Celestial: Garrick Tavis

Epilogue

Garrick

I glance down at my hands, trying to grasp everything that has happened. The sound of Chardh's wings beating as we fly to Aretia. Astrope accompanying his side.

I don't understand how I was so blind. It should have been obvious that there was more to her than a person from another world. That she kept secrets that would make or break us.

And they did. They broke us, they broke everything.

I was captivated by her presence. But it was just how it was supposed to go. The love that I felt for her was something that was already planned. There was nothing real about it, it was just how the plot of the book was supposed to go.

Who gave her the right to know? To use me without my knowledge. I was a fool, unable to comprehend reality. I was destined to fall for the girl named May Melgren, but instead it was someone who I thought I knew. Maybe I wasn't even destined for the girl, May, maybe it was someone else, and she just got in the way.

She played with me, seduced me into falling for her. Ruining whatever chances I had.

But for some reason I still love her. And I hate it.

I'm in love with a fake, a liar. Sure I have lied too. In this life you can't escape the lies. But a lie this big.

That the life I have now was built by some author who thought it was fun to toy with me. Thought it was fun to torture me by placing me in that death college. Forcing me to have this rebellion relic. Forcing all of us to die one after the other.

And it's all fake. This life is made up, none of it is real, no matter how real it feels. It was to entertain the lives of those who read the book.

I have so many questions I want to ask her. To ask what will happen next. What role do I have in this story? Who wrote this book?

But I can't because we left her there. We left her in Resson, alone. Maybe it was for punishment of what she has done. But I don't think I can see her face, at least not now. I need to understand everything that has happened.

I can no longer look at the night sky above me the same. The stars that illumate our path to Aretia. The same stars we looked at eight years ago. The same stars we gazed at as we had our heart-to-hearts on the roof of the academic building.

I wonder what she was thinking. As she supposably said that she loved me. What did she feel when we danced on that frozen lake? Was she truly happy or was she following the book?

What other things did she change, if any?

I lift my head, and gaze at the stars above. The same stars that are wherever she is. I left her there alone. I regret it but I can't bring myself to go back. Maybe that makes me a cruel person. Leaving the one that you used to love, alone in the middle of nowhere.

But you can't grasp the pain of realizing that your entire life was already written for you. And the only one who has knowledge of that life is the one who kept it a secret.

I look to my side, trying to catch Ast's sorrowful eyes. She has been depressed from the moment we left. Not wanting to even speak to us.

"Did you know that this was a book?" I try connecting my mind to her.

She doesn't answer for a few seconds. "I did. I know Emma better than all of you."

"Then why did she keep it a secret?"

"It was not her secret to share. If the characters of the book learn about their future, they are most likely to mess everything up. They will do anything to stop bad things from happening. But there needs to be a balance between good and bad. She was trying to save you from ruining your world." Astrope continues to explain.

"And what do you think would happen if everyone learns that she knows the future. They would target her, torture her for the power she wields. Gifts like that are sought after. Evil people might use her, destroying our world." She takes in a big breath.

"So of course she was going to keep it a secret, that way life stays on track. You humans should learn to look at other perspectives, then there wouldn't be so much violence."

I stay quiet as I listen to Astrope explain. Her words come to my mind.

'And even if you don't believe me. I do love you and I would do anything to protect you!'

She wanted to protect me from a secret as big as this. And even when I was harsh to her, she still said that she loved me.

Who is she? Some type of celestial being that watches over me.

Whatever she is, she is different, dangerous even.

And she still has be wrapped around her little starlight fingers, whether I like it or not.