could hear Aella take an audible, shaky breath as she began to speak. "You remember how I said I wasn't comfortable talking about madness?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there is a reason for that." Aella said with pain coming in and out her words. "I was a kid when I got involved in all this insanity, if I could have lived in ignorant bliss I would have done so, but my father was so curious about what could be out there among the stars, so was I when his curiosity rubbed off on me and I attended high school trying to find my own curiosity, my mom on the other hand was a very grounded person trying her best to live and love what she had while she had it instead of searching for me. Seems like an impossible marriage, doesn't it? Oh, but did they love each other beyond words and stars despite their different outlooks on life and its promise. I was so happy, I had what every kid in the world needs, two loving and unconditionally supportive parents in a world where relying on anyone usually ends up with you alone. Then that all changed when my dad found the Necro. He would read it every night, ignoring me and my mom, we had eaten without him for days on end while he stayed in that room and read more and more. My mother told me not to worry about it, and that he was just excited and absorbed in something so rare. Then a mask came to the door, the same one I destroyed when we first met, and me being a kid had no idea what it would do but my father didn't put it on until I was away from home at school and what I saw when I got home will horrify me for the rest of my life. When I first opened the door, the house was dead quiet, all I could hear was a slight chanting coming from my father's room, I was so scared, I could feel the uncertainty and tension suffocate the air around me as I slowly opened the door to find my father standing over my mother cut into several pieces and placed to make the symbol on the front of the Necro. How was I supposed to react? I was in complete shock, mortified by what I saw. And before I knew it my father looked at me with the mask on that was now drenched in blood covering his once loving face. Then without warning he grabbed me by the neck and started to strangle me with a knife in hand causing him to cut me around my neck, he kept uttering words that I didn't understand at the time, but even then, I knew that he had gone insane. I did the only thing I could think of to escape and that was scream and kick and wail, but nothing helped, I really thought that this was how I was going to die but suddenly the mask started to glow and before I knew it, he was gone. I was left to pick up the pieces of the life he had ripped apart, the book also miraculously disappeared without a trace, so I had nothing to even point to for the police. I from then on till now have made a point of getting revenge on my father for ruining my chance at a normal life and killing my mother. I have studied dead texts and I have searched ancient places and I know things now that I wish I knew then, but that will not stop me from killing that bastard insane or not." Aella narrated with emotion spilling over into her stoicism occasionally.

"How do you know he didn't die?" I asked.

"The masks enslave, not kill and when I learned what he was saying he was actually casting a spell to teleport somewhere." Aella responded.

"Wait, so he saved you from himself?" I asked.

"I don't care, he dies nonetheless." She retorted with solid determination.

"Okay I understand what you mean. I would not be too forgiving if I were you either." I spoke.

"So, what's next?" I asked.

Aella took a deep breath, "Right now we don't have many leads and it's already pretty late so we should sleep now and make up for lost time in the morning. I did some digging as to where the page might be and since I know there is a nearby cult in this area, I can't help but think they had some part to play in all this, the dream-gods don't often bother with their cults, but this cannot be coincidence for the book and the cult to be in the same place. Therefore, we will head out in the morning to investigate further." Aella informed me.

"Sounds like a plan, I guess we will sleep in turns?" I asked.

"Probably safest yes. And Howard?" Aella responded.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for not giving up on me." Aella smiled.

"No problem, people need someone to rely on nowadays and I wasn't just about to leave you on your own, besides, you look way too pretty to die." I spoke jokingly.

"Uh-," I saw a light blush form over Aella's face. "Yeah, thank you, see you in the morning."

"See you then."

CHAPTER 12: OLD FRIENDS