The Stars United

Chapter 2

It was very hard to keep a straight face when on the inside, Aria wanted to get out of that car and run as far away as possible. But she stood her ground after closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. She pulled out her phone trying to avoid eye contact with the driver."Why is he, out of all Uber drivers, driving us?" She thought, trying to keep her face from showing the panic on the inside. After an hour of silence, her face started to hurt from keeping it in a bored facial expression, so instead, she took her phone out of pocket and started doing her dailies on Genshin Impact (A/N If anyone if curious her main(s) is Rosaria and Raiden) . The car came to a stop and she saw they were in front of her apartment.

"Thank you sir." Aria stepped out of the car, her dress almost getting stuck as she closed the door. She slid out of the car slow enough to see the man tip his hat at her. She saw Veronica get out of the car seat next to her. As the car drove off Aria dug in her clutch for her keys and with a little jiggle, she opened the door. As Veronica shut the door behind her, Aria was already heading to the bathroom to get changed and flop on the bed. Thankfully, Veronica didn't stop her. After a quick hang of her new dress, wiping off her makeup, and putting away her heels and hairpin in her closet she lifted the spaghetti straps of her silk nightgown over her shoulders, said good night to Veronica, who was watching TV, and got under the covers of her bed and slipped into a deep slumber. She was standing in a meadow, or she thinks she is. It's daytime, but wasn't it nighttime last time she looked out the window? Aria looks up at the sky but instead of seeing birds she sees dragons and phoenixes, she also has a bow and arrow on her back. When she looks down, she finds a dog barking delightfully at her. Then everything suddenly spins into another setting, the meadow's on fire, she hears screaming and hysterical laughing. When she looks up, this time she sees demonic creatures flying and causing destruction. Aria wakes up in a pool of her sweat, and she immediately sits up "What in the name of God was that!''Aria thought frantically fanning herself, gradually her heart rate slowed and she stopped sweating. She slid off of her bed and walked to the kitchen. It was early in the morning, and the fog and morning mist still hung in the air outside. She grabbed a coke from the fridge and opened her computer. Now this is when she just watches random youtube videos until she gets tired of it and this usually gets her mind off things but this time it didn't work 2 videos in she shut off the computer. Guzzling down the last gulp of coke she threw away the can and walked over to the window so she could look at the busy streets below. It was hard to even glance at the city without imagining the houses on fire and the city going up in flames. Her black hair shined in the morning sunlight looking light brown when the sun hit it. She got up after much brooding about how that dream had now messed up her head and went to get ready for today. For today's outfit, she picked a white crop top with black ripped jeans and a leather studded jacket and for her hair, she had extra time so she decided to do faint curls. She walked over to the window again and this time when she looked down she saw a tiny white puppy huddled beside the trash can. Wanting to take the pup in for safety she popped on her knee-high leather boots and walked outside.

"Hey there little guy you ok?"Aria said to the little white dog the dog's white curls were a mess and tattered with dirt and his paws looked scratched up.But when she walked a few steps closer the dog sprinted away towards the forest at the edge of the city.

"Hey wait come back!" holding her hand out she started running after it.Past the barber shop, turned a corner onto the food parlor,zoomed past the mall and followed the canine all the way into the forest.Noticing that it had suddenly turned dark she halted to a stop when she was turning back to figure out what way was back to the city she felt a flash of pain on her arm.

"Shit" Aria grubbled she put her hand over the cut, she took the handkerchief in her pocket out and wrapped it over the crimson line visible through the jacket. She continued walking and jumping over streams and for the first time in her life she thought about what had happened to her parents. It was when Aria was 2 years old her hometown had gotten bombed.Her parents had told her to go with the other kids and that they would see her after the bombing passed but when the bombs ceased she couldn't find them only to hear that they had been injured while helping others to bomb shelters. With several severe injuries, her parents passed away the following day. Brushing the thoughts away she tried to continue along the path with an empty head. After about an hour she could feel the sun setting and it was growing dark, she was about to turn around and head back to the cozy warmth of her apartment when a golden dot caught her eye. When she turned around she saw that she was standing in front of a giant willow tree. Aria was so sure that it had not been there 2 minutes ago. Halfway near the top, she spotted a hole but there was something odd about it it felt as though something had blasted a hole through the earth. Somehow her legs started moving involuntarily, somehow she was drawn to that hole. She knew why. She wanted answers. Her hands tried to get a grip on the bark after a few lost attempts she started climbing it with ease. The bark was rough and the branches were sturdy. Halfway to the to hole she lost hold on on the branch under her feet half in panic and half thinking this is the end she wriggled down a bit and rested on a branch, lying on a the protruding part of the tree she looked up at the canopy of leaves blocking the light of the setting sun. After her break Aria reluctantly pulled herself off the branch climbing closer and closer to the hole her forehead and back started to coat with sweat.She shimmed to the closest branch and gasped a sigh of relief the hole was so close she could make it. "It won't hurt to take a break" Aria thought, but suddenly she saw houses burning in fire and she changed her mind