𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝙾𝚏 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚜 | ✏️

ℑ𝔛 // 𝔟𝔢𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢

     I can find inner peace. I can find inner peace. I cannot find inner peace. I want peas. Mmm, peas. Focus, Rheid!

     I open my eyes and flop backwards onto my bed. "Forget it," I mutter. "How can I find inner peace? Why didn't I ask her that?"

     "Ask her what?" another servant mumbles sleepily.

     "Nothing, nothing," I say quickly. "Just thinking out loud."

     The guy rolls over and starts snoring, which I take as my cue to try and find inner peace again. I close my eyes...

     And drift off to sleep, because the next time I open them, the blinds are being opened and bright light is flooding the room. I get up and go about my routine like normal, but my thoughts keep drifting back to the Vial, resting against my chest.

     At break time, I concentrate again on harnessing the power of the stars, trying to focus on a specific thing I want rather than just on being peaceful. How about invisibility? Yeah, that. Let's try that.

     I'm concentrating so hard that I fully jump when the break room door flies open. I'm expecting at least a little acknowledgement when the pair of bookkeepers walks in, but they don't seem to notice me in the slightest.

     "Did you hear about Village Epson?" the male bookkeeper asks.

     "No," his partner responds, undoing her braid and letting her hair down.

     "Burnt to the ground, I heard," the man says. "No survivors except the ones who ran."

     "That's survivors then," the woman corrects. "But how many dead?"

     "They're saying thousands," he replies. "Epson's one of the big ones, remember?"

     I remember. Village Epson is - was? - Village Selsey's biggest trading partner. We were fishermen in Selsey, so we, along with Epson, traded with the inland villages for lumber and forest-dwelling animals. In return, they got fish, salt, sea glass, and nets. And of course the weapons were different, so we often traded those as well.

     It's only now that I realize that the two bookkeepers haven't said a word to me at all. It's like they don't know I'm here. Or...it's like they can't see me.

     I fumble to pull the Vial out from under my tunic. It's pulsing with a warm glow and almost appears translucent. I walk over to the mirror on the wall, and hold my breath as I look into it. I'm not there. Or rather, I know I'm here, since I can see myself, but I don't appear in the mirror. Awesome!

     After the bookkeepers leave, I focus on becoming visible again. Watching the mirror, I see myself appear in the reflection again. The most valuable powers for me are the immortality function, and the illusions, like invisibility and disguise. I can stay seventeen forever, I realize. And no one will ever know, because it'll look like I'm aging.

     But then my judgment kicks in. This must be how the faery felt, with unlimited power flowing through her veins. To have so much potential at your fingertips is alluring, but I have to keep the greater good in mind. "Hey starlight vial? Can you hear me? I'd like to stop the fires and floods and famine and disease please. Thanks."

     At first, nothing seems to happen. Then, a pulse of light explodes through the vial, like it's covering the kingdom in its anti-disaster glow. I race to the window to see the great wildfires dimming; rain clouds forming over the dry and dying land, and lights going on in buildings all around the kingdom. I breathe a sigh of relief, which is quickly choked by the fact that some other force is fighting for control. Wildfires spring up, only to be snuffed out by my light. A giant tidal wave, just visible through the corner of the window, is pushed back into the sea.

     This confirms it then: someone else has power and is using it to create disasters. But who? The faery has power similar to that of the Vial, but is allegedly the protector of the kingdom. The witch is less powerful, but is inherently evil and seeking death and destruction.

     And here I am, the teenage Hunter with a prophecy hanging over my head, a bottle of power hanging around my neck, and the chance to save or kill the kingdom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Written January 5, 2024

Word count: 719

{here, to make up for the cliffhanger last week, have a chapter that has nothing to do with the resolution of the cliffhanger}