Beyond the Stars

Converging Paths

Luce hunched over, as he flipped over to a blank page in his notebook. This was going to be great material to record. It was late into the night and a brawl was breaking out; he watched the fight with a modicum of intrigue. What seemed to have played out was a trio of boys were being disrespectful to people who were trying to sleep and one of them decided to put them in their place. The fat, blond guy was surprisingly competent in a skirmish, he was blocking the three's punches and kicks as well as throwing some back to them. It only took a handful of hits for them to throw their hands up to surrender. So, they were all bark and no bite? Pathetic. I left the clinic for this? His mind wandered back to the moment he heard of the scouting mission to this isolated wilderness.

He had signed up to broaden his horizons, improve his skills, but above all, to leave the medical ward. He was sick of all the patients who blamed him for their failure to take medicine properly. On the same level were those who would avoid taking their drugs, only to have them forced down on them by doctors who would physically restrain them. Then those who would tell him how to do his job when they didn't know their armoranth from their sodium hydroxide.

However, they were the penultimate sinners when compared to those who would come in and argue over the validity of the medical sciences, telling him that he was wasting his valuable time because of some superstitious reason. Thus draining away precious minutes that could have been spent researching or helping someone who actually needed it. This wasn't an occasional occurrence there, it was almost everyday. All these groups turned something he held as almost sacred, and pissed all over it.

He would think about all these when he tried justifying leaving to himself. Every time though, Ashia would creep into his mind. Even though he promised her that he would stay safe and write to her, he still felt like he abandoned her. Although in many ways she was capable of protecting herself, in other ways she was still vulnerable. When Luce would ask why she would task herself to do domestic chores, she would say because she wanted a position in the King's court she had to earn his trust first. Whenever he pointed out that the council members were mainly demons who valued strength and would only see her as a fragile girl who they could easily bend and break, she was unfazed. She responded that though she may have the body of a frail young woman, she had the heart of a lynel. She had to get her start at some point; she wasn't meant for house work, she had so much to offer in the realm of politics. Besides, it would be easy to gain the upper hand mentally over a demon who only recognized strength in the court. "The court operates under a different set of rules than an arena," he remembered her explaining to him.

What if she gets stuck in a situation and she needs me to help her get out of it? He turned his head, facing away from the crowd beneath him. I'll worry about that when that happens. Besides, she's going to have to rely on herself to get out of trouble - I can't always be there for her.

The crowd below him was dissipating, everyone was getting back to whatever it was they were doing before. Luce rolled his eyes and shook his head. He wondered, how much longer was it going to take until they pieced together they are in a different world from the one they originated from?

"Do you think that maybe we should try and head back home? Maybe the devils are gone and we'll find some people there."

Dilan looked back towards his little sister with droopy eyes. "No, it's too big of a risk," he said in a voice as heavy as lead as he bent down to help his sister up the boulder.

"I'm siding with your brother on this one," Keat piped in as he tapped the large rock with his walking stick. He was barely able to see after the gas attack, he could only see blobs of color.

"Hand over the stick, I'll help you up," said Dilan.

It had been days since the massacre at their village, they'd been wandering in the forest by themselves searching for other survivors. Lady Luck had not been kind to them as they couldn't find a single soul and they almost ran into a pack of hungry wolves. Now it was the dead of night, they had to stop for the night and make camp.