The Above

-Four-

 The thing I despised most about my friend Eralyn's house was just how bright it was in the morning. Light streamed through cracked windows and lanterns still burned, their flickering flames steadily dimming. I groaned as I arose, my throat sore from the freezing night prior. I waited for Eralyn's voice to greet me, expecting her to reprimand me for not waking earlier. But what I was waiting for never came. 

 I yawned, wondering where the strict girl had gone. Her cat, whom she had no name for, scratched at my hand in hopes of attention. I called him Patches. 

 "Your cat is better at acknowledging me than you are," I said. No snarky reply was heard and no childish fight over silly comments was formed. Where was she? I wondered. Finally, the drowsiness wore off as I realized. Eralyn said she was exiled. She's gone. Not for a day, not for a week. Not even a month, or a year. Permanently. 

 No, that couldn't be right. I must've heard wrong. She was the Queen's favorite, the faction's burning star. She was a constellation, strewn in a dark world to form the picture of a perfect girl. At least, that's what she was told to be. I knew better; I knew her secret. The thing that she so desperately attempted to avoid, all while drawing closer to. Her power. Had she been exiled for that? 

 A towering mess of leather bags caught my attention, the few possessions she had left long abandoned. 

 "Eralyn, you idiot. I swear, I'm going to kill you or die trying." I got up from the bed, deciding to ransack the fridge that would soon no longer serve a purpose. The cat joined me and I fed it, the full realization that Eralyn wouldn't return to care for Patches not setting in. I wondered when it would, hoping the thought would be delayed; the grief would be detained. 

 I blew out the oil lamps and decided to take the day off, ignoring my typical responsibilities for something I deemed more important. I was going to discover the reason that Eralyn was exiled, and I was going to get her back. Even if the idea was foolish and the plan that pieced itself together in my mind was faulty, I was determined. 

 I grabbed the letter that had been discarded atop her pile of possessions, scanning over it and uncovering my first clue. The last place she had been was obviously the Advisory, but I didn't recall being informed of her meeting with the Queen. What had they wished to discuss? 

 Scarfing down a piece of toast and sliding out of the door, I had decided on my destination. People scurried through the streets with coins in their hands and a basket on their arm, desperate to purchase something from the vendors that lined the morning marketplace. 

 "The Eclipse will arrive in a week, and I refuse to let my family starve!" a woman shouted, accompanied by an uproar of agreement. The man behind the cart only backed away in fear, frightened eyes flickering between faces in the growing crowd. They were going to start a riot, no doubt. The perfect distraction, I thought to myself, or the worst possibility. I could only hope that the former was true. 

 I slipped past the horde and maneuvered through alleyways. Rats followed as my feet pounded against the ground, racing through passages until the houses of aristocrats made it too evident to be seen. That is when I activated my ability, letting the refreshing feeling of light drape over my body and engulf me in its shimmering embrace. I had created an illusion, one that wrapped around me and made it seem as though I was not there, that I did not exist. Invisibility was the perfect disguise, but it was still too simple to be sensed. Especially by light users far greater than me. 

 So I created another mirage, one of Eralyn. It almost appeared real, and the temptation to rush up and hug the girl who wasn't there was strong. I resisted as my apparition and I drew near the bridge made only for prestigious Advisors. It first appeared that no one was standing on the pristine overpass, but the magic radiating from the concealed guards was far too potent to ignore.