When Stars Fall (NaNoWriMo22)

Chapter 33

"How much farther is it?"

"Must you keep asking me that, Alcyone?" I wouldn't have to if he would just talk to me. Something happened back there, and he won't say what. Just once I would like to stay in a place without having to rush off because of danger. I have begun to miss the tranquility of Captain's Spears asterboat. Although I wouldn't want to go back in similar circumstances. "Can I at least know why we're rushing? Are you truly in such a hurry to see Everly?"

"Stop talking about Everly, Alcyone!" That's it. I elbow him in the gut and pull on the reigns. "What is wrong with you, Averett? What happened in that town?" He snatches the reigns from my hands roughly. I grit my teeth as he flicks them. I will throw myself off this horse if he keeps this up! My childish pouting doesn't shake him. His eyes are deadest on the road ahead. Usually, I wouldn't mind the silence, but this is different. His mind is roaring with unspoken thoughts that will drive him insane if he doesn't talk to someone. I guess it is my turn.

"I was practicing my power and I think I have discovered what it is."

"Oh, really?" He sounds distant. It irks me how uninterested he is! "Yes, really." My patience is running thin with this boy. "I think I can see glimpses of the future, not memories. That man in the pub will lose a child. He will change his ways because of me but the outcome will most likely stay the same." It is a shame. I hope he remembers me and stays firm against his grief. "Then, I had the pleasure of meeting three sisters. I saw their fate and it was devastating. I can only hope that they take heed of my advice."

Averett shifts behind me, pulling me closer. "What did you see in store for me?"

His incoherent images flash behind my eyelids. "I don't know. It was all a jumbled mess." What was it again? An unrecognizable face? A scream and explosion. All out of order, too! "I couldn't read you as I did with the others. It was...nerving." I laid my head back onto his shoulder. It was uncomfortable, but it feels safe. "Do you want to try again?" I suppressed a grin. Averett's willingness to subject himself to my own experiments is appreciated, but I'm not sure if I should continuously use my power against him. "Come on," he moves my hand from my lap to his arm. "Tell me my future, Star girl."

"Alright." I bite my lip. "Ask me, mortal boy. What do you wish to know?"

"Tell me anything."

At first, I can't see anything. Just an expanse of dark nothingness. Then, the face that has someone evaded me before. Bits and pieces move in all directions-defying my watch. The sounds are clearer than the actual vision. I hear a bird sing. A tweet, tweet that sounds familiar. Her face comes into view again. The image slows down as her lips move ever so subtly. The words couldn't leave her mouth, but I heard them anyway. 'It will kill...run back...magic will...burn..'.

I leave the vision-opening my eyes to the bright world before me. "Alcyone?" He shakes me a bit. "Are you alright? What did you see?" I shake myself from the vision. Why is it that his' are always the ones to leave me disoriented and confused? "More of the same, really." My stomach rolled awkwardly. "A face that would twist and distort at random. Some sounds. And even a few words, but none that made sense."

It took me a while to realized that we had slowed to a steady gallop. "What were the words?" My back had started to twinge with pain. I don't know how long we've been riding for. The Sister star looks higher than before I had closed my eyes. "Um, 'it will kill...run back...magic will...burn'. See, nonsense." I shift tab bit, trying to get the twinge to stop bothering me. "I'm not sure it is, Alcyone," he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me closer to his body, "There must be a message in it somewhere. You just can't see it yet, for some reason. But you will. I know you will." Maybe he's right. Maybe he isn't. It is so inconvenient for my powers to act this way.

I lay my head on his shoulder and relaxed against him. "I hope you're right, Averett." Because something is coming for us. I haven't got it in me to speak those words. Whether they are true or not, I couldn't say them. After we part ways, this will be my problem to deal with. I'd still have to travel back to Realm Beyond. And lest not forget the ride ahead.

*****

"What have you done, Nirvana?"

"Do you understand gravity of what you've done?" I am standing in a vacuum. There's no up nor down. Just an empty space. But I hear voices? "I do not need you to reprimand me for a decision took." I hesitantly step toward the voices. "I do not regret it."

Three seats made of smoak rise from the abyss, and in them are seated the dark sisters. I desire to hide but where? There's nothing to hide behind! So, I stay where I am. "You do not regret it. So, why are you here? You've turned your back on your own blood. What could you possibly want now?" The one who attacked me scoffs disbelievingly at her sisters. "Have you truly forsaken me? Was it not your idea to participate in this competition? Now that I am so close, you're turning your back on me?"

The blue-haired sister abruptly stands from her dark thrones. "You have made an alliance with the descendant of our greatest enemy! Is that not enough to shun you, Nirvana? I mean, how dare you?" Nirvana is her name; the violet-haired sister.

"Eleste is right," the pink-haired sister begins, "you have betrayed us with the murderers of our forefathers. The ones who called us witches and condemned us to banishment. You cannot justify what you've done. Not even if you rip out star's heart with your bare hands."

Eleste...the blue-haired sister. I walk around to her seat. I'm not entire sure they can see me. What is this place? How am I here in the first place? How can I see this now? I remember seeing them in here, but I never questioned my siblings what this was. "I am still your sister, Illumia." Nirvana pleads with her younger sister. It honestly breaks my heart. If my siblings turned their backs on me, I wouldn't know how I would survive. No matter what they did, I would never do that to them. "Are you?" Illumia laughs sarcastically. "Because you would've killed me if I was in your shoes. Without a second thought."

"We've shown you mercy by letting fate deal with you," Eleste fists her hands, "It is more than you deserve." She doesn't wish to do this. Or maybe, she hates herself for doing this. There's a battle behind her eyes.

Illumia mockingly nods her head with a pout. She has no sympathy. "Oh and before you go," she holds a finger up at Nirvana, "do keep your hands off our Star. We wouldn't want an outright war in our hands, do we?" Nirvana grips the armrests of her chair. Her ring glinting at maliciously at her sisters. "I will do what we set out to do, Illumia. I wonder, sisters," she grinds her jaw, "what you think you'll be able to do when I'll be at my full power? I will never forget this day. Especially when you beg on your knees for more time. When you beg for a slice of my star!" She lets the words hang in the air.

I take one step closer. I wanted a better view of the other sisters' reaction. "The next time we see each other I will not be on my knees," Eleste whispers quietly, "it will be for your funeral." The heartlessness in her voice made me gasp. She truly means it! I glance at Nirvana, only to see her already peering at me. Her violet lips spread into a wicked smile. "So be it."